25+ Diners who had the most ridiculous requests for their waiters: 'I still can't comprehend why she would eat that'

Author image for Remy Millisky
Remy Millisky • Writer and Editor
Jun 4, 2025 5:00 PM EDT

Instead of just making their own highly specific foods at home, some people love to go out to a restaurant and insist that the chef whip them up something special. This type of customer will go to a seafood restaurant and request a special burger. They'll go to a pizza place and insist that they want a small pepperoni pizza… with no pepperoni. No idea what that could mean! The person taking that pizza order also had no clue what that customer was requesting, but to their credit, most restaurant staffers try very hard to give their customers exactly what they want. 

Some folks just have utterly ridiculous requests, though. Like there's one person who wouldn't eat any of his hash browns? Were they soggy, burnt, or dry? Nope! They were just too hot. Hmm… if only that problem could solve itself in under 5 minutes. 

After you read these restaurant requests, weigh in on this story of a couple who were confronted by their waiter after not tipping on a $30 bill: "You're not tipping?!"

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  • 01
    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 crop out of it. My chef came by and lost his
    via u/stylinghead
  • 02
    sh. 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
  • 03
    dud... 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.
    via u/dudervoog
  • 04
    He insisted that he eats here all the time, and he always gets the spaghetti appetizer. 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 h_le for not knowing what he was talking about.
    via u/dudervoog
  • 05
    Edit 1: Our slaw was a southern style slaw, where the cabbage is shredded. So, the cabbage is in strings, but you would still have to be some sort of weirdo to confuse it with noodles. And a few people have mentioned a Dane Cook bit. I'm not familiar with that joke, but after doing some googlin', it appears that is a joke about messing with staff at a restaurant. This happened in
    via u/dudervoog
  • 06
    1994, and the customer was an older, well dressed guy out to dinner with his wife. I'm positive he wasn't with me, he was just an obnoxious a-h e that expected me to know what his confused mind was talking about.
    via u/dudervoog
  • 07
    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.
    via u/Notsocreativeeither
  • 08
    Me: 22 sweet n lows, like two two?? Customer: sigh yes 22 sweet n lows. Me: OK, please pull up. 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
    via u/Notsocreativeeither
  • 09
    lady wants 22 packs of sweet n low in her latte? That's what she said so that's what we made her. 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 ed!!
    via u/Notsocreativeeither
  • 10
    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
    N
    via Ali Pli on Unsplash+

    The image does not depict the actual subjects of the story. Subjects are models.

  • 12
    gypsypanda Ahh I'm late to this party... But when I worked at a hibachi/sushi/Japanese place this family came in with an adult son who had some kind of mental dis lity and only wanted to eat breakfast food. The mom asked if we had bread, we didnt, she went to the gas station next door and bought bread, and came back and asked me to toast
    via u/gypsypanda
  • 13
    it. Now, there is no toaster in the restaurant, and I had to explain to the 100% Chinese barely English-speaking kitchen to cook three eggs rare on one side (sunny side up) and bread medium rare (toast).... It worked out and everybody was happy, chefs were super confused as to why anyone would want that.
    via u/gypsypanda
  • 14
    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" I 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
    via u/crigsdigs
  • 15
    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." We made her a cheese pizza. She didn't call and complain. Still not sure what the f she thought she was ordering.
    via u/crigsdigs
  • 16
    'I want a small pepperoni pizza with no pepperoni'
    via David Foodphototasty on Unsplash+

    The image does not depict the actual subjects of the story. Subjects are models.

  • 17
    Mon... 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
  • 18
    Ilkylej15 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.
    via u/Ilkylej15
  • 19
    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/Ilkylej15
  • 20
    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 u/P****_shoe
  • 21
    EDIT: this blew up, and when asked how she wanted it cooked she looked puzzled and said "regular" which I took as meaning medium.
    via u/P****_shoe
  • 22
    [deleted] Not so much the order but the guy tried to cook the meal through me by shouting directions from the other side of the counter.
    via u/[deleted]
  • 23
    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
  • 24
    scatterbastard 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.
    via u/scatterbastard
  • 25
    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 didn't specify that the seat was taken. Once he got there I would go to the back and make his specific salad: Very little
    via u/scatterbastard
  • 26
    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
    via u/scatterbastard
  • 27
    how he could alter them. 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 I out of that old man though.
    via u/scatterbastard
  • 28
    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
    via u/Shanelol
  • 29
    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
  • 30
    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
    via u/Rock_Hound
  • 31
    table. I put the orders of food in front of all the other guests and leave onion man for last. I set his plate of food and extra onion down, he looks up at me and starts laughing. The whole table is now laughing. Im like dafuck? 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
  • 32
    he_shootin 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
    via u/he_shootin
  • 33
    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 u/he_shootin
  • 34
    j4_jjjj 10 years in the service industry checking in: At the Italian restaurant I worked at as a server/bartender/manager for 5 years, we had a lot of regular customers come in and had some strange requests. Most were nothing too special, but one guy would come in 4-5 days a week, and he would never
    via u/j4_jjjj
  • 35
    order anything on the menu unless it was a busy night and we wouldn't have time to "get crazy". On the slower nights though, he would order things with sauces we didnt normally make, or special dessert concoctions (even though we prepared desserts daily, and did not make them to order). The craziest thing he ever ordered though, was a Doughnut Explosion. To be
    via u/j4_jjjj
  • 36
    clear, we did not nor know how to make doughnuts. However, there was a Dunkin Donuts next to our location, and he sent one of his favorite servers next door to pick up a dozen random doughnuts. When he came back, the customer told me which ones he wanted on his dessert, and I proceeded to go back into the kitchen and whip up his dessert to his specification.
    via u/j4_jjjj
  • 37
    It consisted of 2 doughnuts, topped with vanilla ice cream, layered between the brownie cake that was our house specialty, and topped with Chambord and a port wine fig sauce that we put on pork chops. This was one of the most disgusting things I've ever seen in a restaurant, but he let me try a bite and it was amazing!
    via u/j4_jjjj
  • 38
    Needless to say, he ordered it a few more times before I left that restaurant.
    via u/j4_jjjj
  • 39
    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
  • 40
    Cheezburger Image 10513355264
    via Romson Preechawit on Unsplash+

