Are you ever honest when a server asks you how your meal/food was?

[Prophet Five]

I'll say it was good even if it wasn't - unless something was completely and totally wrong. And if it wasn't I just won't order it again and/or go back.

And even then with respect and courtesy because the server and staff most likely didn't go out of their way to ruin my night or whatever.

Be nice to retail/food service people.

Spoiler

And before some smart ass says it: "be nice to everyone" yeah, yeah. We know, champ.

 

[Elderly Parrot]

Being polite makes the next person suffer

If my Coke tastes like Diet Coke or club soda I def tell them. Can't think of any food problems lately

 

[julia crawford]

I rarely don't enjoy a meal so yeah i'm honest. If i'm not enjoying it i just that i chose bad

 

[ThatRandomCliff]

Once I ordered a potato salad, I found a rock in it, I told waitress about it. She brought out the chef and manager. They apologized about it. They gave me a free Entree and free dessert. So yes if there's anything wrong with my dish I let the waiter waitress know about it politely.

 

[sersteven]

That statement from the article is weird.

If a meal is mediocre I'm not gonna complain about it, especially if there was nothing objectively "wrong" with it.

I do think it is indeed rude to not complain about a meal and then go be a food critic online. That hurts the resturaunt, the servers (who often suffer for bad reviews for not being telepaths) and the kitchen staff. Give the business a chance to fix the mistake if its legitimate, before leaving a permanent marr on their reputation online.

 

[Big G]

I try to be polite and not make their day any harder than it needs to be. I'll generally say "good" if the food and/or service was sub-par, and "great"/"excellent" if it truly was really good. If the service itself sucked, I'll tip less but I won't stiff the waiter/waitress for problems with the food/menu.

I've never found a meal or service at a restaurant to be worth getting too worked up about, much less making a scene. People make mistakes and I'm the king when it comes to that, so I try to be pretty easygoing in general.

EDIT: But yeah, if something is wrong with my meal or drink order, I'll politely bring it up to the server immediately and generally it all gets sorted out without any trouble.

 

[Massicot]

I'm not usually one to complain much about food service, but once I was at a local steakhouse and my ribeye was super bland and pretty cold, so I mentioned it to the waitress. I said I was just letting them know so the cooks would know for next time, I was still planning to pay and tip a little because the waitress had no part in that.

Then the owner came out and apologized profusely, and spotted me a free Prime Rib as an apology. It was, sadly, also kinda bland but at that point I just said it was great and left lol.

 

[skeezx]

it's like being asked how your day is going. though startup restaurants tend to genuinely want to know what you think

 

[Deleted member 8468]

Okay so far, it looks like I'm among like-minded souls who are too polite to bother people. Phew.

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The server doesn't care if you hated your food, they only care if you got what you needed and tip them.

If the kitchen is slinging subpar food and your fourth table of the night says the clam chowder tastes like pee, and you served tables 1-3 clam you're gonna wonder why those people didn't say anything. Especially when the clam does indeed taste off.

After reading most of the replies here, you all really aren't being as polite or helpful as you think. You do you though, not trying to sound like I'm shaming anyone.

 

[Deleted member 55568]

I've never had bad food at a restaurant.

I've had food I didn't like. Meaning trying something new, and that thing isn't for me. But that isn't the restaurant's responsibility to fix.

I've never had a situation where a thing was bad because somebody fucked up.

 

[ISWThunder]

If something is really trash, or completely wrong, I'll say something. Otherwise, I'll probably just eat it.

Had terrible fries at a restaurant recently. When asked, I told the server that the burger was really good, but the fries were cold and bad. He took 'em back and took it off the bill. He didn't seem too surprised by the complaint.

 

[Rendering...]

I say it's good if it's at least passable. Great if it's great. If I have an issue I take the chance to mention it tactfully. Not too complicated.

 

[-JD-]

I'm not usually one to complain much about food service, but once I was at a local steakhouse and my ribeye was super bland and pretty cold, so I mentioned it to the waitress. I said I was just letting them know so the cooks would know for next time, I was still planning to pay and tip a little because the waitress had no part in that.

Then the owner came out and apologized profusely, and spotted me a free Prime Rib as an apology. It was, sadly, also kinda bland but at that point I just said it was great and left lol.

