Ryan went to spend the weekend with his family in Baltimore, MD recently and had an incredibly bad experience during Sunday brunch. He went to the Golden West Cafe and for health reasons (high cholesterol) Ryan can’t have regular eggs, he can only eat egg whites. The Golden West Cafe does have what seems to be a strict no substitutions policy, and egg whites are not on the menu. Here is the restaurant policy as per their website:
So after arguing with the waitress and owner Ryan sent his food back and sat at brunch with no brunch to be seen. Is the policy above going overboard? Is the restaurant just lazy, or crazy? You decide, and tell us your crazy restaurant story below!
I think this is all crazy! My husband and I were out to eat with family and he ordered a steak. Instead of the baked potatoe, he wanted fries (which were offered as a side with the burger on the menu), but he was told that they could not substitute the potatoe for the fries with the steak! And to top it off, when he got his steak, he asked for steak sauce, and they did not have any! I don’t know if it was the dimness or the waiter, but needless to say we have not gone back to that restaruant.
I think it’s a bit much. Especially regarding allergies… eat at your own risk? Gee, thanks for caring. And the 18% gratuity thing at the bottom? That’s crap, especially if your service is less than stellar! If you don’t get good service, you shouldn’t HAVE to leave a tip of any kind! Substitutions aren’t that big of a deal, they should be trying to please their customers more. Maybe if they had, they wouldn’t be getting the review they are getting now, to be seen by thousands of people! LOL!
I think Ryan is right! If I go to a nice restaurant I expect to be able to get the meal I want. You have to pay enough for the meal so why should I have it any other way. And if it wasn’t for the customers supporting the business….the business would not be there. If McDonalds can customize my $5 order, then other restaurants should be able to as well. Don’t go back there EVER Ryan!
I guess the restaurant can have their policy – but is that really a way to attract future business. The previous owner of our company had a food allergy to lettuce (of any kind), if the restaurant had been so strict with him he would have died if they couldn’t substitute something else.
Sorry Ryan had such a crappy experience take your business some place else – and by the way – giving them some really bad publicity now
I have this problem EVERYWHERE I go. I am allergic to all shellfish, (Lobsters, Clams, Scallops.. etc) and we live in a large fishing community, where my husband is a Lobster fisherman! All of the restaurants deep fry their foods in the same grease as the shellfish. Oh well, I guess it saves me from clogging my arteries!
I spent 3 years working in a restaurant in college. I can deal with slow service, I can deal with backed up service, but I can’t deal with rude.
Case in point – last week I was at a training for work. A group of us (5) went to lunch at a chain because we had a finite time for lunch and this place CLAIMS to have a quick lunch. So we get there and first of all, they split us up. So there are three in one booth, 2 in another. I was in the group of three. The other two managed to get their food and have it mostly done before ours arrived. Once we did get our food, our waitress seemed to disappear. We were beginning to push our time limit so I found the bartender and apologized first but told him we really needed to cash out. He told me they were down a few servers but he would find ours and get us out of there. I even thanked him. So our waitress returns and gets our checks, turns to the other table and ROLLS HER EYES to them about us… mainly me… before realizing that THEY WERE WITH US! If they had told me that before we left, I wouldn’t have tipped her.
I find it absurd that, especially in this economy, restuarants aren’t willing to bend over backwards for someone willing to spend their money. I agree, Ryan, don’t ever go back there.
And don’t get me started on the whole cell phone thing… what am I, 5? If I want to talk on the phone, I will.
Ryan-
With the Economy being so bad and the use of social networking tools, businesses need to be mindful of how they are treating customers. You never know who you are dealing and what outlet they are going to use to bring it to the public. You have the egg whites just scramble some up!
My daughter is a manager at a very nice restaurant, J. Alexanders, and believe me, if you want something in that restaurant, you get it. If they have to make something special that is NOT EVEN on the menu they will make it for you if they can in the restaurant where she works. If your server is not around your table, the the one that is closest to you should take care of what you need. Anyone walking by with water or tea fills your glass. And no, I do not get this service because I am her mother, I can say I confidently send people in because I can always trust that they will be happy with the service. Who cares what the food taste like if you don’t get service, that is why we go to restaurants for special events.
