I just say "no cole slaw" or sometimes, "May i have extra rice instead of the beans?" I've never gotten fussed at.

Now as a food allergy mom though, I'm way more cautious and have become "that person" who asks about ingredients and begs them to avoid triggers and then inspects food carefully before allowing kid to eat it.

I honestly never thought of this from a food waste perspective. I usually like things the way they are prepared, but I will take raw red onion slices off a burger rather than say "no onion please." I guess I just figure it makes everyone's life easier, but I suppose it wouldn't be a huge deal to request it.

I think I am scarred from growing up with parents who would take 30 minutes to order and then ask for substitutions AND occasionally for them to add something off-menu to the meal (oh could you just make me a fresh fruit plate too? Well, what would be on it? Oh I don't like all of that. Can you make it just berries?). So as an adult I maybe like to be too easy when ordering!

I do this all the time! I don’t ask for a substute but I’ll ask to leave it off. Sometimes they’ll offer a substitute, which is nice.

I hate home fries so if a brunch dish comes with it, I'll ask them to leave it off. I hate wasting food.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I just order what I want. "A burger, medium rare, nothing on it - just the burger and the bun please." If it comes with stuff I can put to the side like lettuce and tomato, then I do. If it comes smeared with some sort of sauce I send it back.

This is how we need to order for our autistic teen since kids’ menus aren’t enough food anymore.

Lol, I've thought for a while I might be on the spectrum!

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I tell them to leave it off. Sometimes a place will ask if I want extra "other side" or a substitute. I tip extra for that.

Why do you tip extra? The wait person just writes it down. The kitchen has to go above and beyond and make sure they read it correctly. Hopefully they pool the tips.

The server who offered an extra helping of cooked veg instead of slaw or a baked potato insead of fries gets rewarded.

Must be American restaurants. We rarely sub, add or leave something out.
We have a few picky eaters and servers hide when they show up. Everyone is holding breath and hope they don't sit in their section.

Anonymous wrote:I just order what I want. "A burger, medium rare, nothing on it - just the burger and the bun please." If it comes with stuff I can put to the side like lettuce and tomato, then I do. If it comes smeared with some sort of sauce I send it back.

This is how we need to order for our autistic teen since kids’ menus aren’t enough food anymore.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:A chef at a burger place? That must be an expensive burger.

It was bizarre. It wasn't a super fancy restaurant, but they had more interesting things on the menu. They also had a burger, that came with a slice of cheese, tomato, onion, and lettuce. My kids asked for it, and since I knew the tomato, onion and lettuce would get discarded, I asked for them to be left off.

The server was like "Chef doesn't like it when people question his recipes." I can see that for some things but it's not like this chef had invented a unique recipe that we were insulting. It was literally the most basic burger, served with a side of fries. No creativity award there.

If orders weren’t in, I’d leave that restaurant and never return. That’s just nuts.