restaurants-- when to complain

[ciao_yall]

If the food is just not my style or preference, I go ahead and finish it. Or if the steak is a little overcooked for my feral (super rare) tastes, I am fine.

If there is clearly a mistake that the kitchen needs to know about (raw chicken, uncooked pasta, etc) then I do ask them to change it.

[fishbrains]

From my 15 years working in food service: A well-run restaurant wants to know when there's a problem; it's worst nightmare is a customer who does not complain then just never comes back, especially if it's a local mom-and-pop shop. On the other hand, a poorly-run restaurant might do something kind of untoward to your food if you send it back.

The problem is that as a customer sitting at a table it's hard to tell what kind of place you're in if you're there for the first or second time. And the prices on the menu aren't always a good indicator.

I worked in a lot of restaurants in high school and college, including a few grimy ones, and I've never seen this happen. Not saying it never does, but rare I think.

Yes, rare. But enough to make me hesitate.

[Juvenal]

What with a fairly complex order for our table where the service was haphazard and we were (maybe) too cranky, we were told to "Get out!"  I don't eat out all that much, but this was certainly the first time I was ever thrown out of a restaurant.  And, yes, the food was terrible.  And, no, we did not pay.  Terrible service?  In Manhattan?  Of course not.  Chastised, we slunk away.  And ate elsewhere.  Brooklyn?

[downer]

I will leave a negative review on Google.

If there's a confusion, I will ask the waitperson to sort it out.