It's been four years since the pandemic, so we're almost back to life as it was before. We're not as hungry for social gatherings, live entertainment, and going out to eat at a fancy restaurant. In fact, a 2023 survey found that, on average, Americans dine out three times a month.
Ipsos conducted a study about what customers expect from restaurants in 2024. The top factors for an enjoyable dining experience were quality time with family and friends (52%), great value for money (45%), and eating healthier (20%). These don't seem like very tall orders, do they?
Well, they do for these restaurants. When one person online asked, "What made you never want to return to a restaurant again?", over a thousand people shared their horrible experiences. Who knew dining out could be so adventurous and, at times, even dangerous?
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It was a takeaway. 12 of us ordered from Justeat and were really looking forward to it. We waited, and waited, and waited. Two hours later we rang and asked where our food was and they said they hadn’t made it because they assumed that such a large order was a prank despite the fact it was paid for! They did make the food and send it to us, but by that point it was over three hours since we initially ordered and we were hangry. The food, however was delicious. A couple of months later, same group of people. We decided to forgive them because the food was so nice. Ordered, waited. No food. Rang them a lot quicker this time to confirm the order and again, they said they assumed the order was a prank. The food eventually arrived however several items and full meals were missing. Rang them again and got voicemail saying they were closed for the night despite their website saying they were open for another three hours. We left a negative review and they threatened us over the phone. We added that to another review.
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The Big Easy chain in London. Used to love it, especially the original in Chelsea - it was fantastic. Then they fired a load of their employees in March 2020, put up a 'heartfelt' Instagram post about it, a week or so before furlough was announced. And never said anything about rehiring them to be furloughed, which I remember Martin Lewis confirming (and making a big noise about it) was allowed. F**k them, they threw their employees to the street at the first sign of trouble
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Live chicken in a bag in the toilet (but not UK ofc!).
Minky_Dave_the_Giant:
That's how you know it's fresh.
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A server making fun of someone with down's syndrome.Went to a highly rated Chinese restaurant. Bit into a soup bun and out comes 2 dead roaches. My wife and I lock eyes and quietly set down our spoons. We didn't want to cause a scene so we politely flagged down our waiter. The restaurant refused to comp our food or even offer an apology. So I charged back on my credit card and filed a complaint with the heath department.Barmaid rolled her eyes at me and said "Maybe you shouldn't be eating at a steakhouse if you are worried about the difference between diet and non-diet coke" after I asked her to replace the regular coke with the diet version I had ordered.
I responded "Actually I have type 1 diabetes - I can't dose my insulin correctly for sugary drinks as they get absorbed so quickly".
This was met with another eye roll, so my group of friends and I just said f**k this place and went somewhere else.
Left a bad tripadvisor/Google places review which got a grovelling apology from the owner.I ate there a lot. There weren't any vegan options but I'm not one so it wasn't an issue. They advertised a new vegan menu. I called up my vegan family members and said "Hey, come eat with me, I love this place."
We all sit down for a meal. No vegan menu. When I asked about it the owner said "Yeah, we haven't got any vegan stuff but we did that ad to get more customers in. And look, it worked!"
He lost a regular that day. Haven't eaten there since.When they added an automatic tip.Went to a Portuguese restaurant for a work Christmas meal. There were 14 of us. We ordered before we got there.
We arrived and were seated. Nothing for 30 minutes. They didn’t even ask if we wanted a drink. We flagged down a flustered waiter and asked for some drinks. We waited for them for 15 mins and they arrived. Not what we asked for. We sent them back and waited. And waited. We asked where the food was, as we had been there almost an hour. “You’ll have to wait” we were told, in a stroppy voice.
20 minutes later, the owner realised that our food had been given to another Christmas party. He actually went over and took the food from that table and gave it to us, it was half eaten by this point. Obviously a terrible experience for us, as well as the people who had their food “confiscated” half way through the meal.
We got a full refund and a few bottles of wine. We went to the nearest kebab house, as everywhere was booked.
No matter how busy you are, you don’t keep paying customers waiting that long. You also don’t take meals from people whilst they’re eating. You don’t take expect people to start eating a half eaten meal.
Terrible. Memorable, but terrible.Live ants in the pilau rice, the restaurant thought it wasn't an issue and would bring another dish.
