Returning our food at a restaurant, How would you handle this ??

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larry_stewart

Master Chef
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Over the weekend, my wife and I were in a restaurant in a large casino. It was more of a Chinese food court kind of a thing than an actual sit down restaurant. You take a menue, make your selection, tell the person at the register what u want, they send it to the back, where all the cooks are on display, then when your order # appears on a screen, u go and get your dinner, and sit down. Although it is casual, it is within the casino, and is actually very nice ( not like a mall food court)

Anyway, now that you have the image. Both my wife and I are vegetarians. We ordered the stir fried chinese broccoli, and the soy chicken. Neither had a description underneath their title. We placed our order, waited for our number to appear , then got our food and sat down.

When we opened the dinners ( they were in take out dishes), we noticed it was real chicken, not soy chicken as we expected. My wife brought it to the woman who took our order, and pointed out that it was not soy chicken , but real chicken, and that we were vegetarians and would not eat this ( very politely ). There was definitely a language barrier, so the woman got another woman ( who i assume was the manager) and my wife explained the situation to her. The woman ( still a language barrier, but not as bad) said that it was soy chicken, so my wife said, no it is real chicken, like the bird. the woman said, no no, it is soy sauce chicken, and that we should try it, because it is veyr good. My wife continued to explain that we are vegetarians and would not eat this ( still very politely). Bottom line, is that the woman refused to take it back. My wife didnt want to take it to the next level, because it was a ' mini vacation' and it wasnt worth getting bent out of shape for $8.50 dish. But its the principle.

Sure, in hind-site, we should have asked them to describe the dish before we placed our order, but on the other hand, it should have been clearly presented on the menu for us to see. I feel there is no real wrong or right here, but the right thing to do would have been to let us reorder something that we eat.

We ate our one dish ( which was very good) . Left disappointed, then went to Ben and Jerry's and woofed down some cherry garcia on a cone.

So, do u think its worth writing a letter ? or should i just be more careful next time ( which i usually am, but i thought this was a no brainer).

PS. To add insult to injury, we lost at the casino also.
 
I would have handled it the same way you and DW did. It isn't worth making a big deal about when, with the language issue, they probably wouldn't have understood anyway. Sorry you lost at the tables, too.
 
It's quite common to call a chicken dish flavored with soy sauce "soy chicken." IMO that name was not misleading, especially in a Chinese restaurant. And especially if the word "chicken" was not in quotes.

I think it would have been quite unusual for a restaurant like that to serve "chicken" made from soybeans.

I'd let it pass, myself.
 
Oh dear, how miserable for you both.

I have to say though, I would have assumed the soy chicken was real chicken in a soy sauce of some sort.
 
In my opinion the restaurant did nothing wrong. Soy Chicken is the name of a dish. Had I seen that on the menu I would have absolutely thought of soy sauce and real chicken.

Because you and your wife are vegetarians my guess is that you saw soy and automatically thought that the chicken was made of soy. This is not your fault either, but it does not make it the restaurants fault.

If it were my restaurant I would have taken the dish back and replaced it with something else that you wanted, but I do not think that this restaurant should have done that unless they felt like it. It was a misunderstanding and really no one is too blame.

I would chalk it up to a learning experience and next time you will probably question the ingredients a little harder.
 
I agree, and thats what we did. But on the other hand , being a vegetarian, and seeing it through a vegetarians eyes, it is equally as common to see it listed as soy chicken, when they mean vegetarian also. They did not have a specific vegetarian menu, as many other restaurants do, and im not sure if they did or didnt have any other 'soy' selections there that were vegetarian that would have made it even more misleading.

Usually we are more careful, this time we wernt and just added the $8.50 to our losings. Its just one of those annoying things, that I know I would have handled differently if it were my business. Especially since it is a Huge casino ( not a privately owned restaurant) that is making millions and millions from the gambling, and just have these restaurants there so the gamblers dont have to stray too far from the tables.

Looking at it from a business point of view, if they keep me happy, the longer I will stay , and statistically, the more $$ I will lose at the tables. Im sure the manager wasnt thinking along those lines, since they have their quota's or whatever. But i think it would have been in the overall casino's best interest to just make things good.

Hmmm

Im now wondering if the Steamed Chicken Feet with Beans were also not vegetarian???
 
When I red "soy chicken" I assumed just that. That it was going to be some kind of (fried or boiled) chicken with something that is made out of soy. The thought of it being actual vegetarian dish did not even occur in mine mind. I'm sure the people in the restaurant felt the same way.
 
I agree, and thats what we did. But on the other hand , being a vegetarian, and seeing it through a vegetarians eyes, it is equally as common to see it listed as soy chicken, when they mean vegetarian also. They did not have a specific vegetarian menu, as many other restaurants do, and im not sure if they did or didnt have any other 'soy' selections there that were vegetarian that would have made it even more misleading.
.....

Hmmm

Im now wondering if the Steamed Chicken Feet with Beans were also not vegetarian???

:ROFLMAO: chicken feet!

I think what those of us who have 'dietry requirements' need to rememebr always is there are always going to be more of those who'll eat anything than those who have any 'restriction' or particular requirement. I think in times of any lack of clarity its OUR responsibilty to do the checking, not the restaurant's.

