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Complaining in resturaunts |
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#1 |
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Forum Member
Join Date: Oct 2005
Posts: 9,021
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Complaining in resturaunts
We went out to chiquitos on sunday night for my son's birthday(his fav resturaunt with a few family members). Table was booked for 7.30 pm. We didnt finish our starter til just after 9 because of the slow service. We ordered our mains when we ordered the starter,but it was a good 40 mins before they told my husband that they didnt have any left of the course he ordered. We were a bit annoyed that they didn't say anything sooner.
Other little things like not asking if we needed drinks,cutlery,cold chips,burger had mayo on when we ordered plain,bringing out son's birthday cake with only 2 candles on(i'd given them 14 candles that re-light and they didnt use them). Sis in law complained endlessly to the manager,always calling her over for every little thing,that it was getting embarassing. They gave us 50% off our meal,which hubby and I were happy about but sis in law had made us feel so awkward about it that we have vowed to have meals without them in future. Would this have annoyed you and would you have pushed for a bigger discount? Whats been your worst experience when eating out? |
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#2 |
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Inactive Member
Join Date: Jul 2007
Posts: 16,886
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Personally I think I would have walked out if I had waited that long for a starter. 50% is a good discount though, doubt you would get more from most places.
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#3 |
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Forum Member
Join Date: Oct 2005
Posts: 9,021
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Quote:
Personally I think I would have walked out if I had waited that long for a starter. 50% is a good discount though, doubt you would get more from most places.
I think we would have walked out if it wasnt for the fact that it was my son's birthday meal.
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#4 |
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Forum Member
Join Date: Jun 2006
Location: London
Posts: 23,261
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I tend not to complain, although I can't recall ever eating anywhere that bad
![]() I'm pretty easy going about slow service (as long as the wine glass is kept full ) and if I don't like the food then I know a) never to go back and b) not to recommend the restaurant.Well done though Taboo for getting such a great discount!! |
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#5 |
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Inactive Member
Join Date: Jun 2008
Location: England
Posts: 704
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The manager was probably only a waitress a few months ago, who has learnt all the basic ropes.
I'd contact Head Office and detail what was wrong. They have no idea unless they get feedback, and this wasn't a case of a slightly overcooked steak, the whole evening sounds like a complete shambles. You're happy with 50% off? I wouldn't be. Complaining doesn't have to be nasty or seen as rude and embarrassing, it's a way of telling them they aren't doing it right, and if people accept it, they are not going to improve. Chiquito, 5-7 Marshalsea Road, London, SE1 1EP |
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#6 |
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Forum Member
Join Date: Aug 2006
Posts: 12,236
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Quote:
I tend not to complain, although I can't recall ever eating anywhere that bad
![]() I'm pretty easy going about slow service (as long as the wine glass is kept full ) and if I don't like the food then I know a) never to go back and b) not to recommend the restaurant.Well done though Taboo for getting such a great discount!! And yes, if the wine glass is kept full then I don't really give a shit...
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#7 |
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Forum Member
Join Date: May 2003
Location: Derby, UK
Posts: 23,456
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i went out for a Thai once, there was 14 of us. the place had no drinks license but they let us go over the road and buy wine, brilliant!!!
we had eaten starters, eaten mains and onto deserts / teas etc when one person looked up and pointed at the ceiling light and went "is that a mouse?", we quietened down, looked up staring at this sort of leaf shape in the ceiling light... then it moved! ARRRGGGHHHH!!!! ITS A MOUSE! we all cried, and watched it run off the ceiling light and out of sight across the opaque ceiling tiles... there was no missing it was a mouse, you could not have co-ordinated 14 people to shout like that and besides, half the remaining restaurant saw it too... the waiter came out and said we could have 50% off which we took, it worked out about £10 each for a 2 course meal with flaggons of wine ... we went to the pub after and a few people were saying dammit, we should have asked for it for free... |
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#8 |
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Forum Member
Join Date: Nov 2003
Location: London
Posts: 24,469
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I had the worst meal I have ever had at a Mexican restaurant, although not Chiquitos. I ordered a beef fajita which was a doughy thing with a plate of cold chewy 'steak' and another plate with fried onions and unidentifiable strips of white soggy 'vegetable' which when I asked what it was, was told turnip because they'd run out of peppers. It was also very, very slow service.
I wrote to their head office and complained and was told they had staffing problems in the kitchen and was given a voucher for a free meal and drink for two. We went back and had steak which had an after-taste that you can only get when it has been frozen for a very, very long time but had a huge amount to drink. It closed down shortly afterwards. |
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#9 |
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Forum Member
Join Date: Mar 2006
Posts: 30,072
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Just because they offer you a 50% discount it doesn't mean you even have to pay that legally.
