Have You Ever Walked Out...

[JanetMegan]

of a restaurant? I did for the first time last night. I'm normally not one to complain or anything either...

I was out with two friends, and we had a coupon for a newer place, actually a chain called Indigo Joes. Place moved into an old restaurant that had closed down about a year or more ago.

Place was bright, open, lots of tvs etc. But not many patrons. Well we each ordered a drink from the bar and our food. 20 mins later we get our drinks. Well there was a bug in my margarita. Now that in itself wasn't that big of a deal, I mean it happens? Bugs like sweet things, I could have dealt with that.

Well I give the drink back to our waitress who takes it back to the bar (which we could see from our seats.) Well I then proceeded to watch the waitress and chick bartender use their fingers and a straw to fish the bug out of the drink and then she dumped it into a NEW GLASS! AND SERVED IT TO ME!!!

No foolin'.


So anyone else?

[offwego]

GACK!!

Not for that but we have (based on slow service) chosen just to pay for drinks and go.

But that is just unreal.

[bleukarma]

Once, I was at a place called KahunaVilla (it's not around in Tampa anymore) and I've been there previously before and loved it so I decided to go back. They were busy so they asked us if we wanted a table outside and we said yes. After waiting about 20 minutes a waiter came around and took our drink order. Then we waited another 20 minutes for our drinks. When he brought our drinks he said he would be back to take our order. After another 20 minutes we still hadn't seen him so we put some money down on the table to cover the drinks (and these were diet cokes, nothing from the bar) and left. We had wasted enough time there! I understand if a place is busy but after an hour and only having a diet coke...we found a faster place to eat.

[SBETigg]

Yes, we have left due to lack of service, before ordering anything. We sat there for about twenty minutes and no one even approached us, asked for a server, still no one came though people around us were being served- so we left. The bug thing would have made me leave, too- yuck!

[DVC2004]

Yes, last week. I was out with a group of coworkers. We ordered drinks and appetizers. It took over 25 minutes to get our drinks, and when they arrived they were half melted (frozen drinks) and watery/ One guy ordred a beer and they were out of it, only it turned out they were out of every single beer he asked for (4 times the server came back to tell him they were out). Our appetizers arrived after 1 hour and were cold. We told the manager we weren't paying and left.

[Scar]

"Seinfeld, Four!"

[Darbylew]

That is horrible.......I would have paid and left
as well. We walked out once when we were
seated and our server never came to our table.
We must have waited at least 15 minutes and
then left.

[MMouse6937]

Ok, the bug thing would have totally grossed me out. What a great first impression that place made :ack:

DH and I go out to eat a lot and are mostly not complainers. We have walked out when we waited for over 20 minutes and no one came to take any order. We just got up and walked out.

When I lived in NJ I went to a restaurant with my then BF and another couple. We waited forever for anything and then they didn't have the air conditioner on and we were sweltering hot, like sick hot. We asked the manager and at first he apologized for it being hot, etc. We asked him if we could just pay for what we had so far as the heat was unbearable. He got very upset and started yelling at us that our food was almost ready, etc. When we offered the money for drinks, and got up to walk out, he started calling us names and called our friend a nasty name. I was quiet up until this point when I came unglued. The guy followed us into the parking lot. It was quite a confortational experience. :mad:

[drummerboy]

DW and I went to a restaurant in a nearby city and were placed at a table that had just been set up for the night because they were so busy.

Busy I can understand, and we're pretty patient, but no-one wanted to claim our table as theirs, so we were ignored for about an hour before we got up and told the manager that we were leaving and why. Up to that point, we weren't starving and it bacame a kind of game to see how many wait-staffers would avoid looking at us.

[goofiecrazy]

While me and my husband were dating at the time we went to Red Lobster for dinner, while the server was not the best we had but that didnt bother us until the bill came and we gave her xtra money so we could get more change back so we could leave a tip.My husband says I gave x amount wheres the rest of the change? The server then goes to say what we gave her and what the change was.At this time her tone started to get loud like she wanted to bring attention to us like we were the fouls.I told to stop yelling at us that in fact she was not embrassing us at all that she was making herself look like a fool by yelling.Then she tells us she counted the till and it didnt come out over... At that time my friend worked there and servers couldnt get into the money for any reason so right there i knew she was not telling us the truth.I called her on that one and she just lookes at me like she was stuck on stupid.We got our money back and i made a call to the manager later in the nite.

[Juggalotus]

MMouse, I'm surprised that manager wasn't made to eat the bar. There is no need to for him to call patrons names.

