'No other pizza place would do that for him': 30+ Quirky customers who requested waiters bring them the weirdest food ever

Author image for Remy Millisky
Remy Millisky • Writer and Editor
Oct 31, 2023 3:00 PM EDT

When you go out to eat at the same place over and over again, it's often because you love everything about the restaurant. Maybe it's a pizza parlor with red booths and perfectly crispy pizza. Or perhaps you enjoy a quiet fancy restaurant where the appetizers are delectable and the conversations last for hours. However, some people enjoy going to the same restaurant on repeat for another reason—they've "taught" the staff members exactly how they like their food to be prepared. 

Whether these customers have dietary restrictions they didn't understand, or were just incredibly picky eaters, these waiters and chefs shared their stories of the customers who left them speechless. One of the most shocking ones is #35-#37. The waiter explains that they were serving a large group, who were supposed to received filet mignon. Instead, when they arrived at the restaurant, they were surprised to learn that the group wanted BLTs. Not just any old BLT: this group wanted sienna-colored bacon, and they listed out the exact order the ingredients should be placed on the sandwich to avoid soggy bread. And of course, like many of the customers here, they sent it back to the kitchen. 

Scroll down to read these eye-opening stories of quirky orders. Then, when a contractor ordered some steel trade workers to shovel snow, they refused, packed up the site, and left. 

