Ever walk out of a restaurant?

Actually I remember now I time when I WISHED I left without paying. We spent 10 minutes trying to pay the bill with no success, then had to queue at the bar to pay it (normally have table service). The delay made us late to the theatre, we could have just left, saved the cash and got to the play on time. :(
 
Recently had a pizza meal delivered from the local Pizza hut and it was well below the usual standard. I called a couple of days later to complain and the manager was very apologetic and put through a full refund and said I could have £10 off my next order.
 
Freefaller said:
Really?!

I've sent wine back, food back if it wasn't up to par.

You're paying for something it should be as expected!

That's one thing I love and admire but also find irritating about "Britishness" - too polite and stiff upper lip sometimes - yet sometimes you'll stand up to things in the most strangest of situations!

Although I'm quick to praise, I'm also quick to condemn and let people know about my dissatisfaction.
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tom_e said:
That's even stranger! If you're willing to complain about 1 it seems strange not to complain about the other :p
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I just never have been in the position that i've had too. I hardly ever eat at expensive restraunts to worry about my sub £12 meal being poor :D
 
Last year, went for an Indian with a few friends. We arrived a few minutes late for our reservation. The restaurant was maybe 50-60% full. The man on the door was not happy and said it will be difficult to place us because we were rude and didn't call...

Then showed us to the table that was setup and had our name on it... Rightttt

The meal took 90 minutes from the moment we ordered drinks. Half of it was cold, orders were wrong. The staff were rude, we all literally looked at our food, laughed at none of it having meat or vegetables in, just rice with curry sauce on. We stood up and walked out. Didn't bother paying.

Worse restaurant ever. It closed down several months later, the amount of commotion we got on the way out. 2 other tables also walked out when they saw us do the same.

I think it was like their 3rd opening night.

One waiter told us "you are all idiots for choosing different things".

I laughed in his face to which he swore at me and walked off.
 
Had to send a calzone back on Saturday as the middle of it was cold, the manager made his apologies and offered a free drink whilst waiting for it to be warmed up.

Don't think i'd have the guts to just walk out over poor food/service. Most places i've been to will resolve the issue and offer some form of discount if you complain.

I generally always tip, there has only been a few occasions upon receiving poor service/food that i've not tipped.
 
Yes, at a pretty expensive Thai place. It took five attempts to get the right drink and then about an hour for the soup to arrive. It was delivered by some teen girl with no apology so I drank the coffee and walked out.
 
Went in some generic steakhouse in covent garden, or was lit leicester square, I forget. Anyway we we shown to a table that was jammed between two other (populated) tables, sofa/bench on one side, chair on the other. As there wasn't even room to get to the bench without moving the table or asking seated guests to move, we asked if we could have another table (there were loads of free tables by the window). Waitress said there weren't any free ones with a snotty attitude, you know, when someone is telling something you know isn't true (think Pretty Woman sales assistant). Maybe we weren't trendy enough to sit in the window or something, but it was a bloody chain diner, not some exclusive restaurant. We walked out and went somewhere else.

Obviously had a couple of occasions where I've had to complain as well, I'm fairly easygoing and accept that mistakes can be made but when they **** up 3 or more times in one sitting I start getting annoyed.

edit: here's the things that annoy me most in restaurants in no particular order (ignoring obvious stuff like poor quality or incorrect food):

1) Inattentive staff e.g. waiting half an hour before they take your order (I appreciate the place may be busy, but why are people who were seated after us being served before us?), stood around chatting etc
2) Not telling you they have run out of an item until 20min after you order when they suddenly realise
3) Aggressive tip chasing e.g. bills with various percentages printed out and a ring drawn round the highest one for 'excellent' service
4) Failing to adequately respond to complaints e.g. if an item of food is missing just bringing it out much later on and dumping it on the table
5) Being chased to leave a table when it wasn't ready at the allotted time (e.g. we had a group booking for 19:00-21:00, but weren't seated until 19:45 - clock goes past 21:00 and they are trying to move us on!)
6) Trying to pull a fast one with food e.g. my wife once ordered something that was supposed to come with nachos, but they'd clearly run out so they just tipped the crumbs from the packet onto the plate and tried to pass it off! (she could see the kitchen from where she was sat)
7) Slow drink service (e.g. they take an order for another couple of drinks but by the time it turns up you've already ploughed through most of the meal and feeling parched)
8) Clearing unfinished drinks/plates away without checking first (REALLY annoying if you are saving a sip of drink to polish off after the food)
9) Leaving outdated menus/offers out on tables and then not honoring the prices

At least 3 of the above happened in one sitting, they offered vouchers to eat there again to which I just laughed and said you cannot seriously be expecting us to ever come here again (it closed down a year or two later).
 
