When Dinner Goes Wrong: Unforgettable Dining Disasters
A fun experience most of us enjoy doing is supposedly, visiting a restaurant. We go along with our loved ones, sometimes to enjoy the experience of good food served where we order whatever we desire, and sometimes take home tasty leftovers after the dining.
However, all the restaurants have different standards of hospitality and rules. But sometimes there are events where people leave the place with a bad taste and nothing else. Let us take you through some disastrous dinner events of all times:
1. Nothing Served for TWO HOURS!
Back in the 80s, a time of big hair, neon colors, and culinary adventures, fancy new restaurants were opening up serving Nouvelle Cuisine — it's basically fancy, tiny portions on big plates. So, we decided to give one of these spots a try for a work event with about 15 of us, it had good reviews though.
All of us showed up at 7 PM, hungry and excited about the experience. But as the evening passed by, all our excitement turned to grumbles of hunger. Now the time was, 8:30 PM, there was no sign of our food. The waiter kept saying the kitchen was super busy, but the place wasn't even full.
So, all of us decided if this fancy place wouldn't feed us, we'd find someone who would. Then, at 9 PM sharp we called PIZZA HUT, and had the pizza delivered at the fancy restaurant. We settled our tab, for our drinks, and bolted but to this day, we wonder what in the world was going on in that kitchen.
2. Dirty Dishes Dilemma: Chicken Broth Surprise!!
Back in high school, a friend's mom invited a bunch of us for dinner. She cooked homemade chicken soup, which tasted okay. But, then later came dessert time: where there was chocolate cake. But what she did next was just weird. Instead of giving us each our own slice on a plate, she took the cake and plopped it right into our soup bowls, which still had some broth left. Chocolate cake mixed with chicken soup? Definitely not a taste anybody would want to try again.
3. The Time Crunch
There was a time when my family and I were headed to Iceland, and we decided to grab a quick bite at Durgin-Park in Logan Airport. Although, we didn't expect it to be so amazing, but we figured it would be fast since it's an airport restaurant. However, it didn't go as planned because it took an eternity to get our drinks, and when my glass finally arrived, it had someone else's lip gloss on it. It took another eternity, when they could finally take our order nit then, as we are short on time at the airport, we asked for the cheque soon after. But that took ages too.
Our flight was boarding, and we still did not receive our food. In our Panic state of mind, we asked to speak to the manager who said, "Sorry, we would have given it to you for free, but you already paid." Finally, just as our flight was about to leave, our cold and gross food arrived. But to be fair, our server tried her best whilst she was assigned to at least 15 or more tables. And judging by the food, they probably only had one cook in the kitchen. But, it was the worst restaurant experience
4. Always Trust your Gut Instinct and the Power of your NOSE
When I was 8 years old, my then friend’s father was a chef at some fancy restaurant. He put something on the table that smelled like feet, and I had a narrative about how he was a cannibal trying to bring others into his fold.
But here’s the thing… I usually really liked his food so as not to insult him, I ate the entire thing. Moments later, the father sits down, brings the food to his mouth, and says, "I think the eggs must’ve gone bad."
5. Here comes Her SIGNATURE DISH
My grandmother had some signature dishes that she faithfully prepared, and that is all she cooked. One of her staples was called "Swiss steak." It involved taking the cheapest cut of meat, cooked until hard and gray, to which she added mushrooms, allowing them to cook and burn till they turned into congealed topping atop the steak.
Another dish in her signatory dishes was her take on ramen noodles. Instead of achieving that perfect balance of tenderness, she would often cook them to a state of near-liquidity. And if she was feeling particularly adventurous, she might toss in a can of tuna and mix it all together with the seasoning packets for a touch of sophistication.
Finally, when it came to "fruit salad," it was less about fresh produce and more about convenience. She would mix up using orange or lime Jell-O mixed with canned fruit. What discovery of a culinary masterpiece. Nonetheless, where it got interesting was — on top of this fruity blend, she would layer a mixture of mayonnaise and cream cheese, creating a creamy, tangy topping that was, to say the least, unexpected.
