Worst restaurant experiences you have had | The Boneyard

Worst restaurant experiences you have had

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This could include not only food quality, but slow and rude waitstaff, items on the plate or in the food or in the sauce that were unexpected and unwelcome, being insulted or having an argument with the manager, or being charged for an item you did not order and the restaurant's refusal to deduct it from the bill.

Maybe there are more.

And, if you or a family member experienced any of the above, how did you respond?
 
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We have a neighborhood eatery that we used to go to and the service was just unbelievably bad. At one point my wife a I are in for dinner sitting at the bar and the food eventually comes out. The bartender puts it down and leaves. No silverware, not water, nothing...…… The place had been getting progressively worse and this was the culmination. I went to the wait stand, picked up silverware, napkins, watered the table, poured myself a beer, etc. The bar tender came back from where ever - the place was not at all busy, and asked "what are you doing?" I stated, "your job!" I never stiff the staff, but I did that day.

The next time we went back ownership changed hands to an experienced restauranteur. Made all the difference in the world. Good, fun place to be now.
 
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This could include not only food quality, but slow and rude waitstaff, items on the plate or in the food or in the sauce that were unexpected and unwelcome, being insulted or having an argument with the manager, or being charged for an item you did not order and the restaurant's refusal to deduct it from the bill.

Maybe there are more.

And, if you or a family member experienced any of the above, how did you respond?
Found a japanese beetle in an egg roll at a Chinese Restaurant in Fairfield many years ago.
 

Mr. Wonderful

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Maybe not the all-time worst, but definitely very disappointing: Gino's.

Expensive, tables that are way too close together, uncomfortable chairs, limited menu, and thoroughly mediocre food (and I'm being kind). I had Bolognese and it was as bland as can be, no flavor at all. My wife had lobster bisque and a fish dish, the soup came in a shallow bowl and couldn't have been more than 4 or 5 oz. in size - we're talking miniature. And it was also almost totally flavorless.

I had a $50 gift card to eat there just before covid broke. Definitely not going back on my own dime.

The service was ok. Not great, not terrible. Everything else about the meal was a failure.

Sorry Gino, stick to coaching basketball.
 

MTHusky

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We have a neighborhood eatery that we used to go to and the service was just unbelievably bad. At one point my wife a I are in for dinner sitting at the bar and the food eventually comes out. The bartender puts it down and leaves. No silverware, not water, nothing...……
Why did you continue to go there? It seems that you frequented them a # of times with poor service.
 
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Maybe not the all-time worst, but definitely very disappointing: Gino's.

Expensive, tables that are way too close together, uncomfortable chairs, limited menu, and thoroughly mediocre food (and I'm being kind). I had Bolognese and it was as bland as can be, no flavor at all. My wife had lobster bisque and a fish dish, the soup came in a shallow bowl and couldn't have been more than 4 or 5 oz. in size - we're talking miniature. And it was also almost totally flavorless.

I had a $50 gift card to eat there just before covid broke. Definitely not going back on my own dime.

The service was ok. Not great, not terrible. Everything else about the meal was a failure.

Sorry Gino, stick to coaching basketball.
Surprised Geno did not come out to ask you how you liked the meal. I guess in these places, the celebrities are not usually there.

Doesn't Jim Calhoun own a bar of restaurant someplace? If so, how is his place?

Did you tell your friend, to next time just give you cash so you can use it to go to a decent restaurant?
 
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Why did you continue to go there? It seems that you frequented them a # of times with poor service.

It's a neighborhood hangout and we like to support local folks. The incident I described was the last time we went until it changed owners though. That one was the straw.
 

8893

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Doesn't Jim Calhoun own a bar of restaurant someplace? If so, how is his place?
He owned a piece of Coach's, a Hartford sports bar near the Civic Center for almost 15 years. They closed around 15 years ago now.
 

Mr. Wonderful

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Surprised Geno did not come out to ask you how you liked the meal. I guess in these places, the celebrities are not usually there.

Doesn't Jim Calhoun own a bar of restaurant someplace? If so, how is his place?

Did you tell your friend, to next time just give you cash so you can use it to go to a decent restaurant?
Gino was absent that day.

But there was a giant cardboard cutout of his head parked prominently near the register.

It occurred to me that if they threw it away they'd have more space for the tables.
 
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Let me give you one.

In Hadley or South Hadley, Mass., about 5 years ago, on the main drag was a "natural or health conscious," restaurant and was advertised that way. It had a high rating so that is why I went there once.

I ordered steamed trout. When it came, not a piece of lemon on the plate and was as bland as bland can be. So I asked the waiter, a maybe 20 something kid to have the chef bring make some pesto sauce (a mixture of tarragon or basil inside olive oil) for me. He was puzzled as to what it was so not trusting the chef knew what if was either, I told him the ingredients.