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K-2 said:
You've obviously never (nor know anyone who has) worked in the service industry. Many restaurants pay their staff below the minimum wage and so the waiting staff are totally reliant on tips. If you receive sub-standard service, by all means don't tip but if they do a good job for you, the least you can do is leave them a few quid.

How miserable do you have to be NOT to tip when someone has basically been your personal slave for a couple of hours?
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BuffetSlayer said:
This is illegal, surely?
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Yes, it is. He doesn't know what he's talking about :)
 
I don't know about walk out, I once had a cracking meal with ****** service.

When they tacked on a 12.5% service charge I flipped a bitch, made a huge scene and told them exactly why I wouldn't be paying for that crap they called service. Threw down enough cash for the meal alone and walked out.

I can't have been alone because I noticed a few blokes give me the nod of approval.
 
I'm of the "moan loads but do nothing" ilk when it comes to restaurants.

I have never walked out during a meal but i have left before the order arrived after an Epiphany.

I NEVER tip though unless deserved. It drives me nuts when people tip "bad" service. It only takes a smile or attention to detail to be good in my book. Not OTT back flips.

Saying that ive had meals ruined by 5 over attentive staff, 1 per 30 seconds asking if it was ok.... and a freaky meal in a steak house where the 30+ table staff lined up around the wall like soldiers on guard duty... was freaking weird... South Africa is weird...
 
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I've never walked out but complained in Nandos once :p I had some sort of beef wrap, I tried eating it but the beef inside was literally the toughest meat I have ever tried, non of it was edible due to the amount of gristle, I ended up basically having the tortilla wrap, salad and cheese for my dinner.

The head waiter asked if our meals were OK and I basically explained that it was inedible, he tried to wave the issue aside by explaining that beef can sometimes be tough (yes thanks for that Captain Obvious), but eventually admitted that they were taking the item off the menu soon, which obviously was all I needed, I got a voucher for a free meal in the end :p

If I am out to enjoy the meal and am expecting something special then I would always complain if something was unacceptable. What is the point in spending time and money on something you could do yourself at home for cheaper and better quality?
 
I've complained a few times about wrong orders being sent out or having to wait ages for drinks.

Nearly walked out once when they bought me wrong food twice, food come before the drinks that were ordered 20mins earlier, then staff arguing with each other infront of everyone and expressing there desire to quit, never felt so akward !

Once had starters meal drinks and pudding and upon asking a diff waiter for bill we were only charged for pudding, think we paid 6 quid for the lot then promptly walked to the car lol
 
Andelusion said:
I've never walked out but complained in Nandos once :p I had some sort of beef wrap, I tried eating it but the beef inside was literally the toughest meat I have ever tried, non of it was edible due to the amount of gristle, I ended up basically having the tortilla wrap, salad and cheese for my dinner.

The head waiter asked if our meals were OK and I basically explained that it was inedible, he tried to wave the issue aside by explaining that beef can sometimes be tough (yes thanks for that Captain Obvious), but eventually admitted that they were taking the item off the menu soon, which obviously was all I needed, I got a voucher for a free meal in the end :p

If I am out to enjoy the meal and am expecting something special then I would always complain if something was unacceptable. What is the point in spending time and money on something you could do yourself at home for cheaper and better quality?
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Nandos isn't exactly renowned for quality food. It's fine when you're a student, but the food is always lukewarm and the chips always soggy. The reason why they offer their sauces is because their chicken is filled with water and tasteless otherwise.
 
-westy- said:
Yes, it is. He doesn't know what he's talking about :)
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I don't know what I'm talking about because I dared to suggest a small business may break the law? Hilarious...:)

To clarify - some independently run restaurants pay their staff a basic wage which, on its own, would be below the minimum. However, it's topped up by the tips so no one is actually taking home less than the legal minimum.
 
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