Lastly, She would also serve reheated McDonald’s French fries. with condiments and seasonings well past their expiration dates. So while my grandmother's culinary creations may not have won any awards for creativity or gourmet flair, they were certainly memorable in their own unique way.
6. “MAY I TAKE YOUR ORDER?”
When I was 10 years old, my family decided to go out for a meal at a restaurant called Charlie Brown’s. My dad loved that place since he was a teenager, so we thought it would be a fun outing. I really wanted to try their steak sandwich with cheese. But, when the food arrived, it was all mixed up because firstly, they brought me a plate of steak with cheese fries, which wasn't what I ordered. Later, they got the steak with cheese on it, but no bread. When I asked them for bread, and then they said, "Oh, I’ll just take it back for you."
But, it didn't end here, they did it again!! By bringing it back and it’s a grilled cheese before they got it right for the last time. While all this was going on, my brother didn't get any ketchup for his French fries. So, it ended because we never ate there again.
7. Curious Case of Split Drink
When I had just started my first job, it was week two and I was getting acquainted with my co-workers. I had a meeting at 1 pm to meet the owner so I was wearing my best tie and shirt. Couple of people from work took me out to a nearby Mexican restaurant for lunch. We sat in our booth and had a good meal, just when we were paying our bill, a waitress serving the next table to us lost her balance and dropped a carafe of sangria on my white shirt, it was all over from my face till my waist, and it smelled like I had been drinking a LOT. So, I had to go to a meeting with the owner with the other guys as a back up to ensure he didn't believe I was coming to work drunk.
8. The Peanut Incident
In a cozy bar in Minnesota, we went to meet my cousin's boyfriend. By then it must have been 9, and the kitchen had already closed for the night. The waitress apologized for serving us a meal, and offered the only thing available - peanuts.
But, the boyfriend was furious and yelled at the waitresses and threw the peanuts on the ground making them pick up while he laughed. My Parents and I were shocked, and my cousin looked embarrassed, and soon after they broke up. Sometimes, the smallest actions reveal the true character of a person
9. Unfair Treatment: A Night at the Italian Restaurant:
My boyfriend and I, at the time, decided to go to a fancy Italian dinner. Asking for a table to be seated, they made us sit in a back room where there were no people whereas we passed by a room that had people, and two or three tables empty.
Next hour, we dealt with slow and incompetent service, and concern as to why we were shunned to this dark back room with poor service.
Was it because my boyfriend was black? It was a sobering thought—the first time I’d ever considered that we might be treated differently based on his race. Despite a not so good experience, we enjoyed our meal but the taste of injustice lingered leaving a bitter aftertaste.
10. The Overcooked Meal Tale
Once I was out for a meal where the host cooked the cabbage and carrots until they were soggy, added mayo, sour cream, and some meat. It has lost its vibrance and crunch. The veggies were supposed to go on the noodles but the host forgot to cook it and the meal was served without the noodles.
I decided to put aside soggy, mayo cabbage to leave room in my stomach for the rest of the dinner but to my surprise there was nothing else left, no bread, salad, NOTHING!
The plate looked sad while hanging alone to one side of my plate. I felt quite stupid with my five bites worth of the stuff when the host and their family had a huge mound of it taking up their whole plate.
11. The Cat Fight
While I sat in a Wendy's restaurant in Manila, enjoying my meal, there were odd shrieking noises coming from the ceiling. The sound of scuffling and rustling grew louder, and suddenly, the perforated ceiling broke, came down with it were a pair of very angry cats clawing at each other.
One of the duo fell right at the table where I was eating, spilling my drink all over me, and clawed at my friend before jumping down. It was a story to narrate as an unexpected and chaotic encounter, turning a peaceful meal into a wild cat fight.
12. A Clumsy Proposal
In their college days, when my parents were young and in love, my dad decided to take my mother to a fancy restaurant that he could afford while they both were broke. As they sat in a cozy booth, sharing laughter and stolen glances, my father felt the right moment had arrived. He got up, and went down on one knee outside the booth, while pulling out the velvet box that contained the engagement ring. His heart was racing, at which point a waiter walking backwards with trays of drinks chatted with his friend and tripped over my father.
