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Worst restaurant experience |
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#1 |
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Forum Member
Join Date: Oct 2008
Location: By the tangerine sea
Posts: 1,182
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Worst restaurant experience
Nicked this title off the general discussion board but they didn't go into much detail. I'm sure all you foodies will give ample detail.
My most recent nightmare (not that I've had many) was at a local pizza restaurant (not a chain one). There are two pizza restaurants where I live, one is excellent and the other never seems to be very busy. I now know why! We ordered garlic bread to share as a starter. It came almost 2 or 3 minutes later (suspicious???) - it was swimming in olive oil and was luke warm. Worst of all I'm convinced the garlic wasn't fresh but from out of a jar. ![]() Next came the pizzas. I ordered a Margarita (my favourite) Again this too was barely luke warm and the mozerella was hard and congealed. I struggled to eat it and in the end left more than half of it. It was so obvious that they had simply re-heated the pizza which had been made some time earlier. None of us made a complaint as none of us are the type to make a fuss but we all left with the same intent - NEVER to go to the wretched place again. If that's the crap they serve then I cannot understand how they are still in business. Right, got that out of my system. Over to you.
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#2 |
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Forum Member
Join Date: Mar 2006
Location: stirring the cauldron
Posts: 3,957
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I've got two reeeeaaally bad experiences, both in Ireland, but I'll get back to you later as I'm in a bit of a hurry.
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#3 |
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Forum Member
Join Date: Jan 2009
Posts: 876
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A Pakistani managed "Chippy" in South-West London. Rude, dirty, stinky, threatening and costumed in midlevel clobber!
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#4 |
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Forum Member
Join Date: Aug 2006
Location: Doon the bottom o Scotland
Posts: 1,044
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Restaurant near where i live, got an extra special pubic hair to enjoy with my pasta! When we told the waitress she was disgusted and showed the manager who then asked her "is it one of yours?"!
We left quite quickly! |
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#5 |
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Forum Member
Join Date: Aug 2006
Posts: 12,236
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Quote:
A Pakistani managed "Chippy" in South-West London. Rude, dirty, stinky, threatening and costumed in midlevel clobber!
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#6 |
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Forum Member
Join Date: May 2003
Location: Buckinghamshire
Posts: 2,516
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Had a crap experience at a Brewers Fair a few years back.
We ordered desserts and they just totally forgot we existed. We gave them half an hour as it was very busy and then went and asked them outright what was going on and they admitted that they had forgotten. They said we'd probably have to wait another 40 minutes for it due to it being busy so we left and ended up buying magnums from a petrol station instead
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#7 |
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Forum Member
Join Date: Aug 2005
Location: The Sunny Side Of The Street
Posts: 40,106
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Always complain and complain with gusto so people over hear! Demand your money back! Usually if you moan,others will join in. Food places that are suspicious quite frankly deserve to be punished accordingly and people warned.
Saying nothing and eating poor quality luke warm fare is not going to do you any favours. Food should be bought piping hot. Luke warm suggests to me that they don't have basic hygiene certificate and deserve a visit from environmental health for serving up food at the wrong temperature. |
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#8 |
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Forum Member
Join Date: Aug 2007
Location: Doncaster
Posts: 3,892
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My colleagues and I once went out to a new Greek restaurant which had very recently opened. When we got the mains one of our colleagues thought the swordfish she had ordered was off, so complained - they simply told her it wasn't and just had a distinctive taste. When the bill came, they had still charged her for it but she was refusing to pay since it was off. The manager then came out and rather than trying to be polite he was really rude, loud and aggressive from the word go and was demanding she pay at least half as there was nothing wrong with it. Eventually he gave up but his customer service skills were absolutely dreadful, especially since the place was new and needed to build up a good reputation.
