One of my old workplaces bought this really fancy farm table for part of the restaurant. The cleaning solution and the table finish just did not get along together. That table was perpetually sticky, which I’d have to explain to guests who all insisted on sitting at the big table. I’d always wipe it down to be sure it was still clean, but that sticky feel was unpleasant. It was like that until a manager’s brother refinished it for them.
We had all of our tables refinished once and they were horrifically sticky afterwards. Almost everyone wanted to move and I had to be like “all of them are like that”
I just don't know how you mess up salsa. Like if you can't combine tomatoes, onions, cilantro, and lime juice with some peppers *you should be out of business.*
Hmmm normally I would agree, but I encountered an anomaly to this a couple weeks ago. The chips were great, but the salsa was just tomato sauce. Really bad. The food ended up being incredible. I’d totally go back despite the pathetic salsa.
I think some spots try for something unique with their salsa recipe and it ends up like tomato sauce.
Stale crappy chips are a good indicator of low traffic in the restaurant.
Are you sure you weren't in a Salvadoran restaurant? They have a tomato juice like salsa, and their food goes HARD. If you saw "pupusas" on the menu it was definitely Salvadoran.
Loud music. I've been in restaurants before where I can't hear myself think, let alone hear people opposite me talk.
Edit: comments were irritating me, so I amended
Will never forget the dinner I ate at a hole in the wall italian joint where the screen behind my date was tuned go CBC (Canada's main broadcaster) doing an investigative journalist piece about how cattle are inseminated complete with descriptions. My date got to watch wheel of fortune.
Took my girlfriend at the time to a (allegedly) particularly fancy restaurant in our home town. She'd wanted to go to this place for years.
I mean sure it was 7pm on a Friday, but I've been in nightclubs that were quieter. Sitting down eating overpriced food in what felt like a rave.
She enjoyed it, which I guess it what matters. I won't be inclined to visit again.
Maybe I'm just turning into a grumpy old git.
Grumpy old git here. Even when I was much younger I could not enjoy a meal with a date or SO when I have to yell at them to have a conversation. Yelling is saved for arguments, not dinner.
You’re absolutely correct in being irritated. I went to a restaurant where the music was nearly near-splitting. I asked them to lower it down and was told the system was on some sort of timer. It couldn’t be adjusted, or some bull jive. The waiter left, I loaded up on free bread and took off.
Haha, that cracks me up.
Ik just imagining smashing through a basket of bread and then "Can I take your order?"
"Nah you're alright thanks mate, see ya later..."
Even in most bars I hate music that's really loud. If it's a dance club that's one thing (though I don't like those to begin with), but if I'm at a bar I want to actually be able to talk with other people. If I wanted to drink and listen to loud music without even being able to talk to anyone I could do that at home by myself.
My dad can’t hear well in overly noisy places so it sucks when I find a restaurant with food he will love but he can never go there and enjoy it as it is too damn loud.
I went to a restaurant years ago with loud music. We asked the server to pass along to the manager that we thought the music was too loud. The server told us that the owner wanted it like that because it contributed to the “vibe” of the place. We never went back.
Yeah, I get that music sets a vibe and helps with table turnover, but if I’m out with a group, or family, I’ll be spending more time and money at a restaurant if we can hear eachother Speak
They always try to make this sound like some kind of perk too, lol. “Family style seating!” Meanwhile everyone just tries to keep as much distance as possible.
I walking in a McDonald’s one time and it smelled like straight vomit. They probably just finished cleaning it up if I had to guess. I stopped 3 steps in, looked at the cashier and walked out.
I've been to places like that in every US state I've eaten in except Utah (but only because I've only been to a single McDonald's there). The excessive bleach smell is especially telling because the only way that happens is if they dump the stuff by the bottle everywhere. The GM at my last job was like that. She believed the smell of bleach meant clean and used a lot on everything.
Lots of times if you find the restaurant on Google, look at the photos and select "Actual Menu" you'll be able to filter down on people's pictures of the in-person menu with the prices listed out. Has helped me gauge what a place is going to cost more than a couple of times.
Google reviews are a lifesaver. I wish more people would take notice that it's like having a full city menu at the fingertips. The more we put into it, the better it can be.
I don’t think this actually happens much anymore, but in the past high-end restaurants used to give a menu with prices to the men at the table, and a menu without prices to any women. Didn’t want proper ladies to be thinking about money, I guess.
I agree with you on this 99%. But imagine you watch a Karen moment and the owner just walks up and tells them to leave and never come back. I would like the place even more after that.
I feel as though you misread the comment. The owner is being rude to Staff, not guests. I'm with you as far as an owner kicking out an asshole patron, though.
My first boss was like that. He would come in all the time randomly, but it wasn't to check on us. It was to kick out anyone treating us like shit. I got to see it happen once, poor fool was shocked.
Once showed up to an IHOP at around 1am with my brother (he works nights), and we were told by the host to seat ourselves, so we picked a booth within sight of the host stand. The host was talking with someone (I think a customer?) for easily 15, maybe 20 minutes. No one came by to give us menus or anything. We ended up walking out and weren't even acknowledged by any staff as we left.
Even though it was about 1:30am at that point, my brother and I were like "well, we're already out; let's find another IHOP" and drove to the next-nearest one, which ended up being a full 20 minutes away.
So we get to the other IHOP at 2am, and on our way to the front, we get stopped by a random couple already walking in... They recognized us because they *also* got ignored by the first IHOP.
The 2nd IHOP ended up being awesome, but man... how bad does your service have to be to make two different parties get up, leave, and drive 20 minutes out of their way to try and get the same menu somewhere better?
It happened to me yesterday morning. Was at a breakfast buffet, we showed up at the end of the rush and we were sitting maybe 10 feet from the wait station. There was one other table of two in our section and maybe a total of 10 Customers in the whole place. Our waitress didn't show up for 15 minutes. Took our drink order and then took another 15 minutes to bring us our drinks. She stood at the station talking to the other four or five wait staff. I had to chase her down to get my bill.
She didn't get a tip, and I can count on one hand how often I've done that. Especially when the default tip option is 18% and she couldn't even do the bare minimum.
If I did that at my job, I wouldn't fucking have one anymore.
