Random Chefs Share What People Need To Stop Ordering In Restaurants (16 items)

• (#1) If You Don't Know, Ask

  From Redditor u/(deleted)

  Not a chef, was a waitress, but if you don’t know what an ingredient is, please ask. Especially if you have dietary requirements.

  I got screamed at by a vegetarian couple because I “made them” eat meat for the first time in 15 years. They ordered the pea and pancetta soup, without knowing what pancetta was, and without telling me they were vegetarians. I was expected to somehow read their minds and know they were vegetarian and warn them.
• (#2) Very Weird Steak Order

  From Redditor u/mc_donkey

  I used to work at an Irish pub 7 years ago. We had a bud spud and steak (Get a beer, get a potato and get a steak for like 10 bucks for a fundraiser)

  Someone attended and asked for a half steak well done, and half rare/medium rare but she didn't want it cut in half, wanted the steak whole.

  I was able to KINDA do it (Half the steak was hanging off the side of the grill, cooking each side one at a time) but she sent it back, wasn't cooked right.... Boss got mad at me cause I didn't cook the steak two different ways right..... It was a sh*tty day.

  So yeah, avoid asking for a stupid f*cking steak order please.
• (#3) Suspicious Allergies

  From Redditor u/Ratorasniki

  Order whatever you like. Stop telling the wait staff your sensitivity or preference is an "allergy". There is a whole giant cleaning and safety operation that takes place when we get an allergy, and we have to treat every one seriously because we don't know. The number of times people with dairy "allergies" put milk in their coffee after their meal, tell us about nut allergies when ordering dessert after eating the rest of their meal that had nuts in It, or upon being told they could not have a modified version of a dish without shellfish respond with "ill have it anyway, it's not serious."

  Not to even mention things like "allergies" to -melted cheese specifically -dark meat but not white meat from a chicken -any eggs that aren't scrambled -peppers but paprika is fine -very serious gluten allergy that will cause extreme pain to the unfortunate patron, who is chugging down his 3rd pint of double IPA.

  I could go on.

  Just say you don't like it and we won't put it in there. We want you to enjoy your meal. I work 14 hour days to cook people good food as best I can. I want you to be happy, I promise. Lying is disrespectful.
• (#4) Picky Eater

  From Redditor u/lightwell

  Server at a vegan restaurant here. A woman asked me for something on the menu with no potato or starches , no corn, no wheat, no soy, no vegan cheese, nothing processed, no added sugar, and no fruit.

  I suggested a salad. A plain salad.

  "I don't want a salad, that's all I have at home. When I eat out I want something different."

  I dealt with multiple fussy eaters, people with crazy diets, or crazy allergies, and this was the first time I ever had to say "we cant accommodate that order, you haven't given me much to work with.... maybe if you eased up on one or more restrictions...."

  She just had a glass of water.
• (#5) A Sampler Plate Of Complaints

  From Redditor u/quietppb

  People that have to order sh*t done a specific way and then bitch about it. I can give you a list:

  Lady ordered chicken schnitzel but didn’t want it deep fried so she wanted it grilled. So she got her breaded grilled chicken and complained that it was bland

  Guy didn’t want his calamari deep fried because he was on a diet, so we pan friend it in minimal oil and he complained because it didn’t look as good

  Lady ordered truffle sauce, complained because it was “too strong”. It’s f*cking truffle you idiot what do you expect!!!

  And my personal favorite.... a couple complained because their kilpatrick oysters were “warm and slimy”. Like f*ck off. Firstly have you ever eaten an oyster? And it f*cking should be warm, it just came from under the grill.

