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Share your bad experiences here...

I tend to get stuff like burritos and sandwiches all the time when I am out and about. Not much of a restaurant person, especially in this economy.

Something I have encountered a lot recently is very poor service at some of the delis and small restaurants around here. I once got a sandwich, and the guy asked me if I wanted avocado so I said yes. After paying and leaving the store, I went to eat my sandwich and the avocado was freaking black.. I was so frustrated with the intentional mistake I have not gone back since.

Think about that for a second while you look at real avocado... which is absolutely delicious.



The problem now is that nearly everywhere I go they mess up ALL THE TIME. Small sandwiches and burritos are not kosher, and I can't imagine a better way to flick off your customers as they pay you. Earlier today I tried to get a burrito from a place that is almost always superb, but they have totally messed up stuff a few times. The lady making my burrito obviously mistook my direct comment "That looks very small, can you make it bigger... I am not going to buy it if you do not do what I am asking..." for " Please finish wrapping up that failure of a burrito... and expect me to not care either way."

Yet another place that I refuse to go back to because of their constant mismanagement and bad business sense. What kind of burrito place does not have buy 10 get one free? Frakking blasphemy enough until you commit the ultimate sacrilege by giving me a kids meal. I eat food... and I need a real frakking meal.



Is there anything more annoying than being hungry after eating? I find it funny when people say all americans overeat. I just have a poor diet pattern, where I usually skip breakfast for many reasons, then end up sometimes only snacking for lunch; this leaves me to eat a massive dinner, which is not good for you in general, but hardly a case defined by overeating. I know fat people that eat healthy and exercise, sometimes people are just big.

... BMI is a huge practical joke... so very funny.

I once got a burrito from a local diner, and it had PEAS in it. That was the only time that I left a retail eating establishment without paying.

awesome thread title, btw. Innuendo high five?

um, i stopped trusting burgerkings after i went to wash my hands at one and saw that someone has slung gak all over the walls and ceiling.

other then that, i really rarely have problems with restaurants, though this could be in part because i prefer to cook my own food, and generally do so.

oh wait, i had a pizza delivered once and they didn't bother to cut it, that was kinda annoying

Went to an Indian restaurant recently, a very good place and my favourite place to eat out.

When I recieved my usual order of beef vindaloo, some kids (must have been about 10) were farting around and chasing each other, and one of them got pushed and smacked into the back of my chair. I was just leaning fowards to have a spoonful of my delicious dinner when I slammed face-first into it.

Can you imagine that? Doing a faceplant in a bowl of spicy, steaming-hot vindaloo? It fething hurt. It got up my nose and in my eyes too, and it burned like hell. I had to rush into the bathroom and wash my face with icy water and blow chunks of curry out my nose. It was horrible, even worse than the time I got attacked by a nest of bullants.

I went to this little place down south. Not much bigger than a refrigerator box. The food didn't taste very good, way too salty, and the establishment smelled of old fish. It started raining when I was inside. The roof was leaky, so it was all wet when I left. I still go back sometimes, so I guess it wasn't that bad.

Went to Korean BBQ restaurant with friends , turns out it cost $200 for 4 people .
We have to stay behind as hostage while the guy goes to get money.

In China, my wife and I went to the restaurant in the hotel and ordered from what characters we could understand on the menu and then remembered the numbers (i.e. #52, a #16, etc) in case we went back. Well, we went back and ordered some of the same dishes and everything was totally different. They also had Christmas decorations up and it was the end of February. Weird.

Another time, a long, long time ago in a city far away, I was with my brother at a Jack Astor's and the service sucked and the food was the wrong order, cold and a few of the fries already had ketchup on them. My brother who is a bigger nerd than me (Comics/70s sitcoms/Amusement Parks/who's faster Superman or the Flash?) FREAKED OUT! After he complained to the waiter and the waiter copped some attitude, my brother in one swoop of his arm cleared the table of everything right on to the floor. It was awesome.

None of these are what you would call horror stories.

When I lived in Richmond (Surrey) a new Italian restaurant opened and we went there on their first night. The food was fine but we had to wait over 20 minutes to get the bill. I crossed out the suggested tip and substituted £0. There was a kerfuffle and the staff asked what the problem was, so I told them because they ignored me for over 20 minutes. They said we are busy because it’s the first night and I said they were just going to annoy all their customers and they should get more staff. Anyway, I’ve never been back there.