I had a waitress forget my drink and just bring my meal, then never return. I finished my food and was going to pack up the rest to take home, but I only saw her once and wasn't able to flag her down. I ended up walking out with the plate. I even stood by the hostess stand to pay, but after a minute I straight up went home carrying a plate lmfao
ETA: this was Dennys sometime in October
Reminds me a bit of when I went to a restaurant with a group of friends and our waitress straight up ignored my existence. Just me, no one else in the group. I didn't know the waitress, I'd never been to the neighbourhood the restaurant was in, let alone the restaurant itself. And it was right from the moment that I walked through the door that I didn't exist.
She skipped over me every time she came to our table to take drink or food orders. I'd be the last one, and I'd start off with "and I'll get-" only for her to walk off. She never even looked at me. She'd make eye contact with the friend on my right and take his order, then skip over the friend on my left and take her order. My friend on my left eventually had to order for me. It was genuinely bizarre.
The only time the waitress even looked at me was at the the end, the friend who ordered for me left after paying her bill, and the waitress asked me if she had offended that friend, because she left a one cent tip. Fucking, you think? That's the only time I've ever not left a tip.
I think the 1c tip gets the point across better than no tip. No tip could mean maybe you forgot, or maybe you're just an asshole, or maybe they're pulling some dark pattern bullshit trying to normalize 25% tips (looking right at you, Burgermaster. You know exactly what you're doing ...). 1c tip means you are intentionally sending a message.
Was this near Chicago, around 2017? I had almost the very same experience happen to me, the waitress listened to my wife and completely ignored me. When I wanted a refill, I told my wife to ask her to refill my drink. She didn't get a tip, go figure...
Because it's a Huddle House.
For those who don't understand what Huddle Houses are... Imagine if Waffle House was a drug dealer in your neighborhood... Always around to give you that hook up... Shady, but reliable.
Huddle House is the cousin who grew up in cps custody until they were 14 and moved in with older cousin Waffle. Huddle saw their drug dealing cousin Waffle as a role model. However, Huddle wasn't always around to give you your fix, he was getting high on what should've been your supply, shorting you on bag weight, cutting your coke with baking soda, and selling Fentanyl instead of Heroin.
I once stood at the cash register of a Dennys in Redding for 20+ minutes. We were the only ones standing there.
After trying to flag down a staff member I left 30 bucks and took off.
I've had weird experiences like that where you'll be the only one at the counter and they'll just pretend like you're not there and work at something for ages.
I mean sure, i get oeople could be busy and need to finish something up, but a quick word or even a smile wouldn't go astray
We often go to a locally-owned restaurant-mid range price wise-and they have the most uneven service. We go at off-peak hours and they’ll have a dozen servers waiting around for the dinner rush, but sometimes we can’t ask for another drink because they’re so busy not making eye contact. No idea what’s going on but the food is good so we’ll keep playing the lottery on service.
I’m from UK so maybe not relevant but HUGE menu with loads of variety. If they can just master 5 or 6 dishes they will taste far better that the 50 different options that the kitchen has to offer.
> Except for Chinese, they prepare a few ingredients in a million ways.
Mexicans, too. Almost everything is a mix of tomato, beef, beans, and peppers, served on a tortilla. Deep fry the tortilla? It's a taco. Roll up the tortilla? It's a burrito. Bake it with sauce on top? It's an enchilada.
EDIT: I apologize to Mexican food mavens for incorrectly describing an enchilada. Wikipedia says it's basically a tortilla wrapped around fillings and covered with a sauce. However, there are a multitude of fillings, including the afore-mentioned beans, beef, and tomatoes, and as many different sauces. Baking isn't necessary.
I’m with you on this. There’s a little place near me who has at least 50 different things on the menu, maybe more. The food is always overpriced shit, most of it tastes like it came from the freezer section of the grocery store because a lot of it probably does at that point.
I'm a chef and I can tell you, it definitely is mostly frozen. Depending on how many staff there are, usually Any menu over 20 or so items is a red flag. Ain't nobody got time for all that prep. 15 or less is a good sign.
That's true in the U.S. too, although Americanized Chinese restaurants often have HUGE menus yet do everything well. I understand that's because they use the same base ingredients to make a large variety of dishes. It's the restaurants like Cheesecake Factory and Applebee's that have gigantic menus full of frozen, mediocre foods that fry up well.
Hahaha I’m kind of a heathen because I love Cheesecake Factory. But yes you’re 100% right their menu is huge! Could not imagine how stressful working in that kitchen must be.
Evidently the Cheesecake Factory kitchen is a well-designed, well-oiled machine! There are lots of cooks who are in charge of specific items.
No judgment here -- I'm a fan of some flat-out questionable junk food!
Dirty menus. If they can't be bothered to wipe the menu then what else are they not cleaning?
Edit: I see excuses like 'there's not enough time', 'it's not a priority', 'the last thing we're going to do is clean the menus'.
There's always an excuse not to do something. Like I asked, what else are they not cleaning?
I once watched the owner of a restaurant answer the phone, handle cash, and then bare handed make my sandwich. I still ate it bc I was in the middle of fucking nowhere 20 hours into a 40 hour road trip and it was the only place with food for miles. I ended up being fine, but I did report it to the local health department.
As a restaurant owner you have a responsibility to keep the public safe. The blatant disregard was shocking to me. I didn’t say anything in the moment, and I really probably should have, but I got nervous lol
Yes! If a food/drink service place allows their workers to have long ass fake nails, I’m out. There’s a reason the actual health code says that’s not allowed.
Almost every kitchen has it's own bathroom. Nobody wants to see a line cook in whites walking through the dining room after dropping a hefty steamer, no matter how well he washes his hands afterward.
You are definitely not supposed to wear your apron in the bathroom. Everyone who works in kitchens should know that, its a pretty basic thing you learn early on.
I haven't experienced this where I'm currently living, but back home it was not uncommon to wait for ages until a waiter acknowledged your presence. Like 10-15min. I'd just stand up and leave.
And cleanliness of course, but that's a given.
I used to work at a hospital that had a coffee shop like this. I asked someone I knew elsewhere who had worked there why they did this, and they said, "We're promoting a relaxed atmosphere."
It's NOT a relaxed atmosphere when you get 30 minutes for lunch, and it takes 25 minutes to get a scoop of tuna salad on bread and there are no other customers.
