• Hey, guest user. Hope you're enjoying NeoGAF! Have you considered registering for an account? Come join us and add your take to the daily discourse.

Most Unpleasant Time at a Restaurant

Apt101

Member
I was at a small Korean place, one of my favorites, took a new date there. One of the owners, well their son, kept coming up while we were eating and adding stuff to our meals (spicy sauce), telling us how to eat it, etc. He didn't seem to understand us when we told him to stop, or just didn't fucking care. Halfway through the meal we called it a loss, paid, and went downtown to Gordon Biersch. Had an amazing burger and we got a little drunk.
 

Sesuadra

Unconfirmed Member
The time I was not allowed into a restaurant lol.

It was in asakusa.

It was open, they had a sign outside that said "curry". I wanted to go in, a small japanese woman came out and told me I can't go inside.

I took the hint and left.
 

retroman

Member
We even wondered if it was a German thing to pay a tip alongside the final bill but still, given there were Americans and other nationalities around us then he would've understood given his experience.

I'm from Holland and yeah, we pay the tip alongside the final bill here. I guess it's a European thing. Didn't know it was different in the USA!

That waiter was still a jerk for reacting the way he did, though.
 

Sesuadra

Unconfirmed Member
Traditionally, my GF and I always tip after we complete the payment whether its leaving the spare change on the table or leaving something before we get up and leave but at that moment we were both so offended. Like fuck did we leave that rude bastard a tip. Pretty hilarious looking now but at the time we found it pretty unpleasant. We even wondered if it was a German thing to pay a tip alongside the final bill but still, given there were Americans and other nationalities around us then he would've understood given his experience.

In germany you leave the tip alongside the final bill.

Like, the bill says 47€, you tell the waiter "to make it 50"

But nevertheless he was rude lol.
 
My mom and brother and I were going out for dinner one night. There was this seafood place that they both wanted to check out. I have a life-threatening allergy to fish, but there was also a few basic non-seafood items on the menu, so I agreed to it.

I've worked in a restaurant kitchen before, so I know the drill. When someone has an allergy, everyone stops what they're doing, washes and sanitizes their work station, and trades out all their cooking utensils for clean ones. You don't fuck around with an allergy.

Waitress comes around, I explain the situation to her, and order a burger.

Well, obviously that kitchen had different standards than the one I worked at. Presumably, they cooked my burger in the same pan as someone else's fish and I spent the next hour vomiting out all of my internal organs.
 

glaurung

Member
Ooh, food poisoning stories? I got those.

Went on a road trip to France. At a little place called Chateau something-or-other, pulled over to get some kebabs. Had to stop six times on our way to Paris to throw up.

Got a tuna salad with egg on a weekend outing. Within 10h, could not really stand up or move, body stored nothing. Even threw up water back then. This lasted three and a half days. I think I lost a kilogram and a half in body mass alone. Went real careful around tuna for a couple of months after that.

Redecorated a roadside fish buffet toilet in Lithuania after they served us a fish fillet with cheese. That thing left my body faster than I had eaten it. Amazing experience.
 
I remember the worst service ever was when I was in Paris a couple of years ago.

One night went to a restaurant, got told there would be about a 20 minute wait for a seat which was fine. We got seated eventually, then forgotten about. For 45 minutes we sat there with our menus, no one even came to take a drink order. We were watching people coming in after us, getting seated and served as normal. We tried to flag down a few waiters as they passed but after 45 minutes we just got up and left. We then went to another restaurant up the road, where they just forgot to bring my starter. They brought my girlfriends, and mine still hadn't came by the time she'd finished eating. I asked them about it, and they said they had forgot and just laughed about it like it was a funny thing.

