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Dear Helena,
The other night my wife and I were out for dinner at a nice pizzeria. We were halfway through our salads when I bit down on a ball of mud. We called the waitress, but she seemed at a loss about what to do. She gave a cursory apology but did not help matters by saying, “This happens from time to time.” Then she took the salads away. She offered us a new salad (which we couldn’t face) but nothing else. We thought it was pretty poor damage control. If you find something gross in your food, what should the restaurant do? —Dirty Mouth
Dear Dirty Mouth,
When you find a Band-Aid, bug, or other foreign object in your food, the server should whisk the dish away and get the manager or maître d’. “Servers don’t have the authority to resolve the issue,” says Douglas R. Brown, author of The Restaurant Manager’s Handbook. A manager or maître d’ can decide how much of your meal to comp and investigate the origin of the offending item. Plus, if he or she comes over to your table, you feel as if the restaurant is taking the incident seriously.
A simple “sorry” is not enough. A satisfying apology, in this case, should include the following:
Take responsibility. Sometimes restaurants shrink from doing this because they’re afraid of getting sued. Instead, they try to downplay or dismiss the problem. When I found a beetle in my salad once, the waitress airily responded: “What do you expect? It’s organic.” In fact, according to one study, people are less likely to be litigious if the wrongdoer offers a full apology.
Empathize. Mary Burnham, a public relations director in Healdsburg, California, found “a small, gray, very wriggly worm” on a piece of lettuce that accompanied her takeout burger. She took the burger back to the restaurant, but the worm had disappeared. “People looked at me like I was crazy. Then someone saw it on my sleeve.” Nonetheless, she still patronizes the restaurant, because the manager called her at home and offered a “distraught” apology. “His tone won me over,” she says. “He sounded very upset.”
Identify the source. Jay Perrin, general manager of Campanile in Los Angeles, says the restaurant should “show [it’s] taking steps to find the source of the problem and fix it. The customer wants to know it won’t happen again.” If the restaurant can pinpoint the source, it reassures the customer, proving the entire kitchen isn’t filthy. Diane Barker, a San Francisco attorney, once ordered a Manhattan that was “swimming with ants.” Eventually, the bartender discovered that the ants were in the vermouth. “I was weirdly satisfied. … Once the mystery was solved, I could relax.”
Obviously, you shouldn’t pay for the tainted dish or drink. And most likely you won’t want another one, even if it’s free. But the restaurant should compensate you for your distress by giving you something else. It might offer a bottle of wine or a gift voucher, but Perrin recommends surprising the customer with a free dessert. This makes economic sense, says Brown. “Dessert is a very high-markup item,” he says, explaining that it typically costs the restaurant only 20 percent of what the customer pays, compared with 40 percent for entrées. Perrin says, “I put in [a dessert] for each member of the table, with something chocolate to cover all the bases. Then I would apologize again.” That way, however traumatic your dinner was, it ends on a sweet note.
Table Manners appears every Wednesday. Have a Table Manners question? Email Helena.
I work a fine dining establishment and waited on a prom group last Saturday night. One of the young men in the group insisted there was a DOG HAIR in his mashed potatoes. Obviously because we have several dogs running around in the kitchen. Not to say wierd things don't end up in food occasionally but I just thought that was funny and needed to share it.
I was eating in a New York City museum restaurant which shall remain nameless because they dealt well with the situation...My brother was eating a salad with a chicken breast on the side. About half way through the meal, he discovered a roach/crasshopper type creature on the plate next to his chicken, which had clearly been cooked at the same time as the chicken. If anyone had taken a moment...+READ
I was eating in a New York City museum restaurant which shall remain nameless because they dealt well with the situation...My brother was eating a salad with a chicken breast on the side. About half way through the meal, he discovered a roach/crasshopper type creature on the plate next to his chicken, which had clearly been cooked at the same time as the chicken. If anyone had taken a moment before serving the plate, they would have noticed this.
My brother tends to freak out easily, so I jumped up and found the manager right away. She acted immediately, removing the plates (along with mine, which I no longer wanted to eat). She comped the (very expensive) lunch and gave my brother free dessert and coffee, and offered it to me as well. Her apology seemed very sincere.
