Oh my God.

[Sofar]

Two rather gaunt looking woman came into my burger joint today. I wouldn't have made a note of that if it weren't for their lack of clothing, they must have been wearing no more than a yard of cloth between them. Sigh, it hits seventy-five and suddenly everyone has to take off all their clothes. Myself, I don't even own a pair of short trousers. I don't get hot. I just don't. I don't really get cold either.

Yeah, I digress. Whatever. Anyway, one woman orders a portabello burger, no cheese, no mayo, no onions, no pickles. Her friend orders a boca burger, no cheese, no mayo. They're number 29. I'd like to point out at this opportunity that the menu reads SWISS BURGER WITH PORTABELLO MUSHROOMS, and that this is a hamburger served with swiss cheese and sauteed mushrooms on top. Five minutes later, I call number 29, and the two saunter up to the counter.

On the counter are sitting their sandwiches. Woman A picks up her sandwich. She is pleased. This sandwich makes her happy. That makes me happy. Woman B takes a close look at her sandwich and says, "Oh my God. That is not what I ordered." Oh my God, sort of strange thing to say to the wrong sandwich, I think.

I say, "It is most assuredly the sandwich you ordered. A portabello burger, no cheese, no mayo, no onions, no pickles."

"This is not a portabello burger." she says.

"Yes it is," I lift up the bun, "See? A burger with sauteed portabello mushrooms. Delicious!"

She gaped at me for a second and said, "Oh my God, you didn't tell me the portabello burger had MEAT in it!" She then made it apparent that she thought, (and didn't understand how it could be otherwise,) that the portabello burger was a portabello mushroom in a bun, with no meat. Her friend said at some point in the ensuing argument, "I told you it was a hamburger! Why didn't you ask him?"

Like most stories here, this one was fairly inconclusive. She wanted a refund, I gave her one, she was still angry, she kept repeating, "I can't believe the portabello burger had meat on it!" Eventually she left and dragged her friend with her, even though her friend had not finished her sandwich, and that made me sad.

[iradney]

Ebbeh....
Correct me if I'm wrong, but don't most burger joints advertise their veggie burgers as "Veggie burger"? And chicken burgers as "Chicken burger"? And ham burgers are burgers...sheesh!

[sarahj]

I have the occasional non-beef-eating customer, whose first language is obviously not English, order a 'cheeseburger' from me. They soon return it, questioning, "is this beef? I no eat beef." I just offer them a burger with chicken or fish, then have them pay the difference.

People also get confused with our Caesar roll, which has chicken and bacon on it. They order it with no chicken (we take no notice of how odd some requests are, we're used to it), then get upset to find the bacon and of course, we give them a new one with no bacon. And management wonders why we have so much 'waste' product.

Wouldn't it be easier to just say, "I don't eat (ingredient), does (product) have any (ingredient) on it?" when ordering? That also goes for allergies.

[The Laughing Man]

That is the funniest story I've heard all day. She just made about half of my customers look smart.

[JustADude]

Here a portabella burger is just a grilled portabella, no meat, nothing but a portabella mushroom cap serving as a replacement for a meat patty

That's what it sounded like she THOUGHT the was ordering, saying a 'portabello burger'... the MENU, though, said 'swiss burger WITH portabello mushrooms', according to Sofar, so it was a case of her seeing what she wanted to see instead of what's really there, then blaming someone else. Besides that, I doubt most places who do Bocca would also do a 'porabello steak' as substitute simply because there are few enough people who order that kind of thing to make it unprofitable.

And here I thought not eating meat was supposed to REDUCE stress and aggression?

[Primer]

And here I thought not eating meat was supposed to REDUCE stress and aggression?

OT, but for me, not eating meat would INCREASE stress and aggravation!

PETA=People Eating Tasty Animals

(I also tell my students that THEY don't want me to try to quit smoking!)

[lordlundar]

(I also tell my students that THEY don't want me to try to quit smoking!)

equivelant to this reaction?

http://www.inktank.com/AT/index.cfm?nav=623

[Becks]

Wouldn't it be easier to just say, "I don't eat (ingredient), does (product) have any (ingredient) on it?" when ordering? That also goes for allergies.

That would be TOO easy. Let's just add it to the "If it makes sense, it's not allowed"™®© files.

[BookstoreEscapee]

Wouldn't it be easier to just say, "I don't eat (ingredient), does (product) have any (ingredient) on it?" when ordering? That also goes for allergies.

I can't eat nuts (more of a phobia than an allergy, but still) and if I am ordering a new dessert in a restaurant I will always ask if it has nuts, even if the menu says nothing about nuts. Just seems common sense to me...

As far as vegetarianism goes, I'm too picky an eater to not eat meat! I'd starve to death

[Amethyst Hunter]

PETA=People Eating Tasty Animals

Awwwww yeah!

[Primer]

equivelant to this reaction?

http://www.inktank.com/AT/index.cfm?nav=623

Pretty close, yeah...
...worse than PMSing!

[RentalRacer]

Here a portabella burger is just a grilled portabella, no meat, nothing but a portabella mushroom cap serving as a replacement for a meat patty

Yup, Ruby Tuesday used to have those back when I first started there. And I have seen them elsewhere too.

Still...customers need to read the menu and not assume it is the same thing everywhere.

[Erin]

I was at a new restaurant a few weeks ago with my parents.

My parents ordered their dishes...my mom got something with seafood in it.

I told the waitress that I'm allergic to seafood and asked that they not cook my food near any seafood. (the waitress looked a little confused at this point...like she didnt believe food allergies are real)

My dad sees on the menu that as an appetizer, they have something called Chicken & Mushroom soup. We all think that sounds good, so we order that as an appetizer.