On the same trip but on a different night, we went to a cafe to get some food and a bottle of wine. This was at about 10pm, but most places were open until midnight or later. There was only one or two other couples in the restaurant. We ordered our food, got our starters fine. Then when our starters were cleared, we sat there for an hour and a half waiting on our mains. Normally we would say something, but we weren't in a rush and wanted to see how long it would take before they remembered we were sitting there. Eventually the waiter did remember, and again, he just laughed about it like it was a big joke. When we got our bill, I was working putting money on the table down to the penny because no way was I leaving a tip. The waiter came out as I was counting the change and started asking me to give him more. I said no way, we're not tipping after being left unattended for 90 minutes between courses.

We were in Paris for a week and every single time we went out for food the service was terrible. These were just the two most memorable examples.
 

Samus4145

Member
I went to a Chili's once in Connecticut and they undercooked the chicken 3 times. At least the manager comped our entire table.
 

Mendrox

Member
The time I was not allowed into a restaurant lol.

It was in asakusa.

It was open, they had a sign outside that said "curry". I wanted to go in, a small japanese woman came out and told me I can't go inside.

I took the hint and left.

Because you were a Gaijin? That sucks but I heard that too. Never happened to me though. Sucks man
 

vikki

Member
A few months after an Outback Steakhouse opened in my area, some friends and I decided to check the place out. When we got to the restaurant, it was a little busy, so the wait was supposed to be 45 minutes. After we noticed people getting seated before us that arrived much later than us, we went to see what the problem was, we were waiting on the benches outside. Apparently their buzzer was defective, but then was still had to wait like another 45 minutes. We waited almost 2 hours.

The waitress was nice, but bad. Our order was fucked up and we complained, but the manager didn't give a shit. Haven't been back to an outback since, mostly because their menu is shit.
 
My most unpleasant time at a restaurant was a work-training experience that I had a while back. I went in for an interview and they hired me on the spot, I should have taken that as a red flag. lol

The last time I went to breakfast with my trump loving father.
Last Fall I witnessed my grandfather try to hard sell Trump to a barbershop customer while they were mid-haircut. I feel for you dude.
 

Sesuadra

Unconfirmed Member
Because you were a Gaijin? That sucks but I heard that too. Never happened to me though. Sucks man
Not sure. I told her in japanese that i would like some curry.
She just said "no no", so I left without saying anything further. The restaurant next door made me some great yakisoba. It was my first day ever in Japan btw lol. December 2012.

I've lived in Tokyo bc I studied there and visited Japan 3 times so far. This was the only unpleasant experience I ever had except for some trouble with my fellow schoolmates but they were not Japanese.
 

Mendrox

Member
Not sure. I told her in japanese that i would like some curry.
She just said "no no", so I left without saying anything further. The restaurant next door made me some great yakisoba. It was my first day ever in Japan btw lol. December 2012.

I've lived in Tokyo bc I studied there and visited Japan 3 times so far. This was the only unpleasant experience I ever had except for some trouble with my fellow schoolmates but they were not Japanese.

Guess she didnt want embarrase herself :) Yakisoba is better than Curry though :p
 
Any time before the 2011 smoking ban.
I was racking my brain trying to think of a suitable example, but this pretty much encapsulates my dining miseries in life. The smoking ban in Scotland (and later down south) made restaurants and events much more bearable.

And much love to the smokers that respect it.
 

Ensoul

Member
Probably at a papa gino’s (more or less a chain pizza place like Dominos, Pizza hut etc) I ordered a pizza and bread sticks over the phone to go. A minute later I called back and said instead of taking the pizza to go I am going to eat it there. I was with my wife and my son who was probably 4 at the time. I get there about 10 minutes later. Wait a few minutes and pick up the order. Still not ready. I check again 20 minutes later, nope not ready. Check again 20 minutes later, nope. It got the to the point where people there started to feel bad for us and offered to give us some of their slices.

After about an hour and I finally walk up and ask for my money back. I hand the lady my receipt and she say ”Oh.” Then pulls the pizza and bread sticks from those to-go ovens. It had been ready for god knows how long. The manager refunded my money and have me the pizza but I was still pretty annoyed at their incompetence.
 
