Weird Restaurant Blunders

[roryrabbitfield]

I recently had dinner at Domicile, on West 13th Street, Manhattan (near the Quad Theater). I had such a bizarre experience there I just had to share it with the board. I ordered an appetizer that was described as a lobster salad with greens. When it arrived, half of a lemon wrapped in that nice yellow muslin fabric was sitting on the plate for me to use on my lobster. I squeezed the lemon all over my food, and felt that it was really mushy, and unusually juicy. I untied the ribbon, curious to see what they had done to make the lemon so "squeezeable". To my disgust, the lemon was a moldy mess: green mold on the surface, and the skin all discolored and sort of bloated looking. I alerted my server, who was really nice about it, and they quickly provided me with a different dish (couldn't go through with ordering the same thing again...too grossed out). I was glad that they took responsibility and apologized, but I felt like they had really done wrong by me, sneaking some fetid, gross stuff onto my plate to save a few cents. The fact that they didn't charge me for it didn't really go far enough to make me totally forgive this incident. I think they should have comped me for something else too.

Anyway, I'm curious to hear your stories. What weird restaurant experiences have you had?

[Elissa]

Once, a good way thru a meal at a sushi bar, I looked down into my soy sauce and saw a squiggly lil worm! They said it was "bait."

[Bux]

I don't know the restaurant, but have trouble believing any restaurant would knowingly serve a moldy lemon. My suspicion would be that they bought the lemons pre-wrapped or that they wrapped a week's supply at one time and the lemon went moldy under cover. That doesn't get them off the hook and still leaves them taking shortcuts in the wrong time and place.

[Robin Meredith]

A few years ago we unwittingly visited a new restaurant in the area on or in very close proximity to their opening night. It was an amusing night in general (at one point a waitress turned a party away because "the chef is really busy" - that earned her a sharp rebuke from the hostess - and, because the location formerly housed a popular farmer's bar, all these dirty guys straight from the fields kept walking in hoping to get a beer and looking really confused when they were presented with a menu full of $30 entrees).

The capper took place when my first course (grilled head-on shrimp on a bed of arugula) came to the table - it was a lovely pile of greens, but after digging through it for a while it became apparent that THEY FORGOT THE SHRIMP!!! The server returned the plate to the kitchen, and the chef brought it out a few minutes later and said "crack f**king waitstaff I've got here, isn't it?".

By adopting a properly bemused attitude we actually had a pleasant evening...but I've never had another one like it! (not even the time we were having lunch at Picholine and overheard - along with everyone else in the room - someone in the kitchen shouting "I've never had a f**king waiter speak to me like that in my entire life").

Edited April 18, 2003 by Robin Meredith (log)

[roryrabbitfield]

Just remembered another one. This one took place in Lima, Peru in August 2002. Went to a very fancy seafood restaurant right on the ocean called La Rosa Nautica. Emphasis on fancy. We ordered lots of food, including 2 appetizers to share, one salad and another one (can't remember it). When they came, I started eating the non-salad one and my husband started in on the salad. We each ate half, and then switched. When I got the salad plate in front of me, I saw that there were several huge insects on the plate. It was amazing that they got past the people in the kitchen and the waiter. I called the waiter over and told him. He fell completel silent, looked at the plate, and whisked it away without a word. We sat there wondering what in the world they could possibly do to keep us from staging a revolt (my husband had eaten off that plate). THe waiter came back, and whispered his apoligies. It was obvious that the main strategy was to keep other customers from catching on to what had happened. He offered to bring us something else. We declined, and said we'd move on to our entrees, which for some reason we decided would be safe since they were cooked. Our thinking was that the bugs were probaby just a salad problem. We were drunk, what can I say? Also there was nothing nearby to fall back on. We forced ourselves to eat our entrees and asked for a check. They brought us a free dessert. I thought we deserved to get the whole meal free, but what can you do? I guess when these things happen I am almost more intersted in what the restaurant will do to compensate me than I am in my own terrible experience. It is a study in customer relations. I feel that they should do more than just take the offending items off your bill.