    The image does not depict the actual subjects of the story. Subjects are models.

  • 41
    quokka_808 "I'll have a cold grilled cheese please" -so, uncooked? "no, cook it, just serve it cold"
    via u/quokka_808
  • 42
    Ice_... When I worked at McDonalds some one asked for a Quarter Pounder medium rare, light ketchup with and extra toasted bun. It was a very slow time and we were all amused by it so I made one for him. He came back to compliment my cooking. ETA: This happened in 1980. We used
    via u/Ice_Burn
  • 43
    real grills and spatulas to cook the burgers then. We didn't know about e coli in ground beef. I made it by cooking it a little less than normal so it was still safe in any case.
    via u/Ice_Burn
  • 44
    MrsChickenPam 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,
    via u/MrsChickenPam
  • 45
    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, call me!" You just never know who you might be serving.
    via u/MrsChickenPam
  • 46
    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.
    via u/I_Dont_Live_Here
  • 47
    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
  • 48
    [deleted] A man sent back his plate because his hash browns were too hot. Like dude, just wait a little bit.
    via u/[deleted]
  • 49
    maplebaconchips Had a guy send one of our servers to the kitchen about 7 times, which is down the stairs far away from her section, to inquire about the weight of different hamburgers...all of them were the same yet he insisted she go down and check and would watch to make sure she did.
    via u/maplebaconchips
  • 50
    He sends her away to mull it over for a while and you can see him snickering with his equally douchey looking two sons. Finally the guy decides he wants a 24oz grilled "burger" with nothing else but the patty, no seasoning or anything. Not like some hulking bro trying to get extra protein, just an old a hole who wanted to f with the poor server.
    via u/maplebaconchips
  • 51
    Ate a bite, said he didn't like it and ordered another burger. Tipped a very solid 0% after telling her "it'd all be worth it!"
    via u/maplebaconchips
  • 52
    [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 | always clarified that was what they wanted because
    via u/[deleted]
  • 53
    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 every single patty. 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.
    via u/[deleted]
  • 54
    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 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
    via u/[deleted]
  • 55
    was done, but he seemed quite pleased, thanked us, and left. Never saw that guy again.
    via u/[deleted]
  • 56
    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
  • 57
    SquidLoaf Well, I don't even remember all the specifics, but I once had this old lady come into Olive Garden and order something and literally customize every ingredient. We had one promo entree that contained risotto. She asked me what risotto was, and then asked me to switch it out for plain brown rice and squash. Neither of which we had. We made all
    via u/SquidLoaf
  • 58
    our sauces in house, but they weren't made on the spot for each order. She even tried to customize the ingredients in the sauce. And the end of everything after I ran around trying to make her happy, she complained to management that I was incompetent for not being a magician and changing how a restaurant works.
    via u/SquidLoaf
  • 59
    Anlmbroglio 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/Anlmbroglio
  • 60
    LordFlufferNutter 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!
    via u/LordFlufferNutter
  • 61
    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/LordFlufferNutter
  • 62

    Just WAIT until you read this ode to BLTA's

    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/9U70n How did we deal with it? Made that BLT. Wrong. Then made it again.
    via u/haidonut
  • 63
    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. Tomato:
    via u/haidonut
  • 64
    (The watery and heavily textured mouthfeel of the lettuce and tomato should balance the dry, brittle mouthfeel and smoky flavor of the bacon. If the bacon is even a tiny bit moist or undercooked it will not work. If there is no lettuce and tomato at all, then there is nothing to balance these characteristics of the bacon. Too much lettuce and tomato will overpower the bacon) Avocado: The avocado should be perfectly ripe with a buttery texture and flavor, but any black or oxidized parts should be
    via u/haidonut
  • 65

    This person WILL have the perfect sandwich!

    Food Overall the sandwich should be no thicker than 5cm or 2in. The sandwich should be arranged as follows: Bread Mayo Bacon Avocado G.m. Tomato Lettuce Mayo Bread This is to prevent the juice from the tomato from seeping into the mayo and changing the flavor.
    via u/haidonut

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