They bring out the soup. I started to eat it, thinking that it tasted a lot like Miso soup (Japanese soup that has fish in it) But, since the menu said Chicken and Mushroom soup...said nothing at all about any seafood in it, I decided to trust the menu and eat the soup....until I got to the spring roll that was in the soup. (it looked like a sushi roll...seaweed, rice and some sort fishy paste)

So, I call the waitress over, and ask her what it is. She looks at it and says she doesnt know what it is. Manager/owner comes over...I ask her if she knows what it is. She looked and didnt seem to know what it was, but proudly declares that it's chicken. (a chicken spring roll?!? and why would the owner not know what's in all the food they serve?)

It's at about that point that I started to get the itchy hives that tell me that I've just ingested food with seafood in it. (crap!!!) Luckily, so far, I'm not so allergic to seafood that I get an anaphylaxic reaction (as in dying from being poisoned by idiotic restaurant workers) I just get hives and feel sick, and that's usually taken care of by Benadryl. Luckily, I had taken a Benadryl about an hour before because of seasonal allergies. I've been told that eventually I might develop an anaphylaxis to seafood and shellfish if I keep getting exposed to them.

I still got two extra Benadryls out of my emergency stash that I carry with me all the time and took those. (I was wasted the rest of the night, slept thru Numb3rs)


I didnt have a hissy fit in the restaurant, the waitress still got her tip, but I'm still trying to figure out how to write a letter to that restaurant, and not use too many colorful (swear) words. Explaining my anger that their menu said nothing about there being seafood in their Chicken & Mushroom soup. Some warning would have been nice.

Oh, and it would have been nice if they'd even bothered to apologise for attempting to kill me with seafood after I'd told them I'm allergic to it. (one of these days I'll get the full blown anaphylaxis) The owner came over to me later before we left, and asked why I didnt like the soup. (uhh...I'm allergic to it) The owner insisted on boxing up the soup I didnt eat, so that I could eat it later. My mom liked it, so we took it home for her.

It was still very difficult for me to be polite to the workers there. I think I managed to not show most of the anger I had.


I think I'll be emailing the Board of Health and tell them what happened. Maybe they can require that the restaurant put some wording or something on the menu warning people that there is fish in the Chicken & Mushroom soup. I'm sure that I'm probably not the only person who has made the same assumption that that soup would be safe for a seafood allergic person to eat.

Here's a link to the restaurant's menu... Look for the chicken and mushroom soup. That's exactly what the menu in the restaurant had written on it. http://www.omahaemenu.com/Wave%20Bis...t_menu_wb.html

[BookstoreEscapee]

They bring out the soup. I started to eat it, thinking that it tasted a lot like Miso soup (Japanese soup that has fish in it) But, since the menu said Chicken and Mushroom soup...said nothing at all about any seafood in it, I decided to trust the menu and eat the soup....until I got to the spring roll that was in the soup. (it looked like a sushi roll...seaweed, rice and some sort fishy paste)

So, I call the waitress over, and ask her what it is. She looks at it and says she doesnt know what it is. Manager/owner comes over...I ask her if she knows what it is. She looked and didnt seem to know what it was, but proudly declares that it's chicken. (a chicken spring roll?!? and why would the owner not know what's in all the food they serve?)

Sounds a bit fishy to me (sorry). Was there supposed to be a spring roll at the bottom of your soup? Did someone drop it in there by accident? I would be greatly concerned if I were you. I don't eat fish either (just don't like it) and that's kinda scary. Is there someone higher up than the manager you spoke to that evening? You might want to talk to them or write them a letter explaining what happened and that the staff should be better trained on what exactly is in the food and the menu made clearer, as well. They should consider themselves lucky; next time they might be calling an ambulance rather than just dealing with an itchy, annoyed person.

[Erin]

Sounds a bit fishy to me (sorry). Was there supposed to be a spring roll at the bottom of your soup?

Yes, the spring roll was supposed to be there. there was one in each of the bowls of soup me and my parents got. I even asked the waitress and she says that it's always served with those in the soup, she's just apparently clueless as to what those rolls were made of. They actually bring the empty bowls to your table and serve you the soup from a big pot. I didnt see the spring rolls in the soup as she was serving it, otherwise I would have questioned what it was before I ate it.

I also just found out that a weird sauce that was served with my entree that night also had seafood based stuff in it. I had gotten some teryaki steak thing, because I figured that it would be safe to eat. Well, I was looking at the menu at the link I gave in the last post, and it said that the meal came with asparagus and something called "roe". I couldnt figure out what it was. I'd never heard of it before.

So I googled it.

I am so glad that I didnt eat this roe stuff (it looked like mayo or ranch dressing, both of which I hate) Roe is apparently made from the sex organs of male fish. (Ewwww!) I was telling my parents about this tonight, and my mom knew what it was and kept going on about how wonderful roe is. (she's Southern and loves anything seafood)



So, now I really want to yell at the owners of this restaurant. They really need to inform their wait staff about what foods have seafood in it. Even if I hadnt eaten the soup, I still would have gotten contaminated with something I'm allergic to if I'd actually eaten the roe. I also got the feeling that the chef would have been offended if I had asked the food to be made without the seafoodish stuff in it. The chef at this place is fairly well known as getting easily offended if someone doesnt like something he makes. (I think I'll stop going to the fancy restaurants with my parents from now on and stick to Burger King and McDonalds.)

I just want to figure out how to write this hypothetical letter without sounding like the most sucky customer on the planet. I want to be polite, and non-sucky. I dont think it's possible for me to do that.