Family with kids walked into the bar my and my buddy were playing pool at. Kids were fucking hellions, and causing problems. Things went very poorly when one of them climbed onto our pool table and refused to get down, and the parents were of no help.Things were said, things were thrown, Police got involved, an ambulance was called, yadda yadda.
 

E92 M3

Member
Have walked into restaurants, waited 45 minutes for service and then left.

Alternatively, getting billed for the table next to ours when those assholes just left without paying. The waitress simply thought: "I'll add their bill to that other table, they won't mind." Even though I was going to pay for my entire table, I did not intend to pay for theirs. One of my friends ended up going insane at the waitress who then pretended to be all crying and remorseful. Took us 30m to re-separate the bill, punch the floor manager in the face and leave a 0.001% tip. I expect that waitress got sacked after we left. Never went back to that place ever again, warned other people to do the same.

And, my favorite: walking into an "American-style" diner, waiting to be seated, getting a super rude waitress asking whether we wanted to eat or just have drinks, us saying that eat and have drinks, the waitress then going "so you're a bunch of drunks then?". We left immediately, never to return.

So, the waitress just added a random table's bill to yours? What is the rationale there?
 

old

Member
Bad service mixed with bad cooks. Our food never got served. Our server didn't notice. When it was pointed out she did not apologize or try to make it right, just thought serving food an hour and a half later than expected was enough. When we said we were cancelling our order she tried to act like we were being unreasonable.
 
My one and only time ever going into a Waffle House. The only waitress on duty refused to serve me because I was with my white girlfriend at the time. I tipped over my water on the table just as we walked out.

I had another shitty experience in New Orleans, but that one wasn't as blatantly racist.
 

Sch1sm

Member
Campus restaurant. 2015 September, for a friend's birthday. We initially just wanted to go to this wings place, but they refused to seat such a large group (12?), so we went back to campus. It was a Tuesday, so even this restaurant had a half off wings deal. I didn't want wings, though, I had wings the past few days at my house. Ordered fish & chips or something. Order doesn't come. I ask the server when she comes to do her initial check up on everyone who already got their food, turns out she forgot to put the order in? Food doesn't show up until an hour after everyone else already got theirs, and were finished.

I still haven't gone back and I still go to this school, smh.
 
Had the most romantic dinner at this local Italian place. Food was perfect, ambiance was amazing, the owner even came out and talked to my now wife during a good amount of the time. It was a pretty much perfect date. Then the owner left, and as soon as she did, the back of house started playing dub step at loud volumes, our waiter came to to drop off our dessert while talking on the cell and literally dropped the dish on the table, a couple of inches off the ground so it didn't break or anything just make a ton of sound. It was the strangest turn at a restaurant. We left a yelp that said the same, it honestly soured the experience
 

LordOfChaos

Member
It was a speakeasy, had to give another bar a password and then they took you underground to it, the concept was pretty cool but I guess they got so caught up in the novelty they didn't remember to make a good bar. We waited an hour to have an order taken and first drink recieved, buzz dead by then, and left after.
 
That would be the entire time I worked as a waiter.
I saw Chris Pratt at a high end restaurant in Los Angeles other day. I really wanted to say hi to him but he seemed pretty engaged with his family and I didn't want to be an asshole. I decided that I would just say something quick to him while I was leaving, but then he finished first. I didn't want to miss him so I just ran up and told him how cool it was to meet him in person, but I didn’t want to be a douche and bother him and ask him for photos or anything.

He said, “Oh, like you’re doing now?”

I was taken aback, and all I could say was “Huh?” but he kept cutting me off and going “huh? huh? huh?” and closing his hand shut in front of my face. I guessed this happens often and he was fed up with it so I just left, and I heard him chuckle as I walked off. When I came time for him to pay the bill I saw him stuff a bunch of breadsticks in his pockets. He was telling his wife to put some in her shirt too.
The waitress was very nice about it and professional, and was like “Sir, you can't leave with the breadsticks. You're free to eat them as long as you stay. Its Olive Garden policy.” At first he kept pretending to be tired and not hear her, but eventually he took them out and started snacking on them.
When she took his credit card and started swiping it, he stopped her and told her to swipe it multiple times “to prevent any electrical infetterence,” and then turned around and winked at me. I don’t even think that’s a word. After she swiped the card and tried to take the bill, he kept interrupting her by snatching it out of her hands and making sure she wasn't trying to tack on additional charges.
Cut this shit out.
 

