Yes, please ask! Don't just order something complicated and then send it back because you don't want it, like the lady who sent back her pizza because she didn't realize fontina was a cheese. FONTINA IS FUCKING DELICIOUS.

"GLUTEN FREE WHOLE WHEAT!?!?!?!?!"

If you can shell out for a $500 meal, you can shell out for an appropriate tip.

I agree that people shouldn't send back food for reasons that are obviously douchey or ridiculous, but there are plenty of acceptable reasons to send back food (see, for example, those listed in this very article). If your brother is "none too thrilled to spend his time in a 120 degree kitchen", then perhaps he…

The faux gluten allergists (and half of them actually think they have real gluten allergies) have basically made it so that the chefs at every restaurant I've worked at have instructed us to say, 'There is literally nothing on the menu that is gluten free,' unless there's a regular customer coming in with a long-…

Yes, that's standard. If you paid $500 for a meal, and your service was good, you owe your server $100. There are no exceptions to that rule.

There's a special place in hell for customers like that.

This is a complete load of shit. Never once have I seen this happen, and "don't send it back, ever" is a dumbass thing to say.

Menus really, really need to list all the major ingredients in a dish. Spices or a garnish or something, sure, those don't technically need to be in there, but major ingredients? Places should tell you that stuff.

I don't really have strong feelings one way or the other, but I do have to admit, I adore them for the sheer Pavlovian "Yummm" you can make people say when you sing, "Red Robin!"

I'm so confused. What kind of drink curdles? Hot tea with lemon and milk? And why would anyone want that on purpose?

Jesus, fennel. Surprise fennel is not acceptable.

Yes, I go back on check. It gets tiring on the 5th table of a night having to root through ingredient checklists and make sure what is and isn't gluteny. Too many people say that they have a severe intolerance and then when you come back with the options, which has taken time from all your other tables, will order the…

If it is important to you, maybe when he tells them not to put tree nuts into his dish, he could up front say "I am allergic to almonds, walnuts, and all tree nuts. Peanuts are fine." I find being a clear in your explanations as possible (as long as it doesn't take more than a couple of sentences) is the best for…

My biggest restaurant pet peeve is when menus don't list all the ingredients of a dish on the menu. For example, I once ordered a veggie pizza at dinner. I am not a fan of mushrooms, and seeing no mushrooms listed among the various toppings, I ordered the pizza. It came with mushrooms. If you're going to list all the…

As a lady line cook, I may not be a chef, and I may not be in an environment where I'm encouraged to look down uponst my minions, but I can definitely say that I have become 1000x nastier as a person because it is a requirement to get through the day. Be too friendly to the servers, they'll be shocked when you won't…

EEeeeewwwwww.

i was once fired by the relatively famous chef/owner of the last restaurant i worked at before retiring from the service industry for becoming ill after eating the staff meal before service. i have celiac and was told the meal was gluten free, but realized that wasn't the case when i started projectile vomiting in the…

Per the second story, what's the logic of comping the guy his entire meal? Doesn't this just reinforce his awful behavior of being an entitled, oblivious dickhead?

As much as the rational side of my brain is chastising that last chef..