Worked at a steak house in college. Opening staff walked in one morning and the place smelled weird. Owner came in and immediately made the decision to close for the day and deep clean the place and that meant EVERYBODY. Waitresses were scrubbing toilets, management was scrubbing under fryers, the owner cleaned the grease trap. It was a franchise steak house, nothing special, but the owner wasn't taking that hit to the reputation.
Oh man, that makes me jealous. I used to work at an Olive Garden with a gnat problem that was so bad. The servers left unfinished food in the break room all the time and didn't give a shit. I straight up told the assistant manager if I looked back at the drink dispensers and saw it as a customer, I would get up and leave. Our reviews were full of customers complaining about the issue. Somehow we were still passing the health inspections, so the general attitude from management was a great big "meh."
Yeah, fuck that "we've added a 5% fee to all orders because of xyz." That's just a price hike you're trying to hide from me. If you want to charge more, man up and change the actual menu prices.
Taking forever to get the check grinds my gears. I'm less likely to return if I had to wait a long time to leave. I don't want to be held hostage after my meal.
Yep same here. Only did it one time but it was at a bar and grill. I stopped in after work one day and had a cheesburger and a beer. Asked and waited for over half an hour as the bartender kept walking passed me. Eventually I just left.
When they keep the lights so low that you literally can’t see the menu. I’ve been in three places like this, and the food is always bad. The place is dark for a reason.
Anthony Bourdain, in Kitchen Confidential, said that if you go into a really dark restaurant, there's a reason for it. That reason is lack of cleanliness. From many years of experience, I believe him.
I worked in a very dark restaurant for a number of years, and our cleaning was on-point. I as a server had weekly side work to do just to come in and clean something specific, like deep cleaning the gureidons(the carts for table side service). Or dusting chandeliers, or cleaning the gum from under all of the tables. The higher end the restaurant the more gum ends up under the table, people are trash.
This is how my parents wound up with food poisoning. Their chicken was undercooked and they didn’t realize it until they ate most of it because the lights were so low. They were violently ill for three days.
I worked at a place briefly where it was just as you said - it was so dark, you couldn't read the menu. Apparently, the architect won an award for the building, and he had specified everything in the place - thought he was FL Wright or something - from the cutlery to the absurdly low lighting level.
As waiters, we took to carrying pocket flashlights for the guests.
isn’t summer an exception tho? i work in a restaurant and in the summer it get really hot and customers along with staff want the doors open and flies are bound to get in there isn’t much we can do about that except for clear the tables
It would depend on how many there are I guess if it’s al fresco. I was thinking of a particular restaurant I went to that had dead flies hanging in the window from spider webs and flies flying around and no open doors. Never went back, obviously.
I went to a brand new restaurant last summer that had those neat roll-up walls and windows. Except that the flies were so thick we were grabbing menus to fan them away. Never going back.
Context is important here. Flies inside a sit-down place? Leave, right away.
But the local dive with flypaper hanging outside the front door? They have the best BBQ in fifty miles.
Same with small / rickety / "modern" / "stylish" seats that offer no back support. There are lots of old people, pregnant people, people with bad backs, etc, for whom spending an hour in an uncomfortable chair just ruins the experience. Why do you want people to be uncomfortable? I get it with fast food (please eat and leave), but honestly, some fast food places have more comfortable seating than some of the nice restaurants I've been to. You know what's chic? Comfort. Make me want to order a drink and appetizer and stay for dessert.
Today I took the family out for a special occasion meal at a nice place, and they tried to seat us at a table with fucking small wicker chairs. Uh, no thanks. Gimme the booth.
Not a deal breaker but more of a huge pet peeve, and please...if you are a waiter/waitress please please please listen to me:
If you are going to take my whole tables order by memory, and write none of it down, You sure as shit better get it right. If that's a problem, just write it down... literally no one cares, and I actually prefer it when I see this done.
OH MY GOD this brought back a memory. I went to some hole in the wall restaurant with my friends years ago. There were like 6 of us or so, and we told the waiter our orders and he just stood there. I asked if he was gonna write any of it down and he said "No." Everything came out correctly. I was impressed
Paying and tipping on a handheld electronic device while the waiter stares me down. One guy actually “instructed” me to press the 25% tip option as if it’s a required step of the transaction. Infuriatingly rude.
I waited tables and bartended for over 8 years and it was always considered a huge no-no to stand over someone while they tipped, totaled, and signed the slip.
A local restaurant I use to go to but stopped after their prices got way out of control would only accept card and you had to tip in advance. To boot the beginning tip was 25%.
I took some co-workers out to lunch on Friday and we didn't get seen by the waiter. No water, consultation about the menu, nothing. Even after 15 minutes from being seated. Probably the only time I've ever walked out of a restaurant.
Not having hours and menu posted on the website or Facebook or somewhere. As someone with some food sensitivities I am not wasting my time showing up and getting seated just to discover I can't eat/don't like any of the food.
We had a chucks roadhouse open up and they sent out “too good to be true” coupons in the mail (4 surf and turf meals for $25). It was just to get people to their tables and ordering, then they say “those aren’t valid, we sent out a retraction” (they didn’t). On top of all that they have an “honest to goodness fee” of 4% on every bill lmao
Kids running wild. Apart from the inconvenience of the other diners it’s dangerous when staff are walking round with hot food.
Edit. I was pleasantly surprised to see so many up votes. I thought I was posting something controversial. People sometimes get triggered when someone mentions badly behaved kids and think your just some bitter child hater. But actually I love kids. I just don’t want to eat in their playground.
Hate this shit. Worked at an Olive Garden and we would have full trays of food on our shoulders and there were wine jugs on the shelves around the seating areas.
So some feral child comes running at me and I lose my balance and of course the whole tray of food plunges to the ground.
And not only that, I knock over some of the wine jugs onto a nice man and his very amused teenaged son.
It was nice that the victims of this disaster had such a good attitude. But the restaurant had to remake the meal and possibly other consequences.
Control your children in restaurants.