We just walked straight out and never returned.For me it's pretentious presentation.
Bringing me ice cream on a slab so I have to eat it in 30 seconds before it melts all over the table is moronic.
I don't wanna eat fries out of a recycled tin can, I'm not a racoon.
Eating a burger out of a stone slab is some 10,000bc s**t and I want no part in it.
I wish they would just give me a frigging plate and a bowl and stop trying to reinvent the wheel with triangles.I've told this one a few times on reddit but basically bad service.
The place was empty, we were the only customers. It's a brunch restaurant, so we were there around 10:30 a.m. (it opened at 8 a.m.). There were 8 of us just wanting a relaxed breakfast (we weren't being rowdy). And as much as this story sounds like those rude cafe places... it's not, but it could fool you.
This waitress was clearly not in a good mood. I have no issue with that, you don't have to be the happiest person serving us.
She came over to take our order and we were very efficient, all knowing exactly what we wanted. However, they didn't have a couple of items (not mentioned or written anywhere). She told us in a very irritated way and then it obviously took a few seconds for those people to find what they wanted. She sighed barely 5 seconds later. Then when one found what they wanted and said "oh found what I'd like..." trying to lighten the mood and smiling. The waitress rolled her eyes and said "go on then" in an irritated manner again.
Anyway, eventually, she comes to serve the food, and literally (no exaggeration) she chucked the plates down on the table in front of some people, things fell off the plates. Then slid the other along the table (plenty of space to walk around the table). No apology for the food that fell off the plates or explanation for chucking it across.
We decided not to pay the service charge. We paid the bill exactly. She then blocked the doorway as we were leaving and said "You've underpaid, where's the rest?". I'm usually the shy, non-confrontational type, but I piped up because I'll let so much slide (even the plate slide would have been ok alone) but that was on a level I've never seen before.
So I said "We paid X, the service charge is optional and you were rude and threw our food all over the table and didn't once try to apologise or make up for the bad service. We will not be paying a tip for that."
She understandably was not happy with that but realised she wouldn't manage to get that out of us and let us leave but yeah, I live nearby it but I refuse to ever go again despite the food being quite nice.I got bangers and mash and the sausages smelled really funky. The server assured me it was just the herbs and I was still a teenager, who was taught to clear my plate, so I did.
Cue going home and immediately being violently, virulently ill all over the bathroom, and feeling incredibly poorly. I hadn't eaten anything that day beforehand and I'd had food poisoning before to that exact reaction. So we called the restaurant. Not to complain, just to get them to check the sausages actually were okay, because I didn't want to raise a fuss, I just wanted to be sure no one else was going to be sick if the sausages were off. That was it, all my dad called for.
The manager went off at dad on the phone, swearing and insulting us for daring to even insinuate anything could possibly be wrong with the food and telling us to f**k off. Needless to say, we didn't go back, which was a shame because it was one of the only restaurants in the area. I could have understood some of the anger if we had called to complain or try and bargain for a refund or something, but just calling as a heads up to check their stock was okay... nggghhh.
Well, we never went back.I went to one once where I ordered the food. One of the drinks offered was milkshakes: Banana, strawberry, chocolate, with coffee added in any favour if requested.
I asked for a strawberry and politely said to the woman ''NO coffee added, thanks''
She asked why, **with a sniff,** and I said I don't like any sort of coffee in any shape or form and won't touch it. ''Just a strawberry, please''. Although I felt I didn't have to explain my reason to her.
Strawberry came, I sucked on the straw and there was coffee in it so I took it back to the same woman and loudly enough for others to hear told I I had asked for NO coffee as I don't like it and won't touch it. She snapped ''it's only a bit, it won't hurt you''.