[Chef/Writer Spencer]

Once, when I first became a chef and I thought I hung the moon (and drank William Wycliff box-o-wine on the line) I hurled a martini glass against the wall in the kitchen, shards embedding themselves all over the contents of my steamtable. Instead of doing the honorable thing and recooking everything I served the stuff to a twenty top of Russian Jewish ladies--friends of the owners, long story. Anyhow, wouldn't you know it that 8 out of 20 found large pieces, small pieces and every thing in between in their blini with mushroom sauce. I was a man without a country...or so I thought at the time. I was upset. You know that feeling you get right before you go to jail, or you get when someone just told you your parent died? That cold water, I'm goin' to hell feelin'? Yeah, that one. That was me.

Luckily, they left with to go boxes full of glassy food and didn't press the issue. I thought I was going down this time.

Edited April 18, 2003 by Chef/Writer Spencer (log)

[Elissa]

We forced ourselves to eat our entrees and asked for a check. They brought us a free dessert. I thought we deserved to get the whole meal free, but what can you do? I guess when these things happen I am almost more intersted in what the restaurant will do to compensate me than I am in my own terrible experience. It is a study in customer relations. I feel that they should do more than just take the offending items off your bill.

A medal at the very least for your fearless attempt to finish your meal. Next time you might suggest ten shares in IBM for every cockroach, 15 for scorpions. Or perhaps you and Mr. Spencer can work out some sort of symbiotic meal plan?

[jeniac42]

One time I was waiting on a table a fair distance from the kitchen. I'm trying to explain their entrees to them, and then I (and everyone else in the place) heard one of the waiters in the back yell "Nice snatch!"

Are we allowed to say that on eGullet?

[Bux]

"Nice snatch!"

Are we allowed to say that on eGullet?

I don't know, but if he was referring to you, let me welcome you to eGullet.

[Chef/Writer Spencer]

"Nice snatch!"

Are we allowed to say that on eGullet?

I don't know, but if he was referring to you, let me welcome you to eGullet.

Totally awesome Bux.

[Suzanne F]

Errr . . . That is a hard act to follow. But:

Last night we were having dinner at Salmon River (this is NOT a recommendation, NY folks). Once we finally got someone to pour us some water . . . it seemed to have been from a pitcher of seltzer with lemon (no doubt meant for the kitchen). "This doesn't taste like plain water," we said. Glasses whisked away, replaced, and eventually filled with plain old water.

For mains we ordered a "Crispy Skinned Cod" and the Crab Cake Sandwich. We'll ignore the fact that no one was bussing tables. When the runner brought our food, I heard him mutter something about "Who gets the sa------ ?" HWOE took the sandwich, I took the cod. We each start dividing everything in half. HWOE puts the tomato slices and romaine leaves on top of the cake, then tastes the slaw and puts some of that on; then finally cuts the sandwich in half and takes a bite. "This is delicious," he says, "but it doesn't taste anything like crab." "It doesn't LOOK like crab, either," I respond. Well, no: the runner brought a salmon cake sandwich. Ooops. The crabcake sandwich came out pretty quickly, but had no slaw (which HWOE liked a lot).

There were only about 4 or 5 tables occupied, yet they messed up at least one other's order as well.

I would have to say that they have THE MOST CLUELESS STAFF I've encountered since Riverrun closed.

[tan319]

One time I was waiting on a table a fair distance from the kitchen.  I'm trying to explain their entrees to them, and then I (and everyone else in the place) heard one of the waiters in the back yell "Nice snatch!"

Are we allowed to say that on eGullet?

maybe someone dropped something?

In reference to the various mentions of overheard 'F*cks',etc.,

I was working as a cook in a very well known place in NYC and the managers had to get on our chef de cuisine and sous chef during service constantly for yelling "F*CKING SHOES" all the time and various versions of the same at the cooks !

Not at me of course.

And then there was the time the 'BIG' chef threw a cup into the deep fryer behind my station at the hot apps guy...

[HungryChris]

Awright, since we have gone off color...I got one. I was once training a new waiter. He was doing pretty well. It was a Friday night and we were starting to get a bit of a wait. As I said, he seemed to be holding his own. I got embroiled in a problem with the water heater not working. The people using the rest rooms kept the faucets open waiting for hot water, which ensured there wouldn't be any and so on. The dishwasher wasn't performing up to speed without hot water, you get the picture. Once this crisis was resolved by shutting off the hot water to the rest rooms for a bit, I got back to the waiter in training. I found him ashen faced in the kitchen. I think his name was Al. I said, "Al, what's wrong?" He stopped pacing, mid circle and confessed that he had just asked a table of 7, grandmother, kids etc, if they wanted a cockteaser before dinner.

