Poll - 2021-05-12 | Las Vegas Advisor

The pandemic has changed the restaurant business in innumerable ways: greatly enhanced stress on health and safety, the rapid evolution of technology (from QR code-based menus to apps for reservations and ordering), ghost kitchens (that deal exclusively in carry-out and delivery), and the difficult position into which the wait staff has been placed and the way that reflects in service.

All these factors will have a lasting impact on the restaurant industry and whether they're positive or negative for the consumer remains to be seen. Our focus in this poll is on service, that interface where all the moving parts in a restaurant directly affect the dining experience. It's no secret that service is suffering these days, so our question here is, how do you handle it?

We're interested in two sides of this issue. You'll see that the first choices consider your response as a restaurant patron. But the second batch of selections have to do with the differences in dining out between now and pre-pandemic.

With multiple answers enabled, you can vote for both aspects of the poll, which no one seemed to mind in the comments. We've also added a few new choices based on suggestions off the preview last week; thanks to everyone for weighing in on the preview and adding comments to the poll page.

994 Total Votes

I discreetly inform the waiter or waitress; if he or she can't fix the problem, I speak to the manager.

21% (204)

When a food item isn't right, I send it back after the first bite or two and tell the server why.

16% (162)

I'm much more tolerant of bad restaurant experiences these days, knowing that restaurants and especially wait staffs are having a very hard time.

12% (119)

I almost always forgive and give a second chance. Everyone has a bad day.

11% (112)

I complete an emailed or web-based survey, which often has good results.

8% (84)

I find that service is worse since the pandemic began.

6% (60)

I don't say anything, but I don't leave a tip and never go back.

4% (44)

Restaurant service is about the same, but getting a table is much more difficult.

4% (39)

If it's something they can fix, I tell them. If they fix it, I'm fine. If they don't fix it, I raise hell.

4% (38)

If it's a strictly service problem, I settle up what I owe, cancel the rest, and walk out.

4% (35)

I suffer in silence, but I tell my friends and post about it on restaurant-review sites when I get home.

3% (30)

I hold my tongue until I get home, then email the restaurant and/or corporate headquarters with my complaint.

3% (30)

I don't say anything, but I don't leave a tip and never go back.

2% (18)

I find that I'm more demanding that I was pre-pandemic; I've been deprived for so long that I want everything to be perfect now.

1% (8)

I wait until the end of the meal, then complain.

1% (7)

I make a big fuss and don’t care who hears; I’m paying for satisfaction and I don’t care if heads roll. I'm doing other diners a favor by not settling.

0% (4)

Analysis

Clearly, restaurant-going LVAers aren't shy about bringing attention to dining-out experiences that are less than satisfactory. Telling the wait person, sending food back to the kitchen, and summoning the manager garnered 37% of the vote. Another 11% fill out a survey or dash off an email after the fact, 4% "raise hell" or "make a big fuss" when necessary, 3% post a bad review and/or warn others to stay away, and 1% complains at the end of the meal. All told, that's 56% that vocally respond to problems with a meal.

Meanwhile, 23% of voters are "tolerant" (especially with the challenges presented by the pandemic, as 6% of respondents acknowledge) and/or "forgive and forget."

Most drastically, 4% pay for served food, then walk. And 2% stiff the waiter and boycott the place forevermore.

If the results of this poll are any indication, it's best to inform the restaurant of an unacceptable situation. And having worked in a number of restaurants, we tend to agree. There's little worse for a wait person than to get stiffed, with patrons storming off in a huff, without knowing why. And if there's a problem with food coming out of the kitchen, the waiter/waitress and manager will always want to know why, so they can address the situation.

No part of this answer may be reproduced or utilized in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, without the written permission of the publisher.

Comments

Dorothy Kahhan May-12-2021

Is it just me, or is there a double answer

Looks like one of the responses appears twice: 

"I don't say anything, but I don't leave a tip and never go back."

thebeachbum May-12-2021

I don’t

I will send food back but never let them fix it and return it for me to eat. Stuff can happen to your food when you send it back.  Yes, it happens at any level of restaurant.   If the manager doesn’t fix the bill, I just pay it and chalk it up as a learning experience.