This incident caused both the trays of drinks on my parents, all in the middle of his romantic proposal. The manager came out, seeing what happened and left. No apologies were offered, no compensation given. It is the memory of that clumsy proposal that became a cherished part of their love story.
13. Fly Coke with Flying Embarrassment to Impress
When I was a freshman in college, my friends and I were eating and some other college girls sat beside our table where my friend had eyes on one of the ladies.
About 10 minutes later, when I was in some seriously dramatic discussion about something, I became quite animated with my hands while talking which caused me to smack my glass of coke hard enough to fly over to the girls table and split over in front of them. Cue my mortification. I wanted to crawl under the table and vanish. But hey, let's look at the positives, at least I made an impression, right?
14. Too Much of Chaos
I’m out on a fancy dinner date with a lovely lady where I took her out to a very expensive restaurant and spent extra to get a table on the patio that allows us to dine over a busy city street below.
As we chat and get to know each other, life is sweet. But then, out of nowhere, there was chaos where a sidewalk preacher walked by where we were sitting and he started screaming at people as to how they need to find God. He was so loud that we could barely hear our waiter speak, and the evening's atmosphere of the date was ruined.
15. THE DREADED MACARONI SOUP
Once upon a time, in a cozy kitchen a type of "macaroni soup" was by my babysitter. Every month, my brother and I would be served the soup and end up puking and crying about it at the table. She would not let us leave until we finished it.
She was usually a good cook, but the macaroni soup would seem like a curse. Our taste buds would forever bear the scars, and the memory would haunt family gatherings for years to come.
16. Fiery Dinner Date
Last year, my friend went out for dinner along with his girlfriend to a fancy restaurant where they had candles lit and dimmed lights. As they settled in, the waiter graciously served them wine. While my friend in haste accidently, knocked over the candelabra and suddenly, the table cloth caught fire.
The waiter panicked and rushed over and it seemed like he wasn't prepared but he handled the fire extinguisher and squeezed the trigger. The romantic dinner turned into a chaotic mess, but thankfully, no one got hurt. That particular evening transformed an elegant evening into a foam-covered adventure!
17. The Tale of: Who is the Better Tipper?
When I was a teenager, a bunch of us went to an upscale restaurant for dinner. The ambiance looked amazing and attentive service. But, as our waitress seated us, she was cold and ignorant. While other tables received breadsticks, we did not.
As we proceeded to place an order, we were shunned with different reasons such as machines were broken or things were out of stock. On my previous visits to the same place, servers had kindly discounted their meatless but this time the waitress clung to menu prices.
What was the sudden shift all about though? She probably wanted to cater her time and resources on what she thought would tip her well. She may have assumed we were just a bunch of teens taking her space in her section. But she probably did not know that some of us worked as servers ourselves, earlier. We usually tip well, but that night we did not and also complained to the manager.
18. The Soda Mishap
One afternoon, I went to brunch with friends at a nice restaurant. The ambiance was great, and the menu promised a delightful brunch. For some reason, I tried to take a sip of my large coke in the middle of ordering an omelet.
The timing was so on point with my poor coordination which resulted in pouring my drink entirely down my face and shirt. All of this, while trying to order a mouthful of ice and soda. Soon after the server said, "I'm sorry", I repeated my order while being drenched in soda. Needless to say, I felt like a character straight out of a slapstick comedy.
19. The Pizza Pedestal
Once when I was at a restaurant, I noticed a couple in their mid 20s. I thought to myself, it must be their first date as they dressed well for a pretty casual restaurant. The girl stood up to head to the restroom, leaving the guy alone with the pizza. When he leaned over, the pizza stand fell and the toppings scattered on the floor. The girl came back, and the rest is history.
20. We Welcome Everybody, Literally!!
Once, during our typical family outing to Fuddruckers, my sister suddenly yelled, "It's a freaking rat!". Then I looked down and immediately was about to react and scream, while the rat panicked and rushed to the kitchen.