Rktk

Member
The first and last time I booked a table for Valentine's Day, herded in like cattle, reduced menu with increased prices, food was bland, no one in there seemed to be having a good time. I was 19 I didn't know better, I hate being duped.
 

SKINNER!

Banned
The time I was not allowed into a restaurant lol.

It was in asakusa.

It was open, they had a sign outside that said "curry". I wanted to go in, a small japanese woman came out and told me I can't go inside.

I took the hint and left.

Hahahaha, that reminds me of my first night in Shinjuku alone. Absolute gold mine for awkward situations. Saw this sign for a really cool cocktail/lounge bar and decided "I wanna check that out!" and went into the door at the ground floor only to be greeted with an elevator, figured I'd take the elevator to this bar as it said its on the second floor (usually the case in Japan where bars/restaurants/shops are like on 2nd/3rd floors), so I take the elevator up, door opens, and then I just see a wave of Japanese men in suits looking directly towards me. Bartender too. Just awkward silence but music was lightly playing. Got this incredible "you're not welcome here" vibe so I just smiled, nodded my head and waited for the elevator door to eventually shut before I went back downstairs. Thought that was the end of my night of awkwardness however... Found an Irish up nearby and decided to head in there. Walked up to the bar and had a drink next to this American guy. Busy, loud, happy place so I figured I'd strike up a conversation. Guy just grunts with one word answers while smoking a cigarette. Figured he didn't want to be social so I left him alone. Then - as I was having my drink - I noticed his wife/girlfriend was chatting up some random Japanese guy seductively in front of the American guy and doing the whole "I'm trying to make you jealous" thing. I have no idea what that was all about but I now knew why the guy was upset so I downed it and left haha. Good times!


I'm from Holland and yeah, we pay the tip alongside the final bill here. I guess it's a European thing. Didn't know it was different in the USA!

That waiter was still a jerk for reacting the way he did, though.

In germany you leave the tip alongside the final bill.

Like, the bill says 47€, you tell the waiter "to make it 50"

But nevertheless he was rude lol.

Thanks Holland and Germany GAF. I'll remember this the next time I'm there. Just so strange because we would've tipped that night. It was our last night actually and we needed to get rid of Euros. Still, guy was such a dick.
 

Travo

Member
Went to IHOP at like 2 am. I fully expected the food and service to be shit, which I was ok with. My mom and my sister's boyfriend apparently didn't know what they were getting into and made the whole time unpleasant.
I can't stand when I go out to eat with my family and they complain about every damn thing.
 

CDV13

Member
I can't stand when I go out to eat with my family and they complain about every damn thing.

It's so fucking annoying. It is way worse than the "poor service" every time. One of my good buddy's girlfriend has never not bitched about service. Every time we go to eat, constant complaining. It is awful.
 
A waiter dropped a tray of drinks on me once. I was at a table with a few friends and a bunch of people I had just met. It was pretty embarrassing. Fortunately, I had some clothes in the car that I could change in to, but I spent the rest of the night in a tank top and mesh shorts.
 

Dipper145

Member
Definitely a lot of places in the montreal area where as an english speaking canadian, was told several times that what I wanted from the menu wasn't available. So had to end up getting my 4th or 5th choice of food.


Had times where waitresses/waiters forgot an appetizer or meal or drink, but that stuff happens and never really upset me. You and them play it off as something funny because people make mistakes sometimes, and go on with your day. The only thing that makes times at a restaurant unpleasent for me is unpleasant waiters.
 

____

Member
One time my mom and I went to a Chinese restaurant on Christmas since it was only her and I and we didn't feel like cooking.

