What would you expect-bad shellfish??

[Cannot_Wait_4Disney]

Went out to dinner last night with DS11 and DS15. Went to a moderately priced restaurant (entrees run $14-$24). It's near a ski area so it attracts a lot of tourists. It bills itself as a steak and seafood restaurant (it's in the name). We've eaten there before and it's always been good.

My DS11 got a kids meal. I got a baked stuffed haddock and DS 15 got a seafood Alfredo with scallops and shrimp. Meals came. I tried my DS's pasta and it was good. About. 1/3 if the way through the meal I ask my son for a scallop. He gives me a 1/2 and eats the other half. It tastes bad, really bad. It's the first one he's tried. He then smells the scallops and they stink. I mean they smell like rotten trash. We wait about 10 minutes till I see the waiter again & I tell him that the scallops are bad. He takes the plate away and says they will take care of it. I was unsure what he was going to do at this point as we certainly didn't want another order of the same dish. He comes out a few minutes later and apologizes and asks if my son wants something else. He orders a kids meal at this point.

My questions is, what would you expect to happen in terms of the check? Also, the manager was around and was seating people. Would you expect him to come over and say anything? I'm assuming this could have made us ill but luckily didn't although we both felt a little queasy for a couple hours (might have been just the thought of eating it).

I won't say what they did or didn't do as I'm just curious what people would expect them to do. I was okay with the outcome, I didn't make a big deal out of it and we left. Don't think we'll be going back.

I'd have ended the meal right there and we wouldn't be eating any more. There is no excuse for bad seafood. And from what you described, it was pretty far gone. If something is that far gone, the place most likely has issues. I'd pay if I had to (I would hope but not expect that I wouldn't have to) and hope the rest of the meals didn't have a hidden problem that we missed.

 

[AustinTink]

I would have asked to speak to the manager before the dish was taken away to show him or her personally. Who knows what message gets relayed to the manager via the staff. I would also not have eaten another bite of anything out of that kitchen; not me or any other member of my family. We would have left after speaking to the manager and found dinner elsewhere. Life is too short to risk your health in an establishment that clearly has no quality control in the kitchen.

 

[anniemae]

OP are you going to let us know what happened?

 

[Happyinwonerland]

No less than a million dollars compensation, 100 shares of company stock, free meals for life, and a membership to the jelly of the month club!
How dare they make a mistake on my food?!? The nerve!

 

[Cannot_Wait_4Disney]

OP are you going to let us know what happened?

Maybe we'll see this place on restaurant impossible or kitchen nightmares some time.

 

[Hopscotch]

OP here---

They comped us for the bad meal but charged us for the kids meal. The manager did not come over. Thought the kids meal should have been free but really not a big deal. Definitely won't be going back. Thanks for the feedback.

 

[anniemae]

Yeah, giving the kids meal for fee would have been a nice gesture on their part. Probably would have made you more likely to return.

 

[tvguy]

OP here---

They comped us for the bad meal but charged us for the kids meal. The manager did not come over. Thought the kids meal should have been free but really not a big deal. Definitely won't be going back. Thanks for the feedback.

I would have expected the bad meal to be removed, the replacement meal to be comped, and both the Manager and the Chef to stop by the table.

 

[Cannot_Wait_4Disney]

Yeah, giving the kids meal for fee would have been a nice gesture on their part. Probably would have made you more likely to return.

I think going back and giving them a second chance to poison my lil shrimp rather than scalloping off into the sunset would be a little shellfish on my part. Yes some may think me a little crabby, but I'm not one to flounder around when it comes to family potentially eeling over after a meal.

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

I think this is a situational thing.

Sounds like this was an issue with quality of food. In that case regardless of it being "a moderately priced restaurant" I would politely request the item be removed from the bill if it wasn't already suggested by the wait staff. Comping the replacement meal is a toss up to me. OP I'm assuming though that the kids meal was less than the regular meal. I think it might be a tad different if you ended up paying more than you would have with the original meal.

