Trying new restaurants can be a bit like spinning a roulette wheel, you never know what might end up ruining your night out. It’s easy enough to find out if the food is good beforehand, though tastes vary and you might catch them on an off night. But loud guests, blaring music, and dirty dishes are just some of the other risks you run when trying a new place. It does not take much to turn a night out into a disappointing dining experience.
One person wanted to hear what ruins a restaurant experience for others and the internet delivered. So get comfortable as you scroll through and be sure to upvote the most relatable examples. If you have a restaurant-ruiner suggestion, comment it below.
#1
When the background music is too loud
Image credits: CrystalQueen3000
#2
Slow service coupled to food not served hot enough because it's been sitting in the kitchen too long waiting to be delivered.
Image credits: Back2Bach
#3
You can smell that they wiped everything down with a mildewy rag
Image credits: mmarc
There is evidence that restaurants have gotten louder and louder over the last two decades. One study found that since the 1990s, the average noise level was roughly ten decibels lower than in 2018. Weirdly, this is primarily a result of customer demand. Most people don’t dine alone but feel uncomfortable speaking in a mostly silent room. You don’t want half the bar to hear your conversation after all. A lot of noise also looks attractive from the outside, telling us that there are lots of customers, no doubt for a reason.
Some specialists suggest that loud music also serves to keep the pace of dining quick. Normally, the level of noise creeps up on you only after you are seated as you slowly realize that you need to lean in to hear anything. The noise prompts you to eat faster, so you vacate the table sooner, generating more business for the location. Cacophonous music is one of those things a restaurant can get away with since some people don’t mind it at all and others tend to only realize it too late.
#4
When they don’t put price on menu. Makes me not want to order anything just incase it comes out to $30 per dish and also feel embarassed to ask for price of each item
Image credits: Theoldage2147
#5
Bad food. It could be a hole in the wall with a leaky roof and horrible service, but people will still go if the food’s good. They’ll probably just call it a hidden gem with *character*
Image credits: 4Ever2Thee
#6
When they don't treat/pay their staff well. You can tell, especially if you've worked in the industry, and it seeps into every aspect of the place. You can practically feel it oozing out of the walls.
Image credits: Hey_Its_Crosby
While less dangerous to your eardrums, many here noted that if a restaurant has a massive menu, it’s unlikely that they are going to be experts at every single item. After all, how can one venue pull off fifty-plus dishes, across at least three cuisines well? The reasoning is simple, they want to attract as many potential customers as possible. If your date is a picky eater, this sort of location could be great, as they will no doubt find something among the hundreds of items they like.
#7
I personally like a dark and quiet atmosphere where I can sit in a high-backed booth and enjoy my meal with my family. Restaurants that are too open, too bright, and have loud music playing in the background ruin it for me personally.
Image credits: X_brokeham_X
#8
A passive aggressive sign that complains about people not wanting to work anymore or some variation.And getting food poisoning
Image credits: silentbobdrummer
#9
Loud obnoxious customers. Snootiness. Ridiculously high prices. Small portions. Under or over attention by the staff. Dirtiness. Bad parking situation. Seating much too close together. Should I continue?
Image credits: ZogNowak
Speaking of menus, some respondents indicated a distrust of price-less menus, which they theorize are a method to hide the more ludicrous prices showing up these days. The origin of the idea is somewhat more benign. During business lunches or when a person was treating a group of guests, they would make sure everyone received a ‘blind menu,’ so people could order without feeling guilty. Only the person who made the reservation would get a menu with the prices on display, a setup that could probably be used in a sitcom to great effect.
#10
Being sat too close together. My elbows need air.
Image credits: Poosewees
#11
Went to a small restaurant that I've liked before. For some reason the owners decided to put up a karaoke machine in the middle of the place. With the size of the place and how loud the machine was, you could hear everything at any table.We sat down, heard a kid trying to sing Let It Go full blast and all decided to leave.
Image credits: KingofSheepX
#12
Roaches and crying babies. Together or separate
Image credits: thiccdiamonds
This practice is not as common anymore, now no one sees the price. Restaurants rely on social pressure to discourage the guest from asking for the specific price of something. There still are cases where the restaurant is acting in good faith. If you notice fish dishes where the price is ‘on request,’ or simply not shown, be sure you are getting something fresh as restaurant staff had to negotiate with fishmongers directly. Since the price would change daily based on supply, demand, and negotiation skills, it’s easier to not print a set price on a menu.