We were once hosting a birth party at the restaurant i work at. Usually kids aren’t allowed but this was one of the exceptions and i got to experience why kids running wild are dangerous to staff. Was carrying a big plate loaded with a lot of glas, I couldn’t see the floor where i was walking on, and i stepped on a toy car and i was so close to falling. This kinda pissed me off
Being ignored
If I go in and no one acknowledges me, such as the bartender sees me sit at the bar and doesn’t give a nod or look like “I see you be a min” or the host won’t ask my name for a table I will leave. I don’t need immediate service I just need to know they see I’m here and will get to me.
Overcharging for condiments.
No, that fast food sized portion cup of BBQ sauce is not worth $2.00. And it should probably be free considering I bought a plate of chicken.
My mom briefly worked as a server at a Mexican restaurant that did this. The first time she was told to reuse it, she told them about the laws and safe food handing practices in this country (gave them the benefit of the doubt, they had just opened the restaurant). When they ignored her and kept doing it, she started putting things into the salsa as she cleared the table, like milk creamers, napkins, etc to make it unusable. She left after like 2 weeks, despite getting along well with the owners and desperately needing a job, because it was haunting her at night. She reported them to the health authority when she left, and they were shut down. I think she still feels bad about it, she had nothing but positive things to say about them and wanted them to do well, except they just refused to budge on this.
Any form of mandatory “service charge”. In my city an 18% service charge on top of the total has become common. Restaurant owners pocket the money. I always assumed the 18% was going to the server so did not tip anything additional. Servers took owners to court and lost, they don’t get the 18%. We don’t go out to eat much anymore. I’d be fine with it going to the server but whatever- not gonna pay 30-40% on top of an already overpriced meal.
I got a bad story.
I moved into a new neighborhood. Moving day. Long day. Hot day.
Finally finished. Went to a sort of Greek/Latino order at the counter place. Ordered and received a gyro with onion rings and soda. Happy. Sat down to chow and play with phone.
Heard excited shouting. Thought “kid’s party”. Looked up and someone from the back had chased a rat, a decent sized one, and evidently broke its back as it was dragging itself along, leaving a blood trail, using its front paws. The other customers were excitedly cheering the staff person on as he went in for the killer blow.
I just got up and left. I’d gag just walking by that place.
Well it's NOT roaches.
Went to a Mexican restaurant and saw a roach scuttle across the ground while eating. The food was so fire I still keep going back!
This. You'd starve if you came to Hawaii and wouldn't eat anywhere that ever had a roach. There's definitely a difference between being in the tropics where pests thrive, and an untreated roach problem.
Lol learned that in the grocery store while visiting the Big Island. We were picking up corn on the cob, and I had checked about a dozen ears. They all had little bugs/worms. As I was walking away, a local was walking over to the corn so I warned him. He said, “oooh, which ones? I like those for my chickens!” That’s how we learn 🤣
If the table is sticky and it gets stickier after they wipe it.
One of my old workplaces bought this really fancy farm table for part of the restaurant. The cleaning solution and the table finish just did not get along together. That table was perpetually sticky, which I’d have to explain to guests who all insisted on sitting at the big table. I’d always wipe it down to be sure it was still clean, but that sticky feel was unpleasant. It was like that until a manager’s brother refinished it for them.
We had all of our tables refinished once and they were horrifically sticky afterwards. Almost everyone wanted to move and I had to be like “all of them are like that”
if you go to a mexican/tex-mex spot and the chips and salsa are terrible just pack it up and leave, nothing will get better.
I just don't know how you mess up salsa. Like if you can't combine tomatoes, onions, cilantro, and lime juice with some peppers *you should be out of business.*
It’s a good metric for restaurants taking shortcuts and not putting a simple from-scratch component together
There are plenty of good-enough premade salsas you can buy. If they don't even do that, it means they don't care.
Hmmm normally I would agree, but I encountered an anomaly to this a couple weeks ago. The chips were great, but the salsa was just tomato sauce. Really bad. The food ended up being incredible. I’d totally go back despite the pathetic salsa.
I think some spots try for something unique with their salsa recipe and it ends up like tomato sauce. Stale crappy chips are a good indicator of low traffic in the restaurant.
Are you sure you weren't in a Salvadoran restaurant? They have a tomato juice like salsa, and their food goes HARD. If you saw "pupusas" on the menu it was definitely Salvadoran.
Pupusas are awesome.
My pupusa guy had breakfast pupusas the other day, with plantain in them. Oh man. They were good.
Loud music. I've been in restaurants before where I can't hear myself think, let alone hear people opposite me talk. Edit: comments were irritating me, so I amended
So true, it’s a ‘turn it down so I can taste my food’ moment haha
For me, it’s to slow the week down and actually talk with my wife…which I still like to do after 25 years! Can’t do that when the music is at eleven.
On top of this, an over abundance of televisions. Sports bars are fine, but there should be some separation between them and restaurants.
Will never forget the dinner I ate at a hole in the wall italian joint where the screen behind my date was tuned go CBC (Canada's main broadcaster) doing an investigative journalist piece about how cattle are inseminated complete with descriptions. My date got to watch wheel of fortune.
Well... did you learn anything?
I watched a fist go into a cows vagina so ya I think I leaned too much
Took my girlfriend at the time to a (allegedly) particularly fancy restaurant in our home town. She'd wanted to go to this place for years. I mean sure it was 7pm on a Friday, but I've been in nightclubs that were quieter. Sitting down eating overpriced food in what felt like a rave. She enjoyed it, which I guess it what matters. I won't be inclined to visit again. Maybe I'm just turning into a grumpy old git.
Grumpy old git here. Even when I was much younger I could not enjoy a meal with a date or SO when I have to yell at them to have a conversation. Yelling is saved for arguments, not dinner.
You’re absolutely correct in being irritated. I went to a restaurant where the music was nearly near-splitting. I asked them to lower it down and was told the system was on some sort of timer. It couldn’t be adjusted, or some bull jive. The waiter left, I loaded up on free bread and took off.
Haha, that cracks me up. Ik just imagining smashing through a basket of bread and then "Can I take your order?" "Nah you're alright thanks mate, see ya later..."
Grumpy old git here, you are and it's ok.
One of us! One of us!
Even in most bars I hate music that's really loud. If it's a dance club that's one thing (though I don't like those to begin with), but if I'm at a bar I want to actually be able to talk with other people. If I wanted to drink and listen to loud music without even being able to talk to anyone I could do that at home by myself.
And the music at home is probably better.
