Showdown at the Pizza Ranch

[Irving Patrick Freleigh]

My parents and I went to Pizza Ranch to consume enough pizza, broasted chicken, mashed potatoes and gravy, and dessert pizza to feed a small African nation for a month.

In a booth about two seats down from our table were three shady-looking types, two guys and a woman, making multiple trips to the buffet and packing away food. They finished their meal and the bus girl came to pick up their empty plates. One of the guys asked to speak with the manager.

A short time later the manager emerged. I think he's also the guy who owns the local franchise. The guy started complaining about the food being greasy. At least that's what I caught. I didn't actually hear it, but I think the guy asked for their meal to be comped.

Manager, a fairly large European guy (I want to guess Albanian but I'm probably wrong on that) had none of this and motioned for them to leave. Then the second guy tried to play enforcer. "Oh, now you want to be a fucking tough guy, huh?" he snarled as I started to scoot over to the next chair (I was in the chair nearest to the aisle where this was happening) in case fists started flying.

Then enforcer guy complained "This place is like eating out of a fucking trashcan!"

Manager lead the three of them out the door and "This place is like a fucking trashcan!" went booming through the dining room as the enforcer guy continued to piss and moan. The scammers slunk away in defeat, presumably sans refund.

[Sparklyturtle]

Good on the manager. Mr. Sparkle and I happened to be across the aisle from a trio who were trying to get their meal comped at a place in California. One claimed that her glass of juice had glass in it and that her food was cold, plus not what she ordered. She got a new glass of juice. The guy next to her complained that his food was also too cold, and was also not what he ordered. The third guy complained that his food was cold. The manager compared what the waitstaff had written down to what they had, and it was exactly what they'd ordered. Plus, both of those complaining about cold food had already eaten more than 75% of their meals. While the manager was talking to the waitstaff the woman said to Mr. Sparkle, "Don't you think they should give us our whole meal for free?" Mr. Sparkle told her, "Leave us out of this." While the food wasn't the greatest, it was okay, and it was obvious to us that the group was trying to scam for a free meal.

[notalwaysright]

Urg. The couple times I've sent food back I'd either only had one bite or didn't eat any of it because it was burnt. Each time the waiters gave me grief, and I was certainly not being belligerent. If you eat most of the food and then complain it's like holding up a "scammer" sign.

[Racket_Man]

Welcome to my world at the redroof pizza place. The situation described in the OP happens on, literally, a daily basis there.

[Lace Neil Singer]

Back when I worked at the pizza place, the owner there had a simple rule when it came to customers sending back pizzas. Two bites, and they'd get a refund or a replacement, any more than that, and they'd get nothing. I still remember the woman who claimed that all four of her pizzas were burnt and who, when asked to bring them back, instead brought four boxes containing nothing save for a couple of chewed crusts... and who still expected a refund. Which she didn't get. XD

[Sapphire Silk]

It takes a lot for me to complain about a meal. Usually if the food sucks that bad, it's my first time at a restaurant and I just never go back.

If there's a problem, just ask nice for them to fix it and they usually will. Being a nice person usually means that if you're a regular you get offered extra bacon when the cook messes up and order and over/undercooks it, and the staff don't want to throw it away.

Happens to me more often than you'd think

[EricKei]

Lace - Sadly, "DaddyJim's" just takes their word for this on delivery orders if they complain to Corporate -- even for customers who do this every other order. At the store, we would ask them for the pizza back, and we'd often be lucky to get a single untouched SLICE (bonus points if they complained two days later). If they didn't get an immediate free replacement from us at the store, or if they realized that we were on to them, they'd just call Corporate to scam them, instead.

[Minflick]

I went to Bennihana one time, and the chef didn't do the usual flashy show they customarily do, and BURNT my lobster! Sob... I ate one piece in the hopes that it looked worse than it actually was, and, of course, nopity nope, it was, if anything, worse. Dried out, crunchy (without benefit of any breading...) and just heinous destruction of a decent tail. The rest of the meal was better than that, but not great either. When my husband finished his food (something else, not destroyed) we got up to pay and leave, and told the cashier about my lobster destruction and my inability to eat it. She called the manager.

Manager asked if I had eaten it? I said just the one piece, go see it for yourself, pleaseandthankyou! Comes back looking suitably chastened, and offered us a coupon for 2 free dinners. Pretty sure it was a trainee chef that night. Coupon expired before we went back....

[WishfulSpirit]

I'm curious how this would work if only part of the pizza was bad. We had something similar happen the other day, though not with pizza. We were at Royal Burger and literally the last few bites of my delicious hamburger sandwich weren't so delicious: that part tasted as if the patty might have come into contact grill fuel. The best way to describe it is it tasted the way bus diesel smells. I didn't complain (I'd already almost finished the burger and I know how that would look), so I just ate the rest of my fries and we went on with our day.

What would happen if there was something wrong with one or two slices of a pizza, but the customer didn't notice it until after eating, say, half the pie?

[EricKei]

WS -- That would be up to the individual store. In my experience, most places will give you the benefit of the doubt on that one, especiallyif it was a half X and half Y type of pizza, and only the Y half tasted funny. One thing to look out for is if half appears undercooked (e.g. half golden brown and half off-white) -- This means that either a) their oven has a bad gas burner, or b) they took it out way too soon. Both are good reasons for a replacement.

[Mr Hero]

Sometimes you get managers that are too strict about returning food. My brother was at one of those dinner and movie joints and ordered a brownie for dessert. He bit into it and it was obviously burnt. He asked for an exchange but was denied because he had already taken a bite.

[Lace Neil Singer]

You can blame the scammers for that; obviously, the rule was made strict after they were burned once too often.

[Monterey Jack]

One time I ordered a slice of pizza at a joint I go to fairly regularly, and the cheese was so thin and watery, it was literally sliding right off the dough when I brought the slice up to my mouth to take a bite. I simply brought it back up to the counter and politely asked if I could change my order to fries instead, and the manager was happy to oblige once he saw for himself that the pizza would be more easily consumed with a straw. More flies with honey than vinegar, and all that.

[Kit-Ginevra]

Good on the manager. Mr. Sparkle and I happened to be across the aisle from a trio who were trying to get their meal comped at a place in California. One claimed that her glass of juice had glass in it and that her food was cold, plus not what she ordered. She got a new glass of juice.

Forget the cold food,if my glass of juice had glass in it,I would be getting a picture of it and making that the object of my complaint.If nothing is done,that would be a health violation I'm sure...

[Sapphire Silk]

Sometimes you get managers that are too strict about returning food. My brother was at one of those dinner and movie joints and ordered a brownie for dessert. He bit into it and it was obviously burnt. He asked for an exchange but was denied because he had already taken a bite.

Those movie and dinner joints operate on very thin margins. Theater owners make very little off the showing of the movie; all their profit comes from selling overpriced food.

That's not an excuse for not replacing burnt food after one bite though.

You can blame the scammers for that; obviously, the rule was made strict after they were burned once too often.

That joke left a bad taste in my mouth.