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Photo: travelbex, flickr
Read on for Slashfood readers' horror stories -- from nibbled-upon entrees to doctored veal cutlets.
10. Reusing Leftovers
70s waitress said: "When I worked in a diner in PA in the 70's, people loved their bread stuffing. Little did they know that it was made from all of the leftover rolls that were on diner's plates and in the breadbaskets that went back to the kitchen to the dishwasher. Often the dishwasher would pick the half eaten rolls off the plates with her dirty hands, sometimes drop them on the floor, and then throw them into a big can under the work table. To this day, I will never order anything from a restaurant that has bread stuffing!"
David said: "I used to work at a family diner in California. Every time I brought back a plate with sausage still on it the cook would take the sausage and use it to make gravy. To this day I still will not eat sausage gravy, and am "iffy" about eating bacon gravy as well, although I never saw her do so."
George said: "We had an expensive restaurant in my home town. I dined there often and when my daughter started college she got a part time job in the restaurant. I could not believe they used leftover veggies to make their soup and leftover hamburger to make their chili. I travel doing my job and still eat out a lot however I eat a lot less soup and chili than I used to."
Amy said: "Julia Child made soup broth with the parts that were not eaten. Heads, skin, guts, etc. Cooked it all up, strained for clear broth. I would LIKE to think positively that it was something innocent like this. Your waste was at least fresh!"
9. The Chef's Special Is the Easiest, Cheapest Dish to Prepare
Mick said: "The "high dollar Chef's special" stuff was frozen. Chicken Kiev? frozen. Lobster tails? frozen. Stuffed fish, crab, shrimp, chicken, beef wellington anything...frozen and micro-d then "garnished". Once it was explained that the hoity-toity always order the "Chef's special" regardless of what it is and, of course the Chef couldn't be spared to make every one's dinner in a night, therefore the special was always picked to be a) easiest produced and b) at the cheapest cost."
8. The Waitstaff Nibbles on Your Entree Before It's Served to You
dinergrl said: "YES... WE EAT OFF UR PLATES B4 THEY COME OUT!!! We dont get breaks & get hungry too!! So if u order something & it looks tastey we may grab off it! Ex. fries, clam strips, cut up pieces of chicken... nothing big though... even our managers do it!!"
7. The Bartender Puts All the Booze in the Straw of Your Watered-Down Drink
mike said... "An old bartender trick I was able to witness when I worked in an established restaurant chain was when people would order mixed drinks and send them back via waiter because they were'nt strong enough the bartender would pour the alcohol directly in the straw so your next sip is a mouth full of alcohol duping you into thinking that the drink was incredibly strong."
6. Fish Bits Substituted for Shrimp
Midnight said: "A Chinese restaurant in Miami would buy the skeletons of fileted fish, boil them and then brush off the crumbs of meat and use them as shrimp in egg rolls. Pass the soy sauce!"
5. Marrying Half-Drunken Bottles of Wine
Aurhora said: "At this fancy establishment I used to work at, we often catered to weddings. We were told to collect the wine bottles half an hour before the party ended. At the end of the night, the half empty wine bottles were poured into each other to make full ones to use for the next party."
4. Passing Pork Off as Veal
Chas said: "My meat purveyor once told me many places bought pork loin, sliced it thin, pounded it out, breaded and fried it and sold it as veal cutlets. He claimed it worked every time."
3. Stale Hot Dogs Reborn as Corn Dogs
Sheri said: "...Hot Dogs that didn't sell, sitting there all day in the steamer became corn dogs the next day."
2. Combining Quality Ingredients With Subpar Ones
bfwardaddybf said: "It's very common for places to blend in instant potatoes with mashed potatoes..."
nygenxer said: "Butter is expensive. It's usually mixed with margarine."
Mick said: "But the thing that always got me were the eggs. Anything with scrambled eggs--buffet, quiche, etc.-- was mostly milk if you were lucky, water and powder if you were not. Even in the "rep" places, they seemed to go out of their way to NOT use real eggs."
1. Your Regular Coffee Is Actually Decaf
Elle said: "We bring decaf coffee and "regular" coffee to events all the time, when really the regular coffee IS decaf coffee. No one can tell the difference and no one who is sensitive to caffeine will have a heart attack if any mixups happen."