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#10 |
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Inactive Member
Join Date: Jul 2007
Posts: 16,886
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Quote:
i went out for a Thai once, there was 14 of us. the place had no drinks license but they let us go over the road and buy wine, brilliant!!!
we had eaten starters, eaten mains and onto deserts / teas etc when one person looked up and pointed at the ceiling light and went "is that a mouse?", we quietened down, looked up staring at this sort of leaf shape in the ceiling light... then it moved! ARRRGGGHHHH!!!! ITS A MOUSE! we all cried, and watched it run off the ceiling light and out of sight across the opaque ceiling tiles... there was no missing it was a mouse, you could not have co-ordinated 14 people to shout like that and besides, half the remaining restaurant saw it too... the waiter came out and said we could have 50% off which we took, it worked out about £10 each for a 2 course meal with flaggons of wine ... we went to the pub after and a few people were saying dammit, we should have asked for it for free... |
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#11 |
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Forum Member
Join Date: Oct 2005
Posts: 9,021
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Quote:
The manager was probably only a waitress a few months ago, who has learnt all the basic ropes.
I'd contact Head Office and detail what was wrong. They have no idea unless they get feedback, and this wasn't a case of a slightly overcooked steak, the whole evening sounds like a complete shambles. You're happy with 50% off? I wouldn't be. Complaining doesn't have to be nasty or seen as rude and embarrassing, it's a way of telling them they aren't doing it right, and if people accept it, they are not going to improve. Chiquito, 5-7 Marshalsea Road, London, SE1 1EP Thank you
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#12 |
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Forum Member
Join Date: Mar 2007
Posts: 3,141
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I'm usually lucky (that's cursed me from now on) with restaurants when I choose them, but seem to be blighted with problems whenever I go out with family or friends. I remember going to a restaurant once and being told, "oh sorry, we don't have any chips tonight" and so ordering a jacket potato to go with the meal instead, and then 10 minutes later being told they didn't have a jacket potato, OR the main course I had ordered. I ended up having a salad.
Slow service... it all depends - sometimes I'll be glad if things are a bit slow, especially if I'm on a date as it gives you chance to get to chat more AND if I'm catching up with a mate who I haven't spoken to in a while. However, having to wait as long as the OP did between starter and main course is a joke - I had to do that once, and we ended up leaving. Problems with food - if it is lukewarm or worse, cold, then I can't see what's wrong with asking them to take it back to the kitchen to warm up. That isn't really complaining. I'd never eat lukewarm food if I was paying for it. As for major problems with food - I would always complain. I went to a carvery a few years ago and the roast potatoes tasted distinctly burned - my guess is they had been at the bottom of a batch of burned potatoes, which as most of us know - if the stuff on the top is burned, the stuff on the bottom seldom tastes ok! Aside from that, the carrots were like cardboard, the cauliflower was undercooked and my friend found a staple inside one of the aforementioned potatoes. We got a free meal. We wouldn't have complained however had my friend not found a staple inside his roast potato - that was really worth a complaint! |
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#13 |
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Forum Member
Join Date: Feb 2008
Location: Under the rose
Posts: 2,934
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My feisty great-aunt persuaded me, Mum and Dad to walk out of a restaurant when we had to wait for table even though we'd booked, the only thing on the menu was Sunday roast (which I don't like) and the service was really slow - I felt really weird doing it but she told the gobsmacked chav girl serving 'we're going, you're too slow'. We had our lunch in Morrison's instead!
Another time my OH and I got a meal for free in Pizza Hut because they got our order so wrong! First they came out with half the wrong topping, then the wrong base before finally getting it right about an hour after we first ordered! It was my half of the pizza that was wrong so my OH got an extra half pizza as well as the rest of the meal deal for free...it was really annoying though. EDIT: one time on holiday in Gran Canaria, my Mum found a staple in her icecream. The waiter was like 'it's nothing'. My parents (I was a bit young) couldn't believe it! |
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#14 |
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Forum Member
Join Date: Feb 2008
Posts: 3,324
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That sounds like when I go out with my Mum at times. She will complain and spoil the whole night and it gets really embarrassing, I tend to complain after, particularly with food as I wouldn't want to complain before they I'd had my food as you never know what will happen to it.
I would have expected more than 50% off, as it was a special occassion. I would have sent an email to their head office and they are normally more generous |
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#15 |
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Forum Member
Join Date: Apr 2005
Location: Reserved in Heaven
Posts: 12,890
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OP, if the service & food was that bad I wouldn't have paid anything at all. However, given that the night was supposed to be a celebration, rather than call the manager over every few minutes I'd have gone to the manager & made discreet comments about the poor service. When the bill came, I'd then have spoken directly to the manager & would have refused to pay it. As someone else said, it's also important to make the head office aware of problems when you're dealing with a chain of restaurants, otherwise the matter is less likely to be addressed satisfactorily.