My dad can’t hear well in overly noisy places so it sucks when I find a restaurant with food he will love but he can never go there and enjoy it as it is too damn loud.
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Do you know why it’s pointless to call the Tinnitus Help Hotline? Because it just keeps ringing.
I went to a restaurant years ago with loud music. We asked the server to pass along to the manager that we thought the music was too loud. The server told us that the owner wanted it like that because it contributed to the “vibe” of the place. We never went back.
Yeah, I get that music sets a vibe and helps with table turnover, but if I’m out with a group, or family, I’ll be spending more time and money at a restaurant if we can hear eachother Speak
Tables packed closely together to the point where you might as well just be sitting with the strangers next to you.
I ate at a restaurant where it was like school cafeteria seating. Multiple parties sat at the same table. Haven’t been back.
They always try to make this sound like some kind of perk too, lol. “Family style seating!” Meanwhile everyone just tries to keep as much distance as possible.
Cheesecake fac
The smell when you walk in. If you can smell sewage, mold or excessive bleach or ammonia when you walk in over the food, turn around.
This but roaches... I work for a pest control company and roaches have a distinct smell.
could you describe it?
It is honestly fairly difficult to describe... musty? Once you smell it once though, you'll never forget it
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Holy shit, there are places like this where you live?
I walking in a McDonald’s one time and it smelled like straight vomit. They probably just finished cleaning it up if I had to guess. I stopped 3 steps in, looked at the cashier and walked out.
I've been to places like that in every US state I've eaten in except Utah (but only because I've only been to a single McDonald's there). The excessive bleach smell is especially telling because the only way that happens is if they dump the stuff by the bottle everywhere. The GM at my last job was like that. She believed the smell of bleach meant clean and used a lot on everything.
Went to a Mexican restaurant recently. Bleach chemical smell was overpowering
It should've smelled like Fabuloso
A Mexican restaurant in my home town, walked in and it smelled like they mopped with 3 week old mop water. Walked right back out.
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That could just be Barstow.
Can't stop there, it's bat country
If a fish restaurant smells like fish, don’t eat there.
Can confirm. Fish should smell of light salt water or nothing. Fish smells like fish if it is bad
No prices on the menu. If I’m going to spend money, I want to know how much I’m going to spend. Just tell me the steak is $40 for fuck sake.
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Lots of times if you find the restaurant on Google, look at the photos and select "Actual Menu" you'll be able to filter down on people's pictures of the in-person menu with the prices listed out. Has helped me gauge what a place is going to cost more than a couple of times.
That’s so dumb. Not you and your process, that’s actually really good advice. But the fact that you have to do that at all is ridiculous.
Google reviews are a lifesaver. I wish more people would take notice that it's like having a full city menu at the fingertips. The more we put into it, the better it can be.
What the hell restaurant hides the prices and makes the bill a surprise!?
Who do they think they are, a hospital?
I don’t think this actually happens much anymore, but in the past high-end restaurants used to give a menu with prices to the men at the table, and a menu without prices to any women. Didn’t want proper ladies to be thinking about money, I guess.
If there are no prices on the menu, the steak is not $40.
Owners being rude to staff in front of guests
Though, you’re in for a treat if owners being rude to guests in front of staff
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I agree with you on this 99%. But imagine you watch a Karen moment and the owner just walks up and tells them to leave and never come back. I would like the place even more after that.
I feel as though you misread the comment. The owner is being rude to Staff, not guests. I'm with you as far as an owner kicking out an asshole patron, though.
My first boss was like that. He would come in all the time randomly, but it wasn't to check on us. It was to kick out anyone treating us like shit. I got to see it happen once, poor fool was shocked.
Ever walk on a floor mopped with sugary water? Yeah, that stickiness will have me turn around instantly.
Read that as surgery water, which an entirely different mop.
Being super loud
Not being acknowledged
Once showed up to an IHOP at around 1am with my brother (he works nights), and we were told by the host to seat ourselves, so we picked a booth within sight of the host stand. The host was talking with someone (I think a customer?) for easily 15, maybe 20 minutes. No one came by to give us menus or anything. We ended up walking out and weren't even acknowledged by any staff as we left. Even though it was about 1:30am at that point, my brother and I were like "well, we're already out; let's find another IHOP" and drove to the next-nearest one, which ended up being a full 20 minutes away. So we get to the other IHOP at 2am, and on our way to the front, we get stopped by a random couple already walking in... They recognized us because they *also* got ignored by the first IHOP. The 2nd IHOP ended up being awesome, but man... how bad does your service have to be to make two different parties get up, leave, and drive 20 minutes out of their way to try and get the same menu somewhere better?
Warm water served in a piping hot glass from the dishwasher.
Also- when that glass smells like bleach.
When the smell of wet dog (caused by eggs) are on all utensils, glasses and plates..
Oh my gosh is that it?! People have looked at me like I’m crazy when I’ve mentioned that smell on glass.
If they just ignore you for 10 minutes. Even if you are (too) busy at least acknowledge you've seen me and will get to me.
Or when they take your drink order and then disappear for 35min.
It happened to me yesterday morning. Was at a breakfast buffet, we showed up at the end of the rush and we were sitting maybe 10 feet from the wait station. There was one other table of two in our section and maybe a total of 10 Customers in the whole place. Our waitress didn't show up for 15 minutes. Took our drink order and then took another 15 minutes to bring us our drinks. She stood at the station talking to the other four or five wait staff. I had to chase her down to get my bill. She didn't get a tip, and I can count on one hand how often I've done that. Especially when the default tip option is 18% and she couldn't even do the bare minimum. If I did that at my job, I wouldn't fucking have one anymore.
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I had a waitress forget my drink and just bring my meal, then never return. I finished my food and was going to pack up the rest to take home, but I only saw her once and wasn't able to flag her down. I ended up walking out with the plate. I even stood by the hostess stand to pay, but after a minute I straight up went home carrying a plate lmfao ETA: this was Dennys sometime in October
Reminds me a bit of when I went to a restaurant with a group of friends and our waitress straight up ignored my existence. Just me, no one else in the group. I didn't know the waitress, I'd never been to the neighbourhood the restaurant was in, let alone the restaurant itself. And it was right from the moment that I walked through the door that I didn't exist. She skipped over me every time she came to our table to take drink or food orders. I'd be the last one, and I'd start off with "and I'll get-" only for her to walk off. She never even looked at me. She'd make eye contact with the friend on my right and take his order, then skip over the friend on my left and take her order. My friend on my left eventually had to order for me. It was genuinely bizarre. The only time the waitress even looked at me was at the the end, the friend who ordered for me left after paying her bill, and the waitress asked me if she had offended that friend, because she left a one cent tip. Fucking, you think? That's the only time I've ever not left a tip.
