To be angry at DH for ruining Father’s Day lunch out

[Chelle882]

Myself, DH and our two teenage DC went out for lunch today to celebrate Father’s Day at a local restaurant.

When the food arrived, there was an issue with DH’s meal and he alerted the waitress to this. The waitress told him she’d arrange for this to be re-cooked and it would take 15-20 minutes.

DH asked that they also take the other three meals away so that we’d all be eating at the same time.

The waitress said she’d need to check this with a manager. The manager came over and apologised, said that they wouldn’t be able to re-do the three meals which were fine but they’d deduct the cost of DH’s meal from our bill and also give us a free round of drinks.

DH challenged this and the manager stood firm. Without consulting me, DH said that we would leave and find somewhere else to eat. So we didn’t touch our food and DH settled the bill for the drinks we’d had and we all walked out (much to our hungry DC’s bemusement).

Obviously being Father’s Day, the two other restaurants in close proximity were fully booked until this evening, so we grabbed a KFC drive through on the way home (which doesn’t agree with me so I’ve had stomach cramps for the past three hours!)

DH maintains he was correct to leave the meal and that restaurant’s should not get away with this - we’d ordered to eat together and they failed to deliver this.

For the sake of our DC’s I think he should have just sucked it up and not ruined the lunch.

Do you agree with what he did or would you have just accepted the free meal and got on with it?

In an ideal world, the restaurant would have agreed to bring all 4 meals out together, once your DH's had been cooked correctly. I suspect that your DH telling the Manager that you would all eat together, or would leave, was a ploy to push them to acquiesce. Once the manager called his bluff on this, he had nowhere to go (except KFC!), so had to go through with leaving.

It was your DH's Father's Day, so if he wanted to eat a restaurant meal at the same time as his family, or go for a KFC, it was up to him, surely? As an aside; why would you eat the KFC @Chelle882 if you knew it wouldn't agree with you?

I'd have been happy with the compromise they offered. He could have also asked for a simple starter, like olives or bread to be brought straight out.
You can only really expect perfect, super attentive service if paying through the nose.

@Thepeopleversuswork

ah come on, it’s Father’s Day! The one day of the year when actually it IS more about him than the kids. All he wanted was to go for a meal and be able to eat what’s he’s ordered and paying for at the same time as his wife and kids. Hardly a lot to ask for !

Since it was the restaurant’s fault they should have honoured his request

Poor service to have a table eat at different times due to their fuck up

It was cutting off his nose a bit to walk out completely but I do think the manager handled it wrong and a review to that extent would have been the better option than walking out

I know right!

@Gloriia

can’t believe you would expect him to just sit and eat half a plate of veg, forgoing what he had wanted and ordered just to keep the peace… and on Father’s Day as well! Who would Martyr themselves like that?!

Just normal adults would really. It isn't 'martyring yourself' stop being so dramatic!

What a brilliant Father .

Frankly I think good on your DH. I’m getting sick and tired of poor service and food not cooked properly and/or items missing. This happened to me a number of years ago on mothers day although we didn’t leave. Everyone else had finished before my replacement arrived. No amount of free rounds of drinks and a free mail makes up for this.

So I think your DH has a point, perhaps if more people did this then restaurants might get their act together.

@Gloriia

it’s not normal adults. I would never expect my husband to put up and shut up and eat a few bits of veg while everyone else eats what they wanted , especially not a day literally designed to centre him! It’s not just kids that deserve kindness you know! Grown ups deserve care too!

If it were me, I would hate to force a restaurant to waste three perfectly good meals for an issue like this.

So you would have made all your family member sit twiddling their thumbs whilst three perfectly good meals were thrown away and recooked? Don't you think that's just a tad selfish?

He was being a baby. Bet the rest of the day was a right laugh.

I hope he has some redeeming qualities.

I doubt it would have been a case of watching each other eat. The chances are that redoing a steak wouldn't take 20 minutes, and that whilst people were chatting they would take some time to eat their meals so there would be quite a big overlap.

I eat a lot slower than DH so he regularly ends up waiting for me to finish. Somehow he seems to cope, it's hardly the end of the world.

@Gloriia

its not being a baby to assert yourself, ffs. All he wanted was to eat a steak on Father’s Day with his family.

Why would he have to martyr himself? There was nothing stopping him eating the steak - having something that isn't cooked exactly as he wanted it is hardly going to kill him.

Or he could have just let them recook it whilst the rest of the family got on with their meals, and maybe ordered some bread or a quick starter to keep him occupied whilst he waited. Chances are he would have got it on the house.

I went to a restaurant once where everyone ordered their meal at the bar, like for a pub lunch and then the food was delivered separately. I thought it was totally unacceptable, but was told by loads of people that this was fine! We had to give our table number so it was obvious that we wanted to eat together.

If they’d overcooked the steak and he asked for rare, it would be quite a different taste/texture.

But why should they honour his request rather than consider the wishes of the rest of the family? There's no indication that they actually wanted to send their food back. It's a regrettable situation, but if a restaurant asked me whether I wanted them to throw good food away to save my DH waiting, I'm afraid the answer is likely to be no.

Obviously, but it wouldn't be inedible. And they weren't charging for it.

That’s terrible service and to be honest, you went out for Father’s Day and he would have had to sit there like a lemon watching everyone else eat and then not enjoyed his meal because he feels he needs to rush.

A frustrating experience all round but I wouldn’t be annoyed with him.

I’m team DH here . Rubbish from restaurant.

How fancy is this place? Have had this happen at Goodmans and without us even asking/saying anything the waitress scooped up the whole table’s steaks, revoked everything and comped a couple of starters whilst we waited for the steaks to be redone.

he should definitely have asked your opinion before storming off in a huff , he’s v unreasonable

@cryptide

no. Rare steak is really different to well done. You should get it how you ordered it, I’m sure he was paying enough for it.

Stupid twat

And that what is wrong with us. You think is embarassing for requesting a service that he is entitled to for which he is suppose to pay? Did he scream? Did he shout? Did he cause a scene? No, he requested a reasonable adjustment so the family could eat together. When this was not met, he chose to take his money elsewhere. That's why the service is so shit, people (myself included) put up with it fearing embarassment. I admire anyone who does not stand for it, I myself am a coward but I regreted many times for putting up with ahit service.

@Springhassprungxx

what for not just choking down food completely not to his liking that he hadn’t ordered?? Why??