We had dinner this evening at a restaurant in town that we have been to a few times and really liked. I had ordered a sandwich and asked to leave off the sauce, which seemed no problem. They brought the sandwich and it was covered in sauce. I politely asked the waitress if she could please remake the sandwich. She was very nice and said no problem. At the end of the meal I noticed they charged me twice. We got the manager to come over. She proceeded to say that they charged me twice because I ordered a new sandwich. I stated I asked to remake, and she preceded to belittle my by saying “it clearly states what’s in the sandwich you should have read it” I said I did and that I ordered without the sauce. She continued to argue, and told me “I even walked by and asked if you were ok” she did, before we received the food however. Never in my life have I been treated so poorly. She wouldn’t stop and at the end said “well I’m going to remove the charge but you ordered a new sandwich” we ended up just walking out, I had already paid before noticing, so I just sacrificed as I was completely humiliated. I have never sent food back and been charged a second time. Is this common? She told me “it’s because you wasted product twice” as I walked out.

Just an observer here, but I saw this happen while I was dining out today and I'm a little confused.

I'm a party of 1 sitting at a table for 2. The restaurant is small, but fairly empty. Only one table of 4 and a couple sitting at the bar. There's still about 24 open seats (yes i counted) half of which are high tables. The rest are low tables with 3 or 4 chairs. A woman walks in and asks for a party of 8, with two babies. The waitress looks around the room, a little unsure, and offers the large high table, which will sit 8. Even I know this won't work with the high chairs (which the restaurant doesn't even have so the lady has to call the rest of her party so they can bring their own.)

Now I haven't even ordered yet, and realized I had two empty tables of 3 literally within arms reach of me. So I offer to move to another spot so they can shove these together and fit 8 at low tables. The waitress seems unsure, so she goes back and asks the only other waitress there, who seems like the manager/head waitress if they can move the tables. She comes back and says no.

I ask why not and apparently the app they have assigns orders to certain tables so they can't put multiple tables on one tab. I ask if they can just assign the orders to one of the tables and she admits she doesn't know because she's only been here two days, which is totally understandable, so I let it go. I end up switching tables anyways just so the party would rather sit separate but close at the low tables.

The lady waiting seems happier that there's finally a place to sit, and given that the two tables of 3 are like, 2 feet apart, convinces the head waitress to let her push them together. However, when the rest of the party arrives, and they move to shift my old table in next to it, the head waitress comes over and says they can't move the table, that they were already being gracious with the first two.

When the party asks why they can't move the table, the waitress says they need to be able to accommodate any future customers who need to be seated.

Now, I am confused as hell. Keep in mind this place is already half empty, and does not take reservations. There is also no signage that says "Don't move the tables." Why on earth would you not accommodate the 8 customers that are already seated at those tables, for the same number of *potential* customers in separate parties?

Of course, the party decides to leave because at this point the head waitress clearly does not want them there, all the while the new waitress and I are commiserating being bystanders to this awkward situation.

I'm interested to know people's thoughts on the situation, because, while I can see how customers moving tables willy-nilly can totally be rude, I feel like the lack of accommodation is a bit excessive, especially if it's just because the "app" won't let them do it.

Edit: CHILL. I posted as a discussion. Let’s civilly discuss. Whoa, Reddit. It’ll be OK.

I know it’s not their fault, but can we talk about how the rise of tablets in restaurants is making the dining experience worse for everyone—especially servers?

Every time I go out and someone pulls out a tablet to take my order, the whole thing just feels… off. What used to be a natural, conversational interaction now feels like I’m dictating a grocery list to someone who’s frantically clicking around an iPad trying to find “no onions.” It’s clunky, it’s slow, and it takes the personality out of the whole thing.

Half the time, the server has to scroll through tiny menus and toggle weird modifiers while trying to make eye contact and keep the pace moving. You can literally see the stress on their face as they try not to mess it up while six other tables are waving them down.

And let’s be honest—errors still happen. Probably more often, because they’re forced to rush and use clunky interfaces that weren’t designed for speed or clarity.

