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TexasTowelie

(111,288 posts)
Wed Mar 19, 2014, 09:09 PM Mar 2014

Ten Easy Ways to Piss Off a Chef

There was a time when going out to dinner was an indulgence. A thing you did when you really wanted to treat yourself. Now most of us head to restaurants out of necessity, or at least we tell ourselves that: We're either too busy or too lazy to actually prepare food for ourselves.

Professional chefs are happy to oblige this need, creating dishes for us that are much more delicious than what we're capable of cooking at home. But they'd prefer that we didn't barge into their restaurants hell-bent on making their evening a living hell.

Maybe you're not intentionally pissing off your chef. Maybe you're just innocuously annoying. And maybe you believe that, as a paying customer, it's your inalienable right. Regardless, here are 10 things that piss off chefs at restaurants of all kinds, from fine dining right down to that Olive Garden where you binge-eat breadsticks.

1. Threatening to leave a bad Yelp! review
Social media has given the average diner a lot of power. Any old asshole with a Yelp! account can scare away diners from a restaurant, especially if said asshole has a lot of followers and influence. Threatening to give a chef a bad Yelp! review because you didn't like your food is a very effective way to let everyone know that you're an asshole, but don't expect it to help you weasel your way out of paying the bill. Even if the food or service actually was bad, don't threaten anyone with your stupid Internet words. No one, least of all the chef, cares.

More at http://blogs.dallasobserver.com/cityofate/2014/03/10_easy_ways_to_piss_off_a_che.php .

13 replies = new reply since forum marked as read
Highlight: NoneDon't highlight anything 5 newestHighlight 5 most recent replies
Ten Easy Ways to Piss Off a Chef (Original Post) TexasTowelie Mar 2014 OP
I'm going to get the popcorn out... madinmaryland Mar 2014 #1
A chef once managed to piss me off Fortinbras Armstrong Mar 2014 #2
Changing "sets" is the single worst sin. (VERY strong language warning) sir pball Mar 2014 #3
Sometimes this is necessary for health reasons eridani Mar 2014 #11
Restrictions are different, and pretty much a nonissue. sir pball Mar 2014 #12
Asking for everything to be SheilaT Mar 2014 #4
So you don't like eating hockey pucks? TexasTowelie Mar 2014 #5
If I want to eat a hockey puck SheilaT Mar 2014 #6
The first time I had a customer ask for trixicopper Mar 2014 #7
Ketchup on a fine prime rib? uncommonlink Mar 2014 #9
It's probably not a good idea to piss off the chef that's making your meal. uncommonlink Mar 2014 #8
The thing that most pisses me off is when someone puts salt and/or cbayer Mar 2014 #10
They forgot my biggest peeve. Glassunion Mar 2014 #13

madinmaryland

(64,920 posts)
1. I'm going to get the popcorn out...
Wed Mar 19, 2014, 09:17 PM
Mar 2014


They get into the la-di-dah elitist shit on the second page. Though they didn't mention breast feeding while smoking with kids at the olive garden.

Sounds like the author was a disgruntled chef.

Fortinbras Armstrong

(4,473 posts)
2. A chef once managed to piss me off
Thu Mar 20, 2014, 08:05 AM
Mar 2014

I was given a dish that was so oversalted as to be inedible. I sent it back, and the chef would not accept that he or his line cook (whoever made it) could possibly have made such a mistake. I told him to taste it, and he flatly refused to do so. I asked the manager to taste it, and the chef forbade him from doing it.

So my wife and I got up and left, without paying. I wound up eating at Burger King.

sir pball

(4,726 posts)
3. Changing "sets" is the single worst sin. (VERY strong language warning)
Thu Mar 20, 2014, 12:13 PM
Mar 2014

The single best way to send Chef into a blind rage is to ask to "mix it up a little" - for the garnish from one dish to be used for a different protein. "I'd like the salmon, but with the chicken garnish! I think that would be so much better!" It's like trying to give Chef your tips and tricks you learned from Ina, but far more aggressive and provocative. Usually ends up with Chef punching the pass or board and screaming something from the following (I've heard or uttered all of them and then some):

FUCK YOU THIS IS MY DISH MOTHERFUCKER
IF YOU'RE SUCH A GREAT CHEF COOK YOUR OWN FOOD
OH SORRY TO OFFEND YOUR PALATE CHEF
WHY DO I EVEN BOTHER WITH THIS SHIT, LET'S JUST LET THEM WRITE THE MENU THEMSELVES
WHAT ARE YOU DOING IN MY RESTAURANT IF YOU KNOW BETTER THAN ME
FUCK YOOOOOOOOOOU!!!!!

I'm sorry, but the customer does not know what would make a better dish, unless you're Keller or Humm.

eridani

(51,907 posts)
11. Sometimes this is necessary for health reasons
Wed Mar 26, 2014, 07:52 AM
Mar 2014

My husband is on coumadin and can't have foods rich in Vitamin K, such as spinach, chard, broccoli, etc. There usually isn't any hassle getting, corn, carrots or green beans instead.

sir pball

(4,726 posts)
12. Restrictions are different, and pretty much a nonissue.
Thu Mar 27, 2014, 12:27 PM
Mar 2014

Substituting with a reason isn't generally an issue; e.g. it's not uncommon to get a request for "vegetables instead of potatoes" with a steak, or "no green leafy veg". Although if you have a serious restriction, like an allergy or drug interaction, it is best to let the server know as the menu is hardly a comprehensive ingredient list and switching things around on your own is no guarantee you won't have a forbidden ingredient - true story, had a set-switch once, turns out the lady had an allium allergy and thought by changing from a garnish that listed "confit garlic" to one that didn't explicitly mention her poison that she'd be fine. Good thing she casually mentioned it to the runner as he was dropping off her plate, the butternut squash puree was chock-full of shallot and garlic.

But if you just don't like the way a particular dish sounds - don't order it. I might RATHER have a "foodie" give me their tips on making gnocchi, instead of trying to reinvent my menu

 

SheilaT

(23,156 posts)
4. Asking for everything to be
Thu Mar 20, 2014, 02:13 PM
Mar 2014

well done.

I just wish that when I ask for a hamburger medium it would arrive medium, not well done.

Okay, so this doesn't happen at a fine restaurant, but a place that is a burger specialty place ought to be able to cook the burgers to different degrees of doneness.

TexasTowelie

(111,288 posts)
5. So you don't like eating hockey pucks?
Thu Mar 20, 2014, 02:30 PM
Mar 2014

It sounds like it is time to contact Skittles to kick some ass.

trixicopper

(62 posts)
7. The first time I had a customer ask for
Thu Mar 20, 2014, 04:11 PM
Mar 2014

ketchup for their prime rib I was appalled. In the many many years since I've learned to just go with it. I do of course (once I'm out of sight) do a major *facepalm*.

cbayer

(146,218 posts)
10. The thing that most pisses me off is when someone puts salt and/or
Fri Mar 21, 2014, 02:09 PM
Mar 2014

pepper on their food before tasting it. My DH does this and it has led to some real knockdown drag outs.

When I cook, I cook with him in mind. So when he grabs those shakers (which I generally do not put on the table) before he even tastes it, it really ticks me off.

It's like saying, "i know you did this wrong, so I'm just going to fix it before I eat it".

Glassunion

(10,201 posts)
13. They forgot my biggest peeve.
Thu Mar 27, 2014, 04:39 PM
Mar 2014

Sending your rare steak that you ordered back to the kitchen, because it's rare. Just order it medium like you wanted in the first place.

Thank goodness they did not have yelp back when I worked the line.

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