Place was near empty, but service was terrible and slow, and then my mom didn't like the food after the first bite. She waited for the server to ask to switch to something else, and dude pretty much told the manager we complained, he came out and snapped on us and told us he couldn't switch the meal. My mom said she wasn't going to pay for it, since she didn't like it and didn't eat it, and that we'd just leave. He further snapped saying we had to pay since they had to make it.

We ended up just walking out, and he berated us on our way out the door and told us we're not welcome to come back ever again.

LOL. On Christmas.
 

br3wnor

Member
Wasn't the restaurant itself, but finalizing the bill.

2008? Ex-Girlfriends birthday, she wants to go out to eat at this Indian place in the city, I organize it, probably close to 20 people. We're all in our early 20's, this is before Restaurants really got cool w/ the whole splitting a bill between a bunch of credit cards. Anyway, we have the dinner, lot of food ordered, good amount of drinks. Bill comes and it's huge of course, I'm a broke ass college student so there's no way I can cover it myself, I start trying to get everyone on board to figure out how we're splitting the bill, people are drunk, don't give a fuck. It literally took me 45 minutes to get it to the point where we could pay the bill, people didn't want to split it evenly "I didn't drink anything!" "I only had one drink!" And of course the people who did drink heavily didn't want to pay more, it was just a complete cluster fuck, there were even people who literally threw $10 cash in and called it a day. I'm pretty sure I had to eat like $200-$300 of the bill myself which completely fucked me financially for the next couple of weeks (I made Ike $70 a week). I didn't know a majority of the people there since they were my GF's friends and we were long distance and she either visited me at school or me to her house, so I had no authority to just tell everyone what the fuck, lets sort this out. The other fun part was the entire time I'm trying to sort the bill, a group of people was waiting to take our table and had to keep waiting. The restaurant hated us.

Ever since then I've been wary of large group dinners. It's gotten a little easier especially w/ places that will split the bill before you order, but unless I know everyone in the group, I still stress about big dinners because you always have people who won't just split the bill evenly and it becomes a pissing match.
 

EYEL1NER

Member
EDIT: I'm going to TL;DR the beginning of this, in case someone sees the length of the post and gets their hopes up that it is some epic story. It isn't anything that crazy, just an overly long tale about eating with some rude people in my party who got on my nerves.

