I totally do this, it drives my boyfriend nuts because he avoid confrontation as much as possible.

yea, annoy the waiter and get a sneezer
i avoid bothering waiters as much as possible

oh no, if it's not the way i like it or wrong i suck it up and eat it anyways, you don't know what they're doin back there to your food...i'm sure waiters and cooks are already stressed enough without having to have orders back...except i mean if your meat is bleeding...that's different...

I send it back but I am so nice about it and leave a good tip.

Not the way you like it how? cuz there's tomatoes and you didn't want tomatoes, so you INSIST that there be more tomatoes, (slaps plate to the floor). Now get me a plate that hasn't been tainted by red orbs! No but really, if it's well done instead of medium rare, ehh, no big tiff. Unless I got chicken instead of steak, then there's a problem! But just ask nicely and politely is the best way. =) everything works out well.

I'm realllllllllllllly nice about it but I still send it back. I won't eat it if it isn't prepared correctly and I'm not wasting money.

The only time I got nasty about it was when I found a worm crawling in my salad. I told the waiter about it and they claimed i put it there. Being nice was over at that point. LOL

I've only done this once. It was a salad entree. I asked for the dressing on the side. When the salad arrived, it was HEAVILY soaked in dressing. The greens were limp and wet with greasy dressing. There was no way for me to remove the dressing. For me, it was completely inedible, and I had asked for the dressing on the side. I was really nice about it, and the server bought me a new salad just the way I originally ordered it.

I just don't send food back because no matter how nice I am paranoid about people getting pissed off in the kitchen and what they may do to taint my food. - If it wasn't how/what Ii asked for I will just send it back and not eat at all. Too risky otherwise!

It does depend on the severity of the gaffe (ditto on the chicken/fish comment), but why all of this timidity? If you're so scared about what they do to your food back there in the kitchen, why even go out to eat at all?

I send it back when Im at a good restuarant..hells yes!

but if Im at mickey D's I'll ask them for what I want, pay and then complain! So you know, they dont spit or anything like that!

When you send food back, and it's like " oops I forgot to tell you I don't want tomatoes!" Well then thats your own damn fault and you can pick the tomatoes off:). If you ask for a well-done steak and they bring out rare, that's a different story because I personally don't want anything that isn't fully cooked, it's a health hazard. Also if it's an instance of an allergy or even a vegetarian who gets meat in their food or something, I think thats okay to send back. Just never, EVER be rude about it:)

Iffy... I'm afraid of what they'll do to it. I've worked in restaurants...
(if it's their fault) I ask nicely and then when it comes back, check it out, and ask to speak to the manager and let him know what happened. (btw, that may just get it comp'ed as it should be!)

I don't do this. I've worked in restaurants, too, and... I'm not taking that risk.

If something was particularly bad about my experience beyond the order being wrong (e.g., the order was wrong AND the server was rude AND they charged us the wrong amount, something like that), I'll write a polite letter to the manager afterward. It's less confrontational, less likely to get me involved (face-to-face) in an employer/employee dispute, and I might get free coupons in the mail.

To the people saying that they've worked in restaurants: what kind of restaurant did you work in (fancy, casual...) and what did they do? Do things that happen in that movie Waiting happen in real life??

of course!

if i told the waiter what i wanted, why shouldn't i get it? it was his fault for not letting the kitchen staff know

well if I really don't like it I would send it but it had never happen to me before.

My dad used to work at a restaurant and he told me what goes on back there. Therefore, I don't take anything back. I just suck it up.

The only way I will send something back is if eating the food is bound to make me sick, i.e. food that might activate my shellfish allergy or undercooked vegetables/meats.

Whatever you do, BE NICE. I know a lot of people who are waiters and waitresses...and yeah. Don't upset them or especially the cooks who have to reprepare your food. It's *never* a good idea to piss off people who deal with your food! @_@

It depends on the type of restaurant. When the food quality is not as good as I expected, I never go back to that particular restaurant. If my steak comes out well done although I ordered rare, I send it back because I am paying good money to have that steak. Restaurants with reputations, I doubt they would mess with food in the kitchen since chefs are very serious and strict.