So I think that's an example of how to deal with the situation. It is not like I will ever go back there though, despite her best efforts. I'm still grossed out!-COLLAPSE
Last summer I took one of my high school students to Olive Garden for lunch. She ordered lasagna and I had cappellini pomodoro. About halfway through her meal she discovered part of an insect in her lasagna. It was hard to tell what it was - perhaps an ant. I wonder if she had eaten the other part!
The waiter, who was at a nearby table, noticed the horrified look on her face and came over and...+READ
Last summer I took one of my high school students to Olive Garden for lunch. She ordered lasagna and I had cappellini pomodoro. About halfway through her meal she discovered part of an insect in her lasagna. It was hard to tell what it was - perhaps an ant. I wonder if she had eaten the other part!
The waiter, who was at a nearby table, noticed the horrified look on her face and came over and asked what was wrong. I explained to him and showed him her plate. He apologized and took it, and shortly thereafter the manager came out and apologized and asked her if she wanted another meal. She said no, and then the manager suggested dessert. At first she said no to that too, but I encouraged her to choose a dessert, and she finally did.
They did comp her lasagna and the dessert was free too. I paid for my cappellini pomodoro and our two soft drinks. I tipped at least 20% on what would have been the total amount of the bill with both our meals, although I don't recall if I added the dessert in my calculations, since we wouldn't have ordered that normally.
I think overall the waiter and manager handled things well - offering another meal, then a dessert, and comping her lasagna. However, I do think it would have been gracious of them to just comp the whole bill. There were just two of us, after all, and it's not as though I had ordered an expensive dish - the cappellini pomodoro is about the cheapest thing on their menu. We hadn't had appetizers and drank only soft drinks. So the bill with my meal and the two soft drinks and tax was probably around $12 or $13. It was have been a nice gesture if they had just comped everything.
pak-COLLAPSE
My girlfriend ordered steak at Texas Roadhouse and it came with some gray feathers on top. One, it seemed strange that no one would notice that on the way out. Two, what's up with gray feathers? We pointed it out to the waitress, who actually tried to convince us that it had to do with chicken. The manager was way more helpful, comping the entire meal (though I wasn't really hungry after that,...+READ
My girlfriend ordered steak at Texas Roadhouse and it came with some gray feathers on top. One, it seemed strange that no one would notice that on the way out. Two, what's up with gray feathers? We pointed it out to the waitress, who actually tried to convince us that it had to do with chicken. The manager was way more helpful, comping the entire meal (though I wasn't really hungry after that, honestly) and being very apologetic. I'll never forget the manager's face, though. She looked as confused and repulsed as my girlfriend.-COLLAPSE
Bagged salads should ALWAYS be washed. It doesn't matter that they label them with "washed three times". Finding a bug (small roach) in a newly-opened bagged salad at home has made me very suspicious of that stuff. And after getting deathly ill from eating a salad at an Applebee's, I'm careful about where I eat and what I order.
I understand that maybe sometimes people try to pull the "bug in my soup" thing to get a free meal...but PLEASE restaurant people, do not argue with me when i point something out to you? I am vegetarian and had a waitress argue her head off with me once over a salad that had real bacon in it after i'd asked her if they were "fake" and if so to include, otherwise leave it out. She refused to...+READ
I understand that maybe sometimes people try to pull the "bug in my soup" thing to get a free meal...but PLEASE restaurant people, do not argue with me when i point something out to you? I am vegetarian and had a waitress argue her head off with me once over a salad that had real bacon in it after i'd asked her if they were "fake" and if so to include, otherwise leave it out. She refused to acknowledge that the bacon was real, and consequently was pretty resistant to taking the thing back. I shudder to think what probably was on my replacement salad. I now just ask for my bacon bits on the side.
Also had a waiter at an Indian restaurant argue with us when we found what looked like an animal hair in our rice...kept telling us it was something from the rice bag...which it may have been but hey...when you think it's hair...are you going to continue to chow down?
Once found a large broken chicken bone in a basket of fries at a pub once....good thing i didn't try to bite into the thing while gabbing with my friend. Waitress didn't seem to care much "oh that's just cuz we fry them in the same oil we use for hotwings" hmmm lovely. They did not comp us. Thankfully we'd had a few beer and just laughed it off.