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Yeah in that scenario you got the most out of that kind of exchange, though now I like to imagination what could've happened if you actually told them it was bland the second time as well. Lol.

 

[skycamefalling]

Of course not. Unless is something obviously wrong with it, I'll let them know it's "great".

 

[Sephzilla]

I only say something if something is very obviously wrong

 

[affeinvasion]

I can't remember the last time I went somewhere where the food was so bad I actually took issue with it. There are places I won't go back to, but they're not going to make it better if I ask for a second helping. They just suck at food.

 

[LosDaddie]

As someone who has worked in the service industry in the last, yup. Always honest with our servers.

 

[kiguel182]

I always say it's good

Edit: unless it's something very wrong of course.

 

[-JD-]

The server doesn't care if you hated your food, they only care if you got what you needed and tip them.

If the kitchen is slinging subpar food and your fourth table of the night says the clam chowder tastes like pee, and you served tables 1-3 clam you're gonna wonder why those people didn't say anything. Especially when the clam does indeed taste off.

After reading most of the replies here, you all really aren't being as polite or helpful as you think. You do you though, not trying to sound like I'm shaming anyone.

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In my heart I know you're right, as many other posters have said similar as you, but at this point in life I think I'm just set in my ways. Lol

 

[GK86]

I always say it is good. Even if it is mediocre. I will say something if the food is horrible, like raw or something, and if the order was messed up. Otherwise, I'm not trying to give the server a hard time.

 

[Deleted member 8468]

In my heart I know you're right, as many other posters have said similar as you, but at this point in life I think I'm just set in my ways. Lol

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And there's nothing wrong with that either! I truly hope your food never comes out royally fucked. I've seen some shockers actually hit the table (mostly way overcooked stuff, nothing especially gross).

 

[shiftplusone]

I mean when it was bad, of course. At a restaurant, or maybe even in a social gathering/dinner at someone's home.

Turns out I've actually been rude this whole time by being polite and saying it was good when it wasn't.

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I mean, that article seems to claim its rude because you're gonna go home and give them a bad yelp review

I dont personally know anyone who sucks enough to post on yelp though

 

[House_Of_Lightning]

If it is inedible? Yes. Like... Last time I sent something back it was a bowl of étouffée at an oyster place in Jackson, MS. Tasted like someone dumped a whole shaker of salt in it. Chef came out and apologized and everything.

If I just don't like it... or it's something that is just simply not done with skill then I just suck it up and usually don't come back.

 

[Lord Vatek]

Unless it's so bad that I feel the chef should know about it (which has only ever happened once), I just say it was good to save the trouble.

 

[ItIsOkBro]

the server doesn't need my complaints lol

 

[TheCthultist]

Yeah, all the time... that said, I haven't really ever had a bad meal while I'm out, so it's pretty easy to be honest about it...

 

[NCR Ranger]

If it's bad and has something really wrong with it I will let them know. Other than that they will usually get the usual "It was good. Thank you."

 

[Notaskwid]

I'm easy to please

 

[Wood Man]

Only sent back food twice.

Ordered a steak at Outback medium rare, came out well done. I didn't even complain that much but the manager was so nice. He covered the entire bill except alcohol and brought a new steak. It was a still a little overcooked for my taste but I wasn't going to complain anymore.

Red Robin ordered a burger that took 45 minutes. When I got it the burger was cold. Obviously it was sitting in the window for a while. Again the manager covered the bill and brought out a new burger for me.

This was on the heels of watching a lot of Kitchen Nightmare episodes when I realized you can actually send food back if it's not to your liking.

 

[joe1138]

I honestly don't think I've ever had an outright terrible meal at a restaurant so I'm honest when asked.

Now, bad service on the other hand...

 

[Isilia]

I've only had to return one meal I believe. It was a steak from Applebees (yeah, I know) that you couldn't even cut with their steak knife. Demonstrated in front of the waitress, and I got a new steak that looked so much better than the first.

 

[Socivol]

Depends on how bad the food is. If it's something I'm not going to eat I will say something, if not I usually just eat it.

 

[subpar spatula]

food quality honesty? that's childsplay. i've rated a strippers lapdance when they were on me.

