Sending Food Back, Yes or No?
“Was everything to your liking?” the waiter asks while you’ve only taken a few bites of your far-too-well-done steak. What should you do? Nod politely or say something?
Many people don’t dare send their food back at a restaurant when something is wrong with it. Millennials in particular have trouble politely pointing out a mistake from the kitchen. Recent research shows that 52 percent of people between 18 and 34 feel uncomfortable sending an order back. Among diners over 55, this is only 39 percent.
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Personally, this millennial always sends back anything she specifically finds fault with — incorrect cooking, too dry or too salty — but I notice that my friends have more difficulty with it. The biggest obstacle: they’re afraid it’s a matter of their taste, rather than the dish. Often, all they can say is that they ‘don’t like it.’
Stephanie Lucken (29) is co-owner of Rijsel in Amsterdam and is only too happy when people come with specific feedback. “Specific feedback can be very valuable. A restaurant serves dishes it stands behind. There can be a difference in taste between the restaurant and the guest. What we find pleasantly well-seasoned with a nice glass of wine, a guest may experience as too salty. This doesn’t necessarily mean that the dish is actually too salty; the restaurant wants to serve it that way. You can always indicate that you find it too salty and, if you mention it in time, the chef can make another dish for you.
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Speak up in time
By indicating in time whether or not something is to your taste, you give us the opportunity to serve something else. That way, the restaurant gets the chance to still give you a lovely evening. It’s not a matter of whose taste is better, because tastes differ. What matters is that you’re satisfied and leave happy; for a restaurant, that is truly the most important thing.”
Not to your taste?
A steak that is overcooked or mashed potatoes into which an entire salt shaker seems to have fallen is a clear-cut case. But if, for example, you send spareribs back because they fall completely off the bone, there isn’t much a restaurant can do about that. That’s how they’re meant to be. If you send something back ‘unjustifiably,’ don’t take it as condescending if the staff point this out. That’s really not how a restaurant means it. Just take the chance, and if the dish is actually as intended, at least you’ve learned something again. Fun, right?