Yeah, once, my family went to a resuraunt for a quick dinner while we waited for my dad to get out of work. My mom ordered a salad, the kind that’s supposed to come out before anything else, you know, appatizer. My brother and i ordered full meals. One hour later, we had gotten our food, but my mom still hadn’t gotten her little salad. Two hours later, we were done, but still no salad. Three hours later, my mom went back to the kitchen…THEY WERE MAKING THE WRONG SALAD!!! Never going there again!
I think that their policy is a bit rigid — I mean seriously what restaurant really wants someone with allergies to eat at their own risk? The way to keep customers is to keep them happy (especially when you never know what the person does for a living!!). Seriously — you can’t get sauce on the side so that you can add what you want to the dish — what if they drown the plate in sauce? Ridiculous!! To me it sounds like they are trying to get a specific type of customer. I definitely wouldn’t eat there.
Ryan,
I would be seriously upset and I would have probably caused a scene, asked for a manager and then left…but hey, that’s me. Why didn’t Scott get all up in arms? lol.
AM
I have worked in the restaurant industry for many years, and never have I seen this kind of guidelines in an establishment before. In each place I worked, the customer was almost always right. If I sat down to eat and saw this information on the menu, I would pick my happy @$$ up and keep steppin’ right on out the door. When you go to a restaurant you expect good food and good service, not attitude.
Being a vegtetarian, most menus have a very limited choice. I often request that meals normally made with meat not be, so I can have more choice. Lots of places are good, but if any weren’t I would get up and leave. And in your case, I would have pulled a Denis Rodman and got the heck out of there without paying!!
That is absolutely ridiculous. I wouldn’t have sat there at all, I would have walked out. You’d think with the economy and less discretionary spending, nice restaurants would do whatever they could to keep their customers! With all the bad press that this restaurant is going to get, they’re going to regret not getting Ryan his egg whites!! Ryan, good for you for sticking to your guns and staying healthy!
Ok, so I work next to a pub and I used to order a grilled cheese sandwich for take out for lunch. One day I called over to order and was informed this was the last time they were doing and I couldn’t order it anymore. When I asked why they said because it was on the children’s menu only! I asked what if it’s for my son who is at work with me today? Nope! Still can’t do it! This “children’s menu item” was EIGHT dollars!!!! So guess where I”m never going for a beer after work?
Your health should be the first thing on their mind, then your happiness, then their tip. A required tip is bull. If I go somewhere and I get really good service I tip 30%. If I get treated poorly I will tip 10%. If they are downright rude they get nothing. Not trying to be accomodating to your health needs falls in under downright rude. Removing a yolk is too hard? Sounds to me like arrogant management, trying to be elitist. If you look at their website they sure seem to think they are special.
BTW… here is the Golden West Cafe email address, they probably don’t care, but we can definitely let them know how NOT to treat a customer! goldenwestcafe@gmail.com
Seriously? What happened to the customer is always right? And on Mother’s Day? It’s not like you asked for something outrageous… take the flippin egg and remove the yolk before it hits the pan… unless they don’t use real eggs (as their disclaimer states)… at any rate, I’m glad you named the restaurant and location… I hope they get some negative press.
That is a pretty ridiculous no substitutions rule! It’s not like you asked for something they didn’t have! They could’ve took the yolks out for you. Ri-donc-ulous. I however was raised to not use a cell phone in a restaurant out of respect for everyone else in there, especialy who I’m sitting with and do not appreciate when other people talk on their phone so I like that particular rule they have.
hey guys…thanks for all the comments! I really wanted to throw a fit and leave…but i was being polite as not to ruin Penny’s mother’s day as well. I should also give a big positive review for Cafe Hon (http://www.cafehon.com) down the street. they fed me with a delicious egg white sandwhich and did it with a happy smile…AND they were also blasting Sirius XM 50′s on 5.
