'I'll never forget the guy who asked for his steak "dry"': 20+ Chefs and waiters share the most ridiculous dishes their customers ever ordered

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    Facial expression - Waiters/Waitresses of Reddit, what's the most ridiculous request you've gotten from a customer at your restaurant? Technicolorlovr Technically a chef but once I got an order for a kids butter spaghetti with a side of powdered sugar.
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    Font - Waiters/Waitresses of Reddit, what's the most ridiculous request you've gotten from a customer at your restaurant?
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    Font - Blackbird6 I've posted this before, but... I worked at a place that had a lot of flavored syrups for teas and lemonades. She wanted a glass of the "mango stuff." We tried to explain that it wasn't like juice...it's straight up mango flavored syrup. She wouldn't be moved. Drank a whole glass and took one to go. Lady drank a bottle and a f king half of mango syrup.
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    Font - Dpg2304 A Mom and young son (maybe 8?) came in to the restaurant I waited tables at for lunch. The Mom asked her son what he wanted to eat, and he replied with "ranch." I politely asked if he meant, like, a salad with ranch? Or French fries with a side of ranch? The Mom looked at me, rolled her eyes in embarrassment, and clarified-he wanted a soup bowl full of ranch dressing...
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    Font - I walked into the kitchen and discussed with my manager, because I had no idea how to enter that into our POS system. My manager and I came to the conclusion that we should charge her for an entire bottle of ranch, so she paid $10.99 for a soup bowl full of ranch dressing. (Yuck)
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    Font - A crochetprozac "Can you make some organic ketchup?" Ms, I'm pretty sure all our ketchup is organically soure-- "You 'guess'?! What ing good is that to me?!" Uh.. I beg your-- "How hard is it to purée tomatos into a f ing ketchup?! Where is your head chef?!" I ended up, at the chef's behest, bringing her a small dipping dish of ketchup from a bottle. I got a "See!! How hard was that?!" For a tip too lol
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    Font - erikarew I had a customer ask what region the lobster was from in our lobster bisque, because he was allergic to shellfish but only from a certain ocean. All I could think as we had to call the head chef at home to ask about lobster source regions was that maybe the guy could...not eat the bisque.
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    Font - shannibearstar S Ive had an older gentleman ask me to smile so he could see my teeth. He told me I had really nice teeth and looked like I took care of them. He was with his adult son who then apologized and informed me that his dad was a dentist but has alzheimer's so he didn't mean to be weird.
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    Font - connaught_plac3 > Oysters! I explained we are a burger joint, no oysters. He takes off his coat, talks to his date, then stares at me for a second. > Oysters! I explain again, no oysters. > Two dozen! Oysters!
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    Font - After a third and fourth time where he barks an order at me, then acts all busy so he 'can't hear' my response, I stop and stare at him. He asks again, I just stare, he asks again, I just stare. He finally makes eye contact with me. "Sir, we are a burger joint, no oysters." He is finally forced to acknowledge me. > So go get some! We were in a casino, we were the only restaurant open at 2AM, he knew this but expected me to run around to some closed restaurant and grab raw shellfish them j
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    Font - panascope I haven't waited tables in about 10 years now but I'll never forget the guy who asked for his steak "dry." When I pressed him for what he wanted explicitly he explained that he wanted "no juice" to come out when he was eating it. I told him it would take about 30 minutes to cook his steak that done, he said that was fine and off I went. Our steaks were
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    Font - pretty miserable portions in the first place, and the cut he ordered was the smallest one on the menu, so when I returned with his tiny little 6 oz flat iron that had been absolutely desiccated on the grill he looked understandably disappointed. He took a few bites of it and decided "it wasn't very good," which was underselling how bad it looked and almost certainly how bad it tasted.
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    Font - nsa_k Table of two. They both ordered the same thing. Lady A wanted to add a salad. Sure, it will cost extra though. She said that was fine. Lady B then decided that she also wanted a salad. At the end lady B wanted to know why she was being charged for a salad. Only lady A was told that salads cost extra.