One of my most unpleasant times at a restaurant in recent memory was one where I actually loved the food but the people I was with ruined it for me. My wife, daughter, and I went with some family friends to a new Cajun restaurant in town. This building seems like it is always a new restaurant like every six months: something opens up there, I notice the sign and think 'I should try that,' and before it can eat there it had closed down and something new has opened in its place.
Well I was in the mood for Cajun one day and looked up the menu online for this new joint. The food sounded really good but the prices made it clear that it was a nicer restaurant than I was expecting. I decided we'd eat there for dinner that night and told my wife. She said she wanted to invite her friend and I said fine; her friend is an acquaintance of mine but not someone I'd consider my friend really. Anyway, her friend shows up in the parking lot at the same time as us and has brought her mother and son (who is just over one year old at the time, I guess?). That wasn't any surprise really, since her whole family lives with her and none of them can drive or anything, so she takes them wherever she goes most of the time.
We get inside and the restaurant isn't anywhere that I needed to dress up for (I didn't anyway) but it was a nice place. The lighting was really low and pleasant, there was a very small state with an old guy on a stool playing blues and jazz songs on guitar, and the servers were very polite. There was maybe two other parties in there but it was otherwise dead, which was great too that it wasn't crowded.
I was expecting a great time as we were seated and beginning to look at the menus and order drinks and appetizers. I ordered some variant of a mint julep and was excited for a pleasant dining experience. Then it went horribly wrong. First the friend's son started acting up. He began grabbing the silverwear off of the table and throwing it on the floor. The friend and her mother would pick it up and then place it right back down in front of him to play with, which meant he would promptly throw it back onto the floor. We had been seated on an elevated section of flooring which was a bit hollow underneath, so the forks and spoons were extremely loud every time they bounced off the wooden floor. Then he began to yell. Luckily it wasn't crying but just that loud toddler yell that they do when they feel talkative. The friend decided to just ignore it (she ignores him in general most of the time, tbh), so this continued for pretty much the entire meal. The friend's mother pulled out her phone and began watching YouTube videos of some singing contest in her primary language on it, at maximum volume. She didn't start, realize it was up, and then quickly turned it down; She started watching and turned it up all the way. I'm assuming she turned it up so she could hear it over the live musician, because who wants to listen to that noise, am I right? My wife and her friend are carrying on conversations the entire time but are having to speak pretty loudly to be heard over the live music, the YouTube videos, and the yelling children, so they are pretty much yelling to each other about things and then laughing uproariously at whatever it is they are saying.
This goes on for the entire meal. During this, more and more people were coming in to eat. Not that how many other were dining would have made me less mortified; if it was just us and the musician and staff I would have still been upset. But now we are ruining quite a few other people's dining experiences as well. I sat there grinding my teeth, which I never do, and scowling the whole time. My right eye was twitching, something it hadn't done in a while. I wanted to walk out so bad, just stand up and say "I'll be in the car, just tell them to make my food to go and bring it when you are done," but I knew my wife would have just been irritated at me over doing that. I did tell my wife how embarrassed I was when we got to the car and how I was *this* close to walking out but she defended her friend and her friend's family, which is pretty much what I knew would happen and why I didn't walk out: no one would have been on my side no matter what.
I did make sure to tip very generously to the staff who had to put up with us. I was bummed that I didn't have any cash to tip the jazz player who had to deal with YouTube videos competing with the sound of his music.

I knew her son acted like that, because like I said: she takes them all everywhere she goes, and they had been out to eat with us many times. Every time after though I would express my disapproval over the 'acceptance' of her son's behavior to my wife who would hand wave it away with "He's just a kid, what do you expect? He's a baby. What do you think is going to happen when he's born?" and gesture at her pregnant stomach. I'd try to explain that I wouldn't be taking our son to each and every restaurant out there and that if I did, I would allow that kind of yelling and throwing stuff and crying to happen. My son is six months old right now but dealing with that friend's kid at restaurants has made it to where as soon as my son lets out even a small whine like he's going to get fussy, I'm already picking him up and heading out the door with him.
 
EDIT: I'm going to TL;DR the beginning of this, in case someone sees the length of the post and gets their hopes up that it is some epic story. It isn't anything that crazy, just an overly long tale about eating with some rude people in my party who got on my nerves.

