That sounds like a typical mom+pop type of place trying to run on a budget. That's a real shame about the steaks, too. As for the garnish, well its gross but I've definitely seen worse.
I suppose I can take this opportunity to share some of the darker stories I have about restaurants. Alot of times if you're going out to eat at a place that clearly runs on a budget, there's a slight chance that you'll be served floor food. That is to say that food that accidentally gets dropped on the floor will be picked up, dusted off, then cooked and served. I know the risk, and to be honest it wouldn't bother me all that much if I knew the food was cooked after hitting the floor. Now if its cooked and THEN hits the floor, BLECH! If you're lucky they'll dunk whatever it is into boiling water for a second and then stick right back on the plate.
The fact of the matter is, a mom + pop shop can't afford to waste product. A more upscale place or a chain are much less likely to serve dropped food. That doesn't mean upscale places are exempt, however. I've seen scallops, filet mignon, salmon hit the floor, but if service is crazy, having to cook a mid-well filet over again will throw off everyone in the kitchen, and they'll never let your forget that crazy night when your dumb *** dropped the steak on the floor and left the rest of the kitchen to crash and burn. Sometimes the only thing you can do is dunk it in that boiling water and send it out. It's always regrettable, but it happens. Under ideal circumstances all dropped food would get saved for chef's dog and you'd do your dish over again. But- the line is a FAR FAR Far way from being ideal. Rule of thumb during a very busy service is: if it could make the customer sick, then toss it. Otherwise, fix it. Like I said, it's regerettable, but it happens.
On the bright side, line cooks learn REAL quick that its best just to never drop food at all. As a group, we've got some of the best reflexes, steadiest hands, and thresholds for pain than you'll find in most other professions. That translates into us almost NEVER dropping food, even when someone tosses a steaming hot water pot your way to be refilled while you've got a blistering hot filet in your hand that just came out of your 500 degree oven. You hold onto that steak like it's your child, take the pain, and then catch that water pot thats flying through the air toward your face with your free hand, and try to set it down before it gets you. Metal will burn your a lot worse than food will.
Cooks also have to be great throwers, as well as catchers. Got a huge stack of dirts pans that need to get washed in a hurry? Grab em all and chuck them 10 feet down the line into the dish pit, making sure you dont knock any other cooks or waistaff in the face while doing so.
As a cook you have to be fast too. Food needs to go out quickly, and as a result, cooks are always in a hurry. If someone is racing toward your oven calling out "Hot down!!!" you'd better be **** sure you're out of the way by the time they get there. Nothing brightens your night quite like a heavy oven door being thrown open and crashing into your shins or knees.
Is suppose what I'm getting at, is that a restaurant line is a pretty intense place to spend your evenings. You're in constant danger of burns from hot oil (both from pans AND deep fryer), hot pans, boiling water, scorching metal and fire. There's constant danger of your hand being sliced open to the bone by a wayward knife stroke. There's the risk of dehydration and exhaustion that comes from standing in front of a 900 degree salamander for 6 hours in an already too-hot kitchen. And cooks go through all of this for pretty low wages. I do this for $7/hr (though, god willing, I have a raise in my very near future). More than that though, I, and any good cook does it because they love to make great food for people. We put our blood, sweat, and tears into our jobs, because we love it, and that's why we also put all of our heart into it as well. Rest assured that if you're served sub-standard, or heck, even mediocre food, the cook that prepared your meal feels much worse about it than you do. He'll remember and regret that plate for the rest of the night, will dream ( or have nightmares) about it when he finally drifts off to sleep, and will spend the rest of the week thinking of all the things he could've done differently to make that plate be what it should have been. We learn from our mistakes in an effort to make it up to you next time, when we hope to give you a truly remarkable meal.
So next time you're eating out, and start worrying that you'll recieve "floor food", just know that the cooks are worrying even more than you about having to serve you floor food. More importantly, know that the odds are heavily in your favor that you will not recieve floor food. God forbid you ever eat food that makes you hang out with your best porcelain buddy for the rest of the night, know that when that cook finds out he made someone sick, he'll be throwing up the next night, sick at himself for making such a glaring mistake. We strive for perfection in our profession, and we're very driven towards it, and that's why you shouldn't worry about all the things that can go wrong while you're eating out, but hope for all the things that can go right.
of being part of the team that cooked the meat for the evening. This particular time it was BBQ ribs, and we had 200 slabs of St. Louis ribs to cook. The cooker was inside the kitchen, and consisted of 5 six foot shelves that rotated. The wood fired fire box was 10 feet away and located outside the building. After burning off the first load of wood to coals we started with 60 rubbed slabs of ribs. Things were going nicely. My two cohorts left to run an errand, and I was left on guard. After a short time, I thought things were moving to slow. (We had had 140 slabs after this load.) So, I decided to move things along a bit and added 4 more pieces of fire wood to the fire. After this I got distracted, and in about 45 minutes my cohorts returned to find the 60 slabs black from excessive heat. Panic!!!
60 slabs, almost 1/3 of the total Quick! What to do?? Ah! Light bulb!! Make them “wet” ribs. 
