Our Dining Out Story...
By katsmeow1213
@katsmeow1213 (28716)
United States
October 15, 2009 7:31pm CST
Last Saturday hubby and I decided to have a date night without the kids. We went to eat at Red Lobster, one of our favorite restaurants.
There was a really long wait, but that didn't bother us, good things come to those who wait!! We sat at the bar waiting for a table, and ordered and paid for our drinks at the bar.
Finally we were seated. We knew what we wanted already so started placing our order. We each wanted our own appetizer. I like the Ultimate Fondue, but that's not really his thing, so he got clam strips and cheese sticks. Then he ordered a steak and I ordered a platter of 2 different kinds of shrimp, lobster tail, and crab legs!
Well, the dinners came out before the appetizers!! Only by a few minutes though. We really didn't care, it wasn't a big deal. The waiter apologized though, and then the manager came over to apologize. We assured her it wasn't a big deal, but she insisted on giving us the appetizers for free!! Awesome!!
So we finish our food and then get the check. Now we weren't charged for drinks since we paid for them at the bar, however after my drink was gone I did ask for a soda, but they never charged me for it. The appetizers were listed on the check, along with the discount for each one, making them both free. There was also a discount listed for my dinner. In the end we were only charged for hubby's steak which was $18 (my meal was $25). So we called our waiter over, he said not to worry about it.. their mistake so we won't be punished for it. How awesome was that??
So that entire meal (aside from the drinks paid for at the bar) cost us like $20. Since we got such a huge discount, we left the waiter a $20 tip!!
Do you have any dining out stories?
3 people like this
10 responses
@KrauseHome (36445)
• United States
16 Oct 09
Wow!! This is awesome. I would definately be impressed if it was my husband and I as well, and since you left a huge Tip they will know it was worth their time serving you as well. I know one time my husband and I went to a Red Lobster and I ordered something and asked for a Substitute of something and was told there was No extra Charge, and then when we got the order, the extra charge was there, and they had to fix it and made it up even more which was nice.
Then another time yrs. ago my husband and I went to an IHOP to eat, and ordered some food, and his order never came. I had aten part of mine, but had to leave to get to work. We made a complaint about never getting the Food my husband had ordered, which was only a hamburger of some sort, and we complained and said we would NEVER be back, and they gave us my meal FREE, and we refused to go back there until we knew they had become a corporate IHOP and had better service there as well.
1 person likes this
@katsmeow1213 (28716)
• United States
16 Oct 09
I had a terrible experience at an IHOP and refuse to ever go back! I don't remember if we got a discount on our food or not... I don't think we did, but it wouldn't have mattered! We were too mad to ever think about returning there.
1 person likes this
@frankiecesca (2489)
•
16 Oct 09
Thats really good - I have had some good meals in the past although not any where I have been given food for free like that!! What a great night! x
1 person likes this
@mtdewgurl74 (18151)
• United States
16 Oct 09
Now that is awesome..you have a little good luck muse looking out for you that night. I have never had anything happen like that when dining out.
1 person likes this
@k1tten (2315)
• United States
16 Oct 09
Wow! That's amazing! I would love to get a discount like that! I've never tried Red Lobster and we finally have one here where I live at the moment. I totally want to go there to eat and personally was thinking of taking my partner there for a private date. Though I'm not sure I want to take her to the one here because of the story she was telling me about a co-worker of her's and her husband eating there.
1 person likes this
@3SnuggleBunnies (16374)
• United States
16 Oct 09
Congrats on the great deal! I can't say that I've been that lucky in going out to eat in a long time. & I think that occasion was when a friend & I were ignored by the server we complained & got a ten dollar voucher each off our next meals.
1 person likes this
@ladym33 (10978)
• United States
16 Oct 09
We have had really good servers before, and we have gotten a free salad once, and free drinks another time, but my biggest restaurant story was not a good one but a bad one. We went to Atlantic City for a couple of days we were on vacation with the kids and decided to stop there for a couple of nights on our way home.
My husband stayed in the hotel room with the baby while I took my other two kids to get something to eat then my husband was going to go out and get something, since we had heard it was not a good idea to go outside there at night we at one of the restaurants in the hotel.
My son ordered a pizza burger and they put breakfast sausages on it. It was so wierd and disgusting, then the waitress brings us our drinks in these little tiny cups hardly bigger than Dixie cups. Then she spills my sons drink all over his food, she tries to clean it up and apologizes but does not offer to get him a new burger even though his was sopping wet. She also does not offer to replace the drink that he spills. Most restaurants where we live you get free refills. She did offer him some water. Then we get the check and those Dixie cup drinks were $3.00 a piece, I am talking soda here. She even charged us $3.00 for the drink she spilled.
The worse part is she could not even speak english that well so I couldn't even explain to her that if you spill someone's drink you should get them a new one. You should also give them a new meal if you spill soda all over their food. I left her $1.00 for a tip, and that was being generous.
@katsmeow1213 (28716)
• United States
16 Oct 09
I would have expected the entire meal to be free!!
I've had some pretty bad service too. One time I went to an all you can eat place while I was 8 months pregnant, and I took a bite out of a chicken patty that was totally raw!! The waitress and the manager apologized a lot, but also had the nerve to tell me the food was so processed I probably would not get sick. I actually had to request not to be charged for the meal!! I miss the days when that was automatically offered when they messed up your food!
@gemini_rose (16264)
•
17 Oct 09
I have no dining out stories, sorry, don't get to do that much! But I have to say that the food you had sounds gorgeous! Why is it that your food seems to be so much more exciting than ours haha!
@Hatley (163772)
• Garden Grove, California
17 Oct 09
hi katsmeow yes I was just thinking this was along time back when we were first married before the kids. I had a bad sore throat but it was my birthday and my mom and younger sis and my hubby insisted on taking me out to eat. It was a sort of hawaiian style
restaurant with decor to match, and the food was really good but a little pricey. So I ordered what I loved which was a shrimp platter as they all insisted I had to order what I really really liked. I knew my mom did not really have a lotof money but my dad had left her pretty well off. So I managed to eat all that food,but my throat hurt so bad so I ordered an ice cream dessert and noticed a handsome man with silvery hair watching us. I hoped he hadn't overheard me complaining about my sore throat. anyway that cold dessert really soothed my sore throat. when my mom went to pay the cashier said,"Maam the owner was here and he paid f or all your meals as his happy birthday present for you." I wanted to thank him but he was already driving away. what a lovely surpise for my birthday and I was 31 and pregnant with myfirst child.
@dawnald (85137)
• Shingle Springs, California
18 Oct 09
Seems to me, one of the last times we went to Red Lobster (in Los Angeles before we moved anyway), it was a terrible wait, we were with kids and they got really grouchy. No discounts either. But oh well, the food was good...
@SomeCowgirl (32189)
• United States
16 Oct 09
Wow that sounded like a very nice night out with you getting things for a lot cheaper then you had expected them to be, and it was very nice for the restauraunt to give you your appetizers for free! I don't really have any dining out stories then I can think of other then when I was friends with a group of people I knew in High School, and one before High school, in any case, we went to the beach... and gave the waitress a $100.00 tip! We were getting ready to go home so it didn't really matter, but I am sure that definitely made her day!
As a waitress I once got a $20.00 tip, and my friend did too! They give all of the waitresses $20.00 tips, and that is very generous!
