Restaurant Horror Stories

It is with great regret that I am writing this. I really don’t like writing negative reviews as I’d much prefer to write positive, glowing reviews. However, the events of today simply cannot be forgiven, I feel it necessary to write about my experience earlier tonight at an italian restaurant. It is my wish that the boss/owner is able to see this and understand first-hand what exactly happened.

Everything started out well enough, I had ordered a chicken parmesan combo and my entree hadn’t arrive yet. All my friends had gotten their entrees much earlier and were already chowing away(one had already finished).

Then all of a sudden we hear a scream from one my friends followed by a “oh wtf?!?!”. We all looked over to see what was the matter, turns out there was a metal screw inside her dish, yes a metal fucking screw. We were all completely stunned, how could something like this happen. To us, this was a very serious incident. Of course we called over the waitress who in turn called over the manager.

She came over and we showed her the problem. Her response to this was simply ‘bu-hao-yi-si, we’ll replace your dish and it’s on the house’. This was unacceptable to us, it’s a metal screw for christ’s sake. She didn’t seem to understand the seriousness of the situation.

We told her look ‘This is a very serious matter, but we don’t want to cause any trouble or make a scene. We want to handle this as discreetly as possible. But what you’re offering is unacceptable.’ After finding a metal screw in our dish, we had all lost our appetites. We told her ‘we’re finished with our dinner here, just let us leave, and the meal for the group is on the house. No problems, no scene, very discreet’. But unfortunately she did not agree with this plan of action. We were only able to get two pictures of the the screw in the dish before they hastily took it away.(we later asked them to take out the dish again so we could get better pictures, but of course they refused).

The manager’s name was Tiffany and she kept insisting that a free dish just for my friend is enough compensation for what happened. She thought it was no big deal. A free meal is something that’s offered when you find hair or a bug in your food. This was a sizable metal screw, something one free dish simply cannot compensate. To offer us only one free dish for this incident is an insult and a slap in the face. We asked her to call the boss but she refused.

I have a friend who doesn’t respond too kindly to being insulted and bullshitted. The manager was just completely clueless, she kept insisting that this wasn’t a big deal. Her words were “有這麼嚴重嗎?”, you god damn right this is 嚴重. Her dismissive attitude towards our plight of course inflamed my friend even more and elevated the tension. The situation was quickly deteriorating and becoming more and more heated.

I understand that as the manager, it’s not your fault that a metal screw found it’s way into a customer’s dish. However, once it happens, it is your responsibility to rectify the situation in a satisfactory manner. She was clearly not equipped to handle this situation so we kept imploring her to please just call her boss, countless times we asked her. Upon hearing these requests, she would just stare blankly and refuse to do anything. We kept asking her why she doesn’t just make the call, and every time she would just stare and give no response. Very strange and baffling, I really don’t understand why she wouldn’t just make a simple phone call.

All she did was keep saying bi-hao-yi-si, bi-hao-yi-si, bi-hao-yi-si. When I find a metal screw in my dish, I don’t want to hear bi-hao-yi-si. I want to hear what you are willing to do to resolve this inexcusable blunder.

Instead of trying to rectify the situation, she kept trying to downplay the seriousness of the situation. Literally downplaying it and saying ‘no need to be so serious’. This of course is not what we wanted to hear. The argument was escalating quickly.

My friend finally exploded, I mean completely exploded. If she didn’t want a scene, well she sure as hell got one now. Now EVERYONE in the restaurant was looking at us and listening to our argument. Even people outside the restaurant were looking and gawking(we were seated right next to the elevators). There was a foreign family eating and after my friend exploded, he went to their table to explain the situation. Apparently this made the staff a little nervous.

The manager then said she’s going to call the 樓管, the floor manager I guess. What that would accomplish is beyond me. Why not just call the boss. Several minutes passed and they apparently weren’t able to reach the floor manager.

After about 30 minutes of dealing with us, I guess she FINALLY came to her senses and decided it would be much better to just let us out of there. She came to our table and said forget the bill and “你們離開”, basically she told us to get the fuck out.

But by then, the damage had already been done. It was an extremely unpleasant experience for everyone involved. Unpleasant for us, unpleasant for the manager, and I’m sure unpleasant for the other patrons. All this unpleasantness could have been easily avoided.