Did he bring out the pesto sauce? You be the judge. He brought me a metal jar or pouring jar, and a separate small plate with tarragon. I had to mix it up myself and I added salt. Actually, I had to make my own sauce and it tasted pretty good.

Ever hear of that one before?

No, I did not go back to this "neighborhood restaurant."
 
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When visiting Cambodia we took an early morning car rental to visit Angkor Wat after a night of heavy drinking. Halfway there we stopped for gas and lunch at a hole in the wall place. Given that I had a sensitive stomach from the prior night's drinking I decided to play it safe and order Pad Thai. About a couple of bites in I notice a large dead frog sitting in the middle of my plate and proceeded to puke everywhere.

I still don't know if it was supposed to be there or it hopped in the pot on accident
 

Dove

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SailFest in New London. Finally got a seat and ANY restaurant. A Caribbean joint. After a one hour wait we got two plates of burnt proteins and sheety plantains. We walked out not paying for jack.
 
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This pizza place/bar near my first apartment in SD calls itself “New York West”. I’ll leave aside my issues with any restaurant naming itself as such; needless to say, this pizza is not what you’d expect of a (successful) joint in the Tristate. It was across the street from me at the time, so I gave them a few chances.

But because it’s allowed to give itself a name that is attractive to the tourists who flock to it without a clue, they peddle pizza that is half-decently made (despite its lack of adherence to the style). Toppings are passable, and volume of toppings would be passable... if they didn’t have the nerve to charge $20 for a large pepperoni pizza. Superimpose that on to their pizza sizes being... inconsistent, I’ll say... and you have and issue with this NJ native.

A couple times, the pizza was not nearly the size expected; if you shook it down into one corner, you’d have at least an extra inch of wasted length/width of the pizza. This offends me, being someone who is more used to a pizza not fitting in its box than the pizza being too small for its box. Have some freaking pride in what you make, or at least have respect for the customer such that you don’t hand it to me knowing you made a crappy pizza as I fork over a 20.

The third time it happened, when I picked up the pie at the bar, before paying I shook the box and feel the pizza move; I open it up, and sure enough, my 18” pizza is closer to 15”. Poor bartender had no idea but I, with a look of disgust on my face, showed him the pizza, stated “nowhere close to 18”” and tersely slid the box back across the bar to him; immediately started walking out. There was a call-out like “oh well we can-“ and I just held my hand up with my back to them as if to tell them “don’t bother”. Left without saying a word. Never going back lol
 

wheelerdog

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Went out to dinner with friends in Wildwood once. One of them got a salad with a large grasshopper covered in creamy Italian dressing.
 
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I've had bad meals from well meaning restaurants and wait staff. I generally just feel bad for them. I'll usually give a second chance if other people swear by the place, but that's it. I will sometimes rate them, but I try to be fair about good service and the fact that my taste may be different (better) than others.

Really bad experiences involve bad service/management in addition to bad food. One that stands out was years ago. I was with a group at a popular Mexican place in Hoboken. We get our complimentary chips and salsa and someone at the table found a cigarette butt in it. It proved to me that they just recycle the salsa from table to table. As gross as that is, we somehow didn't leave (we were in our 20s). The waitress comes over and I showed her the salsa. I even made light of it saying something stupid like "I prefer my salsa non-smoking." She gave us an annoyed look and came back with a new salsa (probably just topped off the cigarette salsa). The manager was walking by and I told him about the salsa. He said he'd take care of the next round of drinks, so we got another round. He comped one drink (there were 5 of us). When we asked about it, the surly waitress responded with something like "he said he'd get YOUR next round, not all of you. Not like you paid for the salsa." I had friends that never understood why I refused to go there again.
 

CL82

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I once had a meal at a restaurant in Newark's Ironbound section and barely made it to the car before projectile vomiting started. I'm pretty sure that may have been my worst restaurant experience.
 

Adesmar123

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Old Valley's Steakhouse - Hartford off of 91.

We got about 1/3 of the way through our meals when my.wife found a dead (thank God) cockroach in the middle of her eggplant parmigiana. I was proud of myself. I calmly called over our server and told him. I quietly said we are getting up to go now. He said that he will get the bill for my dinner. I calmly let him know that wasn't acceptable.

I told him that If he did that I would make sure everyone around me knew why we were leaving and I still wouldn't pay for my dinner.

We just got up and left.
 

8893

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We found a dead cockroach in our takeout Chinese from Zhang's in Madison several years ago. When my wife called the restaurant to tell them, the woman who answered just nonchalantly asked for the name that was on the order and said she would refund us for the whole order. It sounded like it was a regular part of her job.

Needless to say, we've never been back.
 
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We found a dead cockroach in our takeout Chinese from Zhang's in Madison several years ago. When my wife called the restaurant to tell them, the woman who answered just nonchalantly asked for the name that was on the order and said she would refund us for the whole order. It sounded like it was a regular part of her job.

Needless to say, we've never been back.
Did you get the refund
 

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