Also twice have ordered vegetarian burritos and panini's at restaurants to pick up and bite into a big old mouthful of chicken, and not get comped or much in the way of apology. After not eating chicken for 8 years and suddenly having a mouthful of it....definitly not a pleasant experience. Try figuring out what to do with it. Good thing I wasn't allergic !
(on another note, we watched an entire family at a restaurant once clean their plates and then loudly begin telling the waitress etc how the food wasn't "fit to eat" and after a while consequently got their meal for free I believe. It's since become a running joke in our family when plates are cleaned.-COLLAPSE
The best response to a waiter when faced with the 'bug-in-food' problem came from my brother. Probably having fallen onto the plate from a tree branch overhead (we were dining al fresco) a small green caterpillar was inching its way along atop the mashed potatoes. Upon noticing it, without missing a beat, my brother looked at the waiter deadpan and said, "Excuse me, sir. But if you'll check your...+READ
The best response to a waiter when faced with the 'bug-in-food' problem came from my brother. Probably having fallen onto the plate from a tree branch overhead (we were dining al fresco) a small green caterpillar was inching its way along atop the mashed potatoes. Upon noticing it, without missing a beat, my brother looked at the waiter deadpan and said, "Excuse me, sir. But if you'll check your order pad you'll see that I asked for my caterpillar on the side."-COLLAPSE
i work with large amts of organic and local-grown produce, and as far as critters, it's very clean-- i don't think that finding 1 small agricultural bug in a 24-head case of romaine is a big deal, for example, and i do find it reassuring that the food is not toxic to soft-bodied animals like caterpillars, etc. a roach would be completely different!
when i was much younger and traveling with my...+READ
i work with large amts of organic and local-grown produce, and as far as critters, it's very clean-- i don't think that finding 1 small agricultural bug in a 24-head case of romaine is a big deal, for example, and i do find it reassuring that the food is not toxic to soft-bodied animals like caterpillars, etc. a roach would be completely different!
when i was much younger and traveling with my family in paris, i got a salad in a little bistro and before i could even take one bite a *huge,* glistening slug oozed out from under the top leaves. the rest of the episode will be in the movie of my life, sometime-- i tried to tell the waiter about the problem, but i didn't know the word for *slug* in french-- he spoke very good english but apparently didn't know the word *slug,* so we went back and forth in english and french until i finally blurted in english "there is an ANIMAL in my salad!!!" he dashed over and looked at the poor slug (the salt in the dressing probably getting to him now), threw up his hands, exclaimed "sacre bleu!!!", picked up the salad plate and swooshed into the kitchen. a lot of loud cussing in french followed, to my mother's great mortification and my dad's great entertainment. the waiter finally brought out an immaculate fresh salad and i ate it with no loss of appetite. but it was funny and i'll always remember this incident.-COLLAPSE
Not sure anyone cares but I looked up that story about the woman with the diamond in her pasta. I was reported in the Daily Mirror on April 26, 1996, The woman name was Liliana Parodi and it actually happed in Genoa, not Milan (sorry about that). They saod the stone was apprasied at 2,000 pounds sterling.
Seeing ants in my Manhattan would likely cause me to stop drinking. Finding out they were in the vermouth (WTF??) wouldn't really help at all....
Bugs/objects in food used to gross me out in the restos... until I learned how to cook and began doing kitchen duty for myself. Now, if I see something in the food I will still often mention it to the server... but if its just a tiny aphid chances are I just pick it out, put it in my napkin discreetly, and continue with the enjoyment of my meal.
Oddly, the worst/most severe reaction I've ever...+READ
Bugs/objects in food used to gross me out in the restos... until I learned how to cook and began doing kitchen duty for myself. Now, if I see something in the food I will still often mention it to the server... but if its just a tiny aphid chances are I just pick it out, put it in my napkin discreetly, and continue with the enjoyment of my meal.