I wouldn't call it a restaurant but we once went to an awful pub chain outside Bicester Village. It wasn't too nice, pretty dirty, loads of screaming kids running about but we didn't know the area and were really hungry. We ordered drinks and food and 20 minutes after our order was taken we were told to order something else as they had run out of chicken. We instead asked for a refund so the girl just pointed where we should go and then buggered off. We queued for ages where she had pointed only to be told we had to queue somewhere else. This other queue was similarly slow so we still had to wait ages for a refund. In all we spent the best part of an hour there and still in need of finding somewhere to eat. Gosh, I've never known service be so crap. EDIT: Actually I've just remembered the real worst experience. We went to a local pub chain for Easter lunch with our extended family - not the best place but they quite like it. The queues for the bar were ridiculous as there was only one guy working it and there only seemed to be a couple of waiters/waitresses serving food. We arrived at noon and didn't leave until 3-4 and that was only after one course. The food came out at different times - some meals arrived 1/2 hour-1 hour after others - it was pretty crap and the waitress was really rude to boot. It transpired that they had really overbooked despite knowing that most staff members had the day off. They got one hell of a complaint and we got a free meal the following month ![]() Whoa, I seem to have gotten a little carried away
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#9 |
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Forum Member
Join Date: Aug 2005
Location: The Sunny Side Of The Street
Posts: 40,106
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I went to Wetherspoons one time. Not a place I usually frequent and everything I wanted was "off"!
I scared the Manager as I shouted at him so loudly. Idiots deserve to be punished. |
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#10 |
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Guest
Join Date: Jan 2007
Posts: 13,792
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Quote:
A Pakistani managed "Chippy" in South-West London. Rude, dirty, stinky, threatening and costumed in midlevel clobber!
![]() Mine has to be Strada at Haymarket. Poor service and luke warm food. |
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#11 |
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Forum Member
Join Date: Oct 2007
Location: Londinium
Posts: 1,850
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I was at a bar over the road from a hotel I was staying in and asked for a sharing platter (I was hungry)
it took forever to come and finally as the waiter/barman came through the door with it balance on his hand, the whole lot went crashing to the floor some of it landing beneath the table I was at. He hastily picked everything up and muettered that he would get me a new one. The he emerged from the kitchen 2 minutes later with my new platter. The first one had taken over 40 minutes to prepare and the second one only 2? needless to say I didnt eat in there that night |
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#12 |
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Forum Member
Join Date: Jun 2006
Location: Leeds
Posts: 2,164
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The worse meal we went for was for my in laws 50th wedding anniversary. We went to the local pub restaurant which we were told was very good. When we got there we were shown our table & everything seemed fine.
When the food came it looked like a microwave meal, very dry & they had put watery gravy on. We complained to the manager who admitted that the chef had walked out that morning so they just did what they could. We paid up front for the meal as we had taken over half the restaurant with our party, we asked for a refund which she refused to give us & had to write the the brewery who did send us a cheque for the full amount. In the mean time 2 days later the pub was shut down for 2 weeks while they found a new manager. i wonder why! |
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#13 |
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Forum Member
Join Date: Jun 2006
Location: London
Posts: 23,261
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Have had a few shockers I have to say.
The most recent being at a Turkish place in Covent Garden. It looked nice enough, the menu looked good and the place was busy but not too busy. We went in, ordered a few cold dishes to share and they were actually quite nice (just dips and some nice Turkish bread). We decided to go for a kind of meze type main course, but my friend being a veggie asked to substitue the two meat items for something else.... All fine and dandy... When the food turned up she had been given kofte (which I actually like but it's about a meaty as it gets) so the waiter took her plate away and returned a few minutes later..... We could tell that he hadn't done anything other than remove the meat - you could still see it's "juice" on the plate and the rice ![]() She eventually got a clean (and veggy plate) of food!!! Apart from the salad that had sausage in it - yep they served her a veggy meal with a "Turkish sausage salad" on the side
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#14 |
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Forum Member
Join Date: Mar 2006
Location: stirring the cauldron
Posts: 3,957
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Ok, so at the time we were living in Ireland. It was high summer and all eateries were heaving with people.