Tablets were supposed to make things easier. But instead of empowering waitstaff, it’s turned them into glorified order-entry robots. You lose the warmth, the flow, and honestly, the art of good service.

It’s not on the waiters—it’s the systems. But if this is the future of dining, we’re heading toward a world where service means just tapping buttons and hoping the kitchen figures it out. That sucks for everyone.

Anyone else feeling this?

For me, it’s charging $18 for a burger and then serving it on a wooden chopping board so the meat juices run straight onto my jeans. We invented plates hundreds of years ago for a reason.

Also... putting gold leaf on literally anything. It doesn't add flavor, it just adds $50 to the bill so people can take an Instagram photo.

What’s a restaurant trend, gimmick, or menu item that makes you immediately roll your eyes?

I went somewhere recently where the menu was so long that I spent more time deciding than eating. I'd honestly rather have 12 dishes that the kitchen does really well.

Do you prefer a huge menu with options for everything, or a smaller one with a clear speciality?

So, Fiddleheads Cafe in Mendocino CA has lied about themselves on Yelp. Under amenities, they state they are Asian, Latinx, Black, AND woman owned. This is such bullshit. Dude...the owner is actually some WHITE DUDE. How f***ed up is that? F***ing typical.

He's only saying that so when someone uses the search filters in an effort to support restaurants owned by black, Asian, Latinx, or females, his cafe will show up. He's potentially luring business away from other places by doing this.

Not to mention he has a sign saying that anyone who eats there and wears a mask will be charged $5. And anyone who visibly throws their mask in the garbage will get 50% off. He also has a GoFundMe basically just asking for handouts to pay his fines given by county health. So he's a lying a**hole, a greedy prick, AND doesn't care about health and safety of others. Cool.

During its 228 years of existence, the London restaurant Rules – established by Thomas Rule in 1798 – has welcomed everyone from literary giant Charles Dickens to pop queen Madonna.

More information

I looked up at a restaurant i was about to order at and every ceiling vent looked like this....I am wrong to be disgusted? Or over reacting?

This is probably a phenomenon beyond Michigan. From the article:

More mocktails, fewer traditional steaks and higher checks to cap a meal are all changes Michigan diners — and restaurant operators — are noticing. It's not their imagination.

The divergent trends — record-high beef prices, a decline in alcohol consumption and increased labor costs — are reshaping the economics of eating out and serving those who do. In an adapt-or-die industry, restaurants are making changes or losing business: 51% of Michigan operators saw same-store sales decline in March, and 55% saw customer traffic drop, says the Michigan Restaurant & Lodging Association.

Restaurants across the country are facing pressure from both sides of the equation, and Michigan is no exception. In 2025, Gallup reported a record-low drinking rate, with only 54% of U.S. adults and 50% of young adults saying they consume alcohol. At the same time, in April, the USDA reported a record-high average retail price for beef at $9.64 per pound, up about 13% from the year before. The reasons for the skyrocketing prices: strong demand and the smallest U.S. cattle herd in 75 years.

I've been with my boyfriend for years now, actually almost a decade. He's in the HVAC industry and not exactly aligned with the food sphere, so hearing him bring up opening up his own restaurant was always refreshing. However, he's convinced that he can take out a big loan and get ROI in under a year, which I told him is unrealistic. I've done my research already and I'm sure little to none of these small restaurants turn a profit for so so long. And I don't want us to be drowning in debt, esp. since we're talking about marriage already.

Not sure if I'm being too negative, but this just seems far too unrealistic, and he wants to quit his HVAC job as well to focus mostly his quote unquote "restaurant." And although I'm pretty uncofmrtable disclosing where we live, I can definitely say that we're in the list for top 10 worst states to start a restaurant, but idk. I dont want to show him the comments and be like "i told you so", I just wanna confirm that we're not throwing noney away

Hi everyone,

I’m writing this because I honestly don’t know what else to do.

