Is this a place you'd want to eat at?

[fma_fanatic]

Long story short, couple has dinner during happy hour which has a no Take Out policy. The restaurant won't let one of the couple take his half eaten burger and fries home as leftovers, claiming them to be Take Out.

Would you want to eat a place like this, especially if they can't tell the difference between leftovers and take out?

http://consumerist.com/2010/03/resta...oggie-bag.html

[Salted Grump]

I've gone to a place that has a rule like that, only it specifically applies to pizzas every other thursday. Normally a pizza costs close to 20$, but on the special days, after 5 Pm they cost around 7$, but there's a rule of 'must be eaten here' so no doggybags are allowed.

Admittedly, a Pizza is a hell of a lot bigger than a single burger, but I can understand the eatery's meaning, and the worry of enabling SC's who would then whine 'but youuuu let ~them~ do it, so why can't I?'

[HYHYBT]

Sounds perfectly fine to me. The reason they "can't tell the difference between leftovers and take out" is that there isn't really one. At least, not one that could be clearly defined at any point other than where they do define it, and that is that *anything* you take out is take-out.

[TelephoneAngel]

I can fully understand the rules of the restaurant and whats to say that if they took out the half burger and chips and ate it outside and then got thirsty they wouldnt buy a drink somewhere else, whereas if they continued to eat it in the restaurant, at the oint of being thirsty they would have to buy a drink at the restaurnat.

The restaurant owner is extremely honeszt in his reply to them and actually says that he loses money on the cheap food but this is subsidised by the drinks people buy while they are eating.

[RecoveringKinkoid]

The burger is paid for, and the restaurant sold it to them at an agreed upon price. Not letting them carry it out in a leftover box is horseshit.

The barbeque place that wanted to screw me and a friend around over what is eat in (I posted about it some time ago) and what is take out is no longer in business. I'm just saying.

[Racket_Man]

who are these people???? Are they my Mommy and I am 3 years old and being TOLD explictly to clean my plate or I can not leave the table?????

I am sorry this makes no sense since I PAID for the meal (cheap or not), it is NOW my property. Unless this place is somekind of buffet or the like. what if I an suddenly full and really do not want to eat anymore NOW but maybe later have the rest as a snack. so I am being asked to waste part of my meal and money for what?????

and the sign says ' NO To Go Food' on the happy hour menu. OK I can understand that part (as in no orders for takeout only), but partially/mostly eaten leftovers????

[Irving Patrick Freleigh]

Nope. I paid for the food, I get to do what I want with it. Dumb policy is dumb. and dumb employee is dumb. You mean you really can't tell whether something is take-out or was ordered and partially eaten in the restaurant? Really?

[Dips]

I'm sure the reason is to prevent SCs deliberately over ordering to get the deal and causing them to lose money. It's another example of how SCs ruin things for everyone else.

But it's not going over well because there are plenty of non-SCs who fill up before they can finish and would like to take the leftovers home. Pissing them off leaves you with nothing but SCs.

There are some other solutions which won't be as big a PR nightmare for restaurant.

1. Raise prices for everyone so they break even and don't lose money on food. That will prevent SCs from costing them money but it sucks for people who were fine with the old rules and liked saving money.

2. Make it a buffet. Most people understand that you can't take a doggy bag home from a buffet.

3. Make it an all-you-can-eat deal between certain hours. Cut off time for ordering is 30 minutes before the deal ends. Each plate must be finished before another plate can be ordered.

This all assumes that they are prohibited by law from reducing the price of drinks which would be the most sensible way to run a happy hour. But, for obvious reasons, a lot of states have made that illegal.

[RecoveringKinkoid]

You mean you really can't tell whether something is take-out or was ordered and partially eaten in the restaurant? Really?

That was our grievance with the BB place I mentioned. They wanted to pretend that they could not tell the difference between eat in food that I had just ordered, take out food a friend had ordered at the same time.

Long involved story, which I have already posted, but bottom line is that a business that wants to pretend to be this dumb probably really is this dumb and will soon have a for sale sign out front.

And if the food is priced too low, as in the OP, that is hardly the fault of the customer.

[MaggieTheCat]

There's a Mongolian BBQ place that my husband and I go to frequently, where they give you a bowl and you fill it up with whatever meat/veggies/spices you want and they grill it for you. One bowl is something like $9 while endless bowls (as much as you can eat) is around $11-12. And you can put as much into a bowl as you can cram in there, even if it's piled high. If you only get one bowl, they let you take leftovers home. If you get multiple bowls, you can't take any leftovers home.

Their rule makes a lot more sense to me than this restaurant's rule does. Why don't they implement something that says, if a person orders ONE meal and cannot finish it, they can take it home, but make it against the rules for someone to order two or three entrees/sandwiches, eat one at the restaurant, and try to take the rest home?

[draggar]

The burger is paid for, and the restaurant sold it to them at an agreed upon price. Not letting them carry it out in a leftover box is horseshit.

Why are they so strict on leftovers? Are they planning on re-using the leftovers??

[eltf177]

Why are they so strict on leftovers? Are they planning on re-using the leftovers??

Why does this remind me of THE SIMPSON'S episode where Krusty gets caught stapling half-eaten burgers together for resale?

[CrazedClerkthe2nd]

Why are they so strict on leftovers? Are they planning on re-using the leftovers??

No. If you read the owners response from the article, the reason for the "no doggy bag" policy is to prevent SCs from ordering 10 cheap burgers, eating 1 and then taking the rest home with them, which would cost the restaurant money.

I wonder what would happen though if you went to a place like this and brought a container of your own to take the food home in? Could they prevent you from doing this in any way? I'd say not, I mean like Irv and others said, if the food is paid for, then I should be able to take it home if I want.

[Eric the Grey]

No. If you read the owners response from the article, the reason for the "no doggy bag" policy is to prevent SCs from ordering 10 cheap burgers, eating 1 and then taking the rest home with them, which would cost the restaurant money.

There is a big difference in these cases. The one you describe is clearly someone taking to-go food (ordering more than 1 meal) and the other is someone simply not able to finish their meal, which happens more than occasionally.

Personally, I'd have the manager at my table telling me to my face, and me telling him how stupid their rule is. I'd be the SC here real quick.

As to the "bring your own container and let them stop you" crowd, I'd be tempted to be one of them. You can buy your own re-usable to-go containers.


Eric the Grey

[HYHYBT]

And there's the problem: the word "clearly." Where, precisely, do you draw the line if not at "nothing at all goes home?" What's the difference, outside of the customers' own mind, between someone who intended to eat the whole meal and cannot, and someone who wanted less to begin with (say, a smaller burger, or just the burger *or* fries instead of both) and intentionally orders more so as to get around the "no take-outs" rule?