What Has Made You Not Go Back...

[Robo410]

krichardson, it does amaze me that food service folks have so little idea. I have vegetarian friends...not vegan...and they eat animal products, dairy and egg, but not the animals themselves. Often told when out, "there are fish and seafood items" um...and that's vegetarian?? Or "the risotto is made witn broth, is that ok??" what kind of broth? vegetable, yes, chicken, no...

I do empathize with you. A pizza place should take extra care not to cross contaminate work areas. If someone orders a vegie pizza, I'm pretty sure they don't want a lump of sausage or a half slice of pepperoni sitting on it somewhere by accident. THis could be for dietary, relligious or personal reasons...all of which are valid and beyond question.

 

[love2"Q"]

my wife and i were at a national chain .. i ordered one of their
"famous" burgers ..wife got a steak .. both ordered medium well ..
mine came out with the bun soaking in blood .. the burger was not
even browned on both sides .. my wifes steak was sitting in a pool
of blood .. and raw in the middle .. i asked the waitress if there was
a misunderstanding .. and she quickly pointed out to me that
i needed to learn how to order food correctly .. that my items were
cooked to medium well .. and if i bothered to read thier menu
i might understand their cooking guidelines .. so i asked for a menu ..
and lo and behold ... meduim well .. hot slightly pink in the center ..
so she took the food back .. 2 mins later it came out .. the burger had been
cut in half and fried on the ends .. the steak looked like it went in the microwave .. at this point she was lucky not to be wearing the food ...
but the manager was nice enough about t .. but i will never go back ..

 

[middie]

Poor service and bad food. Luckily it doesn't happen to us much.

 

[Barbara L]

We stopped going to a local cafe because of the rudeness of the server. I went back with some friends a couple weeks ago, and that server (as I expected) was gone. I ordered a chef's salad and specifically said, "No cucumbers." The server said, "Oh, they don't put cucumbers on the chef's salad." I have never seen so many cucumbers on a salad in my life! I absolutely cannot stand cucumbers. My friends said I should send it back and get a new one, but they had already been served and I didn't want to feel rushed when mine finally came. I picked out the cucumbers (I accidentally ate one, yuck) and said something to the server. Her only response was, "Oh, they don't usually put cucumbers on that." I will go back because the food is good, but that was irritating!

Barbara

 

[BBQ Mikey]

bad food, bad service, bad area, bad crowd.

why I left the food industry? though I may return, I didnt like high volume work as I didnt get to place as much time and effort as I would like to into a dish. I am fairly quick though and at times I felt great about it. I had a new career oppurtunity which I persued, but I do miss the heat of the kitchen sometimes.

 

[ironchef]

my wife and i were at a national chain .. i ordered one of their
"famous" burgers ..wife got a steak .. both ordered medium well ..
mine came out with the bun soaking in blood .. the burger was not
even browned on both sides .. my wifes steak was sitting in a pool
of blood .. and raw in the middle .. i asked the waitress if there was
a misunderstanding .. and she quickly pointed out to me that
i needed to learn how to order food correctly .. that my items were
cooked to medium well .. and if i bothered to read thier menu
i might understand their cooking guidelines .. so i asked for a menu ..
and lo and behold ... meduim well .. hot slightly pink in the center ..
so she took the food back .. 2 mins later it came out .. the burger had been
cut in half and fried on the ends .. the steak looked like it went in the microwave .. at this point she was lucky not to be wearing the food ...
but the manager was nice enough about t .. but i will never go back ..

LOL that's messed up. Funny though, not at the time for you, but to hear you tell it. What did they do? Deep fry the burger?

 

[BreezyCooking]

We tend to be very forgiving at restaurants so long as our basic needs are met. Life is too short to play diva/restaurant critic.

The only things that have kept us from returning to restaurants have been bad food. If the food is terrific but the service is lacking, we'll still go back. I mean, if your meals are repeatedly great - who cares? I don't go postal if the wait person doesn't remember who gets what, ditto for if we have to ask to get water glasses refilled. If the food is great, I easily overlook that stuff.

Now the opposite is definitely not true. I don't care if I'm treated like the Queen of Sheba, if the food is bad, or not equal to its price, than they won't be seeing me again.

 

[Constance]

It depends on how much we're paying for the meal and how good the food is.

We used to go to a little family tavern in an old coal mining town to get Mary's homemade ravioli. She had one of those old diners connected to the tavern, where you ordered your food. You got spaghetti or ravioli with sliced Italian bread and either slaw or lettuce...and when she said lettuce, that's what you got; lettuce with an Italian vinaigrette dressing.
The food was served to you (by her) in the bar next door, where they had Stag on tap, and lots of old Italian men. She'd slam those platters on the table and never had a smile for anyone (except my husband...she liked Kim).
Mary may have been a grouchy old biddy, but her ravioli were so tender they melted in your mouth. They were cooked in chicken broth, and there was a little juice of that on the plate, along with a simple marinara sauce and perhaps a splash of olive oil.