However, if the item is due to check prep issues I would only request a redo of the item. We had this happen at a sports bar. They WAY undercooked the cheeseburger. Well more like the issue was the grill had extreme hot spots and it was too hot. I got over half way through the burger when the other half was basically raw on the inside and pretty much overdone on the outside. They remade one that was at least fully done all the way and a ton of apologies. But let's just say that's not the place to get burgers at lol. We can't remember off the bat but if they removed the burger from our tab it wasn't notified to us at least. The manager did come out though to apologize a lot but I didn't request it nor ask for it. It was a busy NFL home team sports night too.

Whether a manager comes or doesn't come out doesn't bother me in most cases or at the very least I don't expect it in this case. Things like wait staff issues or things like hair/other things not supposed to be in food yeah that I would expect manager to come out.

 

[Minnesota!]

No charge for bad meal.and that's about it. Anything beyond that would be "abovd and beyond".

 

[bushdianee]

I once received chicken that was raw almost all the way through. I was brought a whole new plate not just the piece of chicken, my meal was comped and I got an apology from the manager. I didn't expect the free meal because in the end I received and ate what I had ordered. I just never ordered that particular meal again.

 

[North of Mouse]

Bad meal written off - replacement meal comped.

A similar thing happened to me at a Red Lobster. I ordered a stuffed flounder meal (entree obviously frozen) and it appeared piping hot - took a bite and the inside was raw and frozen - really gagged.
Server (and manager) came, apologized, and asked if there was anything on the menu I wanted - at first, said nothing, but dh insisted I eat something, so I ordered coconut shrimp, which I love. They were great, and the manager came again and apologized profusely, wanting to know if the shrimp were ok - they were. My meal was comped (bad one written off).

Because of their great service, we have been back many times and everything since has been great. We would not have gone back without the great, sincere service.

I can understand a mistake (even a bad one) but without great service we will not tolerate it.

 

[LSUmiss]

I would have expected the bad seafood dish to have been taken off the bill, and I would expect there to be no charge for the kids meal that replaced it. If it wasn't super busy, I might have expected the manager to come over and talk to you about it.

That’s exactly it. At a local restaurant I had an oyster dish that didn’t taste quite right. Server took that meal back & let me reorder & didnt charge for my meal at all. They also comped the drinks we had & were very apologetic.

 

[Lilacs4Me]

I would expect the meal to be taken off the bill and the kids meal free.

I would expect the waiter to do exactly as he did - apologize, swiftly remove the dish and replace it with a new one, as low-key and quickly as possible, without fanfare or calling any more attention to the issue as there needed to be. I am positive they probably were going crazy in the back trying to figure out what went wrong, away from customers, while trying to stay cool and calm in front of you.

If YOU asked to speak to the manager, I am sure they would have had no problem having him speak to you. Or maybe he could have come up and quietly said something to you without you asking. I would NOT expect anyone on staff to want to put it on blast or make it into a drama-filled experience.

But I probably wouldn't go there again...unless I'm a regular and this isn't "normal" for them.

 

[sam_gordon]

We've eaten there before and it's always been good.

Based on this, I'd be willing to give them another chance.

I would EXPECT the original meal to be taken off the bill and HOPE the replacement meal is free. A manager visit? Eh, don't care.

 

[Cogswel_Cogs]

The bad meal should be removed.
Me too
Especially when it comes to shell fish. I feel you are taking risk often, it is very difficult to tell if bad and usually not restaurants fault. I have seen people get halfway through meal and hit something.
Often the person will opt out of food and the plate is ussually comped.

 

[china mom]

I think it would have been wise to comp the kids meal. What was the price? About $6? So, it cost them about $2 to prepare. Small price to pay to keep a customer.

We just ate at a Texas Roadhouse this weekend. Our bloomin' cactus did not come out until seconds after out meal came. The waitress took it off the tab and apologized profusely. Minor mistake and it would not have kept us from coming back. But, good guest recovery - I just mentioned them by name on this forum. Advertising cost way more that the food cost of a bloomin' cactus.