I reassured him that the only recovery was to go back out there and pretend it never happened, which he did.

[Kerouac1964]

Are we allowed to say that on eGullet?

From one cat to another: snatcherally.

[Bux]

In a very new restaurant, the butter arrived at the table before the bread and way before the knives. In fact, the knives and forks arrived quite some time after the appetizers. It wasn't the first time I've had a waiter working his first restaurant job, but this time I was trying to figure out if he had never eaten in a restaurant himself, or if he had just never eaten at a table with a knife and fork. I suspect there are generations of Americans who think of a meal as something on a bun that can be held in your hand.

[nightscotsman]

Oh, speaking of utensils, I remember being seated at a Seattle dessert place (that no longer exists) and finding no napkins, glasses, silverware, nothing on the table. When we asked for some equipment, we got glasses and water, but no utensils. So we asked again and when the waiter brought them, she just dumped them in the middle of the table in a pile and walked off. Yes, I did say they are no longer is business.

[Aurora]

I was having lunch with my mother. Our server was an adorable, friendly woman. I ordered a chicken breast sandwich with baked mozzarella and fries.

Our food arrived, and our server set our plates down on the table. We looked at her. She looked back at us. We glared at her, she looked back at us more confused. She looked down, quickly grabbed the plates, mumbled, "You'd like a new one, wouldn't you?" I said, "No." She grabbed the plates and sped away.

The baked mozzarella on my chicken sandwich oozed over the sides. That's great, that 's why I ordered it. The problem was that when the server set my plate down before me, there was a string of cheese leading directly from my sandwich to her lips.

Our server -- adorable.

[Matthew Grant]

The baked mozzarella on my chicken sandwich oozed over the sides.  That's great, that 's why I ordered it.  The problem was that when the server set my plate down before me, there was a string of cheese leading directly from my sandwich to her lips.

Our server -- adorable.

Could we move this thread to the General Board so that it gets a wider audience?

Edited April 18, 2003 by Matthew Grant (log)

[SWoodyWhite]

Just remembered another one. This one took place in Lima, Peru in August 2002. Went to a very fancy seafood restaurant right on the ocean called La Rosa Nautica. Emphasis on fancy. We ordered lots of food, including 2 appetizers to share, one salad and another one (can't remember it). When they came, I started eating the non-salad one and my husband started in on the salad. We each ate half, and then switched. When I got the salad plate in front of me, I saw that there were several huge insects on the plate. It was amazing that they got past the people in the kitchen and the waiter. I called the waiter over and told him. He fell completel silent, looked at the plate, and whisked it away without a word. We sat there wondering what in the world they could possibly do to keep us from staging a revolt (my  husband had eaten off that plate). THe waiter came back, and whispered his apoligies. It was obvious that the main strategy was to keep other customers from catching on to what had happened. He offered to bring us something else. We declined, and said we'd move on to our entrees, which for some reason we decided would be safe since they were cooked. Our thinking was that the bugs were probaby just a salad problem. We were drunk, what can I say? Also there was nothing nearby to fall back on. We forced ourselves to eat our entrees and asked for a check. They brought us a free dessert. I thought we deserved to get the whole meal free, but what can you do? I guess when these things happen I am almost more intersted in what the restaurant will do to compensate me than I am in my own terrible experience. It is a study in customer relations. I feel that they should do more than just take the offending items off your bill.

I have to disagree with the idea that the restaurant should not have charged anything for the meal. If the customers were to leave at the time of the offending appetizer, with no other items having been consumed, then nothing should have been charged. However, since entrees for each were also served and eaten, charging for the entrees was in this case appropriate. No one forced the customers to continue with the dinner; they did that of their own free will. (Notable here is that half of the salad, plus half of the other appetizer, had been eaten before the error was noticed by either customer. I presume, in this case, that the comped dessert was not refused but eaten as well.)

I personally, in such a case, would never expect the entire meal to be free. I just don't care to appear greedy. I recently refused a generously offered complementary dessert or cappuccino when an error in my entree's preparation was discovered, since I found the offer in itself quite generous. (Then again, my impersonation of Julie Andrews in Victor Victoria is notoriously shaky, so I don't think I could ever pull off anything resembling that restaurant scene even if I had to. Such is life.)

