Advice: How to complain without getting the staff in trouble?

[TealJellyfish]

I have a dilemma! Tonight me and my boyfriend went to the Gold Class Cinemas.


I forked out $67 for the tickets and another $40 on food. The movie was great, the service was brilliant. I happened to leave my lip gloss on the seat when I left and the waiter/theater guy chased me down and gave it back. I was blown away by how great their staff are. The price of admission was totally worth it to me!

BUT I left the cinema and started feeling vile. I have a severely sick stomach and have every expectation of seeing my $15 dollar nachos and my $18 dollar dessert again this evening... (The boy had food as well for those keeping track of prices)

How do I word a complaint that reflects how awesome the staff are but also points out how sick I am feeling? This wasn't how I wanted to end the night! I want to go back but I don't want anyone else to end up sick either!!! I am 99% sure it was the nachos...

Advice guys?

EDIT:Just to answer everyone who asked below.
No I am not lactose intolerant (I am very sure of this)
I have had food poisoning before so I am pretty darn sure that it is food poisoning (as opposed to a stomach bug) I started feeling sick about an hour after eating the nachos. The boy had a little of the nachos but he has an iron stomach (seriously freaking unfair)
but I ate the majority of the beef and Cheese.

I'm not looking for a refund, I paid the money happily as it was a holiday treat for me and a belated birthday gift for the boy and it was worth the money for the service, the comfy seats and lack of cell phones and screaming children!! I just want to prevent anyone else's night from ending up riding the Porceline express like me

Thanks for the advice. They sent me a feedback email (I bought the tickets online) so I am going to rate the staff A+++++ and mention in the notes that the food made me ill

[Kelly Lynne]

Hm....that's a good question. Are you sure something was actually wrong with the nachos (that is, food poisoning versus your body deciding that they were too greasy, too spicy,or too whatever). Did your boyfriend have nachos? Did he get sick too?

If you think it is something they did, I would start by praising all the good things. Include the name of the person who chased after you to give you your lip gloss if you know it. Then, mention what you had and the fact that it made you sick. Let them know that you're sure a place that takes as good care of its customers as they did that night would want to know about any possible problems with the food they're serving.

[Demonoid Phenomenon]

This must be some cinema...$67 for two tickets?!
The $40 for food is about average, though. I can match that with a soda, popcorn and a bag of candy most times...

[Emrld]

If you are positive it is a form of food poisioning . . .call the Health Department

[Sheldonrs]

All I can say is the $67.00 tickets would have made me sick.

[Jbball]

Gold Class Cinemas is all about this luxurious time at the theatres. It's like $30-35 per ticket and you sit in reclining leather seats and have personal waiters, or something. Extremely expensive for what you can get (and get better and cheaper) at home with an hdtv, movie in hd, and surround sound.

[Emrld]

And every now and again there is nothing wrong with going for a nice night out. If a person can afford it and choses to do so . . .it puts money in the economy and isn't hurting anyone . . .keeps people employed etc.
It sounds like Wicked Lexi knew what the theatre was all about and the cost isnt' in question here.
(Wicked Lexi - good for you for saving up and treating yourself)
What is at issue is how to say something was wrong with the food . . .and everything else was equal to if not above expectations.

[marasbaras]

Sounds worth it to me to not have to deal with cell phones, loud jerks, etc. So very, very worth it.

How do you ensure the staff doesn't get blamed? Talk directly to the manager and first tell him (before someone thinks "woman hater" ... I'm using this word here in the neutral case ... someone had a fit the other day on another forum about this and I'm still torqued about "wimmin" who are so stupid that they don't know that English uses "him" or "he" as the NEUTER or NEUTRAL gender case ... you'd think these man-haters would find that actually amusing) that the staff was great, service was great, etc.

Then mention that you got sick.

Then, repeat that the staff was great.

Unless the manager is a clueless git (as we've all seen from posts here, there is no guarantee about that), they'll get the clue that it was, gosh, the FOOD.

[Rapscallion]

(before someone thinks "woman hater" ... I'm using this word here in the neutral case ... someone had a fit the other day on another forum about this and I'm still torqued about "wimmin" who are so stupid that they don't know that English uses "him" or "he" as the NEUTER or NEUTRAL gender case ... you'd think these man-haters would find that actually amusing)

That part wasn't really necessary here, was it?

Anyway, I had to do training on food hygiene. Proper food poisoning can be anywhere from twenty minutes (rare and I seem to remember seafood was involved) to up to three weeks (again, rare). Usually it's within the last twenty-four hours.

Can you be absolutely certain that it was the food you had there?

Rapscallion

[Daskinor]

Well be sure it is their fault. If it is a high quality place then their nachos are could be made of real cheese. Nacho Cheese in regular theaters is lo quality and made from fake or near fake cheese. The difference between the two would be a generous amount of lactose sugar.

High quality food stuffs may have all manner of natural flavors and such, that you may not know you have an allergy too. Now if you ended up sick for days with a fever or worse then I would suspect more along the lines of food poisoning. If its just a wave of nausea and intestinal distress I would think more of an allergy. I don't know your history but if you had cheese and a creamy desert I would suspect lactose intolerance, especially if said desert is made with malt sugar.

[CaroPhoenix]

I want one of these where I live (in the States). The closes thing we have around here, is the Arlington Cinema Drafthouse.

[Andara Bledin]

Fun fact: Most cases of "food poisoning" in dining establishments are actually caused by another diner being ill rather than the food being a problem.

How tolerant are you of lactose?

I like cheese and ice cream a lot, but I'm prepared to be anywhere from uncomfortable to nearly incapacitated whenever I indulge.

^-.-^

[marasbaras]

That part wasn't really necessary here, was it?

Um, no, sorry about that. Bad day yesterday.

------------

Sounds like Lexi's going to do the perfect thing.

[JLRodgers]

Unfortunately, despite how disgusting it may seem, the main cause of food-borne illness (as food poisoning would be intentional) is normally other people's poor hygiene. If the nachos were bad, they'd of had a rush of people (as everyone eating them would be sick). It'd be more likely someone made a bathroom trip, didn't wash up, sat in your chair before you -- you picked up certain.... bacteria.... from the chair and consumed it.

It's said that when you get a food-borne illness it isn't the last place you ate - unless it's been 6+ hours (normally) since you ate there -- then it's possible, but still not a guarantee. If you called to ask, I'd see if anyone else had reported any problems and if they say "no" review what else you ate that day. If you have leftovers of it - pitch it.