If my mum went to a restaurant she hadn't been to before, her way of ensuring she got excellent service was to put a notebook or dictaphone on the table & ask the waitress questions about the dish prior to ordering it. When it arrived, she'd log a comment on the starter as if she was sampling it then reviewing it, making sure that at least one of the staff was just in earshot to catch it. It would take seconds for the word to go out that a reviewer was in, & the service would be stunning from that point on.
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#16 |
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Forum Member
Join Date: Mar 2006
Posts: 30,072
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Thats a ace story about your mums technique batman
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#17 |
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Forum Member
Join Date: Oct 2007
Posts: 588
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My partner and I went to a restaurant the other night and it wasn't really busy but there was a bit of hustle. We were sat down by a waiter and then when no one had come to give us a menu or even come to take a drinks order after 15 minutes we just got up to go.
The waiter then bounded up to us and asked us what was going on. I explained that we were leaving because we were being ignored. He then started whining that it was just because he had forgotten about us and the restaurant were 2 people down that night. I said that that was fine but but it would have been nice to have it explained to us before. We then sat down again and he brought over menus. He left us with the menus for 25 minutes before we just left. We then had a lovely meal at an Indian place next door. |
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#18 |
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Banned User
Join Date: May 2005
Location: North Wales
Posts: 3,407
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I had a similar thing happen last Thursday. I was at some crappy restaurant in Manchester where the main course hadn't arrived 45 minutes or more after the starter was cleared away. We complained, the manager said we didn't have to pay so we just left without finishing the meal and went elsewhere.
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#19 |
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Forum Member
Join Date: Apr 2007
Location: Deepest Darkest Cornwall
Posts: 5,545
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is it bad form to complain just because you don't like the food?
I had a prawn curry last night and it tasted of nothing - the prawns just tasted of rubber, and curry consisted of prawns, pineapple and sultanas - no veg - in a korma sauce. It was very bland and had no curry taste at all ![]() I paid the bill in full
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#20 |
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Forum Member
Join Date: Jul 2007
Posts: 1,939
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Quote:
is it bad form to complain just because you don't like the food?
Insist on local, fresh produce. Our pounds are worth it in a recession.
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#21 |
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Forum Member
Join Date: Nov 2003
Location: London
Posts: 24,469
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Quote:
If my mum went to a restaurant she hadn't been to before, her way of ensuring she got excellent service was to put a notebook or dictaphone on the table & ask the waitress questions about the dish prior to ordering it. When it arrived, she'd log a comment on the starter as if she was sampling it then reviewing it, making sure that at least one of the staff was just in earshot to catch it. It would take seconds for the word to go out that a reviewer was in, & the service would be stunning from that point on.
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#22 |
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Inactive Member
Join Date: Jul 2007
Posts: 16,886
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Quote:
My partner and I went to a restaurant the other night and it wasn't really busy but there was a bit of hustle. We were sat down by a waiter and then when no one had come to give us a menu or even come to take a drinks order after 15 minutes we just got up to go.
The waiter then bounded up to us and asked us what was going on. I explained that we were leaving because we were being ignored. He then started whining that it was just because he had forgotten about us and the restaurant were 2 people down that night. I said that that was fine but but it would have been nice to have it explained to us before. We then sat down again and he brought over menus. He left us with the menus for 25 minutes before we just left. We then had a lovely meal at an Indian place next door. |
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#23 |
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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 always complain.
I was in Pizza Express in 2007 and there were black specks in the milk jug. I was horrified. The trouble with bad service or foreign bodies in food is that you remember it and then tell everyone not to go there and you yourself never go there again either. I then looked at that website in 2008 that shows you how bad or good restaurants and take aways are and surprise surprise that Pizza Express had a bad report. In future,I will go by the reviews on that site. |
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#24 |
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Inactive Member
Join Date: Jul 2007
Posts: 16,886
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Quote:
I always complain.
I was in Pizza Express in 2007 and there were black specks in the milk jug. I was horrified. I then looked at that website in 2008 that shows you how bad or good restaurants and take aways are and surprise surprise that Pizza Express had a bad report. In future,I will go by the reviews on that site. |
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#25 |
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Forum Member
Join Date: Feb 2006
Posts: 645
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One of my worst ever restaurant experiences was in a Chiquitos in Swindon, so maybe the chain is to blame.
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All times are GMT. The time now is 17:34.




) and if I don't like the food then I know a) never to go back and b) not to recommend the restaurant.