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  • 01
    Food
    via Louis Hansel on Unsplash
  • 02
    Font - Waiters of Reddit, what's the most ridiculous order someone's placed and how did you deal with it?
    via u/evil_snow_queen
  • 03
    Font - Aeorik I worked at a national pizza chain for a while as a manager. We used to get this guy who would order all the time. He was lactose intolerant so couldn't have cheese, and had severe heart burn when he ate red sauce. He would order an XL Supreme with no sauce and no cheese. I told the guy if i did that, the toppings would just fly all over the box but he didnt care. We ended up just baking the dough separate from the toppings and put the toppings in a small wing box on the side for h
    via u/Aeorik
  • 04
    Font - stylinghead Not a waiter but a cook. Had a lady order her tofu scramble burnt. So I cooked it hard. She sent it back because it wasn't burnt enough. So I cooked it harder. She sent it back again and the waiter said she really wants it burnt. So I got a wok super hot, put too much oil in and proceeded to burn the C out of it. My chef came by and lost his s
    via u/stylinghead
  • 05
    Font - I explained it to him and he watched me burn just ruin the thing. It was black and smelled like a tire fire. She ate all of it and said we were the only place to get it right. She came back every weekend for it and we had to train new cooks how to burn the living f out of her food for her. I still can't comprehend why she would eat that.
    via u/stylinghead
  • 06
    Font - dudervoog I once had a guy place his order, and then say "And give me one of those spaghetti appetizers." I had been working there for a couple months, and we had no pasta dishes whatsoever on the menu. I politely tried to clarify this, but he wasn't having it. He just kept getting more irate. He insisted that he eats here all the time, and he always gets the spaghetti appetizer.
    via u/ dudervoog
  • 07
    Font - Eventually, he gets up from his table, storms over to another one, and points at what he wants on another diner's table. He was pointing at their cole slaw. And yes, as far as he was concerned, I was still the a for not knowing what he was talking about.
    via u/ dudervoog
  • 08
    Font - Notsocreativeeither. The strangest request! When I worked for Starbucks, I helped open the first drive thru store in the area so it was a learning process for some customers. A lady orders in the drive thru lane an iced venti vanilla latte with 22 sweet n lows. Me: 22 sweet n lows, like two two?? Customer: sigh yes 22 sweet n lows. Me: OK, please pull up.
    via u/Notsocreativeeither
  • 09
    Font - Now at the drive thru we put the extra milk and sugar in the drinks for the customers, when in a cafe they would add it on their own. So, the person working the bar looks at me like for real this lady wants 22 packs of sweet n low in her latte? That's what she said so that's what we made her.
    via u/Notsocreativeeither
  • 10
    Font - They lady pulls up and pays for her drink. I hand it over and tell her to have a nice day. She stops and says "oh, can I get those sweet n lows now?" I just looked at her and said that they were already in her drink, boy was she !! P Р She wanted us to hand her 22 packs of sweet n low in the drive thru so that she could take them home.
    via u/Notsocreativeeither
  • 11
    Font - crigsdigs I worked at a pizza parlor, and the most ridiculous request was one that could have been so simple. A lady calls and orders a "small pepperoni pizza with no pepperoni"] clarify and ask her "So just a small cheese?" To which the woman, clearly annoyed by my lack of understanding, says "NO. A small pepperoni with no pepperoni." I again clarify and ask "You want a pizza with sauce and cheese only?" "Yes." "Ok so a cheese pizza." "NO I WANT A SMALL PEPPERONI WITH NO PEPPERONI."
    via u/crigsdigs
  • 12
    Font - We made her a cheese pizza. She didn't call and complain. Still not sure what the she thought she was ordering.
    via u/crigsdigs
  • 13
    Font - MonkeyInATopHat I had a woman call me back to the table because I didnt place her nachos close enough to her. She asked me to push them closer to her.
    via u/MonkeyInATopHat
  • 14
    Font - llkylej15 Customer asked for a spaghetti with a side of more noodles and extra sauce because they were going to share. So, I said "you'd like one spaghetti and then an additional order of spaghetti?" They told me I wasn't getting it and they just wanted extra noodles and some sauce on the side. I told them we would have to charge for extra noodles, and they ended up not wanting it. They somehow thought free spaghetti was a reasonable request.
    via u/llkylej15
  • 15
    Font - Had a lady order our filet mignon, when it was brought out to her she said with disgust that she had ordered the filet, not a steak. She proceeded to argue that a filet mignon was a type of baked potato rather than a steak.
    via r/AskReddit
  • 16
    Font - ezekielragardos I worked at as a server at a ritzy country club on cape cod and this women once brought in a paint chip and told me she wanted her cosmopolitan to be the exact same color as her pink paint chip
    via u/ezekielragardos
  • 17
    Font - scatterb Oh how I miss my old regular. We are not a fine dining establishment, it's a small family style Italian restaurant. This lovely gray haired gentleman would call ahead so that we could put a salad bowl in the freezer for him. After that I would go to his spot at the bar (or the closest one open to it) and set a large dinner napkin down (that he placed his salad/meal on). I would then place an empty wine glass with a napkin over it (per his request), just in case the dinner napkin
    via u/scatterb*****
  • 18
    Font - Once he got there I would go to the back and make his specific salad: Very little lettuce, extra mushroom, extra tomato, extra onion, no shredded cabbage, and no cucumber. That would be after I get him two ice cold beer glasses for his 70/30 sweet/unsweet tea mixture with an extra glass of ice. He would then attempt to engage in a 5-10 minute conversation about our specials for the evening, and how he could alter them.
    via u/scatterb*****
  • 19
    Font - The guy came in between 3-6 nights a week and always tipped fairly. He was the kind of nice old guy that would get you and your wife birthday cards because that stuff was important to him. He then moved 45 minutes away and we never see him anymore. Miss the h out of that old man though.
    via u/scatterb*****
  • 20
    Font - I_Dont_Live_Here One couple in particular made the chef rage so hard she just walked out. Wife orders some meal and makes a ton of changes to it. She gets the plate takes one bite and sends it back because she doesn't like it. Husband orders $60 lobster plate. The lobster tail comes with pepper sprinkled on top. The husband sends it back and wants a whole new one with no pepper on top. Apparently his wife wanted to try one piece but doesn't like pepper.
    via u/I_Dont_Live_Here
  • 21
    Font - Shanelol As a waiter at a coastal restaurant, we occasionally had dolphins come in the harbor right to where people would eat. These two old ladies came in and before they placed their orders, demanded I release the dolphins for their amusement. It took a good 10 seconds of silence before I realized they were serious. I passed this request onto my manager and then continued to eat free jumbo shrimp.
    via u/Shanelol
  • 22