Oddly, the worst/most severe reaction I've ever had to foreign objects/ insects in my food occurred @ grandma's dining table. She cooked a batch of dim sum, including siu mai. She had purchased parsley for the siu mai in chinatown, and I thought she'd cleaned everything thoroughly. But a wayward green rubber band (that had held the bunch together) somehow ended up on the cutting board with the greens... since grandma didn't notice, we ended up with a batch of siu mai that was strangely rubbery and bitter. Because I've seen some of the yucky muddy rubber bands they use in chinatown groceries, it totally put me off and for months afterward every time I saw siu mai I would taste that strange bitter rubber.-COLLAPSE
Yeah, thnks that could actually hurt you go beyond the pale. I would also point out that "all bugs are not creted equal". If its something that could have conceivably been on the food intially (aka a caterpillar or aphid or something) that one thing if its a pest blugh that presuably entered in the kitchen (i.e. a cocakroach) that another. I don't even what to think about wasps, bees, and such....+READ
Yeah, thnks that could actually hurt you go beyond the pale. I would also point out that "all bugs are not creted equal". If its something that could have conceivably been on the food intially (aka a caterpillar or aphid or something) that one thing if its a pest blugh that presuably entered in the kitchen (i.e. a cocakroach) that another. I don't even what to think about wasps, bees, and such. If its something relitively innocuous it tend to just shrug it off and eat around it. I've gotten a bit blase about things in food ever since I did a survey project on bulk foods and spices (you know the 12 oz or 1lb bags of beans or of seeds you see in a lot of ethnic food stores) after you open enough of those, the cocept of finding mud, insect fragments and the odd rat dropping in food doesnt really shock you (now, find a rat dropping ON the bag is another matter the one time that happened I had the shakes for several days.) Extraneous stuff can even (in very rare cases) bee good. For example can fill my otudoor pots with a beautiful flower array each summer and I haven't had to buy a package of seeds in years. (for those in vegetable pest control; don't worry, I only plant those things I have concusively identified as things that won't get out of control, and which can't readily spread.) There is also the (possibly apocraphyl) news story I read some time ago about a woman in Milan who was comped for her pasta in a resturaunt because a small pebble had been in it and got lodged in her tooth. when the pebble was extracted by her dentist the next day it proved to be an uncut diamond. (No, I don't know how an uncut diamond wound up in pasta in Milan)-COLLAPSE
I think there's a certain kind of re-assuring normalcy associated with finding bugs in one's food. It's not a positive experience, but at least they're (mostly) non-toxic and there for an understandable reason.
By contrast: While eating a taco salad at a reasonably sketchy Tex-Mex place in Murray Hill, NYC, I bit into something hard. I stopped, and extracted a reasonably large chip of broken...+READ
I think there's a certain kind of re-assuring normalcy associated with finding bugs in one's food. It's not a positive experience, but at least they're (mostly) non-toxic and there for an understandable reason.
By contrast: While eating a taco salad at a reasonably sketchy Tex-Mex place in Murray Hill, NYC, I bit into something hard. I stopped, and extracted a reasonably large chip of broken glass. Fortunately it was relatively smooth and I didn't actually cut myself. My server was surprisingly un-moved, and the salad was comped, I never felt as though the restaurant was properly horrified by the glass thing. That's really all I wanted: a bit of empathy. And maybe a couple free drinks.
The glass put me off my food for almost 24 hours. I still have fond memories of breaking that fast at Junior's in Brooklyn.-COLLAPSE
Once at a Chinese restaurant, I found a bug in my watercress. When I brought it to the waiter's attention, his reaction was basically "what's the big deal?" and was surprised when I told him to take it back and take it off my bill. So he took it away, and he and some of the other waiters in the restaurant began eating from the dish and he even said to me "See, we're eating it, so it's no big...+READ
Once at a Chinese restaurant, I found a bug in my watercress. When I brought it to the waiter's attention, his reaction was basically "what's the big deal?" and was surprised when I told him to take it back and take it off my bill. So he took it away, and he and some of the other waiters in the restaurant began eating from the dish and he even said to me "See, we're eating it, so it's no big deal." Then they all burst out in laughter.
The restaurant has since shut down. With service and attitude like that, can't imagine why....-COLLAPSE
>>>“Servers don’t have the authority to resolve the issue,” says Douglas R. Brown, author of The Restaurant Manager’s Handbook.<
100% false - read Setting The Table by Danny Meyer. Servers have a great deal of authority and are the ones most plugged into what the table needs. Not that they shouldn't include management.