As a last resort we phoned this resaurant at the beach and we could come if straight away, which we did. We were with 5 people, entered the restaurant and sat at a table near the window. Even though no customers were in the 'restaurant' part none of the tables were cleared, including the one we chose to sit at. The waitress came along and said rather brisk : 'Do you want food ? ' Someone in our party said : 'yes please, if it is possible, we phoned beforehand' Her reply was (in the same tone as before). 'Ha Ha Ha, very funny.' We were a bit taken aback, but giggled untill she said we couldn't sit there and she shoved us into a dark corner, albeit near enough the open door so we could feel the draft gripping us. There we sat at a low pub table with the five of us, when she brought us the menu and promptly asked if we wanted something of the blackboard or the menu. I replied that we didn't exactly had a chance yet to look at the menu. 'Well, you have it now !' she rudely remarked. Ok, we chose our meal and got it. By that time the other tables had been cleared and I asked her if it was at all possible that we could sit there. 'Sure' she said while picking up my plate and almost throwing it on the other table. We were flabbergasted ! I asked the party if they were up for desserts and my OH said : 'It depends what booby trap has on offer. Needless to say we never, ever returned there, but we are still telling the story to people, who have problems believing us. Another time we went into a coffee shop in our village, appropriately named "the village kitchen" for a Sunday breakfast. The waitress took our orders, brought our grub, cleared all without saying one word to us, not even aknowledge us. By the time we went to the till to pay, she ticked in our stuff and turned the display towards us to show us the amount we were due ! No byebye, thank you, have a nice day. Unbelievable, the attitude of some people ! |
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#15 |
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Forum Member
Join Date: Aug 2007
Posts: 733
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One of the worst experiences I have had is actually a place where the food is so good I forgave them. Basically there is a balti house near us where the food is absolutely superb but it is really popular. one evening we went and because it was so busy we were shown upstairs to an area where there was no heating and it was a bit shabby as was only used for overflow customers ( I dont think they let anyone sit up there anymore) we felt we had been forgotten about as the food took an age to come but when it was eaten is was so good we forgave them lucky really as I normally do not go back to venues if had a naff experience.
I find wetherspoons food the worst generally as it tastes so microwaved however I did have their meatballs in linguine pasta with garlic bread the other night and that was very tasty. |
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#16 |
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Forum Member
Join Date: Oct 2003
Location: Athens - GR
Posts: 8,332
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You get lots here, too many to mention really but a few recent ones:
We went for meze, ordered a few plates that came immediately and then thought we'd like one more as they weren't that filling - having ordered one more vegetable dish from the waiter we then waited for around half an hour - nothing came and during this period I saw our waiter go over to the fuse box and flip the trip switch so the place was plunged into darkness! After some pretend faffing around they put the lights back on and started going to each table with the bill saying they didn't know for how much longer there would be light! I also recently went to an 'Italian' bistro here where after ordering we waited an hour before finally the OH got a different pasta dish to the one he ordered (completely different) and I got my risotto but with two of the main ingredients missing. They tried to fob us off by saying the chef was new but we demanded and eventually got a 50% discount. In another 'Italian' bistro I recently ordered a rocket and parmesan starter which came as a balsamic and oil soup with leaves and cheese floating in it. Last week in a local fast food place I ordered grilled vegetables in pitta bread - 'with mayo?' came the reply; no, just the veg; 'with cheese?' came the next reply, again, no just the veg - 'we can't do that' said the oaf behind the counter; 'it's not on the menu'! I've also had a small bit of a tooth in a rustic sausage and a lukewarm and very pink chicken breast in two local taverns. All in 2009, I don't know why I keep bothering. |
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#17 |
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Forum Member
Join Date: Oct 2006
Location: Fort William
Posts: 22,296
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the Harvester in Windsor - we went there for a drink or two, then someone decided to get the Mexican platter to share - when it arrived (in about 10 minutes - not too bad) he realised why no-one ever orders food there - and it's so sh1t they don't even have proper beer, just fizzy nitrokeg.
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#18 |
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Posts: n/a
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Not quite a restaurant, but went for some lunch with my parents one day, to a wee cafe at the local outlet centre - and I ordered lasagne & garlic fries. It came, with the garlic butter poured over the top of the fries lasagne, and salad, and was so greasy that I almost puked
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#19 |
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Inactive Member
Join Date: Mar 2008
Posts: 7,743
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Quote:
I went to Wetherspoons one time. Not a place I usually frequent and everything I wanted was "off"!