In the beginning, had she just said “I’m sorry for what happened, please forgive us. Don’t worry about the bill, please give us another chance”, everyone would have been happy, there wouldn’t have been any problems, and I wouldn’t be writing this review right now. But the way she chose to handle it was just disastrous. Not a single ‘sorry’ or god damn apology, not a single fucking one. Just a bunch of bullshit ‘不好意思s’.

I commend my friend for what he did. Had he not gotten angry and exploded, we would have certainly been forced to pay the bill. A metal screw inside a dish is absolutely inexcusable. A free meal for the whole group is the very least that should be expected in such an event. I forgot to to mention earlier, she did offer us free beers at one point, which we felt was still unacceptable.

How a metal screw gets into a dish without being noticed is also very baffling, I have never even heard of such a thing. It was fortunate that my friend spotted the screw while it was in her dish. I hesitate to think what might have happened if it had entered her mouth or god forbid, had she swallowed it.

Here is the only picture I was able to take with my cell before the dish was taken away.

If all the other dishes were to your satisfaction then I don’t see why you should get them free. IMO what you were offered was perfectly acceptable. I don’t see why you should get away with not paying for anything because one of your dishes had a screw in it.

Remember, from a restaurateur’s POV this is a very common scam that people employ to get away with a free meal. Obviously in your situation this wasn’t the case, but it’s worth bearing in mind.

Sounds like you over-reacted a bit. Accidents happen unfortunately. Yes its terrible that a screw was in someone’s food, but should the whole party get a free meal? Sorry but I don’t think you’re entitled to a free dinner at an upscale restaurant over that. If you’re so upset over that, you still need to pay for your food.

The only “horror story” here is your loutish behaviour and treatment of the staff. :2cents:

I’m with the others - you went too far and behaved inappropriately.

The manager was very reasonable and did not even openly doubt your story. People pull these kind of scams all the time. An accident happened, they offered reasonable compensation, get over it. Its much worse if everybody got food poisoning, something like that.

Yep, finding a screw is unfortunate, but what an overreaction, both at the restaurant and in the post here! Not behaviour befitting a " Tiger".
You have come before a jury of your peers and been judged guilty, (and such was the gravity of the offense that we forewent making “screw” jokes).

I agree with the others…your group went overboard…for them to comp you another dish or a round of drinks is acceptable. Putting on a circus act is not the way to deal with the situation. I am just surprised none of the other customers told you to gtf out.
Chalk another one for outrageous foreigners.

I agree with all of the replies above.

Yes, you and your group over-reacted badly, sound like a bunch of spoiled children. Any mature adult would have accepted the manager’s offer, which was fair and reasonable.

I feel sorry for the restaurant owners who have to deal with you, if this is your typical attitude. Lordy, what a nightmare!

As one tiger to another, BOO-EFFIN’-HOO!

I once witnessed a group of ABC’ers acting hostile and unamused in a local restaurant because the staff was not bowing deep enough ( or the portions were too small for those psychos) The floor manager asked them to leave after the appetizer. :thumbsup:

Can’t imagine that a group of 100% locals would put up such a show to get a free meal. screw or no screw.

I once witnessed a group of ABC’ers acting hostile and unamused in a local restaurant because the staff was not bowing deep enough ( or the portions were too small for those psychos) The floor manager asked them to leave after the appetizer. :thumbsup:

Can’t imagine that a group of 100% locals would put up such a show to get a free meal. screw or no screw.[/quote]

I thought the same thing. I don’t have any Taiwanese relatives or friends who would behave in such a way. They would be shocked and disgusted to witness such arrogance. “Hiao bai” is the phrase they would use in Taiwanese. Means: “Thinks he’s better than other people.”

With the OP here, I don’t see any initial over-reaction : the manager failed to deal with the situation appropriately.

A f***king metal screw in an upscale restaurant. WTF are they doing back in the kitchen, so that small metal parts are mixing with the food?
This ain’t body hair or a small flying insect. This ain’t a simple case of food hygiene. This is metal, baby. What next, razor blades?

I’d like to hear all the above posters if they’d gone out to eat with a small child, and she/he had swallowed that screw.
Would you be stopping at the cash-desk to pay the rest of the bill, on the way to the hospital?

As for the common scam routine, it can’t be too hard for a manager to hit the kitchen and verify if a metal screw could be her restaurant’s metal screw.

Nuit, each case needs to geputin the right contest. Comparing apples and peers don’t work.