So I plonked the glass on the table and walked out, without paying for the drink or the food that had been delivered. Never ever went back!The waitress said she wouldn't receive any tips that I left.Went to Patisserie Valerie years ago and got some kind of lemony cheesecake. Probably eaten nearly half of it before I notice a dark spot, scoop around it with my spoon and uncover a full rat dropping (too big to be a mouse). Took all my willpower to not vom all over the cafe. Was with my mum and she instantly started complaining (as mums tend to do) because I was much too disgusted to do anything, and they VERY quickly refunded and tried to replace. Absolutely refused the replacement. Have flashbacks every time I go near one. I had already eaten half the tainted cheesecake! Never again.Mine as usually gluten related, as I'm coeliac. I was on holiday in Athens with a couple of my mates who grew up there. I was really enjoying the local food there but we decided one day to give this pizza place a go because they offered gluten free. Cool! We ordered and checked in English and Greek that it was GF. I demolished my pizza and it was delicious. Got to a couple hours later and I was throwing up so bad. That sort where you physically can't stop it. We were at somewhere grabbing a drink at the time, so I was curled up around their loo, throwing up. We finally made it back to their place after more puking. Then the other digestive issues kicked in. Anyway, I left a review of the place saying it's genuinely nice food but don't go there if you're coeliac. They were pissed and said I needed to take my review down. Messages flying back and forth. They offered me a free pizza. Bro, no. I don't wanna die. They said that those pizzas had "lower levels of gluten". That's not a thing. It's gluten free or it isn't. They told me they're made with spelt flour. Not GF in the slightest. They said they'd try and make a GF pizza (wouldn't trust it even if they did). They emailed back shortly after saying it was too difficult. Safe to say, if I ever go back to Athens, I'm never eating there again. I feel bad for the server because he would've only known what they told him.
I've had a few run-ins with places and me being coeliac (diagnosed as a toddler). But this one stuck out to me as particularly bad.Low and Slow BBQ whiteladies Bristol.
Walked in and saw the guy behind the counter take out a big fresh vat of Mac and cheese, spill it all over the dirty counter and finger smeared sneeze guard. Laugh then begin to scrape it off the counter and glass back into the serving pot.
Looked up at me like "what can I get you"
I said Nothing thanks and walked out.Another time, Indian Restaurant in Handforth, Stockport. We ordered meal for four and had some drinks. No sign of food, so we had some more drinks. And then some more drinks. Eventually signalled a waiter who brought us the bill.
When we said, that's very nice, but we haven't had any food, he said of course we had. We pointed out the full set of crockery and cutlery on the table and he piped down. Next thing we have is the Chef and the Owner coming out to appologise. Turns out that the chef had made our food, put it on the counter and the new guy doing washing up had poured it away and washed our plates before it could be taken out to us.
We laughed, they offered to cook more food but it was now too late to want food and we were all pissed due to drinking on an empty stomach. The waiter tried to give us the bill for drinks but the owner shouted at him in what I guess was Punjabi and tore the bill in half. So, result, an evening of dieting and free drinks!Someone in our group found a metal bolt in their Dauphinoise potatoes at Café Rouge. Found whilst eating it, so actually bit down on it. Could've easily broken a tooth, let alone who knows what contamination it involved. Explanation from management was "it was prepared at another location, we just heat it up", like that makes a difference? They wanted to take the potatoes off the bill as an apology, so definitely not seeing the seriousness of the situation. Nobody in our party wanted to eat after the discovery, and one brave soul had the strength to say nope, we're not paying for any of the meal since nobody wants to continue eating and we're leaving right now.Pizza Hut Leicester Sq. Rats running around under tables.I once waited with a date for over an hour for the bill, we discussed just walking out, but the bill was over £100 and that was 2005, I have never been back. Still going though, used to walk passed it all the time.Waiter insisted we needed to say whether we wanted the chicken rare, medium or well done and the manager said that was a legitimate question when we mentioned it.Mid meal they asked if I wanted any sauce, so I just asked for some ketchup, they then added a 0.50 charge for a small dollop of ketchup on the bill as well as automatic gratuity charge amounting to around £10
I was so mad I wrote my first ever google review on it lol.For me, i once ordered a steak after going on a long walk with my family and thought having a nice pub dinner would leave me satisfied with having to deal with the gruelling hills id just dragged my legs up and over.
Its safe to say, id rather of walked that hill walk 10 times over than had this steak.
Not only was it grey and cold, but it had a very very strong smell. The kind of smell that stays with you for a few hours afterwards.
As i was absolutely starving, i ignored the smell (my own fault here) and began the journey of eating this piece of meat. After a couple of slow chews the taste hit me and hit me hard. Stale, tangy and very very off.
