by Chrysa Smith
We’ve all had those unfortunate memories of bad meals, bad behavior, bad times at restaurants. Some were the result of the kitchen, some the wait staff, some our fellow diners and maybe even ourselves. Some were bad enough to make us stay clear of the place altogether.
Well after some recent poor service and mediocre food, I got to thinking: As far as restaurants go, I’ve had some incredible experiences and some real klunkers. And I got to remembering and chuckling over some of my worst restaurant experiences:
At a restaurant in Montana, when my husband asked for the bleeding steak to be cooked just a bit more, the waiter came over with a giant fork, stabbed the steak and ran off to the kitchen with it (left the plate on the table)
At a restaurant near home, when we stopped in with no reservations (as we often did), the matre’ d asked how long it would take us to eat? Maybe he was going to seat us at the ‘express’ table!
At a famous NYC restaurant, one of the customers ‘called’ his waiter by banging loudly on his plate with the utensils
At another restaurant, with a reservation, we were asked to wait for 45 minutes while they prepared the table. Three 6 feet guys and smaller women were seated in a booth—-the men squeezed in so tight, well, they couldn’t pull out their wallets without standing up
At a diner in NYC, when a child was misbehaving, disturbed diners got into an argument with the socially inept parents–which kept up until one of the groups left the building
At a hotel cafe in Florida, I ordered my usual cup of hot tea. The waitress told me they couldn’t do it because they didn’t have any hot water. Hmmm, maybe a pot and a stove?
When my brother’s friend made reservations under the name ‘Doctor Brown’, he insisted that we’d have prime seating. We were seated near the swinging kitchen door, which hit the back of one chair each time a waiter would enter or leave the kitchen
When I sometimes tire of cooking, I think of these. Unless I am going to a tried and true selection, or can read multiple good ratings on Zagat, Open Table or Restaurant.com, I’ll take a sip of wine and pick up the spoon and my apron one more time.
What are your worst restaurant experiences?
Thank you Chrysa for giving us a place to vent.
My worst story happened at Paganini in Doylestown.
After taking an hour to bring us the food, the waiter dropped (no other term for the rude way he did so) one dish in front of me.
Five minutes later and without a word of explanation he took it away and gave my dish to another customer sitting at a nearby table.
I haven’t started eating yet, because I was waiting for the person I was having dinner with to get his dish. But the waiter didn’t know that.
Really!
Never been back at Paganini’s, nor plan to.
Luckily it’s gone and a new restaurant is in its place. Wow…it’s hard to believe how rude some of these places can be.
Hoo boy! Once we were with 2 other couples, coming back home from a trip to NY to see a show. We got to this Doylestown restaurant around 9:00, wanting to have several appetizers, desserts & drinks because we’d had dinner already in NY. We did not have reservations but the waitstaff seated us at a large booth. When we ordered our apps etc., he looked concerned, left, then came back a few minutes later saying the management really wanted to save this booth for people ordering a full dinner, so if we weren’t having dinner he really couldn’t let us stay there – and there were no other tables for 6 available. We did not make a scene, but left really disgusted. I don’t know if the place is still there – Rooselvelt’s Blue Star Restaurant? – because we have NEVER been back!