 

[Tygre]

The order would have to be straight up wrong or outright inedible for me to complain.

Steak overdone? Chicken club too dry? Fries soggy? Feh. Nobody's perfect.

 

[ishan]

If it's not good, I send it back.

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yeah if its shit I complain about it and ask for a replacement. But things have to be really poor or very wrongly done (eg If i always order one dish at a place I know when its wrong etc.). Otherwise yeah I just go meh unless its super wrong in which case ask for a refund/replacement.

 

[-JD-]

I mean, that article seems to claim its rude because you're gonna go home and give them a bad yelp review

I dont personally know anyone who sucks enough to post on yelp though

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Uhhhh, guilty. Haha

 

[RailWays]

If it's not good, I send it back.

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This, albeit there are levels to quality.
If my shit is burnt, hell yea I'm asking for it to be sent back.

 

[Books]

Yes, but I sandwich the criticism with two compliments.
"The meal was great. Eggplant was a bit too spicy, but overall everything was good."

 

[SpinierBlakeD]

I'd rather eat undercooked/poorly prepared food than engage in a conversation with a stranger. Most the time I just nod and give a thumbs up when they ask how my food is

 

[Torpedo Vegas]

How was everything?

 

[ty_hot]

If it is a place that isn't known for being great (aka, cheap places that you go to hangout and not to have a gastronomic orgasm) I will just say it was fine and move on.

If it's a place that I am visiting because I am interested in the food, I will say its fine, leave and never come back.

If it's a place I go constantly I will tell the truth, including the 'I always come here and X Y and Z were great today but W was tasteless, no flavor".

If I am at someone's home? Fucking hell, I will always say that it is good.

 

[DarthWoo]

My palate is pretty undiscriminating, so I've never really found any food I've gotten in a restaurant objectionable enough to make comment over. When I was a kid though, I had just gotten a new watch recently, so I timed how long our food took from the time the waiter took our order until we received our plates, and found that they'd breached their 30 minute guarantee, by maybe one or two minutes. I made note of that to the waiter, to my parents' chagrin. We did get the promised discount on the food.

 

[Gwenpoolshark]

I feel like anyone who's worked in the service industry knows better than to do this to someone unless it seems absolutely necessary. I don't complain unless something really egregious has happened.

 

[reKon]

97% of the time I liked what I ordered so I will typically say it's good.

If I really enjoyed something, I will let them know.

So my range generally goes from 8 - 10, kind of like the gaming side scale where if a game scores below an 8, it's absolutely trash. I'd say the last time I had something that bad was probably 8 years ago.

 

[Kyrios]

Rarely is the food ever bad. The worse is mediocrity. I just say it was good. It's just social pleasantries. I'm not going to tell the server anything critical. For what? They don't cook the food.

I just won't return to the establishment.

Click to shrink...

Yeah this is what I do.

The only time I would have things go back is when they give me the wrong order which happened like 2 or 3 times that I can remember lol

 

[Seneset]

If it's wrong it goes back. If it's really bad I let them know too. If I can't eat it, I see no reason to pretend otherwise.

 

[Unknownlight]

You stack all the empty dishes
Believe it or not, there's a method to the madness of bussing a table. Waiters and restaurant staff are trained in the best way to gather, clean, and sort dishes. If you stack up all the plates, bowls, and silverware—and then toss napkins on top of the pile—you're making a bigger mess for your server or the person who has to clear the dishes from your table.

Click to shrink...

Oh. Whoops.

 

[Deleted member 31199]

If I am unsure of something I will usually ask for a sample. Things have to be abhorrent for me to be brutally honest.

 

[Kitsunebaby]

Sometimes a condiment or side dish is missing and I'll ask for it. If I ask for no cheese on something and it comes out completely smothered in it I'll ask it to be remade, but I really hate having to do so. I'm going to do my best not to make the server or kitchen staff's job any harder, because I know just how stressful the job is.

 

[Absolute0]

As a polite person but also someone who considers themselves a decent home cook... if my burger or steak is cooked past medium (I order it medium rare), I send it it back every time. Don't ask me how I want something cooked if you have no intention of cooking it how I ordered it.