Ever had to turn food back in a restaurant?

mangrove

Hey!

This idea came to me from another thread on food in Shatabdis. Since we were last talking about food poisoning... Wondering if anyone has ever sent their food back in a restaurant because it was to cold (or gawd knows why else) and how the response was?

I don't like the thought of doing so, but if it can save a tummy ache? Or perhaps it is the case that you can never tell whether a dish will cause you problems until you've tasted / eaten it?

Ever been served something that was obviously spoiled?

mangrove

I should have mentioned this, but I'm wondering if it could be considered very rude if done politely? Obviously I wouldn't want to be mean about it...

nicoel

Never had to, but an Indian business partner did because of some silly minor thing. They didn't think it was rude, but I did. Anyway, worth staying healthy. Leave a nice tip.

Palexurdy

I've left, even occasionally refused to pay, but I can't recall where or why at the mo; it probably wouldn't be because the food had gone cold. Sometimes you just get a bad feeling when you sit down in a restaurant & it's best to go with your instincts when this happens.

mangrove

No worries Nic I'm all about tips!

Paxelurdy - I know exactly what you mean! It's happened to me too (not in India, but I understand).

anandi

I did it in delhi.. i think it was the rooftop restaurant at Anoop Hotel, paharganj. I've eaten there on many occasions, but on this particular occasion the food just tasted BAD. I told them that the food tasted bad... they looked a bit confused... shrugged their shooulders... took it to the manager and said "bad taste". That was it. There were no hard feelings.

mangrove

Well it's good to know that you can be assertive without coming off as totally rude.

Perhaps it is not so uncommon in India, as I've read a few times on different threads that Indians know their stuff and demand fresh food

anandi

There is nothing wrong with being rude in India.. sometimes it is a must!

Nick-H

I'm baffled!

If someone gives you bad food, send it back, don't pay, don't tip...

Why on earth should you care about being thought rude?

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LuAnnandJawahar

If it tastes "off" then you absolutely should not eat it and you should tell the cook.
If food is supposed to be hot, but it is cold, then it has been sitting long enough to get cold. In that case, send it back and, order something different, because heating it back up again won't change the fact that it's been sitting around for a while.

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mangrove

Well!

I'm sure it is something I will quickly learn then

abracax

I always send back "bullseye" eggs and tell the cook to flip 'em (I do this beforehand as well, and it works about half the time).

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mangrove

Hum, I have no idea what you mean? 'bullseye' and doing it beforehand? huh?

Noodle

I think abracax means a fried egg that has only been fried from one side - so he tells them to turn it the other way so it gets fried from both sides.

And 'beforehand', I think he told them beforehand to fry it from both sides but they only do it half of the time, so he has to send it back to have it fried from the other side.

Am I right I wonder?

To respond to the original question: yes, I have occasionally turned food bad, can only remember one instance though when a Malai Kofta tasted really funny and wrong, so I wanted a fresh one done, and they refused, said it was supposed to taste like that. I said, well, I have eaten MK many times and it tastes nothing like that, and refused to pay for it. They didn't like that and threatened to call police. I said, go ahead, I will tell the owner of the restaurant which was an acquaintance of mine. Then they let me go.

Stupid people. I never went there again to eat.

Rothrock

I haven't been to India but I do eat in a lot of the desi places around New York – not the upscale touristy ones. The one experience I remember was in a Pakistani place and the customer yelled across the room for the waiter to come over. There was a heated explanation that the naan was too dark on one side and that it wasn't soft like it was supposed to be. They took it back and brought out some that evidently were up to the standard. Didn't seem to be any hard feelings on either side.

I think sometimes the kitchen might just try and get rid of something that is on the edge (perhaps even passed) and culturally there is no problem calling them on it. When it came to eating paan, my friend taught me this hindi/urdu phrase:

taa-zaa baa-naa-yeh

Which means "Please make fresh." I used it when they were pulling out the who knows when tin foil wrapped thing. Nobody ever seemed to mind, but then they usually stunned that this gora wanted paan and spoke a little hindi!