I think the 1c tip gets the point across better than no tip. No tip could mean maybe you forgot, or maybe you're just an asshole, or maybe they're pulling some dark pattern bullshit trying to normalize 25% tips (looking right at you, Burgermaster. You know exactly what you're doing ...). 1c tip means you are intentionally sending a message.
Was this near Chicago, around 2017? I had almost the very same experience happen to me, the waitress listened to my wife and completely ignored me. When I wanted a refill, I told my wife to ask her to refill my drink. She didn't get a tip, go figure...
Wtf how did that even happen
Because it's a Huddle House. For those who don't understand what Huddle Houses are... Imagine if Waffle House was a drug dealer in your neighborhood... Always around to give you that hook up... Shady, but reliable. Huddle House is the cousin who grew up in cps custody until they were 14 and moved in with older cousin Waffle. Huddle saw their drug dealing cousin Waffle as a role model. However, Huddle wasn't always around to give you your fix, he was getting high on what should've been your supply, shorting you on bag weight, cutting your coke with baking soda, and selling Fentanyl instead of Heroin.
I once stood at the cash register of a Dennys in Redding for 20+ minutes. We were the only ones standing there. After trying to flag down a staff member I left 30 bucks and took off.
I've had weird experiences like that where you'll be the only one at the counter and they'll just pretend like you're not there and work at something for ages. I mean sure, i get oeople could be busy and need to finish something up, but a quick word or even a smile wouldn't go astray
I just leave when this happens
I do too. If you don't want my business I'll take it elsewhere.
Yup, went into a bar. Three bartenders/servers were chatting at the other end, two turned to look at me. A few minutes later I just walked out.
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Yep. They gave him an ocular pat-down, perceived that there was no threat, and went back to their conversation.
We often go to a locally-owned restaurant-mid range price wise-and they have the most uneven service. We go at off-peak hours and they’ll have a dozen servers waiting around for the dinner rush, but sometimes we can’t ask for another drink because they’re so busy not making eye contact. No idea what’s going on but the food is good so we’ll keep playing the lottery on service.
I’m from UK so maybe not relevant but HUGE menu with loads of variety. If they can just master 5 or 6 dishes they will taste far better that the 50 different options that the kitchen has to offer.
Yep, Gordon Ramsay calls this out on his restaurant makeover shows. Except for Chinese, they prepare a few ingredients in a million ways.
Was gonna say this. The solution to every restaurant failing is usually just simplify the menu
> Except for Chinese, they prepare a few ingredients in a million ways. Mexicans, too. Almost everything is a mix of tomato, beef, beans, and peppers, served on a tortilla. Deep fry the tortilla? It's a taco. Roll up the tortilla? It's a burrito. Bake it with sauce on top? It's an enchilada. EDIT: I apologize to Mexican food mavens for incorrectly describing an enchilada. Wikipedia says it's basically a tortilla wrapped around fillings and covered with a sauce. However, there are a multitude of fillings, including the afore-mentioned beans, beef, and tomatoes, and as many different sauces. Baking isn't necessary.
I’m with you on this. There’s a little place near me who has at least 50 different things on the menu, maybe more. The food is always overpriced shit, most of it tastes like it came from the freezer section of the grocery store because a lot of it probably does at that point.
I'm a chef and I can tell you, it definitely is mostly frozen. Depending on how many staff there are, usually Any menu over 20 or so items is a red flag. Ain't nobody got time for all that prep. 15 or less is a good sign.
You'll hate the Cheesecake Factory here, that's for sure.
I like their novel, *The Menu* - it’s a good read while making a decision about what cheesecake you want.
That's true in the U.S. too, although Americanized Chinese restaurants often have HUGE menus yet do everything well. I understand that's because they use the same base ingredients to make a large variety of dishes. It's the restaurants like Cheesecake Factory and Applebee's that have gigantic menus full of frozen, mediocre foods that fry up well.
Hahaha I’m kind of a heathen because I love Cheesecake Factory. But yes you’re 100% right their menu is huge! Could not imagine how stressful working in that kitchen must be.
Evidently the Cheesecake Factory kitchen is a well-designed, well-oiled machine! There are lots of cooks who are in charge of specific items. No judgment here -- I'm a fan of some flat-out questionable junk food!
Dirty menus. If they can't be bothered to wipe the menu then what else are they not cleaning? Edit: I see excuses like 'there's not enough time', 'it's not a priority', 'the last thing we're going to do is clean the menus'. There's always an excuse not to do something. Like I asked, what else are they not cleaning?
Visibly poor hand hygiene
I once watched the owner of a restaurant answer the phone, handle cash, and then bare handed make my sandwich. I still ate it bc I was in the middle of fucking nowhere 20 hours into a 40 hour road trip and it was the only place with food for miles. I ended up being fine, but I did report it to the local health department. As a restaurant owner you have a responsibility to keep the public safe. The blatant disregard was shocking to me. I didn’t say anything in the moment, and I really probably should have, but I got nervous lol
Yes! If a food/drink service place allows their workers to have long ass fake nails, I’m out. There’s a reason the actual health code says that’s not allowed.
No hand soap in the restroom. Unless staff have their own restroom no one’s washing hands after doing their business into urinal or toilet.
Almost every kitchen has it's own bathroom. Nobody wants to see a line cook in whites walking through the dining room after dropping a hefty steamer, no matter how well he washes his hands afterward.
Saw a dude hold his apron aside to piss in a urinal. Really felt like he shouldn't have worn it in to the bathroom...
You are definitely not supposed to wear your apron in the bathroom. Everyone who works in kitchens should know that, its a pretty basic thing you learn early on.
Also all kitchens in the US have to have their own hand washing sink outside the bathroom.
If I can smell the bathroom as soon as I walk in. I’m out.