I don't think we've ever left a place before, but I have sent food back (usually for being over-cooked) and had parts of our meals taken off due to poor service.

I also have no problem leaving no tip. If it's busy, and you look like you're trying, you'll still get a tip. If you don't seem like you could care less, you can kiss it good bye.

[mook3y]

Once I walked out after waiting over 20 minutes and only receiving glasses of water.

The most outrageous experience was at the chinese restaurant located in the casino Nevada Landing between Vegas and the Calif state line.

We were about half way done with our meal when I discovered some shrimp tails in the food (nothing we ordered had shrimp in it). I called the waitress over and tried to quietly point out the problem. I mean to us, we were like ewwww, but no shellfish allergies or anything like that.

To our SHOCK :jaw: she started to yell at as. Telling us that they were really busy and that the cook was too busy to clean the wok. I mean she made such a big scene, everyone in the whole restaurant :eyes: was shocked at what she was saying.

She then stormed off, we sat there for a moment in total disbelief of what had just happened :eek:.

About a minute later she came back and told us that we didn't have to pay for the meal and to just leave....

Thus, we promptly:
:bolt:

and have never gone back!

[AvonleaCF]

One time my family left a restaurant, but it had nothing to do with bad service.

We were on a Disney trip in Orlando, staying off-site in a time-share, so we did our evening dinners at off-site restaurants. At the time my sister was a strict vegan (wouldn't eat anything from an animal, including dairy). We went to a Bennigan's (I think), were seated, and were looking at the menu when it appered there was nothing she could eat except a side salad. Not wanting to ask about creating a special meal, we just left.

My parents once left a restaurant for the reasons given above: no server showing up after 20-30 minutes of waiting.

[tinkerbellybutton]

First of all, let me just say EEEWWWWWW!!:ack: I found half a bug (yes, just half, I don't want to think about where the other half went:ill:) in a salad when I was pregnant but as you said it happens, however if someone had stuck their fingers in my food to pull it out and then gave it back I think I would have lost it.
I haven't walked out of a restaraunt but was close to it. I was on vacation with my mom and sister in 1993 in New York and I got very ill while we were away. I can't eat much to begin with and when I'm sick it gets much worse. For the whole vacation I had been charged huge amounts of money for large portions of food that I couldn't eat and of course being on vacation I couldn't bring it home in a doggy bag. Well, we went to this expensive restaraunt and my mom asked if I could get a childrens meal and the waiter looked at me like I had three heads and was snotty when he said "Of course not." So my sister ordered the filet mignon (which was her favorite and happened to be the most expensive thing on the menu) My mom ordered her favorite, lobster and a bottle of wine and then told the waiter we were through ordering. He started to walk off and my sister stopped him and said, "Oh that's right, you said she couldn't order a childrens meal so actually if you could cancel that we'll be going somewhere else." The waiter got flustered and waved over the manager and they were more then happy to accomodate.;)







"Seinfeld, Four!"
:rotfl: I think I spit milk out my nose when I read that.

[snifflesmcg]

I walked out of a restaurant October of 1999. A friend of mine and myself drove up to Salem, MA for Halloweeen (they put on the best Halloween stuff). Anyway, we decided to eat at this cute little place. It was really busy so we waited probably a half hour to get a table. We sat down and waited another 20 minutes for a server until we flagged one down. She said "I guess I'll take you". We ordered drinks and food since we had been there awhile. While waiting we started talking to a couple sitting next to us who was complaining as well. I would say 45 minutes later, we see our food sitting in the heat window. Nobody was getting it for us. When we finally got our food, it was dry and tasteless. We would have complained but nobody ever came back. So.....we and the table next to us walked out.

[MsMin]

With my family when I was younger we walked out of a restaurant in Acapulco- a very large place. We ordered appetizers the avocado with shrimp salad-- sounded yummy. After 45 mins we inquired about our order and they looked like -- you ordered something?? Another 15 mins and we get the manager then they bring the appetizer and it's cantaloupe filled with raw shrimp (apparently we had to wait longer for them to cook it, no telling how long to make the shrimp salad. We told the waiter that the menu said avocado and the shrimp were not cooked-- at that point the waiter forgot how to speak english -:mad:) That's when we walked out. They did call our room later and offer to give us breakfast (since by this point it was almost 10pm and the restaurant was closing). Hey but at least our raw shrimp were free from bugs we could see(can't account for any bacteria in the raw seafood)!

[daparish]

DH and I have walked out after not being waited on but I do have an off the topic restaurant story.

