ridiculous requests

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guest orders a bowl of soup, moments later server returns asking for it to be reheated because they now want it to go. what da funk?

share some head scratching requests you've experienced.
 
(a long time ago in a Mexican restaurant far, far away)

ALL cheese chimichanga topped with conqueso..................
..............but I'll have a Diet Coke, I'm watching my weight.
 
I always love when you get the red ink that says "onion allergy" or whatever, then you tell the server there is already onion in x, y or z. They come back and say, "they said that was okay, just no EXTRA onion". Oh, so you are only allergic to EXTRA onion? Got it.

My most ridiculous ever was someone who wanted their entire meal (a salmon entree) put in a blender so they could drink/slurp it. They were elderly or injured or something...but geez.
 
There is the ever popular well done steak with a little pink, and the even more popular Medium rare with no pink.

Egg white omelets with extra bacon, but no oil because that would be unhealthy.

"Is the cold water salmon local?" "No ma'am we are in the mountains and cold water doesn't exist in the south."

"Why does this chicken have a bone in it?" "Because chickens have bones sir."

And my all time favorite:
"Do you catch the trout yourself?" "...No."
 
"is the fish of the day really fishy?" not a request, but a rather annoying question. sometimes guest will ask for a rare/med rare steak that isnt bloody.
 
The whole gluten-free thing is totally out of hand.
The thing is, we take food allergies seriously. So don't tell us you're allergic to something when you really aren't. Getting all new mise, cutting boards, putting pots of clean oil on the range to cook your "gluten allergy" fries. It screws us up. We're happy to accommodate, but don't lie about it.
 
I was working at a place that served a 14 course degustation only, there were always dietary requests, not usually a big deal, one night we had a customer who was vegetarian, no dairy, no sugar, no high fructose fruits, and no mushrooms, tomatoes or capsicums, onions or garlic. 14 Courses!!!
 
I get this every brunch, "I'm on a diet can I have a 6 egg white omelet with cheddar, swiss, bacon and ham? make the bacon extra crispy and may I have a side of hollandaise with that and some white toast, no fresh fruit. Oh yes and I'll have the unlimited mimosas please. Oh, is it okay if I also get the bloody mary's with that, They are practically the same thing, right?"
 
Creme brulee. To go.

I would give them the creme brulee for free. Just charge them $17.50 for the ramekin and $39.95 for the blow torch...

Stefan
 
Fried california rolls. Sorry we don't make california rolls. Can we have one fried then?
Soy, wheat, vinegar "allergy" or "I don't like fish on rice" in a sushi place.
 
Turkey sandwich sub ham, hold the bacon cause they are allergic.

Got a request for a pizza not to have oregano, because of allergy.(we put some on the top and in sauce, mixed with cheese) They then can't have pizza then we put oregano in the sauce. Waitress comes back "They said that's ok".
 
3 day long conference in the hotel , one delegate was RAW VEGAN !!!!! 3 day long including breakfast , coffee breaks , lunches ,3 course dinner one night, 7 course degustation dinner another night all frigggin RAW VEGAN... I had really bad ideas of her final dessert which I would have fired for doing it..
 
my worst request that comes to mind is: Lasagne but could you remove the beef...

And everywhere ive worked that serves occy people ask if its "still alive?" ... I've had waitstaff come in asking on their behalf...

- Had a gluten free, dairy free, vegetrian with stomach ulcers and an intolerance for just about everything on the entire restaurant, hotel - room service and bar/tapas menu, during a 3 course alternate drop...

Sent out an apple (unsliced) and some random nuts i found in the dry store from before i started and told the waitress not to return to her...

She wrote the nastiest write up on her local foodie website/blog... LOL
 
I don't know if this falls under the category of ridiculous request or ridiculous story but I'll share it. When I was putting myself through school I worked in a hotel kitchen but used to grab all the extra hours I could filling in here and there and one night I found myself working the bar in the hotel lobby. An elderly couple walked in and sat down at a table so I went over and asked them what they would like to drink. The woman said rum and coke and the man said gin-ginger ale. Minutes later I returned to the table, served them their drinks and started to make my way back to the bar but before I made it half way back the woman called me back to the table. When I arrived at the table she pointed to her husband's drink and whispered 'there's alcohol in his drink' to which I responded 'yes miss, he asked for a gin-ginger ale'. Looking a little uncomfortable she responded 'I know but he stutters'.
 
I don't know if this falls under the category of ridiculous request or ridiculous story but I'll share it. When I was putting myself through school I worked in a hotel kitchen but used to grab all the extra hours I could filling in here and there and one night I found myself working the bar in the hotel lobby. An elderly couple walked in and sat down at a table so I went over and asked them what they would like to drink. The woman said rum and coke and the man said gin-ginger ale. Minutes later I returned to the table, served them their drinks and started to make my way back to the bar but before I made it half way back the woman called me back to the table. When I arrived at the table she pointed to her husband's drink and whispered 'there's alcohol in his drink' to which I responded 'yes miss, he asked for a gin-ginger ale'. Looking a little uncomfortable she responded 'I know but he stutters'.
Lol, is this a joke or did this really happen? Sounds almost to good to be true :p
 
guest orders a bowl of soup, moments later server returns asking for it to be reheated because they now want it to go. what da funk?

share some head scratching requests you've experienced.

I have to admit that I did this once when my wife was pregnant. She got a wave of morning sickness right as the food was coming out. We had to make a hasty exit and asked for everything (including soup) to go. Sorry.

k.
 