Got your own horror stories? Spill it in the comments below.
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11-14-2009 @8:38PM NSF said... I have owned a local restaurant for 25 years....my staff would be fired if I ever caught them eating off customers plates or as we call it "bus buckets" dining....
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11-14-2009 @8:17PM Mateo said... While I'm sure the "liquor down the straw trick" is used by cheapskate restaurants, 9 times out of 10 it is used in response to customers who just want more. Alcohol is expensive and plenty of places have lots of regulars that expect to get more for the money. But if you were to do that for every customer you'd go out of business, so you learn a trick that keeps the customer happy and the bottom line as low as possible. I wouldn't consider it a dirty trick.
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4-23-2011 @1:28PM Pat said... Nevermind the alcohol in the straw "trick", try the generic cheap booze poured into top-shelf liquor bottles. You pay for Kahlua, but what you are actually getting is a generic brand of coffee-brandy, and the price you paid, buys another gallon of the cheap stuff. Notoriously done by chinese restaurantes with a nearbye liquor store. Don't ask about the eggrolls, or the pork fried rice!!!!!!!!!!!!
11-15-2009 @6:49AM cqdeed said... When I was in the Navy and doing my mess cook duty my job was to prepare all the veggies. EVERYTHING not actually served in salad or vegetable dishes were saved to make soup stock.
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11-14-2009 @8:52PM misfit610 said... So the message is don't go to a restaurant.
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11-14-2009 @9:10PM B Boss said... I Have been running restaurants and bars for 30 years. I know this happens at some places but if I ever saw it, the person would be out the back door before they knew what happened. I've seen servers grabing bits of food walking past the line and they were written up over it to show it wasn't allowed. Not all restaurants do these things and I thing you are putting a bad light into people's mind. There are people who care what you eat and how. And they will make sure your food is as fresh and untouched as they can.
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11-14-2009 @9:17PM B Boss said... Also it is common to put alcohol into a straw. You pay for 1.25 oz of alcohol. If it is not strong enough for you, you get the straw or you can pay for another shot. Don't be cheap. This is common practice and just ask for a double, or a drink on the rocks with a soda back. you only get what you pay for and this isn't watered down drinks. This is called business.
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11-14-2009 @9:28PM Cmorrisjac said... Bosses who deny the above comments are usually the most guilty. They get away with it because the American public has become ignorant of food, drink, and service. Put out a large portion at what seems to be a fair price, and a 48 oz. soda, and most Americans think they have eaten well. We can thank the chains and their idea that management means cost cutting. Restauranteurs used to think quality of product was tied to their reputation, and so strived for high performance. But in the last 30 years more great restaurants have disappeared, even in NYC. Chains serving frozen portion controlled food have popped up like weeds.
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11-14-2009 @9:37PM Cmorrisjac said... BBoss is either naive, blind, or just a shill and liar. In the 40 years I have spent in restaurants, I have had owners demand a short pour, long pour, switch cheap booze for top shelf, cut the syrup in the soda making undrinkable garbage, refusing to have a water filter, so that the water is undrinkable forcing more sales, etc. They don't even know how to stack and rack glasses, so that dirt from the top drips down on the bottom. So much for it being "just business". One owner was so cheap that he always ordered less lemons than he needed, having people pick up lemons off the floor to use in drinks. I no longer work in a restaurant. Living here in Dallas, I can barely stand to eat in one, how could I work in one. By the BBoss is probably one of those thirty day wonders who wouldn't know what to do with a sturgeon, dover sole, or escargot. But those are the managers and owners the public deserves, especially in the land of fried butter and big chested waitresses.
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11-14-2009 @9:48PM southerngal39 said... i used to work at a small, but very popular, family owned sushi restaurant. now, where some waiters and waitresses may snack off of the plate BEFORE a meal, we would always snack off of people's plates AFTER they finished. you know whenever sushi has been touched by the looks of it...and even if it is it's usually been done with chopsticks. even the owners will take the leftovers and leave them in the back for everyone to eat! so remember to leave your leftovers the next time you eat sushi!
