Skip to content
Search AI Powered

Latest Stories

Servers Explain Which Meals Get The Most Complaints At Their Restaurant

Servers Explain Which Meals Get The Most Complaints At Their Restaurant
Kate Townsend on Unsplash

Years ago I worked in a restaurant that served some very popular ribs and steaks.

Ribs and steaks were what this restaurant did best. Honestly, it should have never gone anywhere near fish, but it did, and it served it anyway. (Sorry about that.)

The number of customers who were disappointed in the fish? Quite high. But then again... you might want to stick to the steaks if you're going to a steakhouse.


Servers shared their experiences with us after Redditor qrvjhb asked the online community:

"Waiters and waitresses of Reddit, which dish gets the most complaints at your restaurant?"

"When I was living in Atlanta, the worst menu item was the shrimp and grits, a common and pretty straightforward Southern dish. Ours added crawfish tails and a weird Parmesan sauce. It sounded good but it just wasn’t."

"Whenever people ordered it I would try to talk them out of it haha. Then they would send it back! And they would always say, “You were right.” I know!!!"

dinosaursarealwaysright

In this case, the waiter is always right!

"They had it on the menu for years..."

"Shrimp ceviche tacos."

"They had it on the menu for years. People ordering it didn't know what ceviche was so they would always complain that the shrimp was cold. What's even worse is that the recipe for the ceviche mix sucked. So even the people who liked ceviche would send it back. Any edits suggested to menu items would fall on deaf ears."

PhreedomPfighter

I pray that the restaurant never had to heat up the ceviche.

"One major thing I learned..."

"Ex waiter/diner employee. One major thing I learned is there is no EXACT standard on styles of eggs. Once a day someone would send eggs back."

"Most commonly, sunny side up eggs would get complaints for being under cooked, over hard eggs would get complaints about being over cooked, and about half the time we sent eggs out poached, people complained about the yolk being runny."

MeanConnection7818

There are few things as delicious as a perfectly poached egg. Sacrilege!

"I work at a bar..."

"I work at a bar, with wings and ribs, burgers and all that type of jazz. Our bar just came up with now serving sushi…so you can only imagine how many times that crap gets sent back."

Lovesmetacos125

That's on the customer for ordering sushi that sounds like a sports bar.

"When I worked in a restaurant it was always steaks. I get it but I always internally sighed when people ordered steak because there was a 50/50 chance the line wouldn’t cook it right and it would get sent back."

pdunson57

Did you work at Olive Garden, by any chance? This sounds familiar.

"Homemade bread..."

"We had a "bread and butter" for $13. Homemade bread, local honey, homemade jam, homemade butter. People would flip their shit when they saw it though. Tough sell."

CaptainRedPants

For thirteen dollars I'd demand the whole loaf!

"Tamales."

"I worked in a very inauthentic Mexican restaurant in a predominantly older white neighborhood. Often times we would get complaints that the tamales were tough, stringy, and difficult to eat only to find out that our guests were not removing the corn husks before eating."

"This was such an issue that we ended up removing the corn husks before serving altogether before the tamales were just sent straight to the shadow realm and dropped from the menu due to the lack of popularity."

SanDiegoIamnot

That fact has to be specified. Just like one has to specify if a dish is very spicy hot, even though half of Mexican food is hot.

"Old people and their soup..."

"Old people and their soup needing to be cooked over the fires of Mount Doom. Literally took a soup back to the kitchen, watched the cook boil it, and it still wasn’t hot enough."

BriefPomegranate845

This description is hilarious and yes... when I worked in a restaurant I dealt with this problem.

"If they sit too long..."

"Certain tacos. If they sit too long, they can get soggy. Plus, sometimes the braised beef and the carnitas can be fatty and watery, it depends on who makes it."

Stevie-Avail

Oh, man, the fat is the best part. These people are haters!

"Every bar or pub..."

"Every bar or pub I worked at always complained about the nachos. Either too few toppings or they forgot to add the extra meat."

killkrazy

You'd think nachos would be super easy to fix, no?

"For those that don't know..."

"Judging by how often I've been asked whether I really want to order it and whether I know what it is, I assume that in most french restaurants, it is Steak Tartare."

"For those that don't know: it is raw beef with raw egg yolk and some other stuff, and it is damn delicious. I really love it and I order it regularly when in France. But quite often when you order it in a more touristy place, the waiters really make sure that you know what you'll order."

RoRo759

You can take my tartare from my cold, dead hands. Those savages!

After reading these, it's safe to say that most people don't know what the hell they're ordering before they sit down. You'd think they'd do some research...

Have some observations of your own? Feel free to share them with us in the comments below!

Want to "know" more?

Sign up for the Knowable newsletter here.

Never miss another big, odd, funny, or heartbreaking moment again.

More from Trending/best-of-reddit

Pedro Pascal; JK Rowling
Toya Sarno Jordan/Getty Images for Disney; Dave J Hogan/Getty Images

Pedro Pascal Opens Up About Why He Called Transphobe JK Rowling A 'Heinous Loser'

Actor Pedro Pascal recently explained why he said Harry Potter author and anti-trans activist JK Rowling behaves like a "heinous loser," and suffice it to say he has absolutely no regrets.

The comment came in reference to Rowling gloating over the U.K. Supreme Court's recent decision to define what exactly constitutes a "woman" in the eyes of U.K. law, a decision that subjects trans people to violence, among other problems.

Keep ReadingShow less
JD Vance
Johannes Simon/Getty Images

Vance Dragged After Making Cringey Middle Finger Joke About 'Pink-Haired People' At GOP Dinner

Vice President JD Vance was criticized profusely after he attempted to make a joke mocking liberals during his appearance at the Ohio Republican Party dinner this week—only to have people calling out his lack of class for holding up his middle finger as he delivered the punchline.

Vance was in the middle of giving the event's keynote speech when he said the following:

Keep ReadingShow less
Donald Trump
Beata Zawrzel/NurPhoto via Getty Images

Trump Ripped After Posting Disturbing Parody Music Video About His Attack On Iran

President Donald Trump is facing harsh criticism after he shared a music video featuring the 1980 song "Bomb Iran"—a parody of The Regents song "Barbara Ann" that is best known for being covered by the Beach Boys—amid a ceasefire between Israel and Iran that could further inflame tensions in the Middle East.

The controversial parody song by Vince Vance & the Valiants plays over footage of B-2 stealth bombers, the same aircraft used to drop 14 GBU-57 bunker-buster bombs on Iranian nuclear facilities, including the Fordow enrichment plant, Natanz complex, and Isfahan site.

Keep ReadingShow less
Donald Trump; Zohran Mamdani
Omar Havana/Getty Images; Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images

Trump Just Tried To Slam Zohran Mamdani's Looks And Voice—And It Was Projection At Its Finest

President Donald Trump lashed out at Zohran Mamdani after the 33-year-old democratic socialist handily defeated former New York Governor Andrew Cuomo in New York City's Democratic mayoral primary on Tuesday—only to be called out for projecting his own feelings of inadequacy onto the star candidate.

Mamdani ran a campaign centered around economic populism, arguing that the city, a global financial center, has grown unaffordable for everyday residents, citing soaring rents and grocery prices, and outlining policies aimed at reducing the cost of living.

Keep ReadingShow less
salad
Anna Pelzer on Unsplash

Doctors Explain Which Seemingly 'Healthy' Foods Aren't All That Good For Us

Every day it seems like some new health fad pops up.

Eat this, don't eat that.

Keep ReadingShow less