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One of my worst restaurant experiences. Do you have more to add?
- Thread starter clofthwld
- Start date
Yeah, Traca, don't tease us like that! I can't top this one....
I've never catered a wedding and I don't think I ever will. Too much stress.
I once spent all day on a Soupe de Poissons, put it in a container in a cooler, then tipped the cooler over while packing the car so the soup spilled all over the garage floor. I screamed "No, No" so loud the neighbors must have thought I was being murdered. Yikes, I was able to salvage enough soup from the inside of the cooler (fortunately I'd cleaned it well that day) for the dinner. A year later that client was still raving about that soup. Maybe having it spilled all over the other containers of food and then scraped out of a cooler gives it a certain je ne sais quoi.
I've never catered a wedding and I don't think I ever will. Too much stress.
I once spent all day on a Soupe de Poissons, put it in a container in a cooler, then tipped the cooler over while packing the car so the soup spilled all over the garage floor. I screamed "No, No" so loud the neighbors must have thought I was being murdered. Yikes, I was able to salvage enough soup from the inside of the cooler (fortunately I'd cleaned it well that day) for the dinner. A year later that client was still raving about that soup. Maybe having it spilled all over the other containers of food and then scraped out of a cooler gives it a certain je ne sais quoi.
That was actually MY cake...
Thankfully, it was after the wedding and I only heard about it at brunch the next day. smileys/smile.gif
But I did read an article about something similar happening to a caterer. She drove along a unpaved road and arriving at the site, the cake was a mess. Solution? She scooped portions of cake and dipped them in chocolate...and served them bon bon-style.
Thankfully, it was after the wedding and I only heard about it at brunch the next day. smileys/smile.gif
But I did read an article about something similar happening to a caterer. She drove along a unpaved road and arriving at the site, the cake was a mess. Solution? She scooped portions of cake and dipped them in chocolate...and served them bon bon-style.
our filet mignon folly.....
we had dinner at a resturant here that has the best filet mignon I've had since moving from NYC. sooo, it has a beautiful view and we had ordered an very nice zinfandel to go with our filets. the food arrives and the steaks are coated with peppercorns, ala steak au poive style. I'm definately not pleased with that! then, the steaks are tough and didn't have the flavor of the filets we've had there before. we get our waitress and the kitchen had made a mistake and given us a different steak, which costs half of what the filet does.
she removes the offending steaks and heads back to the kitchen. in the meanwhile, we're pretty hungry by now and we dive into the bread basket and side dishes. by the time the "real" steaks arrive, we're full. Ok, the kitchen made a mistake, mistakes happen. the waitress boxes up the steaks and gives us the check..... full price! we were pretty shocked by that since we were walking out with the most expensive menu item in a doggie bag. by now, I'm getting pretty steamed and I told the dweeb who was in charge in that evening that we weren't pleased. so he, extremely full of himself, looks at me and says: "what do think I should have done?" ahem, I said you should have bought the wine for us. you didn't even offer us an after dinner drink or do anything to apologize for the snafu. oh, we'll make it up to you "next time"!
yeah, right, like there would be a next time? not only that, we aren't tourists and I would be telling everyone that resturant tried to pass off a cheaper steak on us. what the dweeb didn't know was that we know the owner and the gift certificate we had was a gift from John. next morning I called John on his cell to let him know. he said that Bradley told him he had "fixed it". I said if you call charging us full price and letting us walk out with the most expensive take out we've ever had, fixing it..... needless to say, dweeb Bradely got a long talking too. the next time we went, John took care of everything including waiting on us.
we had dinner at a resturant here that has the best filet mignon I've had since moving from NYC. sooo, it has a beautiful view and we had ordered an very nice zinfandel to go with our filets. the food arrives and the steaks are coated with peppercorns, ala steak au poive style. I'm definately not pleased with that! then, the steaks are tough and didn't have the flavor of the filets we've had there before. we get our waitress and the kitchen had made a mistake and given us a different steak, which costs half of what the filet does.
