Eating at a resturant on a dirty plate...
By imadriscoll
@imadriscoll (2228)
United States
December 3, 2007 11:24am CST
My husband and I take our three kids out to eat at a local resturant (a mom and pop kind of place) at least one Saturday out of the month. It's a special treat for all of us ... especially me because it means no cooking or dishes.
This past Saturday we headed out (in a bit of a storm) and climbed into our favorite booth. Since getting pregnant I have really enjoyed their pork tenderloin basket and order it just about every time.
As I picked my sandwich up I noticed that their was what looked like mustard or cheese on the bottom of the plate. I took a bite of my sandwich and put it back on the plate assuming that some of the mustard from my sandwich dripped off onto the plate. After a few more bites I realized in horror that I hadn't put any mustard on my plate and there was nothing yellow that I had ordered. It was left from the last person who had that plate ...
I mentioned it to my husband who more or less shrugged it off and kept eating his sandwich.
I'm just wondering what you would have done in this situation. We've always had wonderful service in the past and NEVER had anything like this happen before. I'll let you know what I did after I hear what everyone thinks.
4 people like this
5 responses
@kareng (55160)
• United States
3 Dec 07
I would have taken my plate back and asked for another sandwich and plate. There is no excuse for serving someone on a dirty dish. I hope that is exactly what you did! The manager should also comp your meal :)
@deebomb (15304)
• United States
3 Dec 07
I think that I would have called the server over and pointed out that I couldn't finish the sandwich because of the food left on the plate. I would have pointed out that I didn't have anything yellow in the food I had ordered and hope they would make it right.
1 person likes this
@angelface23 (2494)
• United States
6 Dec 07
oh I would definately say something about it. You are a pying customer and you deserve to eat off of clean dishes. I would be so pissed. I think that is inexcuseable.
@kitchenwitchoftupper (2290)
• United States
4 Dec 07
First of all I have to giggle at your husband's reaction. Once I am done giggling, I will give you my response. ~Donna
@kitchenwitchoftupper (2290)
• United States
4 Dec 07
Whew! I'm so happy to have that out of the way, and I'm sorry that I didn't take it seriously enough in the first place.
I have no idea what you did; but I have read enough of your posts to know that you are not a rude woman so whatever you did I do believe was appropriate to the situation.
The way that I would have handled it would have been to remove my sandwich from the plate to a napkin. I really dislike waving around or hooting or whistling for servers to come to you. If there was no napkin on the table however, you might have have had to resort to that. I think that I would have possibly just stopped the first server that walked by and asked her/him if they could please bring me a napkin.
Then, when the regular server came back to check on you, I would have pointed out the dish to him/her. Once that was done, s/he should have removed it and brought it back with an apology. This is something that was beyond the server's control. It was a kitchen mishap so I do hope that the server didn't lose a tip because of it - that is, unless the server was rude to you.
As another responder said, the server should have gone to the manager and some sort of restitution should have been made - either your sandwich free, a free dessert, or a coupon for your next visit there.
I do hope that they did something like this since it seems to be a favorite place and you deserve that once in a month break!~ Donna
1 person likes this