A couple of year's ago DH and I ordered take out from our local Chili's restaurant. We had some type of appetizer tray and dh had a buffalo chicken sandwich. This sandwich had lots of sauce and cheese on it. He ate half of the sandwich and then he stopped for some reason and ran to the bathroom. Turned out they forgot to cook the chicken. It was completly raw. I am not one to complain but I brought the entire order back to the restaurant and told them I wanted it reported incase he became ill. I was so upset I did not even ask for any money back I just wanted them to be aware of what they did. The worse part is that it was the night before my grandmother's funeral and I was so worried he would get sick and not make the funeral. Till this day I can not believe he could eat half a raw chicken sandwich before noticing but this is the same man who completely missed the Yeti on EE.

[BronxTigger]

of a restaurant? I did for the first time last night. I'm normally not one to complain or anything either...

I was out with two friends, and we had a coupon for a newer place, actually a chain called Indigo Joes. Place moved into an old restaurant that had closed down about a year or more ago.

Place was bright, open, lots of tvs etc. But not many patrons. Well we each ordered a drink from the bar and our food. 20 mins later we get our drinks. Well there was a bug in my margarita. Now that in itself wasn't that big of a deal, I mean it happens? Bugs like sweet things, I could have dealt with that.

Well I give the drink back to our waitress who takes it back to the bar (which we could see from our seats.) Well I then proceeded to watch the waitress and chick bartender use their fingers and a straw to fish the bug out of the drink and then she dumped it into a NEW GLASS! AND SERVED IT TO ME!!!

No foolin'.


So anyone else?

Please....report that place to your local health department! YUCK! :ack:

[SgtTigger]

TGI Fridays

Had to wait 20 minutes to get in........ Tons of empty tables once we got in....... Had 3 other tables of people around us. We waited 10 minutes our server came out and gave 2 other tables menus..... Now we waited and the other people were not even in line so I don't know how long they were in there........ After he came out and took there order and never even looked at us I had enough.... Out the door I went and told all the people in line that they had tons of tables empty and no one was waiting on people......... a few left with me.......

oh yea they closed down a few weeks later........



:cop: :tigger:

[daparish]

TGI Fridays

Had to wait 20 minutes to get in........ Tons of empty tables once we got in....... Had 3 other tables of people around us. We waited 10 minutes our server came out and gave 2 other tables menus..... Now we waited and the other people were not even in line so I don't know how long they were in there........ After he came out and took there order and never even looked at us I had enough.... Out the door I went and told all the people in line that they had tons of tables empty and no one was waiting on people......... a few left with me.......

oh yea they closed down a few weeks later........



:cop: :tigger:

DH and I were just talking yesterday about the lack of customer service at businesses in the Metairie area. We were in Applebees's and there were tons of tables available and they told us it would be a 15 minute wait for a table (not a very long wait but you could see that the place was not very crowded and there were lots of open tables). I am guessing they did not have the wait staff available. Since Katrina there are so many jobs availalbe everywhere that I wonder if this is the problem. I wonder if people are jumping from one job to the next since there is always a better opportunity waiting and it is leaving some places really short handed.

[RenDuran]

My husband and I didn't walk out of a restaurant, but we watched another couple do so recently!

We went to a new Chinese place in our small town. There were a few tables of other customers and some quiet elevator music playing in the background. The people working in the restaurant were young and spoke very little English.

All of a sudden the quiet mood changed....and the old Prince song, Darling Nikki, started blasting! You all probably remember, Nikki was a little wild! Anyway, my husband and I are laughing at what others were probably thinking, and one table actually did stand up and leave! The restaurant kept playing Prince for quite a while before they finally turned it down. We couldn't believe the workers were so oblivious.....whether they could speak english or not.

[Pipalotta]

DH and I have walked out after not being waited on but I do have an off the topic restaurant story.

A couple of year's ago DH and I ordered take out from our local Chili's restaurant. We had some type of appetizer tray and dh had a buffalo chicken sandwich. This sandwich had lots of sauce and cheese on it. He ate half of the sandwich and then he stopped for some reason and ran to the bathroom. Turned out they forgot to cook the chicken. It was completly raw. I am not one to complain but I brought the entire order back to the restaurant and told them I wanted it reported incase he became ill. I was so upset I did not even ask for any money back I just wanted them to be aware of what they did. The worse part is that it was the night before my grandmother's funeral and I was so worried he would get sick and not make the funeral. Till this day I can not believe he could eat half a raw chicken sandwich before noticing but this is the same man who completely missed the Yeti on EE.