she removes the offending steaks and heads back to the kitchen. in the meanwhile, we're pretty hungry by now and we dive into the bread basket and side dishes. by the time the "real" steaks arrive, we're full. Ok, the kitchen made a mistake, mistakes happen. the waitress boxes up the steaks and gives us the check..... full price! we were pretty shocked by that since we were walking out with the most expensive menu item in a doggie bag. by now, I'm getting pretty steamed and I told the dweeb who was in charge in that evening that we weren't pleased. so he, extremely full of himself, looks at me and says: "what do think I should have done?" ahem, I said you should have bought the wine for us. you didn't even offer us an after dinner drink or do anything to apologize for the snafu. oh, we'll make it up to you "next time"!
yeah, right, like there would be a next time? not only that, we aren't tourists and I would be telling everyone that resturant tried to pass off a cheaper steak on us. what the dweeb didn't know was that we know the owner and the gift certificate we had was a gift from John. next morning I called John on his cell to let him know. he said that Bradley told him he had "fixed it". I said if you call charging us full price and letting us walk out with the most expensive take out we've ever had, fixing it..... needless to say, dweeb Bradely got a long talking too. the next time we went, John took care of everything including waiting on us.
Aww...steak snafus are THE WORST...
Your case is pretty interesting...I've never had a cook throw the wrong kind of steak on the fire.
On the subject of steaks, however...I could rant all day! As a server, nothing is more frustrating than an overcooked steak. I mean, an undercooked steak you can throw back on the grill, but an overcooked steak? You have to start with a new piece of meat...and then minutes start ticking away. It's awful. By that time, the guest has had all the salad and bread they want, all they want is their entree, which, depending on the temperature can take 8-12 minutes. That seems like an eternity when you're trying to make things right (and make sure the diners aren't so pissed they stiff you...)
It's also awkward because usually everyone else at the table has their plates, except for one. So what's everyone else supposed to do? Wait and let their food get cold? Share their dinner with the guest who has no food? Or eat anyway and assume...surely...their food will come soon? It's just an uncomfortable position all the way around.
The worst is that it was totally in the cook's control. An overcooked steak--in my opinion--is an oversight. The guy manning the grill dropped the ball. Steaks take a long time to cook anyway and to overcook it? Well, I'm not very sympathetic.
So you go home with steaks in a doggy bag. Or we offer free dessert or free wine. Does it really help? Not really.
This is bringing back all kinds of memories....
It's funny because restaurants give away so much stuff when things go sideways....My position was...why don't we give things to our loyal customers...or people who rave about the place? In some small way, I bonded with a lot of people and sincerely wanted them to come back. Why not show my appreciation? It was fun because people would travel on business...and look me up when they were in town. Or locals would come in because their kids were in town and they wanted us to meet. It's a whole different dining experience. There's so much about the restaurant biz that's just brutal, I guess in my own way, I was trying to increase my own joy factor by befriending lots of customers. I haven't waited tables in almost 10 years, but some of those customers are still good friends.
Your case is pretty interesting...I've never had a cook throw the wrong kind of steak on the fire.
On the subject of steaks, however...I could rant all day! As a server, nothing is more frustrating than an overcooked steak. I mean, an undercooked steak you can throw back on the grill, but an overcooked steak? You have to start with a new piece of meat...and then minutes start ticking away. It's awful. By that time, the guest has had all the salad and bread they want, all they want is their entree, which, depending on the temperature can take 8-12 minutes. That seems like an eternity when you're trying to make things right (and make sure the diners aren't so pissed they stiff you...)
It's also awkward because usually everyone else at the table has their plates, except for one. So what's everyone else supposed to do? Wait and let their food get cold? Share their dinner with the guest who has no food? Or eat anyway and assume...surely...their food will come soon? It's just an uncomfortable position all the way around.