Waiters get paid to do the job they are doing. I don't understand why people would try to consider them so much. When the food is WRONG, it's WRONG. After all, it's waiter's fault that he messed up the food.

Unless its a huge mistake, I'm not going to say anything. To me, it's not a huge deal so why make a ruckus.

it makes me angry to even think about waiters messing with my food because after all, it's their job to get my order correct and I'm not eating for free.

I am a non confrontational person, outside of debate or Rugby, and I have the hardest time opening my mouth about anything in a restaurant. They would have to send me the wrong thing entirely and even then I might keep it if I liked it and wasn't allergic to it.

"After all, it's waiter's fault that he messed up the food."
LOLOLOLOL! Where the heck do you eat that the server is also the cook? I'm sorry, but I hate getting blamed for when the cook f*cks up! A good server will repeat back what you order, and it's not their fault when the kitchen makes a mistake, VanillaJ.

And gabitzgabitz, I worked for about seven hours today. Every single time the order was written "two extra salsas, plz&thx!" I had to ask the cook again after he put the order up to give me my extra salsas. Please, it's not always the waiter's fault.

That said, I've never seen anything disgusting done to food at any point in my restaurant career, despite the fact rumors. I think when someone *does* get caught doing something gross to food, they get tons and tons of press, so it seems like it happens more often.

Chatondeneige, I meant to say messing up the order, not food. Don't chefs and wait staffs get paid to do their job? I'm never rude to wait staffs unless they are rude first, but I don't have extra empathy for them either since they are getting paid, and it's their job, after all. If you go to a nice restaurant, often times, chefs do come out and serve the food.

i mostly don't send it back, even if it should go back, but one time i HAD to say something...IT WAS COMPLETELY RAW in the middle (the edges of the meat were cooked), and no, not rare, just RAW
the same place had us waiting over 2 hours for our meals and screwed up our orders heaps
we ended up getting given 3 free meals (assumedly ones they couldn't find the owners for as they were completely muddled up), but good service to begin with would've been preferred!

Vanilla, it's not usually the waitstaff's fault, you don't seem to understand that. 90% of the time, the order is written down or put into the computer correctly, and the kitchen somehow screws it up. My first day at a new job, a lady YELLED at me for her club having mayo. She just layed into me, and continued to yell and refused to let me go to the kitchen and get her a new sandwich, despite my apologies. The manager was in that day, and came over to see what the problem was. The manager apologized, and said we'd make the sandwich without mayo immediately, and she would have a voucher for a free meal. Then, the manager and I went to the kitchen to put in the new sandwich. And the manager, being thorough as she is, looked at the ticket as I had written it. "Club san/salad w/R NO MAYO" So I'm sure you can understand why I feel the need to defend waiters.

And yeah, they get paid. I can't tell you how pumped up I am when I'm making my $3.83 an hour! It really makes me feel like it's worth it to put in the extra effort for some a$$hole who isn't going to tip me anyway because the kitchen screwed up.

It's funny, in the three "nice" restaurants I've worked at, the chef was kept busy enough that he didn't come out except after the rushes.

We had to send something back yesterday because it was completely burnt, yet oddly cold, and totally inedible. We were really nice about it but there is definitely a lingering fear that the waiter/cook will do something to the food!

I work at a restaurant, and we don't mind if people's food isn't the way they like it. We'll fix it, and we won't spit in it or *accidentally* drop it on the floor. No one really does that.

But, seriously, if you're going to send something back, at least be polite about it, and don't make it something ridiculous. The waiters and waitresses will just treat you like crap if it's something like, "I ordered this medium, and it's toooootaly medium well."

And it's usually not the waiter's fault, by the way.

I worked in a few family/ and an upscale restaurant and oh yes they do 'that' and more. I remember a customer sending an order or of some tequila lime chicken dinner back and I saw the cook take the new chicken breast wipe under his sweaty chin with it and put it on the grill. I told the manager but I don't know what happened...

Mesayme, that's completely disgusting. In the places I've worked, things like that NEVER happen.

sending it back one time is ok, but BEWARE if you do it more than once, cause we've all heard about the horror stories and read about them too.