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  • No, not good.

    My wife & I went out to one of our favorite local Chinese restaurants, prior to an evening event, because we didn't feel like cooking and we so rarely go out to sit & eat.

    We decided to try some newer items on the menu, which we've not had before. My wife decided to order entirely from the appetizer menu, where I had an appetizer and an entree. So my wife got all of her food up front, when my appetizer arrived. We ate, we talked, I waited. And waited. And waited some more.

    The table that was sat after we had ordered our food received their entrees and I was still waiting - and at this point checking the clock because we had somewhere to be. I was about to ask the waiter passing by our table to check on my food when it was brought out with an apology for the delay. Okay, stuff happens, I can let this go.

    Then I started eating it. My entree was sliced duck in ginger sauce over bok choy. The bok choy seemed fresh and was well prepared. The ginger sauce was tasty. The duck, however, was really, really overcooked. Like "it was dry and tough in the middle despite being slathered in sauce" overcooked. I was starving and we were getting short on time, so I decided to just power through and never order this dish again. But 3 bites into my food, I found a human hair in it. Too long to be my own, by several inches. And that is where I was done, nope, nope, nope.

    I flagged down the waiter and had a joyful exchange. To be clear, the waiter is Asian, clearly English as a second language, and I'm not trying to stereotype his speech, but it was what it was. He was able to take our order fine and answer questions about the stuff before we placed our orders, so his understanding seemed fine to this point.

    Me: I'm sorry, we normally love your food here, but this entree is just not good. The duck is very overdone and then I found this hair in my food. *pointing to hair on the plate*

    Waiter: Oh, so the food not good?

    Me: Uh, no, it's not good.

    Waiter: What's problem?

    Me: The duck is overcooked. Very tough and not good. And there was a human hair in the food. And it's not my own hair.

    Waiter: So, not good?

    Me: No, not good.

    Waiter: You want to take with you?

    Me: It's bad and contaminated. No, I do not want it. Just please bring the check, we need to leave. *Thinking: And your tip is dropping rapidly*

    Waiter: Okay, I get box for you. *runs off*

    Me: *sigh*

    He comes back and I ask for a manager. We got through basically the same spiel as above. The waiter runs off, then comes back, to say the manager offered me free ice cream. I refuse and again ask for the check. The waiter leaves, then comes back to offer to remake the entree. We go around the carousel again about the problems and the fact that my wife & I need to leave. He promises to get the check and leaves.

    At no point did the 'manager' come out of the back, there was no actual apology, and we were short on time, so after leaving the restaurant, I got a slice of pizza from a shop that was on our way just so I could have a little more food in my belly.

    I did send an email to the company, to the address listed on their website, which came back undeliverable. I checked the email address and tried again, same result. I called to speak to someone about it, got a guy who says he is the manager, went around the 'not good' merry go round one more time with him 'trying understand problem'. He offered me a 20% discount off the entree if I came back and ordered it again, though still did not apologize for the bad food or the prior experience. I asked him to refund to my credit card the cost of the entree. He then starts in with 'can't understand' a few times and hung up on me as I was repeating myself.

    My wife says I'm not being nice enough, but seriously, I don't think A) an apology is out of line and B) a refund is not nice to request. At no point did I yell, or scream, or call anyone names and I really don't think I was unreasonable. It just seemed the were fine communicating with me until I wanted them to make it right, through the entire process. My wife is more of the 'just don't complain and don't get it again' sort, so we have differing views on how this should go.

    Anyway, thanks for letting me vent, hope you enjoyed the words. They're at least better than overcooked hairy food, I hope.

  • #2
    Perhaps a call to your local health board is in order? Especially if the manager seems to be willfully failing to understand the problem you have with other people's hair being in your food.
    You're only delaying the inevitable, you run at your own expense. The repo man gets paid to chase you. ~Argabarga

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    • #3
      Amen to Kittish... and if that was me, they wouldn't be one of my favorites anymore.

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      • #4
        Quoth Mental_Mouse View Post
        Amen to Kittish... and if that was me, they wouldn't be one of my favorites anymore.
        Yeah, it's going to be a while before we go back again, for sure. I will give them one more chance - this is the first time in years I've had any issues there.

        The old guy who used to run the place has been gone for some time and I get the impression that the new management may just run it into the ground. I know their other restaurant, about 30 miles north of us, saw a serious drop in quality and then closed a couple years ago, after many decades in business.

        Fortunately, our other favorite Chinese place is doing a booming business under their new ownership and with an expanded menu that includes Thai curry.

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