The worst is that it was totally in the cook's control. An overcooked steak--in my opinion--is an oversight. The guy manning the grill dropped the ball. Steaks take a long time to cook anyway and to overcook it? Well, I'm not very sympathetic.
So you go home with steaks in a doggy bag. Or we offer free dessert or free wine. Does it really help? Not really.
This is bringing back all kinds of memories....
It's funny because restaurants give away so much stuff when things go sideways....My position was...why don't we give things to our loyal customers...or people who rave about the place? In some small way, I bonded with a lot of people and sincerely wanted them to come back. Why not show my appreciation? It was fun because people would travel on business...and look me up when they were in town. Or locals would come in because their kids were in town and they wanted us to meet. It's a whole different dining experience. There's so much about the restaurant biz that's just brutal, I guess in my own way, I was trying to increase my own joy factor by befriending lots of customers. I haven't waited tables in almost 10 years, but some of those customers are still good friends.
certainly, it's not as bad as your wedding cake '-))) the chef had made some other
mistakes and, ultimately, lost his job. as for our waitress, she did not have to pay for the kitchen mistake and was given the tip she deserved for her service, which was excellent.
she was seriously distressed by the treament we recived from Bradley, and that smug little dweeb ended up getting fired too. evidently, we weren't the only ones he messed with.
I'm just thankfull that we had eaten there before, we host their website and so know the owner. if not, and I opened my NYC mouth about what happened..... let's just say it wouldn't have been pretty.
and, John's makeup dinner was so delightfull and charming... smileys/smile.gif
mistakes and, ultimately, lost his job. as for our waitress, she did not have to pay for the kitchen mistake and was given the tip she deserved for her service, which was excellent.
she was seriously distressed by the treament we recived from Bradley, and that smug little dweeb ended up getting fired too. evidently, we weren't the only ones he messed with.
I'm just thankfull that we had eaten there before, we host their website and so know the owner. if not, and I opened my NYC mouth about what happened..... let's just say it wouldn't have been pretty.
and, John's makeup dinner was so delightfull and charming... smileys/smile.gif
OMG, "cracking a smile" LOL. this drives me batty.
do those young girls know that they are showing too much, or are they unaware that it shows? And I'm not talking about the thongs showing, but the "bare facts".
It's everywhere---I want to tell every sales clerk who is bending down that they are showing the world something that should stay covered. I keep thinking that they probably don't know it's showing and I'd be doing them a favor. But, maybe they want it to show, which is mind boggling to me. who wants to see rear cleavage? at least in public smileys/smile.gif)
do those young girls know that they are showing too much, or are they unaware that it shows? And I'm not talking about the thongs showing, but the "bare facts".
It's everywhere---I want to tell every sales clerk who is bending down that they are showing the world something that should stay covered. I keep thinking that they probably don't know it's showing and I'd be doing them a favor. But, maybe they want it to show, which is mind boggling to me. who wants to see rear cleavage? at least in public smileys/smile.gif)
cynupstateny
Well-known member
So do you mention it? I've wondered that, too. Guess it's intentional.
Here's my last one. New restaurant. Again, in Northampton.
I'd lived in the area for over 20 years and frequented all area restaurants. We were seated. The waiter took our order, then asked what we wanted for our "starch". I'm sorry. I know what he meant, but he was so snotty about it and didn't explain what he meant, that I was like, "Our starch? I'd like them on my shirts. Are you doing laundry between courses." Well, I didn't exactly say that, but I just chuckled at him and he went away in such a huff. My starch? Calm down, boy.
We never went back. Restaurant closed.
I'd lived in the area for over 20 years and frequented all area restaurants. We were seated. The waiter took our order, then asked what we wanted for our "starch". I'm sorry. I know what he meant, but he was so snotty about it and didn't explain what he meant, that I was like, "Our starch? I'd like them on my shirts. Are you doing laundry between courses." Well, I didn't exactly say that, but I just chuckled at him and he went away in such a huff. My starch? Calm down, boy.
We never went back. Restaurant closed.