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11-14-2009 @9:58PM What?! said... Now I will never, never eat in a restaurant again!
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11-14-2009 @10:04PM What?! said... Did you know that many food items from the Applebee's are already cooked and kept in frozen bags? My wife witnessed how the food could be prepared. All they do is to take out the ordered frozen food and put it in the microwave to be served in a short time. i thought they have a chef cooking for us. Maybe the meal price should be changed.
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12-26-2009 @10:15PM Reggie said... Since ordering a freezer meat order, I got pre-packed "for restaurant" service only, delivered to my home. If you think in five minutes your food is prepared from scratch, you are in for a rude awakening. It takes much longer to prepare it fresh, and you wouldn't want to wait while the chef starts making your roast beef or other items, like baked potatoes - they've been pre-cooked, soups tastes better the next day, so your soup you get is also from yesterday. You buy angus beef, that process is culled for several days on special racks and freezers, so you are not getting "fresh cut" anything.
3-29-2011 @8:46PM Joe said... Red Lobster also has batteries of microwave ovens. I like steak and shake, I sit at the counter and can observe the food being prepared, they never snack off of a plate to be served.
11-14-2009 @10:09PM spirytwynd said... I worked as a waiter in a restaurant called JT McCords. I never saw anyone eat off a customer's plate. Doing so would have gotten the employee fired. We did everything we could to satisfy the customer. Happy customers tended to tip better and also tended to come back for repeat business. Do it right and everyone ends up happy.
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11-14-2009 @10:14PM Tony D. said... I can maybe understand the drinks and the straw. BUT!!! if i ever caught someone messing with my food. I would wait for them out side and XXXX them. So go ahead and take the chance, maybe we're watching you also. Never can tell can you? believe me I wouldn't hesitate to XXXX you or your type.
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11-14-2009 @10:22PM wrtbestseller said... The most disgusting thing I've ever heard of in a restaurant was a few friends of my son, all working for a very large chain pizza restaurant, claiming that when they received a ticket for delivery, for someone in our town they didn't like, they would "punch down the dough" with their penises. Slapping the dough down that way. The manager was always stoned (was actually selling pot to the kids) and was only semi-conscious most the time and supposedly never noticed as she was in the front and they were in the back unsupervised for the most part. I told the kids off, and have never eaten there or ordered from a pizza place again. There is no doubt in my mind they were telling the truth as I overheard part of it and then demanded to know what on earth they were talking about. I also called the home office and reported the activity and the manager. Nothing was done.
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11-14-2009 @10:22PM raberyleti@msn.com said... Ya'll are soooooooooooooooooooo nasty. And we wonder why swine flu came up and spread like wildfire. Yeah nasty people, I wonder why. And for the server who said they eat off customer's plates because they get hungry and don't get breaks - here's a thought - get another job. Being nasty is never acceptable. I hate nasty people and if I EVER went to a restaurant and found out that any of these things were done to my food or my kids food, I would really consider killing the server first and the manager next for letting this kind of mess go on. I hate nasty mess. This is why my husband will not eat at a restaurant. And bottom line, Americans are too damn lazy, dumb and wasteful to cook at home, so I guess we get what we get. If you travel a lot for work then you have no choice but to eat out. But for those who come home every night, get your lazy asses in the kitchen and cook.
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11-14-2009 @10:28PM NomNomNomNom said... NEVER, EVER, Use the condiments! I used to work at a steakhouse (yes, a major chain) where we were only "allowed" 4 clean towels per night--for over 50 tables! At the end of the evening it was someones job to clean all the A-1, ketchup bottles, ect. They had us wipe the lip of the bottle, inside and out with those dirty towels (I preferred to call the towels "botulism swabs"). Yes, we had to wipe INSIDE the lip of the bottle and the caps with those towels...the same towels that had cleaned every table all night log......
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11-14-2009 @10:50PM johnny said... I've seen caterers consoladating all their open liquor and reselling it as whole bottles. They would mix brands,even worse, mix types of liquor. Also, I've seen the left over hot dogs, at a sport stadium, be recycled to the next event. Yeah already cooked once they would wash them and refreeze untill the next event. Nobody ever caught on!
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