  Damn people seriously piss me off
• (#6) Gluten-Free Breading

  From Redditor u/Bjw4k8

  I work in fine dinning so no horror stories of rancid food. However, if you are gluten free (as I am myself) accept that some items are not an option. Constantly I see servers coming back to ask if calamari can be done gluten free. NO!!! The breading is flour! "They said it doesn't matter just don't bread it." Okay fine. Gets plate sent back for calamari being tough from being oil logged. God damn. I'm a celiac. I accept things are out of my reach on menus. Get your sh*t together. Order within your dietary restrictions and don't make us bend over backwards to make it unappetizing.
• (#7) Wanting Something Not On The Menu

  From redditor u/echoetty

  People who ask for an item clearly not on the menu and then get mad. Worked at a steakhouse and a person got angry, to the point of requesting a manager, because we did not have avocado for their burger. My response to the entire fiasco, I was on expo at the time, was "If they want to pay an upcharge of $20 I will send a cook to the store to buy one." They never got the avocado.
• (#8) Not Paying For Your Experiment

  From Redditor u/(deleted)

  Stop ordering food that's new to you just to try it and then send it back if you don't like it, expecting not to pay for it.

  The first part is fine, it's the second part that's the issue.
• (#9) The Restaurant Is Not Your Pantry

  From Redditor u/tenehemia

  Stop trying to make your own dish out of our ingredients. I have no problem with substitutions, sauce on the side, etc. But if you come in and say "can I have this dish... But i want this instead of this, this instead of this, and can you serve it as part of a salad?" then that's not ok.

  It's one thing to work around an ingredient you don't like, but it's another to treat the kitchen as your pantry. Dishes are designed the way they are on purpose. If you mess with that formula too much, we're no longer responsible for your food tasting good or not.
• (#10) Impossible Eggs

  From Redditor u/sour-cherryyy

  Things that are impossible or a contradiction aka eggs over easy, hard yolk. What!?

  I work at a breakfast place, and I have seen the most bizarre ways to order eggs...
• (#11) Changing Dishes Midstream

  From Redditor u/why_pretend

  Stop ordering new things halfway through the cooking process. It’s really annoying when you change your mind and the dish is already cooked and we have to start over. Some things can’t be undone and we end up wasting food.
• (#12) As Seen On TV

  From Redditor u/MrAlcoholico

  "I like that dish insert any tv chef did at that tv show, what it was called?" if you want Gordon Ramsay fantasy course, please go to one of his restaurants.
• (#13) In Summation

  From Redditor u/RedTeamReview

  So to sum it all up:

  • Don't order 30 minutes before close
  • Be respectful to your waiters and waitresses
  • Don't try to mix and match the menu to make your own concoction
  • If you're in Argentina, just order the steak and not seafood
  • Don't try to re-invent phrases for how you like your food. Rare Plus doesn't exist....medium rare, does.
• (#14) Expensive Salads Are A Waste Of Money

  From Redditor u/E_rrationality

  20$+ salads, unless it's got some fantastic protein component to it. It's just not worth the money; buy the ingredients for <10$ and make it yourself.

  Don't get me wrong, salads can be delicious and well worth ordering, but don't pay entree prices some lettuce and fruit.

  Example: I used to work at a popular patio restaurant right in the middle of a rich, beautiful part of town. Due to the location and the general swagger of the place, we knew we could charge 24$ for this strawberry goat cheese salad in the summer, and we hyped the fact that it was "gluten free". Food cost for it was maybe 4$, prep time negligible, execution time <1 minute, so the margin on these things was just insane. I swear, every time summer rolled around, we made more money from girls in their early 20s ordering that salad than we made on booze.

  Oh, and don't forget to add 3.5oz of chicken for 9$.
• (#15) Stick To The Theme

  From Redditor u/qatest

  This is highly dependant on the quality of the restaurant, but a good rule of thumb is not to order stuff that is out of character with the rest of the menu.

  Every restaurant menu has a general theme to their food. That could be based on region or dietary limitations or main course (steakhouse for example) or whatever.

  A lot of places will also have a couple of things that break that theme so the picky eaters in the group have something to order. That stuff will often be made with older ingredients, and by people who aren't used to making it since it comes up so rarely in a night.
• (#16) You May Not Want To Order Swordfish

  From Redditor u/ATLHawksfan

  Swordfish...all fish can have parasitic worms. But swordfish can be riddled with them. Let's just say it's pretty unappetizing.

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