I opened a small family restaurant about a year ago. We specialize in Peruvian food (rotisserie chicken, ceviche, etc.), and the product is genuinely good — we have a 4.9 rating with 167+ reviews.

The problem is… financially, we’re drowning.

•	I have an SBA loan I can’t keep up with anymore

•	I’ve borrowed money from friends just to stay afloat

•	I’m working basically 24/7 in the restaurant

•	We’re not profitable yet, even though sales are steady

•	I have about a week to come up with around $13,000 to pay the bank

I feel like I did everything right — good food, good service, great reviews — but it’s still not enough.

At this point, I’m on the edge of bankruptcy and trying to avoid it if there’s ANY way possible.

I’m not asking for charity — I’m asking for ideas.

So today we landed at a small market square and sat down at one of the many places to order drinks. All fine and dandy until we looked at the menu and it did not mention price level of 80% of the menu... What is this crap? who started it? and when did he/she get jailed for life times 1000 ?

I almost never post restaurant complaints, but I wanted to ask people who work in restaurants whether what happened to us at Quality Meats in NYC would be considered normal or acceptable.

My girlfriend and I had a 5:00 PM reservation for dinner.

After arriving, we asked whether we could sit in a different seating area. Before moving, we specifically asked about those seats and were told by the waitress that they were bar seats and did not require a reservation.

We sat down and had a full dinner:

Oysters

Double dry-aged tomahawk steak

Sautéed spinach

Truffle fries

Margaritas

Espresso martinis

Before dessert, our bill was already approaching $390 before tip.

While we were still actively dining and planning to order dessert, a manager/supervisor came to our table and asked whether we could move to another table to have dessert because another party supposedly had our table reserved.

The other party had not even arrived yet.

I told him I was not comfortable moving because:

We had specifically been told those seats did not require a reservation.

We were still eating and ordering.

The other party had not arrived.

We had already spent several hundred dollars.

He later asked whether his request had made us uncomfortable, and I told him yes.

My girlfriend and I both felt embarrassed and made to feel like the incoming party was being prioritized over us before we had even finished our meal.

Something else changed after that interaction.

Our original waiter had been very attentive before the manager became involved. Afterward, he repeatedly passed our table without checking on us, and the manager basically took over servicing our table.

I do not know what was said between the staff, so I am not going to speculate, but the change was noticeable.

Our final bill was $455.90.

I still tipped because our original waiter had done a good job before all of this happened.

I have eaten at plenty of high-end restaurants and steakhouses and have never been asked to relocate before finishing my meal so another party could have the table.

I completely understand restaurants have reservations, seating schedules, and table-turning pressures. What I do not understand is why we were seated there after being told the seats did not require a reservation, then asked to move while we were still actively dining.

So for the restaurant workers/managers here:

Is this considered normal restaurant practice? If a restaurant realizes a table is needed for another reservation, how should management normally handle it when the current guests are still dining?

Has anyone else noticed that that quality of steaks at restaurants has gone downhill? It doesn't seem to be the preparation; the meat itself seems worse. The last few times I've tried Longhorn and Texas Roadhouse over the past year, my steaks are always chewy. I get them cooked medium or medium rare. Usually, at that temp, they're perfect. But now it's like gum. My fiance has noticed the same thing.

I tried looking it up to see if they've switched meat suppliers recently, but not that I can find.​ I know a lot of restaurants have gone drastically downhill since Covid, but I'm just now starting to see it at these places.

I don't know how anyone can afford to spend $30+ on a meal they physically can't eat. For the last 2 years, I've been primarily cooking at home. I've only gone out for a few special occasions... But now it's to the point that the food is so bad, I don't even want to do that. Looks like I'm going to cook every day until I die. 😅😭

Edit to add: I never claimed these places are "Michelin star winning, high quality steak houses". This platform is full of sanctimonious snots just bursting at the seams to comment on things like this... Because they wouldn't be caught dead in a chain restaurant; those are for peasants..... But this is a simple concept--the quality HAS gone down, and I'm allowed to notice it and ask why. K, Karen?