Another time, I was in a pizza restaurant in Tokyo with my wife, daughter, and mother-in-law. We had our meal and we were still hungry so we ordered another couple of pizzas. Anyway, they took an age to come and we were sitting there getting hungrier and angrier. When the waitress eventually arrive my M-i-L complained that we had been waiting too long. The waitress said they were very busy and short of staff. Well, I had never seen an explosion in a restaurant before but I did then. My M-i-L went insane and totally reamed out this girl’s arse, partly from the annoyance of the wait and more from the sheer cheek of it. That was actually quite fun to watch.

Once in South Beach Miami, we all went out to a seafood restaurant and my mother had Surf N Turf. The lobster was off. She didn’t send it back, she ate two mouthfuls and left the rest. Then she spent the entire night blowing chunks all over her hotel room. I had to pay the bill, and they wouldn’t accept my credit card. They said it was invalid -- most embarrassing -- my uncle paid. When I rang my bank they told me they had told the restaurant to ask to see my passport. I had anticipated that and was carrying it but the waiter never bothered to ask, he just said my card was invalid.

Another time in the US, it was in New York JFK airport, I had a Taco Bell. I wanted to try it because I had heard of them and I had never had one. It was rancid, cold, and served with a sneer, but I suppose you can’t expect much from a fast food place. I’ve never gone to Taco Bell again, though.

Another fish restaurant in Richmond. I love Whitebait and it was on the menu so I ordered it for my starter. When it came instead of being all golden, crispy and lovely it was a kind of soft dark brown. I sent it back. The waitress brought it back saying it was the chef’s version. I ought to have just declined it but it was supposed to be a special occasion so I didn't want to make a fuss. I played with it a bit and left it on the plate. I’ve never been back to that restaurant either. Moral: Don’t screw with a classic recipe; there’s a reason it is a classic!

I was dating an indian girl a while back and we went to a Moroccan eatery in St Nick's market in Bristol, the fethwit arab guy ogled her from the moment we arrived, tried chatting her up and kept talking to her in a dodgy whispery voice in arabic, a language she doesn't speak. Then, towards the end of the meal, the guy walks past our table and reaches out and strokes her hair?!? At which point i got all kinds of loud and unpleasant and kicked the low table covered in dishes over, the older guy came over and said he'd call the police, when I suggested that was a good idea since my gf had just been assaulted, he turned on the other guy and started shouting at him, the younger guy argued back, the older guy started hitting him. My gf and I left without paying whilst most of St Nicks market had gathered to watch them slug it out.

MeanGreenStompa wrote:...My gf and I left without paying whilst most of St Nicks market had gathered to watch them slug it out.

At Apple-bee's. I took a bite of chicken...

It was raw in the center...

My GF and I went to see a couple of my friends and ended up going out for someones birthday with a group of my friends, friends, friends. We went into this really grotty Etheopian/Cuban "fusion" place that looked like those places you see in the middle and far east down some little back street (which is not always a bad thing, some of the best food I have ever had was from places like this ).

So, in this dingy little place (which I later learnt cleared out to become part of the nightclub downstairs on certain days/times) sitting on crappy plastic lawn chair things with a group of people in almost total darkness (I think they had 1 20W bulb in the kitchen or something). They brought out the 2 menus they had to go around our group of about 10-15 people and another couple of groups in the place, before taking them off us and declaring that they would just do a bufet.

It is at this point that my GF decided she was not going to eat there, since she didn't know what anything was and didn't really fancy eating there.

So about 15-20 minutes later, they bring out a couple of small bowls of misc meat in sloppy sauce, some kind of pancake bread stuff (which you apparently had to eat with rather than a knife and fork, yet there was nowhere for us to wash our hands) and bowls of veg in sloppy sauce etc.

So we line up to get a bit and more or less clear out all the food in the first past (I was almost last in line and had to settle with about half a plate full of food). By the time we got to the table everything was stone cold (to be honest I am not sure if it was ever hot).