One of my most unpleasant times at a restaurant in recent memory was one where I actually loved the food but the people I was with ruined it for me. My wife, daughter, and I went with some family friends to a new Cajun restaurant in town. This building seems like it is always a new restaurant like every six months: something opens up there, I notice the sign and think 'I should try that,' and before it can eat there it had closed down and something new has opened in its place.
Well I was in the mood for Cajun one day and looked up the menu online for this new joint. The food sounded really good but the prices made it clear that it was a nicer restaurant than I was expecting. I decided we'd eat there for dinner that night and told my wife. She said she wanted to invite her friend and I said fine; her friend is an acquaintance of mine but not someone I'd consider my friend really. Anyway, her friend shows up in the parking lot at the same time as us and has brought her mother and son (who is just over one year old at the time, I guess?). That wasn't any surprise really, since her whole family lives with her and none of them can drive or anything, so she takes them wherever she goes most of the time.
We get inside and the restaurant isn't anywhere that I needed to dress up for (I didn't anyway) but it was a nice place. The lighting was really low and pleasant, there was a very small state with an old guy on a stool playing blues and jazz songs on guitar, and the servers were very polite. There was maybe two other parties in there but it was otherwise dead, which was great too that it wasn't crowded.
I was expecting a great time as we were seated and beginning to look at the menus and order drinks and appetizers. I ordered some variant of a mint julep and was excited for a pleasant dining experience. Then it went horribly wrong. First the friend's son started acting up. He began grabbing the silverwear off of the table and throwing it on the floor. The friend and her mother would pick it up and then place it right back down in front of him to play with, which meant he would promptly throw it back onto the floor. We had been seated on an elevated section of flooring which was a bit hollow underneath, so the forks and spoons were extremely loud every time they bounced off the wooden floor. Then he began to yell. Luckily it wasn't crying but just that loud toddler yell that they do when they feel talkative. The friend decided to just ignore it (she ignores him in general most of the time, tbh), so this continued for pretty much the entire meal. The friend's mother pulled out her phone and began watching YouTube videos of some singing contest in her primary language on it, at maximum volume. She didn't start, realize it was up, and then quickly turned it down; She started watching and turned it up all the way. I'm assuming she turned it up so she could hear it over the live musician, because who wants to listen to that noise, am I right? My wife and her friend are carrying on conversations the entire time but are having to speak pretty loudly to be heard over the live music, the YouTube videos, and the yelling children, so they are pretty much yelling to each other about things and then laughing uproariously at whatever it is they are saying.
This goes on for the entire meal. During this, more and more people were coming in to eat. Not that how many other were dining would have made me less mortified; if it was just us and the musician and staff I would have still been upset. But now we are ruining quite a few other people's dining experiences as well. I sat there grinding my teeth, which I never do, and scowling the whole time. My right eye was twitching, something it hadn't done in a while. I wanted to walk out so bad, just stand up and say "I'll be in the car, just tell them to make my food to go and bring it when you are done," but I knew my wife would have just been irritated at me over doing that. I did tell my wife how embarrassed I was when we got to the car and how I was *this* close to walking out but she defended her friend and her friend's family, which is pretty much what I knew would happen and why I didn't walk out: no one would have been on my side no matter what.
I did make sure to tip very generously to the staff who had to put up with us. I was bummed that I didn't have any cash to tip the jazz player who had to deal with YouTube videos competing with the sound of his music.

I knew her son acted like that, because like I said: she takes them all everywhere she goes, and they had been out to eat with us many times. Every time after though I would express my disapproval over the 'acceptance' of her son's behavior to my wife who would hand wave it away with "He's just a kid, what do you expect? He's a baby. What do you think is going to happen when he's born?" and gesture at her pregnant stomach. I'd try to explain that I wouldn't be taking our son to each and every restaurant out there and that if I did, I would allow that kind of yelling and throwing stuff and crying to happen. My son is six months old right now but dealing with that friend's kid at restaurants has made it to where as soon as my son lets out even a small whine like he's going to get fussy, I'm already picking him up and heading out the door with him.

I mean, your reaction seems pretty overblown and at no point did you say anything or do anything to fix stuff. You instead were too afraid and sat their brewing the entire time over something that probably could have been fixed. Also, it's only long because the first half of story is just background of them meeting you in a parking lot and stuff.
 
For me it was 5 months ago and was at a pizza restaurant in Nashville. The food was really good don't get me wrong but people's kids were out of control which eventually led to someone dropping a pizza pan on their leg. I never seen such a horrific sight then to see someone burn and scream in pain. Made me so sad to watch but luckily he got to the hospital. What about you Gaf? What are your most unpleasant experiences at a restaurant?

Similar situation in which wild kids let loose and ended up double fisting the sesame seeds straight from the salad buffet elbow deep into the ranch dressing.



Probably the legit worst experience was the time a girl I was dating wanted to go to some garbage steakhouse chain 5 minutes before closing and they were throwing us shade the whole night.
 

Pepboy

Member
I was doing my insulin injection discreetly beneath the table when I was approached by a waiter and manager, and told to either go inject in the bathroom or leave the property altogether, as I was making other patrons uncomfortable. I argued my case, got the management teams details, told the woman who complained where to put her opinion, and walked out without paying for my meal. I'm so sorry that my life-saving injection bothers you so much. Cunts.