I don't think it's dramatic at all to lose your appetite over a mud in your salad. Sure it doesn't hurt but I don't want that stuff in my food: I'm paying for a meal and I'd expect something that's been cleaned properly. I understand how giving a dessert can be a good way to make it up but it does prove to be awkward if the person is on a diet or is diabetic or something.
I think the handling of...+READ
I don't think it's dramatic at all to lose your appetite over a mud in your salad. Sure it doesn't hurt but I don't want that stuff in my food: I'm paying for a meal and I'd expect something that's been cleaned properly. I understand how giving a dessert can be a good way to make it up but it does prove to be awkward if the person is on a diet or is diabetic or something.
I think the handling of such problems like these is done surprisingly well by chain restaurants. I guess it's because they don't want to get sued or something but whenever I encounter a problem at a chain they are very kind and tend to comp entire meals for me; some other non-chain places however usually don't handle these situations quite as good and usually try to pass it off.-COLLAPSE
My husband and I were at one of those fast-casual salad places and he had a bowl of Italian wedding soup. 3/4 of the way through the bowl came a very crunchy bite, complete with legs. It was like the old joke - what's worse than finding a worm in your apple? Half a worm! What's worse than that? Half a cockroach. The restaurant comped our entire meal and was very apologetic, they couldn't have...+READ
My husband and I were at one of those fast-casual salad places and he had a bowl of Italian wedding soup. 3/4 of the way through the bowl came a very crunchy bite, complete with legs. It was like the old joke - what's worse than finding a worm in your apple? Half a worm! What's worse than that? Half a cockroach. The restaurant comped our entire meal and was very apologetic, they couldn't have been nicer. They explained they get their soups in pre-made (probably frozen) packs from a supplier. I think they meant to reassure us that THEIR restaurant wasn't bug-ridden - but it's kept me from ordering soup since then unless I know the restaurant made it onsite.-COLLAPSE
If I'm paying 3x as much for something out as it'd cost me to make myself, there better not be any damn bugs crawling out of it.
And I don't eat dessert so that option sucks for me.
I have to agree, if I found mud or a bug in my salad, I would not want another salad as the ingredients would likely come from the same bag/batch that contained the mud or bug in the first place. That's not to say I'd never order another salad at the restaurant, but I don't think it is surprising to not want a replacement salad that same day.
I'm not squeamish about bugs, but for some reason, biting into a foreign object will ruin my appetite. I found a staple in a seafood pasta dish once. I didn't get hurt, but I wasn't hungry anymore. A small rock in my salad did the same thing, many years ago.
Back in the 80s, a co-worker and I were at lunch one day at Ground Round (Im not sure this chain is around any more). Co-worker found a cockroach in her salad and pointed it out to our waitress, who took the salad back to the kitchen, removed the roach and brought THE SAME SALAD back to the table. Lunch was basically over at that point.
Not too long ago I was dining alone in a casual-dining...+READ
Back in the 80s, a co-worker and I were at lunch one day at Ground Round (Im not sure this chain is around any more). Co-worker found a cockroach in her salad and pointed it out to our waitress, who took the salad back to the kitchen, removed the roach and brought THE SAME SALAD back to the table. Lunch was basically over at that point.
Not too long ago I was dining alone in a casual-dining chain restaurant and ordered the blue cheese chips appetizer. Second bite in I found a piece of plastic (probably from the bag the cheese came in) and showed it to my waitress. She was appropriately horrified and apologetic, as was the manager, who also rushed in quickly for damage control. I finished my dinner and found that the whole meal had been comped (nice gesture). I had to force a tip on the apologetic waitress.-COLLAPSE
I agree with susaninsf - they should give a choice of dessert.
Once, I was having a burger and a beer at an Applebees when, as I bit into my burger, I was looking straight at the sesame seed bun, where each sesame seed was surrounded by a fine halo of mold. I put the burger down, called our waitress over to tell her about it. She bent over backwards to make sure I was taken care of. I got a new...+READ
I agree with susaninsf - they should give a choice of dessert.