The whole gluten-free thing is totally out of hand.
The thing is, we take food allergies seriously. So don't tell us you're allergic to something when you really aren't. Getting all new mise, cutting boards, putting pots of clean oil on the range to cook your "gluten allergy" fries. It screws us up. We're happy to accommodate, but don't lie about it.

i agree but disagree. I thought the same until I as well have a gluten intolerance. I use to and still hate gluten free people who show up without notice and expect a whole meal catered to them. People who are truly gluten free will typically call ahead or know what they can have. And the ones who bring cards with what they can't have you know are truly allergic.

but i have to tell you if i eat too much gluten i will feel like **** for up to a week, glad i finally figured it out because it sucks.

but we have these people who come in literally every single night and sit at the bar. They refuse to order off the menu, and the Maitre D' allows them to get away with it as well as the owners. Every night is some concoction of food and special sauce. Then about a minute before we close his wife will order something special.
 
Working in a butcher shop I had a customer want a pork tenderloin but demand it was the size of a beef tenderloin.
 
I always love when you get the red ink that says "onion allergy" or whatever, then you tell the server there is already onion in x, y or z. They come back and say, "they said that was okay, just no EXTRA onion". Oh, so you are only allergic to EXTRA onion? Got it.

My most ridiculous ever was someone who wanted their entire meal (a salmon entree) put in a blender so they could drink/slurp it. They were elderly or injured or something...but geez.

Wow, Crazzy thing is every time I see or get asked this type of question that's the first thing that pops into my head. The GM came back and asked me to blend up a MR filet with potato and lots of ketchup I thought he was joking. I actually said "you're kidding me right"? He then said no I'm not kidding it's for a paraplegic kid, kind of made me feel like a dick. Still to this day I feel kind of bad that it's the 1st thing that pops into my head.

The other story that sticks out in my head is sad but also has to do with some one that is truly ill. A mother use to come in every Sunday with her son, 35 or so year old that lived in a special needs facility, his mother took him out on the weekends. But the two of them needed a table for 5 set ( just two of them mind you). First PITA is having to stash a chair, because there could be only 5! All 5 places needed to be set and served water and bread. Nothing could be taken away from the table before they were all done, so we would wind up with a table stacked up with 15-20 plates, 7+ glasses, silverware condiments in monkey dishes etc, all this for a two top who's check came yo about $30 or so. They stopped coming in after a Incident (Not their first incident, few funny story's about this Mother son act") a new girl went to pre bus the table (don't know if she was warned ahead of time and forgot, or just just didn't know) and "Davad" screams and throws his glass at her. She falls with the whole stack a plates broken glass every were and he continues to "attack" her by throwing thins at her while she's on the ground. "Special needs" or not it was kind of crazy that everyone just stood there and watch this going on, in other words no one tried to stop him or help her. I came out and put the guy into a sleeper hold, GM got pissed at me...funny he also got pissed at me again when the new waitresses medical bills came in with workman's comp, sometimes you just can't win.
 
There is a classy way to make special requests and there is a d-bag way to make them. I think it makes a difference. Although, in the kitchen you only hear about it from the server so you never know the real story. I wish more servers would ask follow up questions. I think they make up the details or just claim it is a more severe allergy than it is just so they can get on with their night.

Friday and Saturday night at my job are amateur nights to be sure. Most of what I do those nights is translate special orders into something that will make sense to a busy cook. Gotta keep telling myself that raw vegans are not expecting the food to have much 'flavor' and that while sea bass with butter sauce served over spaghetti with red sauce sounds atrocious to me the guy's $35 for the dish pays for two hours of sauté cook.


Can I substitute grilled asparagus for the fried parsley garnish?

image.jpg
 
I did puréed sea bass for Lady Bird Johnson when I was in Texas. Super classy family was happy to do it. The fact that there were three huge and armed secret service agents sitting quietly at the next table helped keep the temper down.
 
oh yeah, drives me up the wall when people try to substitute a single ingredient let alone a @#$#$@#$@#$ garnish for entire side orders.

mr dinky, it's fine, it's the asking to be heated up again prior to putting it in to-go container part that's bonkers.
 
My most ridiculous ever was someone who wanted their entire meal (a salmon entree) put in a blender so they could drink/slurp it. They were elderly or injured or something...but geez.

Had this request for a gumbo we served. Found out that the guy loved our gumbo, had his jaw wired shut from a car accident. Just getting out of the hospital first meal out he wanted gumbo. Never had a problem with it for the next 2 mo. he came in.
 
The whole gluten-free thing is totally out of hand.
The thing is, we take food allergies seriously. So don't tell us you're allergic to something when you really aren't. Getting all new mise, cutting boards, putting pots of clean oil on the range to cook your "gluten allergy" fries. It screws us up. We're happy to accommodate, but don't lie about it.

+1 that. I think I live in a gluten-free town these days, it's that bad here. I'm hearing stories daily about how a parent getting their kid off gluten has prevented them from getting colds, flu, cured rickets, healed broken bones, and eased the pain of shin splints.

seriously
 
(a long time ago in a Mexican restaurant far, far away)

ALL cheese chimichanga topped with conqueso..................
..............but I'll have a Diet Coke, I'm watching my weight.

:rofl2: ...and do you have "light" sour cream to go with that?

Be well,
Mikey
 
About two weeks after opening the BBQ, this guy walks in the door around noontime and asks if we're open (the hours are clearly listed on the front door, and there's a sandwich board on the sidewalk sating said hours as well)

I reply: "Sorry sir, we're not open until 5."

To which he says(in a mildly annoyed voice): "Well, can I just get a pound of pork to go then?!"

:eyebrow::slaphead:
 

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