Sending Food Back

Entry 6 from my 6th night on vacation. Almost time to come back to reality. Almost time to deal with cranky disturbed customers again. Almost time to have to roll silverware again.....

But not yet!

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First of all, and for the record I want to state that I DO believe in sending back an entree if it is not cooked properly, or if it were not fresh. I do NOT believe in being ridiculous about or abusing this principle. And of course a small percentage of our customers are guilty of abusing this to the nth degree.

Last summer I took my Mother out to lunch at the restaurant I worked at. I could literally smell my Mother's salmon dish as the server was approaching the table, which is never a good sign. As my Mom took a mouthful of salmon she made a sour look on her face. She felt funny complaining about an entree at the restaurant I worked at. I took a SMALL bite of the salmon and agreed with her prognosis, along with that of my nose! We sent the salmon back and the kitchen prepared another piece, and it was phenomenal. That is life and that's how it goes at a restaurant sometimes. No problem.

That was a rare occurrence for someone in my family, but it was justified with the stinky fillet of fish. Some people are unbelievable about sending entries back and making a big stink about it. At the restaurant I used to work at there was a despicable regular named Cheryl that used to routinely send back her entries a second and third time. I thought this was strange that she would be that particular about her food as the lady was morbidly obese. She would take a few quick bites of her fish and send it back saying it was tough. Salmon. Tough. Right!

When a guest sends back an entree there is a whole process of things that need to occur. First, you have to get the front of the house manager involved. You have to inform him of the situation and what the guest said about the dish, my perception of the situation (is guest OK, or is she RED ZONE?). Then you have to go in the kitchen and get the kitchen manager involved. Usually he looks at you with disgust---as you are making his job more difficult---and gets adversarial about it. "This fish isn't tough!" "This fillet Mignon IS medium rare." "These veggies aren't overdone!" And the answer to the guests complaint, "Tell this lady to f*$& herself!".

After all the cordials and pleasantries in the kitchen, they have to make the guest another dish. From start to finish it took about eight minutes FROM THE TIME THE FISH HIT THE GRILL, not from the time you notified me and sent it back. As you now know, I have to get a bunch of different elements into action before your new entree is started. So don't look at me like you are some starving kid in a 3rd world country. It takes a while to cook a meal!

After your replacement dish is done cooking, usually a manager will personally deliver the 2nd entree. This is a whole lot faster than the customer not liking the 2nd piece and you have to go find the managers and all that jazz. At this point you have to order the second entree on the POS computer system and make sure to remember to make a comment line DO NOT MAKE, or you will have a lot of other problems to contend with! Next you have to find a manager and explain the entire situation again, and the manager has to adjust the check to account for the kitchen using another product. Imagine some lady sending back a second OR THIRD entree?

I had another miserable incident with another zschlubb at the restaurant I used to work at. This time the dish was lobster meat flash fried a salt and pepper style, served over a bed of shredded lettuce with a spritz of habanero oil. Some gentleman waved to get my attention. As I approached the table I asked if there was anything I could do for the table. "Yeah, my wife doesn't like her dish.", he said. I looked at his swine wife and noticed she was still shovelling pieces of the lobster meat into her mouth. I stood there a moment and just watched her shove another fork full of lobster meat into her mouth. I reached out and grabbed the plate from the lady like Indiana Jones grabbing the golden bust in Raiders of the Lost Ark. She looked at me in shock, as did her husband. I reasoned with them, "Hey, if she doesn't like the dish she shouldn't be eating it. I need to send it back to the kitchen manager, and there needs to be some left! I will be right back with a menu so the lady can make another selection!". I take the dish and run for my life!

Sending back a bad entree, or undercooked/overcooked? OK. Sending it back a 2nd and 3rd time, or send your entries back EVERY TIME you dine with us? No way. Find another restaurant to do your taste testing at, or find another staff to bully around. Thank you and have a nice day!