Once, I was having a burger and a beer at an Applebees when, as I bit into my burger, I was looking straight at the sesame seed bun, where each sesame seed was surrounded by a fine halo of mold. I put the burger down, called our waitress over to tell her about it. She bent over backwards to make sure I was taken care of. I got a new entree of my choice (and it was definitely rushed through the kitchen), choice of dessert and my entire bill (including my beer) was on the house.
Granted, I don't eat at an Applebees that often, but it was a nice surprise to see a chain go above and beyond.
I think what it boils down to is that you give the server/manager a chance to rectify the situation before you blow your proverbial top over it. But in the end, it's food you paid for and it should be free of bugs/other ick.-COLLAPSE
Poor advice on surprising the customer with dessert: When I have been brought a dessert I didn't order it could very well be something I simply won't eat (bananas as a prime example, and I have had this happen to me) or is something I am not that fond of (not everyone is a huge chocolate fan). Much, much better than a surprise would be to go to the customer and say, 'we'd like to buy you dessert,...+READ
Poor advice on surprising the customer with dessert: When I have been brought a dessert I didn't order it could very well be something I simply won't eat (bananas as a prime example, and I have had this happen to me) or is something I am not that fond of (not everyone is a huge chocolate fan). Much, much better than a surprise would be to go to the customer and say, 'we'd like to buy you dessert, which ones would you like', or better yet, just comp something (or the whole meal in a particularly agregious situation) that has already been ordered.
I once found a bug on some pancakes. Called the server over, she said it was a piece of parsley. On pancakes? Of course, she had to concede it wasn't when it started crawling off of the pancakes onto the plate....-COLLAPSE
I have to agree with mainsqueeze, too. I can understand being disgusted by finding a cockroach in your bowl, but a little bug or a tiny bit of mud? Nobody should be that squeamish. Food grows in mud full of bugs. I'm sure restaurants try their best, but the occasional slip is unavoidable.
Admittedly, the restaurant in this case should have handled things better, but saying that you couldn't face...+READ
I have to agree with mainsqueeze, too. I can understand being disgusted by finding a cockroach in your bowl, but a little bug or a tiny bit of mud? Nobody should be that squeamish. Food grows in mud full of bugs. I'm sure restaurants try their best, but the occasional slip is unavoidable.
Admittedly, the restaurant in this case should have handled things better, but saying that you couldn't face another salad is a tad dramatic.-COLLAPSE
I am agreeing with mainsqueeze. If it doesn't kill you, it will make you stronger and a little wearier of eating out.
A tiny bit of mud never hurt anybody.
I work in the food business. If you noticed, there is a lot of processed foods these days including bagged salad greens, pre-cooked entree's etc... Most lettuce products are pre-cut, pre-washed and ready to go from the bag to a plate. It is impossible to control all the bugs that get into foods these days. Think about the show "Man vs. Wild"---he eats lots of bugs--good protein. If the place is...+READ
I work in the food business. If you noticed, there is a lot of processed foods these days including bagged salad greens, pre-cooked entree's etc... Most lettuce products are pre-cut, pre-washed and ready to go from the bag to a plate. It is impossible to control all the bugs that get into foods these days. Think about the show "Man vs. Wild"---he eats lots of bugs--good protein. If the place is dirty that is another story.-COLLAPSE
For some reason, bugs happen to appear in my food with unnerving regularity. It may be that I've become more vigilant over the years, so I catch more. I used to be really grossed out by it. I never made a scene, but I could also not eat anything else at that meal and just had to leave. But then I started buy produce at the local farmers market. I am paranoid, so I wash every thoroughly! Despite...+READ
For some reason, bugs happen to appear in my food with unnerving regularity. It may be that I've become more vigilant over the years, so I catch more. I used to be really grossed out by it. I never made a scene, but I could also not eat anything else at that meal and just had to leave. But then I started buy produce at the local farmers market. I am paranoid, so I wash every thoroughly! Despite my best efforts, my parents found one or two itsy-bitsy bugs on the green leaf. Since then I am able to sympathize with the prep cooks who have to clean dozens of heads of lettuce a day. Of course, the sympathy only extends to those bugs which naturally inhabit and eat the food. If I found a worm or a spider or worse... I can't say I'd be cool about it.-COLLAPSE