Everyone was looking at each other through the gloom thinking "WTF is this?" apart from the one guy who suggested we eat there to start with and had made all the decisions as to what we were going to do in regards to the food.

So we tuck into this freezing cold, bland food, and quickly clean our plates. The people running the place seemed to be fairly angry we had eaten everything and were wanting more, and looked quite angry that my GF was not eating too.

So they bring out some more freezing cold food (some more pancake things and perhaps 1 more small plate of meat slop) which was quickly consumed (while watching to make sure my GF did not eat anything)

We all then promptly left after paying £10 a head (and feeling like our pockets had been raped, not to mention our stomachs), having not been given anything to wash our hands with.

I then went off with my GF to find her something to eat.

My younger brother and myself,along with our (at that time girlfriends) had been out Christmas shopping and decided to stop at a local Chinese buffet for lunch.
We were seated,ordered drinks and then served ourselves.
After a few minutes eating,well more talking than eating,I noticed my brothers gf staring at me,or that's what I first thought,until she covered her mouth pointing at my fork.
I glanced at the fork full of fried rice,which I was holding about 6 inches from my mouth and was stunned to se a roach sitting atop the rice wiggling it's antenna at me.
Needless to say I became quiet angry and my brother and I engaged in a 15 minute argument with the waitress,bus boys,owner and several other random staff members,during wich we understood about half of what was being said to us.
The entire fiasco ended with our party walking out along with several other groups of diners who also refused to pay.

Typeline wrote:At Apple-bee's. I took a bite of chicken...

It was raw in the center...

It's better than taking a bite and it's rai in the center...

/cymbals

Most of mine involve waiting staff. Particularly in America, where I can get pestered to feth and that's supposed to warrant a tip, believe it or not when I eat out I want to enjoy it with the people I go out with, not have a conversation with a waiter/waitress.

Another one which I find is more of an American thing: what's with the sudden drop in enthusiasm once they get the tip as well, I'd rather be treated like crap than suffer your fakeness.

Also, recommended tip? Wtf? Who "recommended" it? I'll judge if your worth anything extra to what I've already paid for in the price of the meal.

And don't fething rush me either, got rushed at a fifty pound a head joint once, wasn't happy.

If your real persona is anything like your online persona I'd rush you out too.

Thanks. I'd say the same of you.

So your proud of appearing as an anti-social dick?

I guess I need a picture for full credit.

Yeh dead proud

Did my comment to you in that other thread hit a nerve then dogma?

There was another thread?

That's right play cocky. To be honest it's better than acting like a 12 year old and calling me a dick.

As for the accompanying adjective, being called antisocial by someone who's every other post exists simply to contradict what he has just quoted above comes across as fairly ironic.

Both of you are acting like dicks, just going to get the thread locked the way your both going.
either ignore each other or take it to PM's instead.

Never really had a bad experience food wise to be honest. Apart from that time in Belgium, where I never got my dinner. Everyone else did, just not me.

JD21290 wrote:Both of you are acting like dicks

Nice bit of mediation. Ftr I was happily ignoring him before he sniped at me. And I have no interest of continuing anything via PM.

I never understand while everyone cant be friends, you each have different political and religious views but there not need not to be nice.

NOBODY STARTS A FIGHT ON DAKKA AND DOES NOT INVITE THE STOMPA!!!!1!!!



NOW ALLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL YOUR BASE ARE BELONG TO MEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!1!

No issues eating out, other than my wife's sister playing up as she wasn't getting all the attention that one time at a pub, did the same thing at our blinkin wedding as well.

Other than that the local takeaway is really hit or miss, although mostly its been grand. I've had spring rolls and prawn crackers that tasted of bleach before, and fried Chicken that tasted like it was yesterdays.

I went to a Pub once for my Grandmothers birthday and the food took 4 and a half hours to come.

I thought feth that.

The OC-D

Apparantly this is a standard thing in America, adding the tip automatically. I have a rule, unless the service is exceptional, if the tip is added automatically, I refuse to leave any tip whatsoever. I don't have a problem with a restaurant telling me that their staff are worth that bit extra, but if they are found wanting in my eyes, you lose whatever tip I might have been prepared to grant.

Which is a shame, because I tip as generously as my budget affords for good service.