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    Font - Technicolorlovr Technically a chef but once I got an order for a kids butter spaghetti with a side of powdered sugar.
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    Font - i_am_a_toaster When I waited tables, it was before the whole "Kale is a SUPERFOOD" thing, and I worked at an IHOP where they would put a sprig of kale on every plate as garnish. I didn't even really know it was edible. I thought it was, you know, just a green thing to make the plates look fancy or whatever. A man came in one day and ordered something that came with a side, and he asked if he could have kale. I was like... the garnish? Yes, the garnish. He just wanted a bunch of kale. I wa
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    Font - AdequateSteve Friend of mine went to Cheese Cake Factory and ordered a "coffee with bailey's in it" for dessert. Took ages. Server comes back and confirms. More time goes by - the cook comes out and confirms. Finally the waitress comes back with a cup of coffee with two bay leaves in it. I can only imagine how confused they were putting that one together.
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    Font - The original_guy I used to work at an Italian restaurant similar to Olive Garden. I had a lady once order a Penne With Chicken and Broccoli... a tasty dish to be sure, but the lady requested that we make it with spaghetti pasta instead of penne because she "is allergic to penne". Not sure how exactly you're allergic to a specific shape of pasta... we'd gladly do the substitute even if she wasn't allergic.
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    Font - [deleted] Some old woman got mad at me because I told her that I wouldn't substitute the side on her meal for ANOTHER MEAL. Like she wanted $16 Meal A, and for her free side, she wanted $18 Meal B, but with absolutely no upcharge. She was like "Wow really, you're not going to do that for me? Are you serious?!" I was busy and didn't have time to play stupid games so I just said "No, I'm not going to do that for the price of one meal. You can order both meals if you'd like." She started up
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    Font - Bonus story about requesting only female servers: Another guy always refused a male server and requested a female one. If all of them were busy he would demand the female manager wait on him. He was always py and he'd try to play word games with us, presumably because he was lonely and miserable. He'd make up his own names for the dishes we served and refused to tell us what he actually wanted. One
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    Font - time I had him, he kept telling me he wanted a "large bistro-style salad", something that's not on our menu. I was sick of his s so I said "Sure thing Frank, I'll go get it right now" and walked away. He was like "Wait!" because he obviously knew we didn't have such a thing. I just kept walking and told my manager I wasn't serving him anymore. She went over and chewed him the fout in front of a full dining room, so that was cool.
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    Font - throwawayheyheyhey08. I used to work at a private dining club and got the weirdest requests. One lady in particular that stands out: she wanted a martini with blue cheese stuffed olives. We didn't have blue cheese stuffed olives. I had to personally stuff each olive with blue cheese for each martini she ordered. She also wanted her salad tossed tableside - not a thing we normally offered. I had to get a bowl from behind the line, tongs, etc. just for this bi's salad. And she wanted
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    Font - "real" butter for her bread, and insisted that the salted butter we had prepped and piped into ramekins for bread baskets wasn't real butter. It had to be sliced cold unsalted butter on a plate. She never tipped unless it was a holiday.
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    Font - I also had a regular that would insist you sat and ate with him. Management complied but I think mostly it was because he came in at odd hours, like lunch at 3 pm, when someone was usually wrapping up sidework and about to be cut anyway. He'd order for you both. He was a nice older gay man who loved to talk about the history of the town. I loved him! I often wonder what happened to him. He'd been coming in for years and years. You did have to dump the iced tea and make a new batch for him
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    Font - frothyminx I bartended all through college at this bayside bar in Ocean City, MD. Every Tuesday, we had "Senior Deck Party," where we'd set up a free buffet with all the mushy foods you can think of. The seniors would come through, grab a couple happy hour drinks, gorge on potato salad, and head out. There was this one lady named Rose that would come, take up 2 seats at the bar (one for her and one for her purse) and sit there all day, demanding the following:
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    Font - A ginger ale in a highball glass with 2 orange slices, one lime slice, a lemon slice, 3 cherries, and 2 straws. She never touched the fruit, it was only a status thing, and I was supposed to fill up her ginger ale every time it got to half a glass to restore carbonation. Any bartender will tell you, fruit is a precious commodity. This routine caused me extreme mental anguish. I should also add, SHE NEVER TIPPED.
