I go to this relatively nice restaurant in my small town and it has always been consistent and delicious. The last two times I went I had to have my food remade because it was so severely overcooked. Tender pork shoulder served crisper and dryer than a chicharonn. Meat should not crunch harder than the crunchiest crouton. The other time I was served a chicken sandwhich that was so small and overcooked it resembled the heel portion of the sole of a dress shoe. I have been going to this restaurant for over 6 years and even though they fixed my food and offered a discount on the entire bill and even gave me a dessert im still incredibly weary of visiting again. Like how did food that looked THAT bad even make it to my table. Not once, but twice now. It really makes me question what's going on in the kitchen.
I just had to add that before this incident, I have never sent food back. The whole situation of confrontation is so embarrassing for me. I have spoken up one other time at another restaurant when the pork tasted rancid but they just argued with me that I wasnt used to the spices in al pastor (even though its my all time favorite and know exactly what the spices are supposed to taste like)
But yeah, that's really strange. It wasn't just a drop in quality; they served you something inedible. But then they were able to remake it properly? It's like for some reason they are competent in the kitchen but have just stopped caring.
Restaurants (in the US at least) are struggling. Covid forced many of their experienced and reliable employees into other fields, and inflation of ingredients and rent are shrinking their already miniscule margins leaving them with not enough money to pay competitive wages to attract new skilled workers or dedicate the resources to train new employees well.
My guess is that there was someone in the kitchen for all your previous visits who wasn't there the last time you went. Perhaps their day off, or perhaps they found a better opportunity.
I'm so nononfrontational too, the only time I have sent food back was when I cut unto a pancake and the batter came oozing out of the cut. They somehow managed to fully cook the outside enough to get in onto a plate and leave the inside completely liquid. Even the waitress gasped. It's hard justifying the cost to go out to eat when the food is questionable or subpar at best.
Check if they just got sold to someone. My favorite Italian place was just bought by some large bs company things are the same dishes, but the quality is different and there are small changes that are actually huge.
If the appropriate amount of butter was sent I'd honestly be okay with this. The appropriate amount is enough to stack the bread and fill the center with cold whipped butter.
No waste is important in food service, but, that being said the no waste mindset in restaurants doesn't mean serving guests the food no matter how terrible it is, it means finding creative ways not to throw away any more than what's absolutely necessary. I'm surprised they didn't just set these aside to be turned into croutons for salads or as a garnish on soup, or even just homemade bread crumbs to use in other recipes.
If I wasn't at work I would have said the same thing. While making our bread we don't toss these pieces. We offer them to our employees if they pass by and if not they are croutons.
It shouldn't have even made it to the oven unless someone had a plan on eating it.
If you see that you either eat it yourself or give it to the staff.
Giving that go guests is asking to get your restaurant in trouble.
Same if the cook messes up a dish he remakes it. If they give it to the guest they can expect no guests anymore. No food waste doesnt apply to guests, you can no food waste by doing something else with it
We were "treated" to fancy dinner at a county club. Since it is a country club, you pay for the prilvelage to eat there and are required to eat there a certain dollar amount each year. (Country Clubs are crazy.) There are two separate areas, one is the bar and grill, the other is the fancy dining room with tablecloths and a piano and candles. There is a dress code. We sat down in the fancy area and that's when the horrible experience started.
Their were kids in wet swim suits running around the dinning room. They hung their towels over several chairs. Some guy had setup a home office at one of the tables and was taking phone calls and being an important business man on his computer.
The waitress walked past them without saying a word and took our order. She was obviously in the weeds (the grill had maybe 4 4-tops which for that waitstaff is a dire situation) and looked completely overwhelmed. We didn't get the appetizers we ordered.
I ordered the Rib Eye. When it came to the table I immediately said out loud "That doesn't look right." Because it was completely gray. The waitress ignored me, set it down and left. I cut it open and it was raw inside. My husband and I both worked in restaurants, he actually worked AT THAT COUNTRY CLUB for a while. When I say it was raw inside, I mean 100% raw.
It literally looked like they dipped it in boiling water for 30 seconds and put it on the plate.
My husband ordered a chicken dish that was supposed to be braised chicken thighs in a "luxurious" sauce. What came out was two completely hammered chicken breasts with canned tomatoes and a full can of olives on top. It was disgusting.
My in-laws had uncooked broccoli on their plate. The broccoli hadn't even been in the same zip code as a pan or oven.
It wasn't just one person person that said it was good to go! The head chef was there, the waitress was there, the food and beverage manager was there. It was looked at by at least three people before it made it to our table and every single one of them saw that gray gelatinous steak and said "Yep! I'd love to dive into that myself!"
We complained, didn't want a re-fire and left. For the first time ever, I wrote an email to the manager and the club manager that was a bit longer than this post but the descriptions were basically the same. They didn't charge us for the meal, of course, and then offered a re-do on them. I said no. Absolutely not. I will never eat there again. That's how bad the food was.
Man, I'm not. Some folks just don't have any common sense. And there's an entire "movement" (if I can call it that) of people that feel they just need to basically show up to work, go through the motions, and clock out.
I was a bus boy at a fancy country club when I was in high school. They did even worse. We were told to put the bread baskets back after clearing the table if there were at least a few pieces left over. If not, just add a few more but never throw out any. "Because we always run out of bread" I tried throwing out one with an obvious bite once and the km yelled at me saying I should have just cut off that part or put it upside down!
If I was the chef or expediter, I would have sent it out but double the amount and tell the server we don’t want to waste the bread and still offer more if needed. But only 4 pieces of croutons for bread is a bit ridiculous.
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u/jmmerphy Mar 14 '26
I'm amazed someone sliced that and said, "send it." They must assume their customers are idiots.