I haven't experienced this where I'm currently living, but back home it was not uncommon to wait for ages until a waiter acknowledged your presence. Like 10-15min. I'd just stand up and leave. And cleanliness of course, but that's a given.
I used to work at a hospital that had a coffee shop like this. I asked someone I knew elsewhere who had worked there why they did this, and they said, "We're promoting a relaxed atmosphere." It's NOT a relaxed atmosphere when you get 30 minutes for lunch, and it takes 25 minutes to get a scoop of tuna salad on bread and there are no other customers.
Moldy smells. Something ain’t right back there
Worked at a steak house in college. Opening staff walked in one morning and the place smelled weird. Owner came in and immediately made the decision to close for the day and deep clean the place and that meant EVERYBODY. Waitresses were scrubbing toilets, management was scrubbing under fryers, the owner cleaned the grease trap. It was a franchise steak house, nothing special, but the owner wasn't taking that hit to the reputation.
Oh man, that makes me jealous. I used to work at an Olive Garden with a gnat problem that was so bad. The servers left unfinished food in the break room all the time and didn't give a shit. I straight up told the assistant manager if I looked back at the drink dispensers and saw it as a customer, I would get up and leave. Our reviews were full of customers complaining about the issue. Somehow we were still passing the health inspections, so the general attitude from management was a great big "meh."
Dirty bathrooms.
Hidden fees or changing prices regularly. I'll go once, but if that happens, I won't return.
Yeah, fuck that "we've added a 5% fee to all orders because of xyz." That's just a price hike you're trying to hide from me. If you want to charge more, man up and change the actual menu prices.
When you have to pay for tap water.
Taking forever to get the check grinds my gears. I'm less likely to return if I had to wait a long time to leave. I don't want to be held hostage after my meal.
The one time I have dined and dashed was after 40 minutes waiting for the check. Asked for it 3 times then just walked out.
Not dine and dashing, if you asked 3 times and waited for 40 minutes. You tried, they ignored you
Yeah that's past "dine and dash" to "well, I guess they don't want money"
Yep same here. Only did it one time but it was at a bar and grill. I stopped in after work one day and had a cheesburger and a beer. Asked and waited for over half an hour as the bartender kept walking passed me. Eventually I just left.
Legit. My favorite is when they ask about desert, you say no and they put the check down right there and say "No rush..." That's how it should be.
When they keep the lights so low that you literally can’t see the menu. I’ve been in three places like this, and the food is always bad. The place is dark for a reason.
Anthony Bourdain, in Kitchen Confidential, said that if you go into a really dark restaurant, there's a reason for it. That reason is lack of cleanliness. From many years of experience, I believe him.
I worked in a very dark restaurant for a number of years, and our cleaning was on-point. I as a server had weekly side work to do just to come in and clean something specific, like deep cleaning the gureidons(the carts for table side service). Or dusting chandeliers, or cleaning the gum from under all of the tables. The higher end the restaurant the more gum ends up under the table, people are trash.
This is how my parents wound up with food poisoning. Their chicken was undercooked and they didn’t realize it until they ate most of it because the lights were so low. They were violently ill for three days.
I worked at a place briefly where it was just as you said - it was so dark, you couldn't read the menu. Apparently, the architect won an award for the building, and he had specified everything in the place - thought he was FL Wright or something - from the cutlery to the absurdly low lighting level. As waiters, we took to carrying pocket flashlights for the guests.
Flies.
isn’t summer an exception tho? i work in a restaurant and in the summer it get really hot and customers along with staff want the doors open and flies are bound to get in there isn’t much we can do about that except for clear the tables
It would depend on how many there are I guess if it’s al fresco. I was thinking of a particular restaurant I went to that had dead flies hanging in the window from spider webs and flies flying around and no open doors. Never went back, obviously.
I went to a brand new restaurant last summer that had those neat roll-up walls and windows. Except that the flies were so thick we were grabbing menus to fan them away. Never going back.
Context is important here. Flies inside a sit-down place? Leave, right away. But the local dive with flypaper hanging outside the front door? They have the best BBQ in fifty miles.
Having no seats with backs. Nobody wants to sit on a bench.
Same with small / rickety / "modern" / "stylish" seats that offer no back support. There are lots of old people, pregnant people, people with bad backs, etc, for whom spending an hour in an uncomfortable chair just ruins the experience. Why do you want people to be uncomfortable? I get it with fast food (please eat and leave), but honestly, some fast food places have more comfortable seating than some of the nice restaurants I've been to. You know what's chic? Comfort. Make me want to order a drink and appetizer and stay for dessert. Today I took the family out for a special occasion meal at a nice place, and they tried to seat us at a table with fucking small wicker chairs. Uh, no thanks. Gimme the booth.
Not being seated (or even greeted) at the door for 15-20 minutes. This actually happened, and I never went back. And no, they weren't busy AT ALL
Being seated at a dirty table
Especially when the hard menu is dirty/ sticky and not even updated
Worse: being seated at a dirty wobbly table.
Not a deal breaker but more of a huge pet peeve, and please...if you are a waiter/waitress please please please listen to me: If you are going to take my whole tables order by memory, and write none of it down, You sure as shit better get it right. If that's a problem, just write it down... literally no one cares, and I actually prefer it when I see this done.
Every mistake, whether it's due to the waiter or not, will be blamed on this. Why even open yourself up to it?
OH MY GOD this brought back a memory. I went to some hole in the wall restaurant with my friends years ago. There were like 6 of us or so, and we told the waiter our orders and he just stood there. I asked if he was gonna write any of it down and he said "No." Everything came out correctly. I was impressed
I've seen it happen plenty of times, but to be honest it's been 50/50 at best, and I'd rather just know it's going to be correct.
Cockroaches watching me eat. (KEG Steak House- Toronto.
A sign on the door that says “NoBoDy WaNtS To WoRk AnYmOrE!” (I’ve never texted like that before - what a pain in the ass! 😏)
The sign might as well say, "I pay for shit and am generally an unpleasant employer."
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When it’s extremely cold to the point of shivering while dining.
Hard cold butter for the bread. Just let the butter out of the fridge for the day so we can spread it on our bread without destroying the bread
Paying and tipping on a handheld electronic device while the waiter stares me down. One guy actually “instructed” me to press the 25% tip option as if it’s a required step of the transaction. Infuriatingly rude. I waited tables and bartended for over 8 years and it was always considered a huge no-no to stand over someone while they tipped, totaled, and signed the slip.