While others were screaming and jumping on their tables, the manager came out to check what was going on and announced that there would be no refunds for people who had taken the food. One of the visitors yelled, "Did you see how big that rat was!?!", to which the manager said, "Of course it was big, he’s eating at Fuddruckers." We paid the bill, and then never went back there.
21. A Huge Mess!!
I’m at dinner with my bandmates after a concert, all of us in our fancy tuxedos. When our waitress approached with milkshakes on a tray, she tripped and spilled 6 milkshakes on my lap, phone, wallet, chest, and shoes. That is not it, the glass hit the table, and cut my hand.
The waitress was on the verge of tears, frantically offering napkins and towels and insisting on covering our bill as compensation for the milkshake mishap.
As we were about to leave, the waitress apologized continuously and said, "I’d like to make up for this ruined dinner with another one," and handed me her number. A dinner date might be ruined, but I bagged a date with a cute waitress.
22. Unforgettable First Date
A guy from one of my universities once asked me out for dinner. I thought he was nice and wanted to take a chance to make a new friend, so I agreed for dinner. As I did not have a car, he chose a restaurant across the town, so it took me a while to get there.
When I reached, he was not there and about 45 minutes later, he showed up and seemed irritated. He was irritated about the fact that I didn't get a table under his name because he said it would reflect badly on his credit. He ordered quite a lot of expensive food, and started talking about getting to sleep with me, explicitly. He brought it up again and again, despite changing the conversations.
I expressed to him that I am not interested in him, then he completely flipped. And, as I headed to the bathroom and came back, he was gone leaving me with the bill and all the remaining food. It was a terrible experience that cost me $120, and thankfully, I never saw him again.
23. A Diner Dilemma
My mother, younger brother, and I were on a road trip and we stopped to eat at a small restaurant in the middle of nowhere as we were on a journey. Then, I was very hungry while my mother was nuts because she ordered the cheapest available option, a salad bar and spent the meal complaining about the high prices of the food.
She also berated our waitress, while I struggled to calm down and my brother sat embarrassed in silence. While leaving, she loudly announced that she would never be eating there again and that she would not be leaving a tip. I apologized to the waitress, paid for my food, and left a tip of 20% of our entire order.
24. The Circle of Life
I was at my first girlfriend’s house, happily enjoying the tacos when I was 13 years old. My girlfriend barely touched her taco, and I asked her what was wrong, to which she said, "This was my cow."
As the conversation continued, she said those tacos came from the cow she had raised, shown at events, and genuinely loved since it was a calf. It was an awkward moment, while I chewed my girlfriend's pet as she fought with her tears.
Her father, who is a farmer, stepped in to talk about the "Circle of Life". As a 13 year old moron that I was, I thought to myself that a consolation like this would be good, "Well you obviously raised it well, and she was treated humanely, right?"
25. A Smug Dinner Date
Once upon a time, I went on a date with a guy who insisted we go to a restaurant he had not been to. It was quite an expensive and fancy place. And, yes I had been to the place earlier.
While we were waiting for our table, he scolded me for using a word, saying it was as a place where I couldn't talk like that, and later asked the waiter to remove the bread from the table because it may ruin my appetite. Later, he ordered a meal for us to split.
As he dropped me home later that evening, I accidentally let out a huge burp and said, "That was freaking great! I ain’t never been to a steakhouse before!"
26. Switching Plates Scenario
There was a time when my family and I went to TGI Fridays for Dinner. After looking at the menu, my father ordered fish and chips and some people across the table to ours, ordered chicken and fries.
When their food arrived, the guy at the other table took a bite of what he thought was chicken—but it turned out to be fish! He complained to the waiter, who replaced his plate with actual chicken strips. Soon after, my father started eating fish strips and noticed a disturbing thing that the fish strips had a bite missing.
Surprisingly, he noticed that he had mistakenly served the guy across from us. Ever since then, I’ve been cautious about leaving any food behind, just in case it gets served to someone else.
