So.. I (22F) and my boyfriend (23F) were going for a dinner in a restaurant that he works at as a pastry chef. I ordered a Caesar tortilla, and, after 45 of waiting, recieved a Caesar salad. I said to him that’s not what I have ordered, and he told me to wait, and that he will go to the kitchen and make me a tortilla.
After a few minutes, he came back with the plate. It was just the previously made salad stuffed in the tortilla (the crispy breadcrumbs from the salad were inside). I told him that I am not going to eat that, because that is not what I ordered. He told me that that’s basically the same thing and that I should just eat it. But, it’s not the same thing. I especially wanted the tortilla because of the crispy bacon and the cheese that melts inside, but in the salad there are just thin slices that I don’t even like the taste of.
He told me that the kitchen will close soon (when I ordered it was 9pm, kitchen closes at 11, and the restaurant at 12) and that I should just eat it (because I was complaining for the last 3-4 hours that I am starving). I told him that that is not the point, and that we can just go somewhere else to eat. He ended up telling his colleague (the waitress) to take it of the bill and we went to a fast food place to eat.
He ended up being mad because I caused a scene and made him ashamed in front of his colleagues. Mind you, I am the quiet type, so I have just told him that I won’t eat that, and than he talked to his colleague. Soo.. Am I the asshole for hot just eating something that I didn’t order?
EDIT: more context:
It went down like this: I told the waitress: ,,Excuse me, but I’ve ordered the tortilla” She seemed annoyed, but said: ,,Oh, okay, we will make it”.
My boyfriend than told me to wait and went down there to make me a tortilla. When he came back with the dish, I told him that I do not wanna eat the salad stuffed in the tortilla, and that it is not important anymore, that we can just go anywhere else to eat (in a normal tone, I really wasn’t mad, just hungry). He told me: ,,Just eat it.” I refused, he then called the waitress and told her to take it off the bill. We left, I ate somewhere else.
He told me that I have embarrassed him, because him telling his colleague to take it off the bill is “causing a scene’. That’s the whole story. He had been working there for a few months, and he got the job because my dad’s good friend is the co-owner.
NTA, you didn’t cause a scene and they should be getting customers orders right. You were a paying customer and you shouldn’t have to pay for something that you didn’t order or eat.
NTA
You didn’t make a scene. He is the one who decided to take the dish back to the kitchen, and he is the one who decided to mention the issue to the waitress.
NTA. You didn’t get what you ordered. Period. Whether your BF works there or not, the order was wrong.
NTA, he should be ashamed of whoever fucked up the order and for the wait time. I’d be embarrassed if that was my place of work.
NTA – It always shocks me when restaurant staff get upset when you insist that you get what they are going to ask you to pay for. This could have been avoided if the restaurant simply provided adequate service and the correct item. Him stepping in to make it “right” didn’t help things at all. I’m guessing he didn’t want to be “that customer” at a restaurant in which he works.
Having years of experience in the past in food service, I found out fast that it’s never a great idea to patronize the place you work.
I work in a restaurant. If a significant other / friend/ family of someone who works here would come, it would be the highest priority to get them the food right and on time. It’s like a VIP costumer. I don’t think you are the AH, especially if you pay for what you order just as everyone else. Maybe the culture where he works ia a bit more “toxic” than what i think is right, and that’s what really makes him uncomfortable, but in any way you did anything wrong here.
I’ve had places I’ve worked at get family members orders wrong and it’s so fucking embarrassing to me.. and I definitely let my coworkers know they fucked up my family’s food and I didn’t appreciate it. If I was the BF I’d be more annoyed at my coworkers than the person I brought with me that got the wrong order.
Yes, thank you! When I worked in restaurants, family and friends of coworkers/owners were considered special guests! We always went out of our way to get them some freebies and make sure service and food were extra on point.
I’d have been MORTIFIED to not only make her wait 45 minutes for a Caesar wrap, but also to not even make her the correct Caesar item *and then* send out a *second* incorrect item?! I’d be profusely apologizing to OP, OP’s bf, and trying my best to make it up to them. Tbh I think I’d do that for any guest, cause that’s just embarrassing, but especially for coworker guests.
Bf and resto both sound sketch, and like they don’t have a good work relationship. Poor OP catching strays for it. I hope she grabs a nice Caesar wrap today and has a good think about him.
NTA. And he shouldn’t have gone into the kitchen himself to remake it (especially given his thing is pastry). Mixups happen in restaurants and they know how to handle them. All you have to do is say something like “I’m sorry, there seems to have been a mixup, I ordered ABC and this is XYZ.” The server would have taken it back and brought out the correct thing and everybody would have forgotten about it five minutes later. Seems like your boyfriend was so obsessed with you not making a scene that he ended up making one himself.
You are NTA as you did not cause a scene. What you received wasn’t what you asked for, especially after the delay, so you sent it back to the kitchen. He is also TA for trying to cover it up.
NTA. You didn’t “make a scene”. HE made a scene by fighting you on getting you the correct order when HIS COLLEAGUES not only had you wait an insane amount of time for the WRONG ORDER. I would have been embarrassed as hell and extremely apologetic in his shoes, not a complete asshole trying to make you the problem
It’s a restaurant, they fucked up your order, I don’t even know HOW?? Because Cesar salad and tortilla is not even close. Your boyfriend is an asshole for trying to force you to eat something you don’t want and expecting you to pay for it too just so he could avoid telling his colleagues “hey you fucked up that’s not what she ordered”. And because he’s too cowardly to say that, he “fixed” it himself in the shittiest way and then expected his half assed effort to count for anything. Well if you’re not going to say something to the person whose job it is, and you decide to fix it yourself, then FIX IT PROPERLY?! Why is the comfort of colleagues more important than yours? Especially when you’re paying ?! Nta
NTA. 45 minutes for a salad? That was wrong in the first place? Nuh-uh. Big no no. I would be ashamed to serve that, or to be served that in a restaurant I worked at.
I’ve worked in restaurants for over a decade, there’s a lot of things wrong here. Your bf seems pretty new to working in restaurants, Im guessing he’s fairly recently out of pastry school and working his first restaurant job.
Typically if one eats at the place they work, they come when they know business is slow, not riggt at the peak/before they close which is what sounds like happened here. Usually youre treated like a VIP (unless theyre extremely busy) but sometimes mistakes happen, you tell the server, they fix it and maybe you tease someone playfully about it next time at work.
You never ever go back to the kitchen to do something yourself, I would throw my cooks out if they did something like that. When youre a guest youre a guest, period. And to half ass wrap up a salad in a tortilla when we could’ve just remade what was ordered? I would be livid as the chef.
And to feel embarassed about you “making a scene” when his street clothes wearing ass came back in the kitchen, got in everyones way, to make some shitty “fix” to a dish right before we’re closing? Oh man…
NTA