I scared the Manager as I shouted at him so loudly. Idiots deserve to be punished. We once went to a curry night at Wetherspoons Surbiton. It was so popular we could not get a table. The next time, we made sure we were there early. We bagged a table, then when the time came, ordered our curries. "Sorry, curry night is off tonight", was the reply. We asked why and were told "we've not been sent any rice". FFS, at the time there were 3 supermarkets within 2 minutes of the pub. I could understand cancelling it if they were sent no curries, but how difficult would it have been for the manager to buy up as much rice as he needed from the supermarkets, then boil it for 10 minutes? I wonder how much money that pub lost that evening becuase the manager was a clueless prick. |
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#20 |
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Forum Member
Join Date: Dec 2005
Location: Kent
Posts: 8,955
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My worst restaurant experience was at Brewers Fayer.
Myself, my wife and our 3 kids went out for a meal which was suppossed to be a special treat. When we ordered our starters we asked if the kids meals which was was bangers and mash in a large yorkshire pudding could be sent out with our starters. After waiting ages our starters arrived with no sign of the kids meals. I didnt want to make a fuss as the kids seemed to be enjoying themselves drawing. Then after an even longer wait our main meals arrived with no sign of the kids meals so we complained and they would go get them. Then we had a look at our meals which mine had black carrots and shriveled up tomatoes and my wifes meal had a rather thick crust on top of the gravey and rather dried up green/white peas. I complained and told them that this is just not on and we wish to now leave. After about 15 mins of the staff talking amounst themselves they eventually got the manager which turned out to be a youngster that looked like she had just recently left school. After another 10 mins they refunded our drinks and scrapped the bill. Now this is the best part that I just couldnt believe, as we got the kids ready so we could get out of there the waitress came over and said that the kids meals are now ready and would we like them now. We left and went to KFC instead which the kids were more than happy with. That Brewers Fayre has since closed down and is now a Harvester and provides a much better service. |
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#21 |
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Forum Member
Join Date: Nov 2007
Posts: 673
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Had a few. Mainly waiting for pizza at Pizza Hut, which takes an hour or so everytime we go.
The worst was at a restaurant in Disneyland Paris. We had been into Paris during the day but couldn't find anywhere to eat we liked. We decided to go back to the park and eat their. I can't remember what the restaurant was called but it was a castle type one. We ordered garlic gread to start and after waiting agaes for it to come it was cold and we ask for a replacement. Sometime during waiting for our main course I went the toilet which was upstairs. On the way up I am 1000% certain I saw a mouse run across the floor. I was made more sure because a waitress looked at the floor then at me. I didn't say anything so I left it. Not sure what the main meal was but it wasn't rememberable at all and shortly after I asked for the bill but used some voucher we were given form the holiday company we booked with. The bill came to 41 Euros but I only had 45 and no change. If the meal was nice I would have gave the change as a tip but there was no way I was going to so I took the bill and money to the couter and gave it to the waiter. I then waited for my change which seemed to confuse the waiter and supervisor. After a few moments of them looking at me they gave me 5 Euros back as they mustn't have change in the till. When he gave me the money back I said 'Merci' to which the stupid supervisor said 'Merci, beacou(sp?)', in an arse way. I was more disappointed because we went to the Rainforest Cafe the day before and the food was amazing! |
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#22 |
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Forum Member
Join Date: Aug 2006
Posts: 12,236
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So let me get this straight. You saw a mouse? In Disneyland?
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#23 |
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Forum Member
Join Date: Jun 2006
Location: London
Posts: 23,261
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Quote:
So let me get this straight. You saw a mouse? In Disneyland?
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#24 |
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Forum Member
Join Date: Nov 2008
Location: On the move
Posts: 734
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The very worst was a beach restaurant on Cavelossim Beach in Goa. I had a delicious fish curry but the next day it came back on me with vengeance. Two days sweating in the hotel room. Projectile evacuation from every orifice (sorry about that).
One of the most unpleasant was at the the Arden Oak Harvester near Birmingham Airport. Arrived about 4.45pm for an earlybird menu meal as we were eating before going to a concert at the NEC. Waited over 20 minutes before they would seat us. Then ten minutes later when they came to take the order told us we were too late to order the earlybird it was then after 5pm. The salad bar was a sad remains of the day, the main meal was cold. We sent the food back but didn't wait for the replacement; have heard what some kitchen staff do when food is sent back. |
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#25 |
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Forum Member
Join Date: Nov 2007
Posts: 673
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Quote:
Was it Micky or Minnie Ste?
![]() I didn't see the irony in seeing a real mouse in Disneyland.
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