Once, my lill’ boy’s lip got cut because of a splintered glass in a local top restaurant. I did not made a scene as a puber but the mgr agreed after a private chat to pay medical costs as refunding our meal. No fuss, no scandal. No razor blades.

What most of us observe is a possible Americanized customer protective as over centric way of making a bigger drama of something which should not need being taken out of proportion.

The screw most likely came in prepared food from a 3rd party.

[quote=“Nuit”]With the OP here, I don’t see any initial over-reaction : the manager failed to deal with the situation appropriately.

A f***king metal screw in an upscale restaurant. WTF are they doing back in the kitchen, so that small metal parts are mixing with the food?
This ain’t body hair or a small flying insect. This ain’t a simple case of food hygiene. This is metal, baby. What next, razor blades?

I’d like to hear all the above posters if they’d gone out to eat with a small child, and she/he had swallowed that screw.
Would you be stopping at the cash-desk to pay the rest of the bill, on the way to the hospital?

As for the common scam routine, it can’t be too hard for a manager to hit the kitchen and verify if a metal screw could be her restaurant’s metal screw.[/quote]

And the point is the nobody ate the screw, let alone a small child.

The restaurant was wrong. Nobody, including the person in charge at the time, disputes that.

The problem is the way the OP and his entourage handled the situation. A complete overreaction. Petulant and childish.

I dispute that. At this point, we don’t know who to believe. There are several possibilities, primarily:

  1. The screw inadvertently got in the food in the kitchen.
  2. A disgruntled cook stuck it in the food.
  3. Someone at the table stuck it in the food hoping to get a free meal.
  4. Someone at the table stuck it in the food trying to punish the restaurant over some past disagreement.

None of us can possibly know which of those, or some other possibility, occurred. Probably the waitress and the manager wouldn’t know either.

Fortunately, no one ate the screw and no one was harmed. They offered a free replacement dish, wish seems the obvious correct thing to do. I agree that they had no reason to pay for everyone at the table, particularly when they have no idea who was at fault, them or the customers. I agree the customers acted very badly and unreasonably.

Incidentally, the OP might be interested to know that – as I recall it from years ago – it’s almost impossible to recover monetary damages in court in the US for “emotional distress” unless one has substantial ACTUAL damages, such as a broken tooth or lacerated throat from the screw and corresponding medical bills AND serious misconduct by the wrongdoer (such as fraud, intent or malice). I expect it’s probably the same in most countries. It’s a naive and erroneous myth that anyone can sue everyone for the slightest perceived injustice and recover millions for “pain and suffering,” especially when there’s no real damages and no bad intent by the wrongdoer.

Of course, in this case we don’t even know who is the wrongdoer.

Ho hum. Much ado about nothing. The only thing that we know for sure is the customers acted very badly and unreasonably. :thumbsdown:

I don’t read that there was any scene made until the manageress refused to comp the meal. I think she should’ve done.

Metal parts, either from in-house or 3rd party sources (sauces :smiley: ), are dangerous when ingested.
The restaurant should take such matters very seriously, it seems to me here that they did not. “Oh, bu-hao-yisi”, doesn’t cut the mustard.

Sure, no child was harmed in the taking of this meal. But if the restaurant doesn’t take steps to address the cause, there’s a chance of a repeat incident. And then, who knows? By comping the meal, it hopefully raises the profile of the incident so that the restaurant owner gets involved and takes action.

Once I found the tip of knife in my food. It was really sharp. Would of cut me up for sure. The manager handed me 100 NT and that was it.

What steps can they take to ensure that customers don’t insert screws into their meals in the future? How do you know that didn’t happen? Seems to me those odds are fairly decent. (At least 10-20% chance that was the cause?)

Athough the waitperson might have been an inept dummy (par for the course in Taiwan), presumably management tried very hard to determine the cause to ensure it doesn’t happen in the future. Undoubtedly they did, as that’s clearly in their own best interest. It seems absurd to suggest that management didn’t care about this and didn’t look into it.

I’m sure they did care and they did want to get to the bottom of it, but they just didn’t want to hand over hundreds of dollars in free food on the spot without knowing if they did anything wrong, especially when there was a serious possibility they were being threatened and forcefully coerced by a bunch of dishonest or at least unreasonable louts.

Even that guy on the airplane who recently found a needle in his turkey sandwich, that was clearly proven to be the airline’s fault, was 1000 times more gracious, polite and undemanding than the OP and his friends.

Loud, bullying tactics often backfire, as the OP found out. :whistle: