When should a restaurant NOT comp a

meal?
I've noticed a few "worst experience ever" threads that share a few similar characteristics:
1. Expectations for the restaurant were set extremely high by other posters ("Best meal ever!").
2. The diner goes on a busy night (usually Friday or Saturday) and complains about crowds OR
attentiveness of servers.
3. The diner goes on to complain about how the soup was over/underseasoned or that the salad
didn't "knock my socks off." (Is any salad capable of this? We're talking about leaves and
dressing, right?)
4. They're either indifferent to the main course (excessively high expectations maybe) OR they
order something for which the restaurant isn't well known for (steak usually, or some food at an
ethnic restaurant for which that ethnicity isn't really well known for cooking well).
5. Instead of telling the servers immediately, they say they got tired of waiting for the server to
show up, then proceed to eat the entire meal because they were hungry.
6. Diner tries to get the meal comped. Sometimes the manager does this grudgingly; sometimes
they offer a dessert or drink.
7. Diner claims this as their "worst meal ever."
I'm not doubting the diner had a bad time. I think everyone has had meals that didn't meet
expectations. But I have to wonder how much of this is the fault of the restaurant and how much
is because of unreasonable expectations perpetuated by other Hounds? Check any thread
discussing "Best Restaurant in (insert any city)" and amid all the glowing reviews, there are
always a handful of "Worst Meal Ever" or "Most Overrated" posts. Comping meals isn't "free;"
the cost of those meals comes out of the restaurant's bottom line and that cost is passed on to
every person who dines there. I guess my point is "is the customer really always right?" and if
not, should the restaurant comp the meal anyway, even though the diner probably still won't be
happy with the experience?
1. Years ago I worked as a waitress in a restaurant and diners baffled me with their creative
ways of trying to get their meals comped. I personally feel they should be comped if they
took a couple bites of the meal and really didn't like it. Or, if the meal took so long to
prepare that by the time it arrived they couldn't eat it because they had to leave. You
shouldn't have to pay for what you don't consume.
If a customer consumes an entire meal and then tries to say it was terrible and they want
their money back, I don't think that is appropriate. I wouldn't give them anything except a
customer appreciation card!(Since they ate all their food, they surely must come back for
more!)
If the service really was so bad that the diner got their food delivered late or condiments
delivered so late they couldn't eat their burger, surely they should be comped. But
restaurants can't afford to constantly comp a meal. This is where good managierial
decision making is important.
1. Years ago I worked as a waitress in a restaurant and diners baffled me with their creative
ways of trying to get their meals comped. I personally feel they should be comped if they
took a couple bites of the meal and really didn't like it. Or, if the meal took so long to
prepare that by the time it arrived they couldn't eat it because they had to leave. You
shouldn't have to pay for what you don't consume.
 If a customer consumes an entire meal and then tries to say it was terrible and they want
their money back, I don't think that is appropriate. I wouldn't give them anything except a
customer appreciation card!(Since they ate all their food, they surely must come back for
more!)
If the service really was so bad that the diner got their food delivered late or condiments
delivered so late they couldn't eat their burger, surely they should be comped. But
restaurants can't afford to constantly comp a meal. This is where good managierial
decision making is important.
1. Restaurants should only comp meals if there was a big mistake made on their part. If a
diner simply doesn't like their dish or it didn't "wow" them, that is the risk of dining out.
If people expect a comp every time they got a less than stellar meal, restaurants would go
out of business fast.
This reminds me of a poster who asked about offerings in my town. Numerous people,
including myself, recommended a local favorite. The poster went and ordered the only
non-fish, non-meat meal on the menu - something that nobody suggested - and then said
the food was way over rated and over priced. Um, why not order what people raved
about? If you wanted vegetarian, nobody would have suggested that place!
Permalink | Reply

mojoeater Jul 28, 2009 06:39AM

1. re: mojoeater
This seems to happen a lot with steakhouses. A group or couple go to a
steakhouse, but one person doesn't like steak or is a vegetarian. So they go to the
steakhouse and the non-steak person orders something like a crab cake or a couple
appetizers or the spaghetti or a bowl of tofu, and they're inevitably disappointed.
Yet almost every restaurant, regardless of speciality or ethnicity, offers a burger
dish or a grilled chicken caesar salad for the people who don't want whatever that
speciality/ethnicity is. Bewildering.
Permalink | Reply

monkeyrotica Jul 28, 2009 07:03AM

1. re: mojoeater
Correct. Comping arises not from Restaurant Meh! but Restaurant Fail! (and not
just fail subjectively but objectively: and comping only applies to the specific
failed meals, not necessarily the entire table unless the fail was table-wide in
nature, which is much rarer still).
Customers who expect comping when it's not appropriate fall into the Customer
Fail! category.
Permalink | Reply

Karl S Jul 28, 2009 07:35AM

1. Those people really grind my gears. You know what I do if I don't like the food I get at a
place? I don't go back. (not entirely true, I'm usually willing to give a second chance)
 Permalink | Reply

jgg13 Jul 28, 2009 08:40AM

1. To expect a meal that you have eaten to be comped is ridiculous. If I get something really
bad or cooked totally incorrectly (usually an overdone steak), I just send it back. If I eat
the meal and think it was terrible, I will happily tell them that their food is horrible, but
certainly not expect it to be free. I just don't go back.
Permalink | Reply

bnemes3343 Jul 28, 2009 08:57AM

1. I have never "asked" for a comp! I just wouldnt know how to vocalize that!? but I do
recall one time eating about 80% of a dish and finding a 5/8" fine thread, hex-head nut in
the bottom of the bowl(also found the cotter pin that apparently was in charge of keeping
said nut on its respective bolt.....is that a cotterFAIL?). After pointing this out to the
server with my only intention being to let someone know that a piece of equipment was
obviously needing some attention, they took the dish off my bill. I did not insist on
paying.
That being said, I have been back numerous times and do not hold such an obviously
accidental incident against them. Nor would I have asked for the meal to be comp'd. My
fellow diners never cease to baffle me........
Permalink | Reply

nkeane Jul 28, 2009 01:08PM

1. I do remember finding half a tomato sticker in my burger at the local brew pub, and my
waiter didn't even comp my drink. I mean I'll still go back to the restaurant, i like it and
the experience was rather a fluke. However, I thought he might be a little sensitive when I
told him. He also was new, and I don't think the thought even occurred to him.
Permalink | Reply

adventuresinbaking Jul 28, 2009 01:47PM

1. re: adventuresinbaking
Stray items in food that definitely should not be there (bugs, body parts, once I
had a broken-up toothpick -- not the one meant to hold the sandwich together --
embedded in my burger, and I think that counts) should merit a comped meal.
Stray items like a random shrimp in your chicken dish or a piece of green pepper
in your mushroom omelette shouldn't, I think, unless the diner has an allergy to
the food in question.
Permalink | Reply

merrymc Sep 22, 2009 09:44AM

1. You order a meal, you get a meal, you pay for a meal. If you don't like the food, don't go
back to the restaurant. What's so hard about that?
 There are times when a comp is an appropriate goodwill gesture. If a server spills a drink
down the back of my neck, or if a valet pulls the car into traffic without looking and gets
into a fender-bender, or if there's a paver missing from the patio and my wife steps in the
hole and takes a tumble, then I expect the restaurant to make it right - not just the cost of
dry cleaning, body work, or a doctor's visit, but something for the hassle and the negative
impact on the evening's enjoyment. But to expect a comp because you aren't blown away
by the food? Sheesh.
Permalink | Reply

alanbarnes Jul 28, 2009 01:50PM

1. I'm a restaurateur. Thank goodness there are folks around like you! All of the above posts
made my day.
The only people I like less than those who connive to get a comp are people who "beg"
for more liquor ("make it a strong one!") when I'm pouring a drink.
I will absolutely not comp a meal that's been more than 40% consumed. And sadly, over
the years, there were three customers who got their meal and drinks comped, because I
just felt so bad about their experiences. And what happened? Did they come back and
give me another chance? Nope.
Instead, these three plastered their bad experience all over the internet. I mean, Yelp!,
CitySearch and Menuism to name a few. When one goes to these sites and reads the nice
preponderance of kind reviews, to see the skewering I get (and blatant lies told) should let
people that there's something up with the posters -- not the restaurant.
Like so many other Chowhounders, if there's just no hope for a restaurant, I'll vote with
my feet and go elsewhere. Life's hard enough without having to re-play all of my less-
than-pleasant restaurant experiences on the inter-web.
Permalink | Reply

shaogo Jul 28, 2009 02:10PM

1. re: shaogo
Damned if you do damned if you don't.
Customers have an expectation to be comped for every minor problem. Good
example is the above poster complaining about the tomatoe label in his burger is
that customer.
Permalink | Reply

monku Jul 28, 2009 02:41PM

1. re: shaogo
This reminds me of the classic bad experience story (anyone who can recollect the
source for this is very welcome to chime in - I don't believe its apocryphal but I
don't remember the source). A woman went to a restaurant (I don't recall if she
was a previous regular or not) and experienced absolutely awful service. She gave
a great tip to the server. The next time she went, she had the same server, who
 treated her like gold. This time, as she left, she called the server over and gave a
penny tip, with roughly the following politely delivered admonition: this is for my
last experience here - the tip you received the last time was for today's service -
just so you know that you should never let what happened the last time ever
happen to any of your customers again.
Permalink | Reply

Karl S Jul 29, 2009 11:24AM

1. A few months back, I went to a local bistro. Loved the starter. Cleared the plate on my
main. Loved my dessert.
When I'd finished my main, I was asked how it was. I said it was fine but had found the
sauce rather too sweet and suggested the chef might like to review that. When the bill
came, I found that the whole of my meal had been comp'd . Ludicrous and such a stupid
loss of profit - which is exactly what I told the manager who replied "You didnt like it,
you don't pay".
They're not going to be in business to long with daft attitudes like that.
Permalink | Reply

Harters Jul 28, 2009 02:47PM

1. re: Harters
No, actually they're building goodwill. If a business runs a "tight ship," then a
generous gift like the one the owner gave to you usually results in good word-of-
mouth buzz about the place.
Take a look at businesses which have a 100% "customer-is-always-right"
satisfaction guarantee. They're all making a lot of money.
The only time a restaurant can't afford to be generous is if they're running a very
small profit margin. However, places like that won't be in business long, for other
reasons.
Permalink | Reply

shaogo Jul 28, 2009 02:51PM

1. re: shaogo
There's a reason restaurants don't offer a "100% satisfaction guarantee".
Permalink | Reply

monku Jul 28, 2009 06:52PM

1. re: shaogo
Indeed. I've mentioned it to folk - who have promptly visited and then
tried to complain in the hope of getting a comp'd meal.
A perfectly full and acceptable response would have been for the manager
to acknowledge that I hadnt enjoyed it as much as I could have done and
 agree to raise the sweetness issue with the chef. Whether she did raise it or
the chef had ignored it is another matter - their sauce is still too sweet on
another main last time we visited and we won't be going back. Such a
shame.
Permalink | Reply

Harters Jul 29, 2009 02:54AM

1. re: Harters
There seems to be a class of people for whom the meal itself is
secondary to their need to make things difficult for servers and
restaurant owners. This includes every possible attempt to get
items comped, but also includes moving from table to table to get
just the right combination of view/AC/ambience, or looking for an
excuse to leave little or no tip. I used to think it was just frugal
people trying to get something for nothing, but I've come to
conclude that it's about them just being able to boss people around.
They could probably care less about how the food tastes, just so
long as they can complain about how it wasn't done right or they
didn't get their water refilled fast enough or whatever. I avoid
eating out with these people if at all possible.
Permalink | Reply

monkeyrotica Jul 29, 2009 04:57AM

1. re: monkeyrotica
You've hit the nail on the head. Oh, how I dread these
people (particularly the "too hot/too cold" people in a
crowded restaurant who think that their needs over-ride the
needs of the dozens of people there who're comfortable).
Permalink | Reply

shaogo Aug 11, 2009 04:34AM

1. re: shaogo
Mrs. Monkey is one of the "too cold" people; for some
reason, they always seat us directly under an AC vent that's
blasting cold air. I make it a point to remind her to bring a
sweater when we go to a restaurant. Looks pretty silly
dragging a sweater around in the middle of August, but it's
a lot less irritating than walking around in 98 degree heat,
then going into a restaurant where the AC is set to "Arctic
Tundra" and the sheen of sweat on your skin turns to ice.
Still, we don't even consider telling them to turn the AC
down and I certainly wouldn't want to be comped for it.
Permalink | Reply
 monkeyrotica Aug 17, 2009 03:55AM
1. A restaurant should NEVER comp a meal to silence a loud obnoxious patron who
threatens to complain to the franchisor, owner, BBB or write complaint letters. Or worse
threaten bad word of mouth.
Appeasement is not the answer.
Permalink | Reply

bagelman01 Jul 28, 2009 04:31PM

1. re: bagelman01
Strychnine is.
Permalink | Reply

alanbarnes Jul 28, 2009 05:32PM

1. re: bagelman01
To add to that: Should never comp a patron who plays the "Yelp card".
Permalink | Reply

viperlush Jul 29, 2009 01:25PM

1. I was at an El Chico mexican restaurant in Lufkin, Texas, having lunch with 3 golf
buddies, 2 of them buying lunch for me and my partner for having lost the morning
match. The waitress served our plates, mine was something smothered in a sea of red
sauce, and refilled our water glasses. She slipped and dropped my water glass in such a
way that it landed in the middle of the sea of red sauce, and sauce/water exploded in my
direction only, like a shotgun blast. For a few moments I could not see for all the stuff all
over me. I heard her shreik and burst into tears and she ran away and we never saw her
again. Meanwhile, my golf buddies, including my own partner, cannot contain their
laughter. They didn't get hit by a drop; I got all of it. A manager came over and said that
my lunch would be comped, which re-doubled the laughter because my buddies were
allready buying, and now the price for this great entertainment got cheaper. The manager
gave me 5 bucks to dry clean my golf shirt, but as I recall it was nice Sea Island cotton
that was permanently ruined. Stuff happens, you move on. I remained a customer; it
couldn't happen again.
Permalink | Reply

Veggo Jul 28, 2009 06:24PM

1. re: Veggo
Similar situation at a Las Vegas country club.
Ramekin of ketchup slipped off a plate from a waitress delivering food onto my
golf shirt. They told me to go to the pro shop and pick out a new one. Don't know
why, but they kept my old golf shirt and I still paid for the lunch. But, it was a $50
golf shirt. I thought I was still ahead.
 Permalink | Reply

monku Jul 28, 2009 06:48PM

1. I agree with a lot of these posts - people should generally not get comped for a meal
already eaten unless there is some extreme reason to do so. My experience as both a
former waitress and as a frequent diner is that often people who actually deserved a comp
didn't expect it, and were happy enough with a genuine apology/ replacement. But there
is another kind of customer who will NEVER be happy and almost seems to relish an
opportunity to complain loudly. And they will still complain even if you comp them. I
once was dining at a small struggling restaurant and watched a woman send back a meal
three times, and not because something was wrong, but because this red sauce isn't
"doing it for her", so could she please try it with a different sauce? And she was also
sending back wine after she tasted it, not because it was off, but because "hmmm,
something sweeter might be nice, could I try X instead?"
I think one down-side to the internet is that food becomes about "where is the absolute
best Pho, which is the best chocolate malt etc." which can be fun, but also causes people
to lose sight of other parts of the dining experience, and sets really high standards for
restaurants to live up to.
Permalink | Reply

Jitterbug Jul 29, 2009 11:14AM

1. i have a problem with people who think that finding a hair in their food is so gross, that
they deserve a comped meal. I'd give a free dessert at the most.
Permalink | Reply

TroyTempest Sep 25, 2009 10:50AM

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