She never shared her recipe with anyone, not even her daugther. It went to the grave with her.

In this instance, the food was so good, and the atmosphere so unique, that Mary was just part of the expereience.

 

[SierraCook]

1. Poor or the lack of service
2. Bad food handling practices
3. Employees with poor hygiene
4. Food not worth the money spent (I know this is in the eye of the beholder, but some restaurants need to be a little realistic. I work hard for my money and I want to feel like I at least go my moneys worth.
5. Rude employees
6. Uncomfortable dining area ie broken furniture, etc.
7. Poor heating or air conditioning (In the winter when you have to wear your coat inside is a bit much.)
8. Restaurant not clean

 

[Andy M.]

There is a family run restaurant across the street from our condo development. Nothing fancy, pizza, subs, Italian and Greek dinners, good seafood, and great onion rings, etc.

The food is always very good, the room is clean and the prices are reasonable.

The waitstaff has no clue what good service is. You have to ask for silverware and napkins most of the time (they come wrapped together). You have to ask for water. They never check back to see if your food is OK. There is never enough waitstaff (clearly a management issue).

We keep going back and joke about these problems because it's a quick easy night. If this was a upscale restaurant we went to for a special night out, my attitude would be different.

 

[lindatooo]

Of course if I receive food served at the wrong temperature - or over/under cooked or just plain bad I complain but generally give them another chance - everyone has an off night.

But something that really jerks my chain is un-managed children! If I go to Applebees or Chuck E Cheese (God forbid!) or other "family friendly" markets I expect to find children. However when I go to an up-scale place with the $$ that go with that I do not expect to hear children screaming, crying, acting up at the table or racing around the tables!

I am not anti-child; I raised a son and have a 3 year old grandaughter I adore but nobody should expect young children to sit at table for a length of time they can't tolerate or at an hour too late for them to behave reasonably. It's the parents I blame, not the children. And I know that having small children changes one's tolerance level for the chaos they create.

Still where are my rights? They used to have smoke free sections - I'd lobby heartily for child-free sections. Now I just vote with my feet.

 

[expatgirl]

I raised a very hyperactive little boy but we never took him anywhere without a box of toys and activities to do. He knew he was expected to behave in restaurants and if he had to go outside with one of us for time out that's where he went. We were not going to inflict his boisterousnous on others. As a reward, we've had several people over the years compliment our children to their faces for their behavior while dining out. It never ceases to amaze me the parents who will bring young children to restaurants and expect them to be happy sitting still for an hour or two with just a cracker or a few crayons the restaurant supplies to occupy them. It's not fair to them.

 

[randyhirst]

As a chef/ restaurant manager I can overlook most trival stuff and to an extent poor service/food quality but bad sanitation practices will stop me in my tracks every time.

 

[Anthea]

Wow Jeenkinz that is scarey. I was a waiter for a few years and you just don't let that sort of thing happen. You can't afford to take the chance that someone will hurt themselves. What if you served a drink with glass in it to a child? That's so irresponsible.

I don't care how good the food or product is, if I feel that I'm not getting good service I won't shop/eat there again. I work in retail now and I know that shop assistants are supposed to great you within 30 seconds of entering a store and approach you within 3 mintues to see what you need help with but I can spend up to 15 minutes in some places without someone even acknowledging my presence. If the staff are rude or don't care that's a total deal breaker for me, you've just lost me as a customer and the 75 people I'll tell about it.

 

[bandonjan]

I agree with Anthea service is a big part of the
total product. I've left places because of slow or
nonexistent service, in stores or restaurants.

 

[Anthea]

I just can't stand it! You can't just expect I'm going to had over my hard earned cash for nothing. I WORK for my money, why don't you? ARGH!

Sorry, bad service makes me mad...

 

[elaine l]

One pet peeve that I have is when a server brings me my dinner and then proceeds to get whatever needed to go with it. Example: french fries...run and get ketchup....steak......run and get steak knife. Or worse to watch as they do other tasks while I wait for these items. I have waitressed years back and I know it is hard work but somethings are common sense with a little organization.

Poor service, bad food would be my reason for not returning.

 

[Anthea]

Oh my gosh Elaine I know exactly what you're talking about! When I worked in restaurants we were taught that as soon as you take an order for something that needs something else ie a steak needs a steak knife, soup needs a soup spoon, you take the order to the kitchen and you go straight back to the table with the extra bits they need, so that when you take the food to the table the customer can eat it straight away, otherwise it gets cold while you wait for everything else to turn up.

I also hate when you order something and the waiter comes back 5 mins later and says "oh I'm sorry, we're out of that..." Hello? Shouldn't you know this ahead of time? Warn me about it when you give me a menu or when I place my order!

Maybe I should stop posting on this thread, I seem to be getting a little worked up...