Ryan–props to you for not wanting to ruin someone else’s Mother’s Day–but that definitely sucks. And just FYI for you and anyone else reading this…regardless of what the “policy” states, you are NOT required to leave that 18% gratuity or whatever else amount they try to charge. They can’t MAKE you tip them! What, they already know they are adding gratuity to your bill so they just give you crappy service?! I was a server once upon a time and in many cases, I wouldn’t add the gratuity, and received a higher tip anyway. I would also never tell someone, “sorry, don’t care what your health problem is, just eat it and shut up.” I worked for a chain restaurant and even THEY would go out of their way for situations like this!
I think if the owner comes out and decides to argue with me. I think I would of embarassed him in front of the whole restaurant. You want a good business then you have to accomdate people with food allergies. Plus how are you going to try and charge an 18% gratuity. thats ridiculous. A tip is based on the type of service and attention and quality of food you receive. Apparently its already spelled out that this isn’t Burger King. your getting it there way and only there way.
Fast food is always a good source of bad food stories. “Kentucky Fried Chicken” is known for…. you guessed it Chicken. Have you ever been there and they did not have ANY CHICKEN! What do you have… “Well, we have sides?!” WHAT!?!?!? The word CHICKEN is in your name! Love that one.
lol. Please you guys work in the service industry and realize some of the crap we go through, you wouldent be talking about this like were lazy/crazy. Just look at the pay scale and maybe you’d STFU. If its the restaurants policy GO EAT SOMEWHERE ELSE IF YOU DON’T FUCKING LIKE IT. god damn. “oh they wont let me do this when its clearly posted. I’m going to go complain because i put MYSELF through the trouble of trying to get them to change their policy.” Please go screw yourself. and never eat at a restaurant again if 18% gratuity is too much for you. do the math and see how much the server is getting paid after the tip split go serve your self.
I was a waitress all 4 years of high school, so because of that, I won’t stiff my waiter/waitresses – regardless of how bad the service is. On the same note, I obvioulsy tip according to the service.
My boyfriend and I were out at a nicer restaurant in Des Moines, IA and were seated. A lady brought us our drinks, and then our waiter came around and never spoke a word to us – he just stood there with a pen! So we ordered. He NEVER said a word and hardly looked at us until he laid our bill on the table. By this time, my boyfriend was fuming and I was livid about our service. My boyfriend was paying, so he picked up the bill and they were charging 15% gratuity. He was furious. He calculated out the amount of our food and that was it. Since I just can’t stiff, I left him a dollar for a tip. I spoke to the manager (my boyfriend said he’d go through the roof, so he waited in the car). She ended up giving us 2 free dinners. Not enough compensation, since quite honestly, we’ve been back since and the waiter is still horrible. I was even there with a board of directors for work and he barely spoke and messed up most of the 12 orders. He needs to be fired!
There’s a new restaurant right across the street from my office, so we decided to take one of our clients there yesterday for lunch. The client wanted to order a burger and wanted onion rings instead of fries on the side. The waitress promptly told the client that she could not have onion rings with the burger, that it only came with fries, but if she wanted to order onion rings as an appetizer that was fine. The client said fine, I was an order of onion rings, but can you please bring it with my meal instead of before. The waitress, who was clearly annoyed by now, said, “No, we only serve them as an appetizer.” By then, the client just gave up and ordered the burger and fries. Now what is the big, flippin deal with bringing the onion rings with the meal?! This new restaurant has already had several complaints, and with that kind of service I imagine they won’t be in business very long!
First off to chris, that was just plain rude and vulgar to use that kind of language on here. its an opinionated talk show get used to it. second if you have this type of attitude when you were or are working in the food service industry then maybe thats why u r so angry u prolly never made any money. I have worked in food service for 8 years and counting and I have never not received a tip bc I treat all my customers w respect and show them the same hospitality I would expect in another resturant. I know that waitresses and waiters dont get paid the best base wage, but then maybe if they want to make more money they should try harder to appease the customer and in the same aspect the resturant should be willing to make exceptions and substitutions to help keep them in a good light and keep the business coming in. I would hate to be the manager of this resturant right now.