I mentioned in a previous post that Tim and I ended up eating out on Tuesday night, while we were out shopping for replacement parts for our website’s servers. We tossed around several suggestions of places we both like to eat, that we had been to before. Believe me, we don’t have any trouble finding places to eat out! We both love to eat, we both love food and we both like to eat out. And we do, quite often.
Anyway, a new place opened near our house, a chain restaurant that is new to our area. Neither of us had eaten at one of these restaurants before, and since it’s a sports/family themed type place, we thought it would be perfect. There’s a local sports bar and grill near our house that we love, and we wanted to check this place out.
Well, let’s just say that I didn’t think it was that great. My food was mediocre at best, although Tim says his was good. We realize the place is new, and so when the service was slow, we were very understanding. We assumed the servers and kitchen staff were still learning, but we do get exasperated when we don’t see our waitress for the entire meal and we run out of our drinks (water/ Diet Coke). We’re not particularly fussy about restaurants in general – I worked in the restaurant industry some in high school and college and I know first hand just how hard it is to wait tables and dish up food. We’re really good tippers because of that, if the food and service are good.
I won’t name the place by name, because believe it or not, this post is not a rant and rave about this particular restaurant. Instead, it’s a in-general thing – in general, how do you decide about going back to a restaurant you weren’t overly thrilled with? Tim liked it better than I did, even though I told him I’d be glad to try it again and get something else on the menu. But – I do draw the line somewhere. I will give this place one or two more times and then if the food and service don’t get any better, I’d rather cross it off my list. There’s just too many good places here to eat, for me to keep going back to a place I really don’t enjoy.
So, that’s today’s Question of the Day: If you and your spouse/family go to a new restaurant and someone is not happy with the food/service/environment, how many times will you go back to try them again? Will you not go back? Will you give it one more shot and then that’s it? Three strikes and you’re out? Or will you keep going back because someone else in your family likes it and wants to go there? Leave me a comment and let me know!
Once or twice is about right, 3 strikes and I say they’re definitely out!
We don’t get this too much because there really aren’t many restaurants around here, just fast food places. But once in a while if we’ve quit going to a place, we might go back and try it again after a really long time…..some of it might depend on if it’s changed hands, what else is open that day, how hungry we are, etc!
If you try this one again, wait until they’ve had time to work the kinks out if it’s new and then maybe try once more. But I sorta agree with the fact that you have too many other good places to eat to keep on with it indefinitely.
I agree with Gail. I’m willing to give a place (especially a new place) a second chance, and sometimes a third. But since there are so many more places to choose from (we’re lucky to be so close to Chattanooga!) we usually don’t waste our time going back to restaurants that have disappointed us. Then again there’s always the possibility that we just ordered the wrong thing or the waiter was having a bad day… You just never know!
We’re like you and Tim. We love to eat out (and probably do too often).
I think after 2 times if it’s not good, we don’t go back. There are so many places around here that are good and you know you’re going to enjoy yourself. So if you liked the feel of the place, give it another chance and see if they’ve worked out their “kinks” and all, if you go some place you know you’ll enjoy.
Hmmm my friend I’m having lunch with is wanting to try a new place……now it makes me wonder should we stick with our some ole some…..
Have a good day. From what I’ve heard the weather is suppose to get bad this afternoon, but right now I’m loving the warm weather!
Well, if the kids go with us and they don’t like it or they don’t have a kid-friendly atmosphere – we don’t go back atleast with the kids in tow! If it’s just hubby and I and one of us doesn’t like it we will usually try it again to see. We haven’t had too many bad restaurant experiences though. Except when it comes to service. Both, hubby & I, worked in Restaurants for years and we can not stand to get bad service. We know it’s hard, but there is no excuse for some things and we are great tippers when the service is good! I know of one restaurant that I haven’t tried but the hubby has and he really did not like it so we do not go there at all. Usually we like the same places and it makes it easy to decide where to go. There is a restaurant that I’ve been wanting to try, but just can’t seem to get hubby to go. I don’t know why…we’ve heard its good! Oh well! This must be a topic near & dear to me ’cause I just wrote half a post in your comments! 🙂 Sorry!!!