When ever we go to Wendys they always seem to mess up the order, once my mom ordered a chicken sandwhich and when we got home there was no chicken on it. It was just the fixings. Like how stupid can you be to wrap something up with no meat on it?

[ldn324]

Oh, this ought to bring my blood pressure back up...I haven't told this story in a while, but it always gets me worked up :thedolls:

DH and I were hungry late one night about 7 years ago and went to Perkins since they stay open late. It was about 11 pm in a college town - may have been Friday or Saturday night.

They weren't swamped, but not totally empty - maybe about 10 or so groups dining. First, it took about 15 minutes for anyone to acknowledge us after we were seated. Another 20 minutes goes by until we get our drinks and place our order. Food came out relatively quick, but we soon found out why. Our side dishes were cold - DH's mashed potatoes actually had ice crystals on them. My mac 'n' cheese was cold. We told the waitress who grabbed our entire plates - with the silverware laying on them - and took them away. When she returned, it was obvious that they just microwaved everything on high for about 5 minutes because the mac 'n' cheese was now eternally stuck to the plate and the green peas we both had were shrivelled into little particles.

Meanwhile, there was another waitress cleaning for the night. Now this is a big pet peeve of DH's anyway - when people clean while you are trying to eat. Can it be any more obvious that they want you to hurry up? Well - she gets into one of the booths and stands in the seat to dust a light fixture. Then she straddles over to our booth with one leg and proceeds to dust our light fixture. HELLO....I'm eating over here!

That was the last straw. We bolted to the front register and asked to see the manager. He came out - never once said "hello, how can I help you?" - he just stood there. We told him what all happened and his actual response was "Yeah well if I eat somewhere and I don't like it I just pay the bill and never come back". Now I'm steaming - no BOILING - at this point. We said a few choice words to him emphasizing that we were not going to be paying, then turned and walked out.

I wrote a letter to Perkins districe offices and received a very apologetic letter indicating that this wasn't the first complaint they had about that particular restaurant and manager. They sent like $100 in free gift certicates to use at any Perkins but I was so jaded, we never even used them. To this day, I find it hard to set foot in a Perkins.

So everyone else who has had bad restaurant encounters - I feel your pain! Hard to believe that places that need customers would be like that.

[January-2007]

1. A lot of these stories are really gross! Wow!
2. We walked out of a restaurant once. It was a Sunday night and everywhere we tried to go was closed but one place was open. We ordered sodas but the only thing on the menu I could eat they were out of. We decided to leave. They said the drinks were on them, we were prepared to pay, didn't ask to be comped. The manager gave us a card and told us to try again another time.
3. I don't see how people get to leave a restaurant where they have actually eaten something without paying when they are not offered to be comped. I don't see how that works, isn't that illegal?
4. DH used to be a waiter. Actually, that's how we met. Gross stories, hence, we don't eat out much. You wouldn't believe some of the stuff that happens when you're not looking.

[Momof2boys]

My best friend and I went with her mom & her friend to Oklahoma City to visit her aunt . . . on our way back home we stopped at a Cracker Barrel somewhere in Oklahoma. We ordered & my biscuit was delivered with a fly sticking out of it. I didn't see it at first, and my friend lifted it into the air and started asking loudly for our waitress. I couldn't eat anything there but they enjoyed their meal . . . obviously we did not pay for anything and I'll never eat at a Cracker Barrel again.

[RenDuran]

4. DH used to be a waiter. Actually, that's how we met. Gross stories, hence, we don't eat out much. You wouldn't believe some of the stuff that happens when you're not looking.

This made me laugh! One of my friends used to be a flight attendant....I wouldn't eat food on a plane if they paid me! ;)

[jkj1224]

I walked out of a resteraraunt once when it took our server 20 minutes to come take our order and after waiting nearly 1/2 hour longer for our food (the people behind us that were seated after us got their food) our waiter finally came back and told us he had forgotten to put our order in...but he would tell the kitchen to hurry, when we asked to speak to a manager he said the manager was unavailable...

[snifflesmcg]

When ever we go to Wendys they always seem to mess up the order, once my mom ordered a chicken sandwhich and when we got home there was no chicken on it. It was just the fixings. Like how stupid can you be to wrap something up with no meat on it?

That's so funny you should say that. I grew up eating Wendy's. Our family loves the chicken sandwiches. It wasn't until 1997 that FINALLY got an order correct. My entire childhood they screwed up the order every single time. Some in our favor (adding an extra sandwich or fries or something) but most of the time not. It became a joke in our family and still to this day.