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    Font - infinitespacegoat Gentleman ordered half a pint of San Miguel. Looks at his half-pint glass in disgust, then at me in disgust, and asks for it in a "man glass"
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    Font - [deleted] Well, reading this post reminds me of my mother's old roommate Sarah. Sarah is notorious as a particular diner. I've seen her b ize foods time and time again, and when I went to see her in her neck of the woods in LA, we went to a joint she and her boyfriend frequent. The waiters fought over who worked with her. She would take an item and customize it to infinity.
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    Font - But the worst request was at my graduation party. She ordered her own pizza, but use gluten free flour, and no tomato sauce or anything but white sauce and some pepperoni. What came out was a disgusting, awful thing I can only imagine the chef was embarrassed to have created. She then sent it back because it was not to her liking, and forced this poor kid to deal with her...four more times. I tipped the waiter a twenty when I went to the bathroom as a specific apology for her antics.
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    Font - I'm a cook at this mom and pop grill in a small town that closes at 9 on Monday-Thursdays. Every Wednesday we have this couple that shows up at 8:50 (and sometimes later) and repeatedly orders something weird or makes us alter their meals. Every single wednesday never fails. For those that dont know or dont care showing up ten minutes to close really pes the cooks off seeing as how we have most of the stuff cleaned and broken down as it takes a while to clean the kitchen and we're tired a
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    Font - an appetizer of our black bean nachos, which has the beans already mixed with beef. They decided they didn't want the beans and proceeded to have our waitress ring back the nachos but with 2 ground up hamburger patty's instead. After the server brought it to them they claimed it tasted like Taco Bell nachos (which doesn't sound that bad to me) and made her take it back and bring them the regular black bean nachos instead. Its well
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    Font - past closing time at this point and I inform the server that we tossed the old nacho meat and didn't have any left. They got pretty ped, refused to pay for the drinks they already finished, and stormed out. Haven't seen them in 3 weeks.
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    Font - PassTheChocolate I was working a banquet event. When serving a vegetarian meal, the woman was clearly upset and I asked if the meal was correct. She said yes, but "why do vegetarian meals always have to be pasta??" I offered to get her something else, like a PB&J, grilled cheese, etc. She wanted tofu.
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    Font - I informed her that we don't carry tofu, and she requested that I take the edamame from the hors d'oeuvres and make our own tofu. She was appalled when I said we wouldn't be able to make her homemade tofu on the fly while serving 300 people, but I was kind of impressed with her thinking of the idea.
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    Font - Buddy_Velvet I was trying to really set a scene and write this story out but it just doesn't make any sense so a brief summary will do. A girl ordered tacos that had onions on them. After a short misunderstanding about the components of pico de gallo the girl stated that she simply didn't want onions on her tacos. I offered to get her a new order, to which she responded "just take it to the back and take them off". Easy enough, I walked to the back and removed the onions. When I brought t
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    Font - Now why she couldn't do this herself? or what benefit there was to losing $5 I will never know, but she was polite about it so there's that.
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    Font - ODaly I used to wait tables at a vegan-friendly restaurant for a couple years. The staff were all very accustomed to dealing with particular dietary needs and habits, not just vegans, but lactose-free, gluten- free, and all manner of allergies. This meant we'd get all kinds of substitutions or questions about ingredients. That was part of the charm of the place (and frankly, maybe just about the only charm of the place) and had a small but loyal customer base. When it comes to particular
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    Font - "Luke" was probably in his late 60s, single, polite, patient, very quiet, and overall just a little bit strange. He'd order an absurd amount of food every time he came in. A normal bill for a single entree, fresh juice, and either a small appetizer or dessert would probably run $25- 30. Luke would run up bills between $80-$110. He rarely tipped more than 4 or 5 dollars, but that's not what made him a chore to deal with. It was his otherworldly appetite.