Eh, some people have fear of needles. Estimated 10% suffer from trypanphobia, though I am sure most cases are rather minor.

But it obviously wasn't so discreet if someone complained about it. The waiter and manager may have been rude but its not conceptually that different from a variety of other activities that society deems necessary to use the bathroom for. It's not like they were saying you couldn't take the injection.
 
One time my mom and I went to a Chinese restaurant on Christmas since it was only her and I and we didn't feel like cooking.

Place was near empty, but service was terrible and slow, and then my mom didn't like the food after the first bite. She waited for the server to ask to switch to something else, and dude pretty much told the manager we complained, he came out and snapped on us and told us he couldn't switch the meal. My mom said she wasn't going to pay for it, since she didn't like it and didn't eat it, and that we'd just leave. He further snapped saying we had to pay since they had to make it.

We ended up just walking out, and he berated us on our way out the door and told us we're not welcome to come back ever again.

LOL. On Christmas.
Maybe this is a topic for another thread (that has the potential to backfire on me horribly), but I never understood people that order something then expect to swap it out for no additional charge.

I understand some restaurants will let you do that in order to keep you happy, but you committed to a choice for a product. It's a pure loss to the restaurant that has to just throw it out after you touched it.

In this specific instance, sounds like everything else was already terrible and obviously the manager could have kept your patronage both on that day and in the future if he didn't go full HAM, but I'm always surprised when someone feels entitled to switch out their meal at full compensation if there's nothing wrong about it other than general predilection.
 
Normally I would say loud and out of control kids but instead I will discuss this diner I have been going to for years. I have become friendly with the wait staff but I have found that everyone seems to secretly hate each other and I get told about it. It's as though I have become the therapist for everyone.
 
I was djing a side room back when Napolean Dynamite was big and the dudes were playing at clubs. The guy who played Pedro was djing the main room, there was a fucking Piñata in there and a bunch of girls with "vote for Pedro" shirts on.I met this girl there and we hit it off. We go out the next day for drinks with her friend and her boyfriend. She proceeds to get hammered and just is really rude on the date. Anyway I was ready to bail but her friend said let's get her some food (the couple was actually cool) we go to a French restaurant, her friend's bf was not allowed in cos he was smoking. The rest of us were seated.


Ok, so the friend goes to use the restroom and my "date" was sitting there looking drunk as shit, I go to take a drink of water and she says

"That's my friend's drink"
I say "she's not going to care"

Her friend comes back and I tell her I accidentally took a sip from her drink and doesn't mind.


My date didn't like that and she goes and knocks every utensil, glass and plates in one swoop of her hand on the floor. Everyone is looking at us and shit just gets out of hand. Her friend pays for the damage and we leave. Her friend's bf also is fucking awol now.

I end up getting dropped of at my car by her friend (I helped her look for her bf for a bit) and that was that. She was really cool I don't know wtf happened to her bf.
 

Vire

Member
I was talking about gun control with my best friend and bitching about assault rifles and some fucking jackass interrupted our conversation from two tables away and started lecturing me about.

I nearly punched the guy.
 

dallow_bg

nods at old men
I'm from Holland and yeah, we pay the tip alongside the final bill here. I guess it's a European thing. Didn't know it was different in the USA!

That waiter was still a jerk for reacting the way he did, though.

In germany you leave the tip alongside the final bill.

Like, the bill says 47€, you tell the waiter "to make it 50"

But nevertheless he was rude lol.

Thanks Holland and Germany GAF. I'll remember this the next time I'm there. Just so strange because we would've tipped that night. It was our last night actually and we needed to get rid of Euros. Still, guy was such a dick.

I don't know, I'm also American and if I'm paying cash, I've always put the full bill+tip into the little wallet thing.

I only leave cash on the table if the meal is pre-paid, or I am paying with a card and would rather leave a cash tip.
 
Top Bottom