    Font - Rock_Hound I had a 4 top once that one of the gentlemen was ordering and asked for extra onion, and he made extreme emphasis on EXTRA ONION. So I go to put the order in and I have to talk to the chef to make sure he understands EXTRA ONION. So when the order comes out, I get a side plate of a cut WHOLE ONION. I giggle and take the order to the table. I put the orders of food in front of all the other guests and leave onion man for last. I set
    via u/Rock_Hound
  • 23
    Font - his plate of food and extra onion down, he looks up at me and starts laughing. The whole table is now laughing. Im like dafu Apparently wherever they go, no matter what he always has to ask for MORE onion, and this time my snarky chef nailed it.
    via u/Rock_Hound
  • 24
    Font - I used to work at Whole Foods as a juicer and this one guy would come in everyday and order 12 ounces of garlic juice to go (which is like 20 dollars btw). After a couple weeks of seeing him order the same thing I asked him to drink it in front of me because I didn't believe it was humanly possible to ingest that much garlic. He downed it all in front of me and said this "along with much garlic comes much loneliness" i laughed and he said "no seriously I work from home".
    via r/AskReddit
  • 25
    Font - [deleted] I worked in fine dining for a while. I had one lady order creme brulee french toast with a fruit loops crust and a bottle of champagne with 2 carafes of orange juice. We made it. Actually we made a whole batch and the workers ate it. It was actually really good. • It was a hotel restaurant
    via u/[deleted]
  • 26
    Font - quokka_808 "I'll have a cold grilled cheese please" -so, uncooked? "no, cook it, just serve it cold"
    via u/quokka_808
  • 27
    Font - ObliviousIrrelevance. Had this skinny guy order two full lobster plates and a ribeye steak. I just sat back and watched him dominate it all.
    via u/ObliviousIrrelevance
  • 28
    Font - MrsChicken Pam I was waitressing at a banquet once, and the meal was over, now time for coffee and speeches. I pour coffee for a table, and a man points at his cup and says, "I'll need a refill in 7 minutes." So, I set my timer, and returned in 7 minutes. "7 minutes again?" I ask, and he nods. So, I returned every 7 minutes and topped off his coffee for the rest of the banquet. At the end, he hands me his business card - owns a personnel placement agency. Says, "If you ever need a job, ca
    via u/MrsChicken Pam
  • 29
    Font - D [deleted] A man sent back his plate because his hash browns were too hot. Like dude, just wait a little bit.
    via u/[deleted]
  • 30
    Font - [deleted] A customer ordered a 'triple Grandpa burger'. This is a common mistake customers often made with us. A Grandpa burger is a triple patty burger, so they often say 'triple Grandpa burger' when really they just mean the one 3-patty burger. But after this one guy I always clarified that was what they wanted because this guy actually wanted a 9-patty burger. I asked him twice to make sure I wasn't hearing wrong but no, that's exactly what he wanted. Not only that, he wanted cheese on
    via u/ [deleted]
  • 31
    Font - So that's nine 5 oz. beef patties AND nine slices of cheese. Plus, y'know, condiments and the like. This wasn't even a big guy. Looked fit as a fiddle, handsome, about 25 years old. And he was alone so it couldn't have been a dare. I guess he was just really f hungry. So I had the cook make it. And we stood behind the counter and watched as he ate Every. Single. Bite. I wasn't even sure how I was supposed to react when he was done, but he seemed quite pleased, thanked us, and left. Never
    via u/ [deleted]
  • 32
    Font - imme267 Work at a pizza shop here. This guy and his son regularly come in and the dad orders a large cheese pizza with no cheese or sauce. It's just the bread...every single time. The kid doesn't like the cheese and sauce or something
    via u/imme267
  • 33
    Font - AnImbroglio Used to be a waiter. Had a family come in and eat. Little boy eventually orders dessert. Vanilla ice cream and ketchup. Yes, he put the ketchup on the ice cream. No, I didn't stick around to watch. I would've thrown up.
    via u/AnImbroglio
  • 34
    Font - LordFluffer Nutter I went out to eat with a coworker at a bar/restaurant and she ordered a "blackened Cajun chicken sandwich, no blackened, no Cajun". The waiter says "so you just want a chicken sandwich?" And she was annoyed and says "NOOOO! I want a blackened Cajun chicken sandwich, just no blackened or Cajun". She got a chicken sandwich and I got the right to make fun of her for the past 7 years.
    via u/LordFluffer Nutter
  • 35
    Font - haidonut Aware that I'm late to the game here, but I used to cook at a five- star resort. We did a lot of high end corporate dinners. Received the following order in lieu of the already purchased filet mignon dinner. http://imgur.com/a/9U70 n How did we deal with it? Made that BLT. Wrong. Then made it again.
    via u/haidonut
  • 36
    Brown - Special Entree Request Gtd / Set (1) Entree to be a BLTA Sandwich for Bacon: Should be thick-cut with a good balance of fat and meat per-piece and slow cooked until the fat is a golden color, the meat is a burnt sienna color, and the texture is very crispy and brittle. There needs to be much more bacon than an average BLT would have, arranged in a thick, even layer. Lettuce: Should be shredded (for example with a food processor) and spread in a thin layer. Too much overpowers the bacon.
    via u/haidonut
  • 37
    Brown - Overall the sandwich should be no thicker than 5cm or 2in. The sandwich should be arranged as follows: 6.m. Bread Mayo Bacon Avocado Tomato Lettuce Food Mayo Bread This is to prevent the juice from the tomato from seeping into the mayo and changing the flavor.
    via u/haidonut
  • 38
    Font - 040 Painted Pony Over the summer, I had a customer who came in for Sunday brunch and ordered a spinach and feta cheese omelet. She then adds that she would like it made without eggs. I clarified that she wanted an omelet WITHOUT eggs, not made with egg whites which is quite normal. We made her a spinach feta salad and the customer was happy.
    via u/Painted Pony
  • 39
    Font - rochford77 Pregnant woman wanted a peanut butter and pickle blizzard, at the DQ I worked at. She brought her own pickles. It is against policy to blend things customers bring in into the blizzard, but they are welcome to stir their own ingredients in. Its my personal policy to not argue with pregnant women. She got her blizzard.
    via u/rochford77
  • 40
    Font - Dany_Heatley05 When I worked fast food in high school we had a regular that would ask for half diet coke, half regular coke, and diet had to go first. She actually sent it back a couple times because we filled it in the wrong order.
    via u/Dany_Heatley05
  • 41
    Font - [deleted] Lady ordered mac and cheese, sent it back because there was cheese, I asked her. Verbatum "what did you expect?" Apperently she didnt like looking like a dips infront of her peers
    via u/[deleted]
  • 42
    Font - Aerrianna Boyfriend was a cook at a restaurant, guy asked for a rare steak. Proper rare wasn't rare enough and he sent it back multiple times. Boyfriend got p put a steak on the grill for five seconds each side and sent it out. The guy said it was the best steak he ever had and gave a huge tip.
    via u/Aerrianna
  • 43
    Font - dawnshark I had someone order a warm root beer. As in, stuck in the microwave and heated up. I definitely made a face but I did it. Really scks to work somewhere that has bottomless pop and be sticking one in the microwave every 15 minutes.
    via u/dawnshark

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