[roryrabbitfield]

Let me refine my position on compensation. I don't think the restaurant is obligated to give diners a free pass when an error occurs. I do think that compensation should be greater when the error is greater. Getting served huge insects is pretty terrible, and we actually treated the restaurant with great sensitivity by handling the whole thing very quietly, whispering to keep other diners from overhearing what had occured. I think that if the compensation is only to not charge for the dish that offends (in my example, that would be if they had just taken the salad off the tab), then they are not doing enough. That doesn't make things even, to say, oh, we won't charge you for this offensive garbage we served you. They should do more. But what that turns out to be will depend on the situation, and the kind of place it is. That it was a very fancy restaurant says to me they should go further, because I have a right to expect the very best service. If it had been a dive, my attitude would be different.

A few days after it opened, I went to Blue Ribbon Sushi in Park Slope, Brooklyn. I had a beautiful, flawless meal. But something interesting happened. I ordered a seaweed salad, and it was pretty large. There were 3 different types of seaweed served in separate piles. One of them I happened to not like that much, and since I'd ordered a lot of food, I decided to leave it over. There was nothing wrong with it. After the waiter removed the plate, the manager came to my table, very concerned that I hadn't finished the salad, and asked me if there was something wrong. I explained that it was fine, etc. I was very clear that nothing was wrong. Still, he was profusely apologetic. It was clear from the way things were running in the restaurant during this opening week that they were giving 150% to make customers happy, and it was a treat. The manager offered to give me a free replacement appetizer, but I turned this offer down, because I thought it was unnecessary. As SWoodyWhite points out above, it's bad form to act greedy or opportunistic. So I told the waiter I was totally happy and they didn't need to offer me anything. Still, when I got my bill, they let me know that they had taken my wine off the tab. At that point, I just accepted it, because they'd already written up the bill and I had already been clear that I didn't need anything. So, I accepted this gift, and I've eaten there again since this happened, happier to return than I might have been otherwise, because they treated me like royalty.

[Elissa]

The manager offered to give me a free replacement appetizer, but I turned this offer down, because I thought it was unnecessary. As SWoodyWhite points out above, it's bad form to act greedy or opportunistic. So I told the waiter I was totally happy and they didn't need to offer me anything. Still, when I got my bill, they let me know that they had taken my wine off the tab. At that point, I just accepted it, because they'd already written up the bill and I had already been clear that I didn't need anything. So, I accepted this gift, and I've eaten there again since this happened, happier to return than I might have been otherwise, because they treated me like royalty.

There's s special place in heaven for selfless, regal eaters such as yourself. What a beautiful story; I'm all choked up.

[Suzanne F]

AND there's a special place in heaven for restaurants that provide that kind of service: it's called "profitability."

But having met Rory, I'm not surprised. And her husband, too.

[Oceangroveguy]

I lived in the village in the late 70's and early 80's and ate at Monte's on McDougal St. every month or 2. One night, when the place was pretty busy, a fight between either 2 waiters or a waiter and a cook erupted in the kitchen. The 2 combatants literally rolled on the floor through the swinging door into the dining room and continued to pound each other until the other staff broke it up.

My waiter, an older guy named Michael whose station I always asked for, quietly apologized for the disturbance - then giggled - and dinner went on without another ripple.

[jeunefilleparis]

After a great meal at the Ethiopian restaurant, Ghenet on Mulberry street, as we were literally paying our bill , I watched in disgust as a huge cockroach crawled up the wall

and,,,,

well it was at a restaurant, but often i ll buy frozen spinach to keep on hand in case well, i want spinache, as i was eating the last bite I bit into something un spinach like,, since I was in my kitchen, i spit it out to see what it was,, turned out a lovely little bug had made his way into the freezing process and grossly enough he was still full of some awful flavor,

my friend chef at Ducasse said thats what i get for buying frozen,,,, it was Birds Eyes !

[=Mark]

turned out a lovely little bug had made his way into the freezing process and grossly enough he was still full of some awful flavor, 

my friend chef at Ducasse said thats what i get for buying frozen,,,, it was Birds Eyes !

Yup, you get frozen dead bug. Much better to use fresh, so you can enjoy frisky, live bugs!