#13
Restaurants that are too bright, too loud (with music or just poor acoustics so you can hear everyone else), no music at all is also a no-no, food being served on ridiculous items rather than plates, over or under attention by waitstaff, unattended kids, tipping being expected unless it’s for excellent service (I’m from the UK and Australia where tipping is NOT expected before you come at me, k)
Image credits: hollbert
#14
When their menu doesn't match the one in their website. I'm a picky eater and plan what I'm going to order ahead of time. When I go in person and the menu is different than online, I panic a little inside. What if they don't have anything I'm okay ordering without asking for more than 1 thing taken off???
Image credits: Insanitychick
#15
Charging for ketchup.
Image credits: MinxManor
A more modern abomination, at least according to some respondents, is the QR code menu. Yes, it was more sanitary during Covid 19, yes, digital menus can be updated more easily, and yes, it’s easier than listing a hyperlink somewhere if you insist on an online menu. But way too often, it will just be a scanned pdf that forces guests to desperately zoom in to figure out what is available. It also vaguely feels like ordering something from Doordash or an equivalent, not a feeling anyone wants to replicate when actually going out.
#16
When the table you’re seated in wobbles from the slightest touch
Image credits: zexzunara
#17
cutting quality to save money. Sometimes prices need to change, I get that as frustrating as it can be (and in all fairness that can ruin a restaurant for me just because of my budget, but I think that's an exception), but cutting quality to save money doesn't just make your food worse, it makes your image worse to your regulars.
Image credits: ParkityParkPark
#18
#QR CODE MENUS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Image credits: notAgirl77
#19
A menu that's way too freaking big, saying this as a food service worker.
Image credits: N1hili
#20
No vegetarian or vegan options
Image credits: razmonkey
#21
Owners who can't treat their staff like people.#22
Tablet menus and buttons to summon waiters. I’m here for an analog, human experience ffs.#23
Waitstaff walking towards me carrying a cake and singing Happy Birthday...
Image credits: ccl_now
#24
A lot of good answers here but bugs top them all for me. The restaurant could have a 10/10 atmosphere, food, drinks, waitstaff, etc… but if I’m trying to swat flies away from my face and food every 10 seconds, my experience is ruined.I’ve left places due to this. One of my favorite places in a downtown area has an amazing outdoor patio, but there’s a bee problem there they refuse to deal with. It’s a deal breaker!
Image credits: Strongbad23
#25
When the manager comes over to have an extended conversation with us, as if we're becoming friends.
Image credits: yuribotcake
#26
When the room temp is to high.#27
mutant vampire bats just swooping around everywhere, draining the life from customers and staff#28
The wait staff and kitchen not pacing dishes appropriately or asking if we need anything 3 times in 10 minutes and then f*****g off for the next 20 when I actually needed my water refilled. Or refusing to just drop a water pitcher on the table when we ask and bringing multiple glasses of water that are 3/4s ice. I have a narrowed esophagus and am a teacher. We're basically camels that refill each night because we can't pee during the day. Give me the water I ask for so I can eat your food!#29
As a cook myself, I can say the thing that upsets me the most is all the waste. The outside really has no idea how much s**t we have to throw away because it's old, a mistake, or it's only good for a day (soup of day, mashed potatoes, etc.)#30
Microwaved food#31
I live in redneckville and some honkeytonk places like to declare their political affiliations so for me the biggest restaurants to avoid are the ones flying the Back the Blue flags or the F&@k Biden flags over the front door.#32
Finding out they did not follow critical food handling procedures.#33
No music. Something about the silence is so off putting.#34
When they have more than one type of cuisine...we are a japanese restaurant but also make "great" thai food.We make the best jerk chicken....also come try our butter chicken.
Plus this makes the menu 6 pages long
+++...when I go to new restaurant I always like to ask them what's your best dish and they say...all of it is great....SMH
That's my 2 cents.
#35
"Mandatory gratuity"#36
Inattentive, or overly attentive, wait staff.#37
When the tables are too small. Nothing infuriates me more than not having room to eat my food because the tiny table has three other plates on it, drinks, condiments/sugar caddies, what have you.Also I hate those cheap, light, metal chairs that are always freezing and make a loud noise when you move them.
And more restaurants should have purse hooks!
Image credits: meowmeow0092
#38
Warm beer on tap.#39
I hate it when employees have conversations with each other, loudly, while working! I don't want to hear it, take it out back or to the kitchen!#40
Gunshots, I guess.#41
- loud music.- loud patrons.
- loud children.
Image credits: SuperfluousPedagogue
#42
Music you have to shout over to have a conversation.#43
I personally can’t stand when the bussers or servers are going at 100% speed. Makes me feel anxious and like I need to be eating quicker.I worked at a restaurant like this and they were borderline abusive and my coworkers would literally be sprinting around trying to get 10 things done at once. I prefer a relaxing environment and I’ll wait a bit longer to get my food.
Image credits: reignthepain
#44
A rude waiter/waitress.
