What's the etiquette when you get the wrong dish?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:So here's my guess on the OP:
The waiter offered the plate to another person as OP's table or a neighboring table. That person rejected it, but grabbed a handful of the food before the waiter took it away. (OP is asking etiquette question #1 about someone else's behavior). As OP was watching this unfold, realized that the plate was his/hers. Watched waiter take the plate back to the kitchen, then come deliver it to OP, still missing the bite that the first diner snagged (etiquette question #2 is about his/her own reaction at that point).

If that's the situation:
1. No, if I'm rejecting a plate I won't eat off of it. I'm not paying for it, I don't get it.
2. Someone at my table, like DH? Ok. Some random diner, two tables over, had their fingers in my plate? Yuck, no.

That's terrible! Where did this happen? I would speak to a manager about #2 and leave. Not eat anything there after that (because of spiteful servers too at that point). As for #1, you can't do anything about other people's manners, but my goodness, that takes the cake. The waiter should have left it at the table of that greedy diner and charged them for it.

[Anonymous]

If the PPs are correct in their interpretations of your scenario, no, I wouldn't eat the food once it was delivered to me, but I might regret that decision.

One night, we waited for quite a while for our food at Busboys and Poets. Then our meal got delivered to a nearby table that had ordered the same dishes as us (hamburger and nachos), but with different modifications (no bacon on the hamburger, chicken added to the nachos). When the other people sent back the food, and the waiter realized the mistake, he had the kitchen remake our dishes, but then, again, we had to wait a long time. (And this was a busy weekend night, so it's not like we would have gotten food any more quickly by leaving and going to another restaurant.) So, that night, I DEFINITELY wished that I had just eaten the food that someone else had breathed on (and possibly even touched!).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:And in which case, you say to the waiter "Uh, sorry, but I think someone has eaten a bite from this plate. Could I please have a fresh order?"

you've not seen Waiting (a movie) I take it?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I think OP is saying OP saw her(his?) own order delivered to another table, the other patron put their fingers in it/ate some before/as the the server realized the mistake. The server took back the plate from Diner-who-didnt-order-it and brought it to OP after Other Diner had already stuck their hands in it. Order should have been re-prepared for OP and the first order should have been tossed. Is that correct OP?

Yes, that is correct. The server claims that the portion that the first customer dipped their fingers in had been replaced in the kitchen which the OP (me) did not believe. I don't like to waste food, but I could not stomach this. I also really did not like that customer who decided to eat from the plate that she/they claimed was not their order as it was being removed. Tacky.

The caveat is that I have no clue what they do to my food in the kitchen even after I request that it be freshly prepared. I felt I needed to say something.

[Anonymous]

Not the OP but something like this happened to me. Waiter brought something that looked a lot like my dish, and my husband started taking some of the meat to cut up for the kids (which we do a lot and was planned). Before the waiter left, we all realized it was not my dish. As the waiter reached to grab my dish, we told the waiter at least twice that we had already taken some food off of it, as it was sitting in my children's bowls. The waiter still took the food away and proceeded to give it immediately to the table right next to us, who I even thought watched what had happened. They kept the food and ate it anyway.

Would you say anything?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think OP is saying OP saw her(his?) own order delivered to another table, the other patron put their fingers in it/ate some before/as the the server realized the mistake. The server took back the plate from Diner-who-didnt-order-it and brought it to OP after Other Diner had already stuck their hands in it. Order should have been re-prepared for OP and the first order should have been tossed. Is that correct OP?

Yes, that is correct. The server claims that the portion that the first customer dipped their fingers in had been replaced in the kitchen which the OP (me) did not believe. I don't like to waste food, but I could not stomach this. I also really did not like that customer who decided to eat from the plate that she/they claimed was not their order as it was being removed. Tacky.

The caveat is that I have no clue what they do to my food in the kitchen even after I request that it be freshly prepared. I felt I needed to say something.

I would not have been able to eat anything else there. If the 'new' one had already been ready at the exact magical same time as he took the first one back to the kitchen, why would it not have been brought to your table already?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think OP is saying OP saw her(his?) own order delivered to another table, the other patron put their fingers in it/ate some before/as the the server realized the mistake. The server took back the plate from Diner-who-didnt-order-it and brought it to OP after Other Diner had already stuck their hands in it. Order should have been re-prepared for OP and the first order should have been tossed. Is that correct OP?

Yes, that is correct. The server claims that the portion that the first customer dipped their fingers in had been replaced in the kitchen which the OP (me) did not believe. I don't like to waste food, but I could not stomach this. I also really did not like that customer who decided to eat from the plate that she/they claimed was not their order as it was being removed. Tacky.

The caveat is that I have no clue what they do to my food in the kitchen even after I request that it be freshly prepared. I felt I needed to say something.

I would not have been able to eat anything else there. If the 'new' one had already been ready at the exact magical same time as he took the first one back to the kitchen, why would it not have been brought to your table already?

Op. When my burger reached my table, well after my fries/onion rings, it looked as if the burger had been sitting for awhile bc it was not hot and the top bun had absorbed a lot of the juices. I did not return it bc I was afraid what they would do to my food if I returned that dish. I ate it and will not return anytime soon.