Well done you for being sensible about it, I guess now its a reminder to everyone to check, check and double check if its a choice that means you might not be able to eat it!;)
 
P.S. I did not even red GB post before posting mine, and actually haven’t been I a Chinese restaurant for quite a while. Having special need diet I make double sure that what is being served is something I can eat.
 
Absolutely, IF anything, I find that chinese restaurants offer the most variety for us ( vegetarians ) to have than any other ethnic restaurant. Indian is a close second. Ive been to many many chinese restaurants that have a complete vegetarian menu offering the same dishes just using " soy products " as a substitute.

I know it may seem like a whole other world for most of u, but as a vegetarian for the past 20 ( oh my god, I cant believe I can say 20 years, im getting old) years, Many restaurants have been making very obvious additions to their menu's. Maybe I took it for granted, and I definitely should have been more careful. Also, maybe its because Im in new york, and maybe they have a little more to offer vegetarians here, or maybe I just made a stupid comment :) I dont know . And im not upset at all, just curious if I should have handled it any differently.
 
It was just a different interpretation from different points of view. It does not mean anyone was right or wrong, but it falls on your shoulders as your responsibility to check what is in the dish if you are not completely sure. unfortunately you thought you were completely sure until you got your dish so you had no way of knowing that you would have had to check further. Next time you will know though.
 
I had a similar experience at my favorite restaurant last night. I always get the same thing and last night it had an additional ingredient, guacomole (sp?) Well I'm deathly allergic to that, and I should have said no guac even if it wasn't listed as an ingredient. There was a language barrier with my server as well, and so they didn't understand why just taking the dish in the back and scraping the guac off of the same plate wasn't enough. In the end I know I will go back there ( I love the place!) I'll just be more specific when ordering. By the way I'm a vegetarian as well, and I actually work at a place that serves Soy Chicken. That is what we call it and we serve it in many different dishes. And to be honest most customers assume that is real chicken, it does resemble the flavor and texture of real chicken but it is just soy. So I understand your frustration, but I guess being on the side of the limited diet we have to be responsible to order correctly.
 
I would have assumed soy sauce and chicken, not soychicken. I just looked at three different Chinese food menus, none of which had a vegetarian section, just a section with vegetables and none of them had soy meats. I think it was simply a mind set. You saw "soy" and thought the chicken was soy. Was it listed under the "chicken" section? If so, I would say to assume it's real chicken with soy sauce. If it was under vegetables or vegetarian, then you can assume the chicken was soy. Just my thoughts. I do know I would never read "soy chicken" as anything other than real chicken with soy sauce.

And while Chinese restaurants have traditionally had vegetarian meals, it's generally not listed as that on the menu. It's usually on the menu and you have to look, and/or ask.
 
If it was a vegetarian dish, it would probably have been listed under the "vegetable" section of the menu. Not knowing how the menu was written (99.9% of Chinese restaurants have items seperated into a specific category), if this item was under the "chicken" or "poultry" section, there is no way I would assume that it was made with a non-chicken or non-meat product. And even if it wasn't, I would ask to get clarification.

While I can understand your point of view, the restaurant is under no obligation to change the order because of a wrong assumption from a customer. Yes, it's better practice to be more courteous, but the restaurant does not have to do it.

For anyone under dietary restrictions, beit vegan, vegetarian, allergy, or otherwise, it is YOUR responsibility to inform the restaurant and to take the neccessary steps to ensure that your dietary needs are met. You should ALWAYS assume that anything the restaurant serves will be geared towards the majority of people, and that includes people who eat meat, or are not allergic to things like shellfish, nuts, gluten, etc.
 
Also, keep in mind that two common ingredients in Chinese stir fry sauce bases are chicken stock and oyster sauce. Even if you order something that's just as simple as stir fried vegetables, there's a good chance that meat based products will be used.
 
..................at my local Chinese restaurant, which I haunt constantly, your dish appears as "vegetarian Chicken".
 
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Agreed, and I take full responsibilty. JUst to mention it was not under the poultry section, nor in the vegetable section either, I dont remember specifically where it was. But being vegetarian so many years, and having been in the situation of looking at a menu and distinguishing between vegetarian vs real, it must have been a little questionable for me to make the stupid mistake.

As far as chinese restaurants go ive been to many ( a dozen or more in new york, philly, even in canada) that have a significant vegetarian section ( in addition to the vegetable section) and a bunch that are %100 vegetarian. The one I go to frequently lists it as " A taste of Zen" others stress the Buddhist traditions .. Sure, those are more obvious situations. I wish I had the menu in front of me so I could see where i went wrong.

And I guess what bothered me the most was that we had the small problem, yet were not able to speak to someone who truly understood us ( literally) so it was kind of frustrating. She kept saying " try it, you'll like it, its very good"

Honestly, I was sitting back watching the whole thing, and it was kind of funny watching my wife struggling to communicate. It was like two totally different conversations going on at the same time. When my wife said, " no, it is a real chicken, like the bird ..." I laughed ( I was sitting at the table , quite a distance away, so they didnt know i could here)

And now, its just a funny memory that we will talk about for years, but id rather be talking about how great the "SOY CHICKEN" was , then how my wife made a jack *** out of herself :)
 
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