Image credits: guacomolelove
#45
Too much on the menu, there is no way all that is fresh, and ready.#46
Too much focus on ambiance and photogenicness and not enough on what turns out to be a basic sloppy menu#47
Lights on in the evening - ambient mood lighting is best#48
A TV always on where you can't get away from it.#49
Smell of the toilet when sitting near it#50
Concrete floors, high, open ceilings, metal or stone walls. When it's like they're trying to create the loudest, most echo-ey place possible.#51
A herd of angry ostriches.#52
Televisions. Teevee screens positioned all around the place and above the bar playing ‘the game’ and whatever other c**p. The only time it works is for some important sporting event that everybody wants to watch and listen to. Otherwise it’s constant, distracting visual noise.#53
There's a famous restaurant in Denver called Casa Bonita that had legendarily bad food. I went there once as a kid, hated it, and never went back.But people love it and will try to convince you to go. If you point out that the food is terrible, they will even agree with you but say that it's worth it for the atmosphere. And I'm always like, it's a RESTAURANT! Who cares about the atmosphere if the food is terrible?!
I heard a few years ago that it's under new ownership. No idea if the food got any better.
Image credits: KatieCashew
#54
Noise. Restaurants need to be thoughtful about how noise reverberates when designing the space, and then take other measures like playing music at a volume low enough that you don't have to strain to hear those at your table but loud enough it helps distract you from everyone else's conversations.
Image credits: ClementineJane
#55
I'm going to get hated on for this, but..Children.
However, not every child. I'm talking about the ones that the parents are obviously not putting much effort into. The ones that will run around, cause a scene, pester other diners, and just make themselves a nuisance.. And God forbid you ask them politely to stop, because then Big Mama's gotta not look at her phone for five seconds to tell you to not parent her kid.
B***h, I wouldn't have to parent your kid if you actually behaved like a parent!
#56
a bad smell
Image credits: CoffeeAlienRoom
#57
29-year industry veteran here: when you don't see/hear the FOH (front of the house) staff laughing or having fun with each other and guests. Yes, there are times when we get super-busy and have to focus (we have about a million things going through our heads), but we should still be taking moments to mess around a little bit. If I see staff that is staid and uptight and taking their jobs *wwwaaaaaaayyyyyy* too seriously, that ruins it for me. Believe me, people are an endless source of entertainment...might as well laugh about it--even the a******s. ?♀️?♀️#58
When parents let their kids run around and knock s**t over.#59
Christian music.#60
When the staff can't let you eat without constantly quizzing you.Food arrives then every 5 minutes or every time you just try to eat it 'is everything okay?' god when yeti delivery arrived in my area was a boon, the food I liked without the constant questioning.
#61
Paper straws#62
When it burns down#63
Crying babies and tables to close to each other. Honestly prefer outdoor dining for sure. Your telling me I have to sit next to Bobby and Sammy with a kid spitting his pasta out and making helicopter noises?#64
Children eat free!#65
Letting people bring their filthy dogs inside where other people are eating.#66
A uranium bomb.#67
A group of Real Estate agents doing post work drinks.#68
How sanitary the restroom is#69
Most of the time, other customers.#70
There was a restaurant I'd wanted to try for a long time. It was small and it was popular so it usually booked 6-8 weeks out.As a surprise, my husband booked reservations for us. Awesome. It was a French restaurant with a prix fixe menu and seatings at 5pm and 8pm.
Well, we get there for our 5pm seating and everyone is getting settled in by around 5:10. There were four empty seats.
Around almost 5:30, a group of six people comes to the front and says they're arrived for their reservation. If I were the hostess, I just would have turned them away at that point as wine and the 1st course were already being served. The hostess says, "Yes, we have your reservation, but it's for four, not six. I can seat only four of you." Well these a******s start making this huge scene because they said THEY made reservations for six and the restaurant f****d up. They were 100% full of s**t - this place was so popular that they called to confirm all reservations a couple of days beforehand and also confirmed the # of people the reservation was for.
I'm sure these people were just trying to bring along 2 friends. They make such a stink that the hostess calls the owner/chef, who is COOKING THE FOOD, out front to deal with it. He actually agrees to SEAT THEM. To do this, involves moving all the people on one side of the restaurant to different seats to accommodate the 2 extra people. Now the wait staff moved all the dishes, but we had to move our wine glasses, purses, jackets, etc. It was extremely disruptive and, honestly, with the scene that preceded it kind of ruined the meal for me.
We figured we'd get some kind of compensation for the disruption, but nope. Just apologies from the wait staff and that was it.
Never went back there again. Food was good, but I could NOT get past how they handled that situation, SO incredibly unprofessional.
The restaurant has since closed, not surprised.
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