Poor Menu Description Is Enough To Send A Dish Back. Here's Why

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Eating at a sit-down restaurant can be a fun way to meet up with friends or celebrate a big life event. However, there's no restaurant experience more bitterly disappointing than reading a mouth-watering description of a food on the menu, only to receive something that barely resembles what you thought you ordered. While many people simply eat their meal regardless of this, it's perfectly acceptable to ask your waiter to take the food back if it isn't what you expected. It isn't one of the most commonly known red flags for restaurant food, but it is a red flag nonetheless.

While it's expected for food to vary slightly in preparation from location to location and from cook to cook, it's unfair to pay for a dish when you didn't understand what you were getting. The idea behind an exchange of money for goods is that you agree to the payment because you think it is a fair price for what you've been offered; just as you wouldn't pay for a piece of furniture you don't like or clothing you find ugly, you don't want to pay for food that doesn't meet your standards.

In addition to a poor menu description, menu images are sometimes misleading. After all, there are food stylists whose entire job is to make food look better in images, commercials, and movies. However, if you find that an image on the menu completely misleads you about what you're getting, don't be afraid to bring it up with the waiter. After all, other people have probably had the same thing happen, and it's worth bringing to their attention when the menu doesn't accurately reflect what they're serving. This is especially true if the food contains an undeclared allergen, as this could potentially be life-threatening. Something like a stray peanut may not be a big deal to you, but it could land another person in the hospital.

Even when they have concerns, some people don't send food back to the kitchen for fear of annoying the wait staff. While this is a legitimate concern and you always want to be polite to your waiter (for, as Anthony Bourdain wrote in his book, "Kitchen Confidential," it can save your entire meal), most waiters don't mind when a dish is sent back. On an r/Waiters Reddit thread, many people who have worked in the service industry expressed that they prefer when customers make issues with their food known rather than waiting to complain at the end of a meal. Just make sure you stay respectful, and don't refuse to tip the waiter, as what happens in the kitchen isn't their fault.