I quickly realised the steak was beyond past its sell by date and on the verge of turning into a different creature altogether.
I notified the owner who just told me to 'put some ketchup on it' as its 'just the taste of the grill'- Honey, NO!
After much back- and -forth on this beast on my plate, the owner decided to try the steak, and confirmed it wasn't right. I was a little in shock that she ate the steak as i wasn't sure if this is what people do nether the less, the look she provided whilst chewing it gave me my answer. It was off.
After this, the chef came out and apologised along with other members of staff and offered me a different steak, but after the one i just tried, i just asked if i could not pay for my main and only pay for my drinks and starter.
This was denied.
I was only given the option of a new steak, nothing else from the menu, just the steak. So, out of a mixture of my stubbornness, disappointment and horrific experience i said i was not paying for my steak. Paid for everything else and left.
The whole experience had made me be left with no choice but not to return. which is a shame as its in a lovely area and would of been perfect from a lovely (hilly) walk.
This hasn't put me off steak at all, ive enjoyed many. but now, ill give them a quick smell before i eat.My mrs found a slug in her mushroom pasta at a really nice Italian near us, we’ve not been allowed to go back since….I got really bad food poisoning in a McDonald’s in France, so bad that I got sepsis and I’m still dealing with the kidney problems 30 years later.
I’m not sure if McDonald’s qualities as a restaurant, but I’m sure as heck not going there again.When I was a teenager my family met some extended family from out the area and met in the middle of the countryside for Sunday lunch because it was in the middle of where we all lived. Like absolute middle of nowhere, nothing around it, no towns, just the occasional village. This pub was just off a B-road and was completely empty.
It did look like a nice country pub though and they had pork, chicken, beef, duck, everything. Things at the time didn't seem too bad... but a few hours later you could have launched the Titanic on the amount of diarrhoea and vomit it caused.
Years and years later it's become the infamous pub that nobody will go near and we all get shivers as we see the signs for it when driving past.I went to a carvery , one of those things where you have to walk around with your plate serving yourself food. Watched a kid sneeze across the cutlery, a line of snot went flying out his nose ...first and last carvery.Four of us went to a local pub restaurant thing where you pay as you order. Yeah, I know.
They brought out our main dishes and we mentioned that we hadn't had any starters yet. They cleared away our plates and later served the starters. Once they were done they served the main dishes. The same main dishes. The ones that had been sitting for over half an hour and then microwaved. So even the garnish and salad bits were hot.
Nope. Never ate there again.Went to Gaucho in London for me and my girlfriends first anniversary, we had a table booked for 8:30pm, they seated us in the bar area to wait for our table and they still hadn’t shown us to our table by half 9.
Ordered the chunky chips with steak, they were raw in the middle, and then when I came to pay the person taking payment looked at my card (which admittedly was a bit battered) and said “I don’t think I should accept this, the signature has rubbed off, you could have got this from anyone”.
A s****y meal followed by someone insinuating you’re a thief is not the one.Decided to book dinner on Christmas Eve at a local pub. They were rammed so we weren't worried about long waits. We all ordered veggie burgers (those fake meat ones), everyone except me got theirs and we waited another 10 minutes for mine. Took a good big bite out of it when it arrived and it was meat. Spat it out, tried to get the notice of a waitress. No apologies, nothing taken off the bill. I'm just glad I don't have allergies. I always double check now.Restaurant at a tourist attraction in mid Wales. Staff dropped a whole box of clean cutlery on the not-so-clean carpeted floor then proceeded to pick them up and place them in the cutlery trays for customers. Yuck!
Made me wonder what other short cuts happened in their kitchen...
Thankfully, we did not get food poisoning.Ordered a pasta dish in Prezzo and found pubic hair in it. I tried to convince myself it was from a chef's beard, but it looked distinctly more pubey.Cafe at a garden centre, I had a bit of hard plastic in my sandwich - never returned there again
Ants in my Jacket Potato at another Cafe
Another Cafe straight up forgot about us. We ordered, 30 minutes later not even drinks, reminded them we haven't had drinks yet and they said they were sorry and we'd be "priority". 15 minutes later, no drinks nor food whilst they served someone else. We just got up and left.