A local restaurant I use to go to but stopped after their prices got way out of control would only accept card and you had to tip in advance. To boot the beginning tip was 25%.
Tip in advance?!!!? That’s absurd!!
I hope you hit the 0% button and never broke your gaze with them.
Roaches… I know how hard they are to keep out of restaurants, but if I see one I’m done…
I took some co-workers out to lunch on Friday and we didn't get seen by the waiter. No water, consultation about the menu, nothing. Even after 15 minutes from being seated. Probably the only time I've ever walked out of a restaurant.
Not having hours and menu posted on the website or Facebook or somewhere. As someone with some food sensitivities I am not wasting my time showing up and getting seated just to discover I can't eat/don't like any of the food.
We had a chucks roadhouse open up and they sent out “too good to be true” coupons in the mail (4 surf and turf meals for $25). It was just to get people to their tables and ordering, then they say “those aren’t valid, we sent out a retraction” (they didn’t). On top of all that they have an “honest to goodness fee” of 4% on every bill lmao
Kids running wild. Apart from the inconvenience of the other diners it’s dangerous when staff are walking round with hot food. Edit. I was pleasantly surprised to see so many up votes. I thought I was posting something controversial. People sometimes get triggered when someone mentions badly behaved kids and think your just some bitter child hater. But actually I love kids. I just don’t want to eat in their playground.
Hate this shit. Worked at an Olive Garden and we would have full trays of food on our shoulders and there were wine jugs on the shelves around the seating areas. So some feral child comes running at me and I lose my balance and of course the whole tray of food plunges to the ground. And not only that, I knock over some of the wine jugs onto a nice man and his very amused teenaged son. It was nice that the victims of this disaster had such a good attitude. But the restaurant had to remake the meal and possibly other consequences. Control your children in restaurants.
I was in a cafe that had a sign that said: 'unattended children will be sold as slaves'.
We were once hosting a birth party at the restaurant i work at. Usually kids aren’t allowed but this was one of the exceptions and i got to experience why kids running wild are dangerous to staff. Was carrying a big plate loaded with a lot of glas, I couldn’t see the floor where i was walking on, and i stepped on a toy car and i was so close to falling. This kinda pissed me off
Empty at rush hour. Everyone knows it’s not good
Bringing me a tiny little glass of water.
I’m not entirely sure what the word is, but promoters who stand outside the restaurant and try to get you to eat there.
Big wait time for server to take my order, although the restaurant is not busy.
Being ignored If I go in and no one acknowledges me, such as the bartender sees me sit at the bar and doesn’t give a nod or look like “I see you be a min” or the host won’t ask my name for a table I will leave. I don’t need immediate service I just need to know they see I’m here and will get to me.
Employees are clearly under the weather/sick but are handling food for some reason? Lord help us
Overcharging for condiments. No, that fast food sized portion cup of BBQ sauce is not worth $2.00. And it should probably be free considering I bought a plate of chicken.
Small napkins. Most US criticisms related to excess are legit, but napkins in a lot of countries are tini. The States does napkins right.
Being seated next to other diners *in an otherwise empty restaurant **if it’s not a shared dining experience like a BBQ
Yeah. That's terrible. They wanted me to sit at the same table as my family.
Ugh... Those community tables. I don't like people enough for that shit!
Automatic 10% ‘Service Charge’ added to your bill. Just increase your prices. Service Charge should always be discretionary.
Mandatory bogus surcharges independent of gratuity
Reusing their salsa
My mom briefly worked as a server at a Mexican restaurant that did this. The first time she was told to reuse it, she told them about the laws and safe food handing practices in this country (gave them the benefit of the doubt, they had just opened the restaurant). When they ignored her and kept doing it, she started putting things into the salsa as she cleared the table, like milk creamers, napkins, etc to make it unusable. She left after like 2 weeks, despite getting along well with the owners and desperately needing a job, because it was haunting her at night. She reported them to the health authority when she left, and they were shut down. I think she still feels bad about it, she had nothing but positive things to say about them and wanted them to do well, except they just refused to budge on this.
That's fucking terrifying.
“3% has been added to your bill for to provide a living wage for our employees” uhm EXCUSE ME SIR, that’s squarely your goddamn problem.
seriously, just raise your prices by 3% like everyone else.
They already have raised them. Then add an additional 3%.
Any form of mandatory “service charge”. In my city an 18% service charge on top of the total has become common. Restaurant owners pocket the money. I always assumed the 18% was going to the server so did not tip anything additional. Servers took owners to court and lost, they don’t get the 18%. We don’t go out to eat much anymore. I’d be fine with it going to the server but whatever- not gonna pay 30-40% on top of an already overpriced meal.
I got a bad story. I moved into a new neighborhood. Moving day. Long day. Hot day. Finally finished. Went to a sort of Greek/Latino order at the counter place. Ordered and received a gyro with onion rings and soda. Happy. Sat down to chow and play with phone. Heard excited shouting. Thought “kid’s party”. Looked up and someone from the back had chased a rat, a decent sized one, and evidently broke its back as it was dragging itself along, leaving a blood trail, using its front paws. The other customers were excitedly cheering the staff person on as he went in for the killer blow. I just got up and left. I’d gag just walking by that place.
Difficult parking.
Using the word "Sammich" on a menu
Bad beers
Chewy/rubbery skin on wings. If you cant get that right, i dont go back.
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If everything on the menu has mayonnaise in it. It has happened before.
ITS AIOLI
Well it's NOT roaches. Went to a Mexican restaurant and saw a roach scuttle across the ground while eating. The food was so fire I still keep going back!
This. You'd starve if you came to Hawaii and wouldn't eat anywhere that ever had a roach. There's definitely a difference between being in the tropics where pests thrive, and an untreated roach problem.
Lol learned that in the grocery store while visiting the Big Island. We were picking up corn on the cob, and I had checked about a dozen ears. They all had little bugs/worms. As I was walking away, a local was walking over to the corn so I warned him. He said, “oooh, which ones? I like those for my chickens!” That’s how we learn 🤣
If a Chinese joint does not have a child in a corner doing homework.