Glad you’re back!!
We generally give a place 2 shots at making us happy. I’m usually pretty easy to please but long waits and cold food turn me off immediately 🙂
If one of us likes it then we will try it again and switch food. If neither of us was impressed, we just move along until a friend mentions that they enjoy it…then we’ll try it again. We have so many many options that we don’t get to visit that often anyway so it doesn’t really bother us to rule out a place to go. It actually helps us!
I usually give it a couple of tries, though I don’t eat out much so that could take a long time! I tend to go to the same places over and over. I’m nicer than my dad…he’s quick to get frustrated and give up on a place.
I’d say we might try a place two times. If it is really awful, we won’t go back again unless we know it is under new management. I worked in food service a lot too, so I am not a huge critic of the service, but if it is awful and if the food isn’t good either, I’d be wasting my money there.
I’d rather visit a familiar place that I knew I would like.
If neither of us was impressed, we wouldn’t go back in most cases. But if one of us liked it, we’ll give it another try, although it wouldn’t be at the top of our list.
Sorry you weren’t thilled with it! I’m very forgiving about service, too, but to be totally ignored or get really bad service is unacceptable to me. But if I can tell the server is trying but just having a hard time, I overlook that.
Mitch and I read reviews first. We go and I write a review, if it was bad we try it once more and then we are done. Now if I get food poisoning, like I did at one restaurant in Hawaii, we are done! No second chances! 🙂
Becca
We can’t really afford to eat out all that often (though we do more than we should anyway), so if someone isn’t happy with a place we generally wouldn’t give it another try. There are plenty of places around that we all do like. The one exception would be on someone’s birthday…then the birthday person can choose wherever they want and everyone else just has to live with it.
We’re very much like you all though. Very forgiving of less-than-stellar service. Though really bad service is a big turn-off. And we’re really good tippers, too (another reason why we can’t really afford to go out much).
We stick to our favorite places… but I don’t really go back to a restaurant if the food wasn’t really good!
Thanks for the info on the recipe… I love garlic and also love sweet & sour flavors so I thought it looked good.
Have a blessed Thursday!
Annie
Seriously stay away from Best Buy, Stacy. I have heard so many negative comments to my posts about them!!!
Now for your answer on restaurants, sometimes we’ll give it another chance after they get their feet wet, or ask around for others who have tried and then give it another shot. I hate whent that happens!@!
I am usually willing to give a place a couple of tries. Maybe I ordered the wrong food, maybe the server was just having a bad day. But if it’s still bad after a second visit, I usually won’t go back.
I’m not afraid to tell management if something was wrong with the food or the service. Dom, on the other hand, refuses to say anything and just sits there and fumes. Then when we leave he’ll say that he’s never going back.
One night, we were at a steakhouse and the meat I had ordered rare came out well done. I told the server that it was overcooked. He seemed very upset that I had complained about the food. The manager came over and told me to pick something else from the menu and he would comp the meal. I told him and the server what I wanted, being explicit in telling them that I wanted it rare. When the server came back with my steak, he had a smirk on his face when he put the plate down. The meat wasn’t just rare – it was almost raw – still really cold on the inside. I wanted to tell the manager about the food and the server’s attitude, but couldn’t find him again. Now, this is one place I haven’t gone back to.
I think, if you don’t let management know there was a problem, how are they going to correct it?
I’ve worked in restaurants half my life. Some really nice places, like Red Lobster, and a resort in CA, and I’ve worked in Coffee Shops like Coco’s and a 50’s Diner, in any given day something will go wrong. It could be the greatest restaurant, and the food was bad but the service was excellent or the other way around, but I always give a restaurant a couple of chances before I give up on them, unless I find a bug, and then I leave right away,and won’t go back!
If it were new, I’d give it the benefit of the doubt and try it again a few months down the road. If we get bad service more than twice at a place, we’re kind of soured. I do tend to give places more of a chance than Mike will. And Lynne was right – I think I have to be willing to let them know if there was a problem, in a nice way, so they can correct it.
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