Dave in Seattle. May-12-2021

Bad food?

I take a couple of bites and leave it there.  I'll tell the wait person why I didn't like it. Pay and leave.

[email protected] May-12-2021

Sorry

I've never had a bad restaurant experience, so none of the proposed answers fit me.

alohafri May-12-2021

Bad Service

I marked that I don't say anything but don't tip and never return. That is dependent on what the problem was. If it was out of the servers hands, I'll call it to his or her attention. If the service was just out and out bad (like the horrible service I got at Tom's Urban), I don't tip and probably won't go back. Twenty minutes to get a beer and never getting the appetizers we ordered while other patrons are getting their stuff quickly from other servers is unacceptable.

O2bnVegas May-12-2021

for thebeachbum

Oh, hell no I don't expect nor want the server (or anybody) to 'repair' the item I send back.  I "send back" so that I won't be charged for something I won't eat, not for that dish to be spruced up or spiced up and brought back...nooooo.

Candy

thebeachbum May-12-2021

for O2bnVegas

You are spot on.  I don't let them bring me a fresh plate or a replacement order.  I get the bill adjusted or just pay and go.

Llew May-13-2021

Not exactly

Here is what I do.

If something is wrong with the order or the food, I politely tell the server and ask for it to be corrected. If I send the food back,  I order something else. If everything is bad, I speak to the manager. 

I am a rather generous tipper (“served” my way through college).  But if the service is off, i tip less or not al all, depending on how bad it is. Then I tell the manager what the problem was. 

If the manager doesn’t know what the problem(s) is (were), s/he cannot fix it (then).  

Many years ago, there was a restaurant near my home where I ate at least once a week for about two years. One night, there was a big problem with the service. When I told the manager, he actually insulted me!  I never set foot in that restaurant again. I also blasted the manager on a popular local “dining out” radio program the following weekend.  It works both ways.

Ray May-13-2021

Sort of

Like I mentioned (as did others) in the preview, the response is different for different reasons. I almost always give someone a 2nd chance, I am more tolerant of wait times during the pandemic, but there are times that things are just too bad, and we walk out and don't return. We may walk out if things are bad, but never make a scene. People that bitch may say that the squeaky wheel gets the grease. However, I say that the squeaky wheel irritates everyone else. Just shut up, write a letter (or a bad review) and don't go back.

O2bnVegas May-14-2021

Restaurant management 101

For many years we went to the same Chinese restaurant every Friday night.  Run by a tiny but hard working female part owner/manager.  The servers were required to tell her immediately (which they did very discreetly) if a customer had a complaint.  Once I mentioned to the server my entree tasted different...I'd had it many times before.  Wasn't bad, just not like usual.  Next thing I knew the manager was at our table, actually took a fork and tasted from my plate...two tiny tastes, pondering as she tasted.  She picked up my plate and headed to the kitchen (and no doubt gave the cooks hell).  She came back and explained what had been done differently (and incorrectly), the seasoning or something, apologized, offered to bring something else, which I didn't need, already full.  On our bill we were only charged for our cocktails. That's how you do business.  (We tipped what we would for the meal plus more.)

Candy

vegasdawn May-16-2021

Be a little more understanding

We patronize the same places often, so if someone didn't show up or it is crowded and slow service, we let it go.  The people who are working now deserve to be cut a little slack - and tipped well.  That being said, it is time for these Casinos to open those buffets.

Beard May-19-2021

tolerance

It all depends on what the problem is.  Pandemic staffing everywhere is an issue.  It seems businesses are reluctant to hire staff back to pre-pandemic levels.  Whether they can't or won't is a different topic.  I usually give a 2nd chance, everyone has a bad day.  The tip shrinks on bad service.  Food prep issues is not the waitstaff fault ( most times)> But I do say something and a lot of times its taken care of on the bill.

Poll : 12 May - 25 May 2021

Analysis

Comments