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    Font - We had a veggie juicer, and most people would order something like "carrot, ginger, orange", or "beet, cucumber, apple". Luke would order things like a "6oz ginger", or "8oz beet, garlic" and order two or three juices per meal. You could order a side of mixed veggies cooked however you wanted. Luke once ordered a plate of sautéed garlic. He'd order a cup of every soup we had available that day. The variety of house salads were some of the main sellers, and Luke would pick and choose and m
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    Font - (which was maybe one of his least strange habits, though it was tedious). He'd order an entire vegan, gluten-free cheesecake (though he had no dietary restrictions as far as I know). The cheesecake alone was maybe 14 or 16 inches in diameter and even with a discount cost him about $90. Luke would order the veggie pizza with no sauce. He'd order the coconut- chocolate malt, but ask for us to add spirulina to it (we had it on-hand as a garnish for the strawberry smoothie, but not as a main
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    Font - He'd order the curry nachos with slices of toast instead of tortilla chips. The man was deranged. He'd order in waves. Start off with a couple soups and a juice or two. Later on he'd order maybe a salad and an entree (or just more soup). He'd get a fruit smoothie and an appetizer or a la carte side. Then he'd ask about what desserts were available, maybe get some more soup and one last juice. You'd never know how much longer he was planning on staying. It was impossible to predict what he
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    Font - he decided he had enough, he'd wave you down (no matter what you were doing) and ask for his bill.
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    Font - s stormsabrewi This actually happened very recently. I was at the host stand when a lady came in, looking kind of frazzled and holding a few dollar bills. I greeted her and, as I expected, she immediately asked for quarters to plug the meter. I politely told her she could approach the bartender to get change, as I obviously don't just have a bunch of quarters in my fing apron.
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    Font - She then looked at me very sternly and said, "No, YOU will get me change from the bartender" as if I had just asked her if I could kick her dog or something. So I get this b some change, bring it back to her, and she says "Not only should you have gotten me change right away, you really should have offered to go out and add quarters to the parking meter for me." I'm not a ing valet nor your personal assistant. Im still mad thinking about this.
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    Font - paranormalvespa I waitressed a pizza place by myself during the day on the weekends. Usually on Sunday we would get busy and on this particular Sunday I had a few large tables and a couple small tables by myself. It was to the point where I was running to place orders and every time I went back to the kitchen I had at least 4-5 things I had to do (place order for table A, table E, G, and B need refills, table H's order just came out, etc.)
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    Font - So I'm literally running to place an order and grab things when this table pulls me aside. It was two elderly couples and they had already made things complicated when their friends came in and joined them so I had to place another order and they had a lot of requests. So they stop me on my way to the kitchen and one woman asked me to place an order for a salad. Her friend got one so now she wanted one. Except she didn't want the "dark green stuff." She literally asked for salad but witho
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    Font - Sorry picking the bits out of your salad that you don't want, isn't my job. Especially when I'm waitressing 5 other tables. We also had one lady come in who was VERY particular about her pizza. She had called in to order so that the pizza would be ready when they got there (this was very annoying because 9 times out of 10 the people showed up 45 minutes to an hour later and their pizza would be cold and they would complain) and this was the most ridiculous order I ever took.
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    Font - She had A LOT of toppings and was very specific about them like green peppers needed to be finely chopped and just a little bit of mushrooms and extra cheese but no too cheesy and just sprinkle on a few banana peppers and when it's cooked she wanted the crust to be just golden brown crispy but not TOO crispy. It was probably the longest ticket I ever had for one pizza. Like if you are THAT picky then make your own pizza at home.

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