Moaning Minnie in Beefeaters

[Lace Neil Singer]

Yesterday afternoon, my boyf and I went out for a meal in this new Beefeaters restaurant. We were seated, ordered our food and were waiting for it when we overheard this exchange between a woman who'd come with her husband and little boy.

She called over a waitress in a very rude way, clicking her fingers and using a very nasty tone of voice, to say that her burger was burnt. The waitress obviously couldn't see anything wrong with it, the woman went, "It's burned all round the edges, are you blind?"

Now, at grill restaurants, it's natural to get a bit of blackness at the edges of meat; it's perfectly harmless and nothing to get your panties in a bunch over. However, Moaning Minnie thought overwise. She demanded to see a manager. The manager went over, MM then went on about her burned meal. The manager offered her a free replacement burger; MM refused it. She then offered her any meal of the same price for free; again, MM refused it. She prefered to sit there in a sulk while her husband and son ate their meals.

We saw the sequel just after our own meals arrived; the manager came with the bill and offered MM her husband's and son's meals free. She asked for vouchers too, ignoring the fact that earlier she'd said she'd never come back to this restaurant. The manager said that she wasn't authorised to give out vouchers in a case like this and the free meals were all she could offer. MM agreed to this grudgingly and they all left.

Btw, mine and my boyf's meals were perfect; cuz we had the same waitress as MM and her family, we left her a big tip to make up.

[LostMyMind]

What a nut case. Must have only ate pan fried burgers her entire life. My issue is I don't like alot of "grease" in my burger, so it's hard to get them to cook "well-done but not burnt". I've had "burnt" meat before, there is a big difference from burnt and crispy.

When I saw the title, I don't know why but I thought "Oh great another veggie griping at a steak house."

[Bella_Vixen]

I can't order hamburgers at sit-down restaurants. No matter how hard I stress "EXTREMELY well done" the middle is always pink. ::gag:: But I don't bitch about it either, I eat around the pinkness and never order that particular item again.

[Lace Neil Singer]

I always order rare steak by the way, so that issue never comes up for me. I wanted to tell her to go to Maccy D's if she wants a burger with no edges to it... however, it wouldn't be as nice.

[ESS]

I can almost guarantee that she acted that way just to get her meal for free and some vouchers.

On a side now, my husband and I love Beefeaters.

[Becks]

I can't order hamburgers at sit-down restaurants. No matter how hard I stress "EXTREMELY well done" the middle is always pink. ::gag:: But I don't bitch about it either, I eat around the pinkness and never order that particular item again.

Do like I do...put a lot of ketchup on it first. Then if it's still too gross, then eat around it. Ha ha.

Nah, I actually cut it in half, and if it's still pink, I send it back. NICELY.

[JustADude]

I don't know what everyone's problem is with pink middles. RED is a problem, yeah, but you shouldn't cook good beef much past medium or you start to lose the savory goodness... and if it's not good beef, why are you eating it?

Anyway, back on topic... yeah, I agree it was all a ploy to get free food.

[phillippbo]

Y'all are making me so hungry talking about Beefeaters. When I visited my aunt and uncle in the UK back in the 90's (they lived there for a few years back then), we ate at a Beefeaters and it was great. The waitress even made me a sweet iced tea! (Being from the Southern US, sweet tea is to us what water is to the rest of the world, and we simply ask for it without thinking. Needless to say, we left a big tip.) By the way, what is it with the Brits and lemon in the Coca Cola (thank goodness all the servers we had during our stay would ask if we wanted lemon in it or not)?



Back on topic: I really wish that companies would be more selective with giving out credits/freebies/etc. When it's the first thing (or nearly the first thing) offered for a simple complaint like this one that doesn't warrant it, all that it teaches the SC is that they need to whine about the tiniest little detail and then never have to pay for food. I wonder if anybody's done a study as to how much complaints went up when freebies are offered...?

[Hempress]

I don't know what everyone's problem is with pink middles. RED is a problem, yeah, but you shouldn't cook good beef much past medium or you start to lose the savory goodness... and if it's not good beef, why are you eating it?

My mom won't eat meat that has pink in the middle, either. She says that it doesn't taste right to her. I have no room to talk, though. I like burnt everything.

[JustADude]

My mom won't eat meat that has pink in the middle, either. She says that it doesn't taste right to her. I have no room to talk, though. I like burnt everything.

Betcha her parents always cooked it well-done when she was a kid. Meat doneness, like your favorite cookie or liquor, is an aquired taste from what I can figure.

And back on topic once more: I doubt anyone here will argue about freebies increasing the number of complaints. Nine out of Ten people are honest, but that tenth'll you over every time.

[Seanette]

I don't know what everyone's problem is with pink middles. RED is a problem, yeah, but you shouldn't cook good beef much past medium or you start to lose the savory goodness... and if it's not good beef, why are you eating it?

Anyway, back on topic... yeah, I agree it was all a ploy to get free food.

I like steak medium, but refuse to eat hamburger that's less than well done. Not only is the texture repulsive to me, but there are food safety problems with underdone ground beef.

[Knightmare]

Ugh... burnt beef.
Sorry, but what's the point in eating "EXTREMELY well done" burgers and beef/steaks?
All the juices (which is NOT blood) are dried out of it, and you are just eating a burned log of what was once prime beef. No flavor, unless you like charcoal. Can't have a rib eye melt in your mouth if it's cooked well-done.

The redder, the better, I say.

Sadly, though, I don't eat as much red meat as I used to.

[Lace Neil Singer]

I agree with Knightmare. To me, eating well done steak is like eating shoe leather. My steak's gotta be bloody.

[Irving Patrick Freleigh]

Maybe the issue is e coli or something?

I think I heard someplace that e coli is found only on the outside of a cut of meat. Therefore, it is okay to have pink middles in steak because the outside was cooked long enough to kill the e coli. But with hamburger, the meat is ground up and the e coli can get inside the middle of the meat, and if that isn't cooked enough the e coli isn't killed.

[rdp78]

Yep, sounds like this woman was trying to get a freebie of something most people wouldn't even think is a problem. Hey, I like my meat well done and even if they little burnt that's okay with me. I'm kind a used to eating burnt meat any way since my dad isn't the greatest griller (sorry, dad) and he does have a tendency to over cook BBQ chicken. The funny thing is he brought a very expensive stove (let just say the amount it's enough to buy a decent kitchen set) with a grill in the middle a couple years ago and so we get grilled meat all year around but hasn't really made him a better griller.