27. He who is a Repeat Offender
I was at an Italian restaurant called Bertucci's when a man approached me at my table, and asked if he could eat my dinner because his meal was terrible. I declined and he got aggressive until the management tossed him out. Later I discovered that he had a history of causing trouble there.
Although the restaurant apologized, they did not compensate for the inconvenience caused. It surprises me that they even allow him inside in the first place.
28. There was Pain, and then Water made is worse
Earlier, once I went on a date with a guy to a Mexican restaurant. We had ordered nachos, and he mentioned that he had never tried jalapeños before. I found it quite strange because we were in Texas, where jalapeños are quite common.
I warned him saying jalapeños were spicy, but he wanted to pick one of the pickles off the nachos. He seemed fine at first, but I noticed he was in pain. On asking him if he was okay, he said he was. Later, I went to the washroom, on my return I found that both our glasses of water and iced tea were empty.
He didn't want to admit the peppers were too hot, and drinking water or tea actually makes the spiciness worse.
29. Brought Me Into Tears
When I was about 11, my family and I went to one of my mom's relative's houses for the first and last time. That relative threw a fancy dinner party, but it turned out to be a disaster at meals. She served a bag of chips calling it an appetizer and uncooked ham which she called mac and cheese.
She didn’t start cooking until after we arrived, even though she asked us to come over at six. And when she finally did start cooking, it was a mess. The dinner was so bad that I started crying at the table. The relative's husband could not believe what she had made. In conclusion, it was a disastrous and uncomfortable experience.
30. Gourmet Cooking by Newbies
My lovely roomie and I wanted to cook to celebrate as we got our first apartment together. He cooked chicken breast that was covered in cinnamon, along with that it was added in mac and cheese too.
It was something we were not used to in food, so we confessed that we didn't enjoy it. He argued saying, we were used to TV dinner and not gourmet cooking. Agreed that we were inexperienced, but if that's what gourmet cooking is, we're fine sticking to what we know.
31. A Little One Would Couldn’t Contain
Every year, my family and I vacation in New Hampshire. There was once a time when we were dining at the Homestead Restaurant. It seemed very nice but I do not recall the food.
What we remember from the trip was a little kid who was probably 6 years old who was struggling to use the washroom. As he could not enter, and also could not contain himself. He ended up vomiting everywhere, all over the walls and floor.
He could not stop himself from coming out, and to avoid cleaning that mess, the waitress sat at our table pretending to dine with us. Now whenever, we recollect our memories of our New Hampshire vacation, we just remember the mess of vomit everywhere.
32. No Utensils, No Problem at All
In Afghanistan, I went to a man's home and it was a tradition that he made us tea. Although the tea was not good, it was warm and dirt flavored to me. But to be polite as it was expected of me, I sipped my cup's worth.
Next, he served some rice and I would not want to turn down food by being rude so he kept insisting on taking little. So, I decided to take in small quantities and eat slowly. Unfortunately, in this situation, the man lacked certain dinnerware.
The rice was then served in slabs of shales with an unholy amount of gravel mixed. To not be scaringly exaggerating, the pieces of stone in the rice were dancing up to pea-sized. We ate the rocky rice with our hands since he had no utensils for us. Regardless, the man was cool, and a gentleman in our acceptance of his hospitality.
33. WHO DID THIS?
Once, Me and my family went to Red Lobster to celebrate my uncle's birthday. He was known to be notoriously short tempered. While we were at our table, I could not help but notice two college-aged boys sitting at a table right behind my uncle, struggling to open a bottle of ketchup.
One of the boys, Shaked it hard and suddenly the top popped off. And the ketchup then lands all over my uncle's back, head, and shoulders. He completely LOST IT. He stood up and started looking around with rage in his eyes, scanning the entire room as the boys managed to hide the ketchup bottle.
Meanwhile, my uncle is yelling: "WHO DID THIS?! Who is it? I will follow the ketchup trail and END WHOEVER I FIND!" Eventually, the management managed to help him with napkins and a free dessert. The boys asked for the check and slipped out.