What is a restaurants obligation when you are unsatisfied by a dish?

I don't think a dish should be comped solely because the diner didn't enjoy it.

Something would have to be really terrible (like spoiled ingredients) and/or very inaccurately described on the menu for me to ever think about asking for it to be removed. I just wouldn't order the item again or, in severe cases, would avoid the restaurant altogether.

I've been watching a few episodes of Kitchen Nightmares recently and had the same line of thought... they'll show a night before the makeover and it seems like every single patron is sending their meal back or trying to get it comped... how does the restaurant even survive long enough to get Ramsay in there if that's really the case?

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I'm not the type of person to send back a dish or bitch at a server. I would just pay my bill and never return. Then I would come on here in post a thread.

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I've never sent back a dish in my life. Just muster through it or act like I wasn't too hungry. I've never bitched at a server either. However, I often wonder if it would be better for the restaurant if I discussed what was wrong with my meal so that they could fix their problems instead of me just smiling and never returning.

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However, I often wonder if it would be better for the restaurant if I discussed what was wrong with my meal so that they could fix their problems instead of me just smiling and never returning.

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I have discussed problems with food before with a server or cook. I would do it in private, but it's important that restaurants hear some complaints. IMO.

I brought this up, because the head guy said the disliked dish should always be removed from the bill. I was surprised to hear that.

The only thing I've ever sent back, and still do, are french fries if they're brought out to me cold. There's no excuse for serving cold french fries.. and to me they're disgusting.

A Lafayette restaurant owner's son is a fraternity brother of mine.. and he grew up working in his dad's restaurants.. If he orders a sandwich and it takes more than 15 minutes for the sandwich comes out, he gives the server holy hell.. I'm not joking.. It's ugly.

I have had lots of restaurant meals that were unsatisfying and not to my expectations. I have never asked for my money back. I have sent wine back, and never had the sommelier question my rejection. There are a few restaurants I would not go back to because service or food was too much sub-par for what they charged.

Had a business friend send back a $250.00 bottle of wine once at an excellent French Restaurant in Chicago (Wheeling). The sommelier came over, took a sniff, said he could smell the problem, took a taste and apologized. He sent it back and had a new bottle brought out. It was not comped since they replaced it. IMO, with older wines, One never knows for certain until it is uncorked.

college drive chilis in baton rouge @ 9:30 pm on a saturday night, i guarantee more dishes get comped there than anywhere in the world

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I'm not the type of person to send back a dish or bitch at a server. I would just pay my bill and never return. Then I would come on here in post a thread.

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I do this. Then I get bashed for it.

Unless there was an element within the dish that was full all out fail, no, I don't think it should be comped.

If you order a steak for example mid rare, and it comes to you mid well, then yes. I think they should either cook another steak or comp it.

If you order a dish where the sauce is broken and becomes garbage, or overlooked or perhaps it's just plain nasty like calling what has now become a simple syrup for all practice purposes a citrus infused beurre blanc, then yes, that's a fail.

That being said, if you order a pasta dish and in meets the definition of what is textbook or close enough, and it doesn't measure up to what the customer is expecting or accustomed to having when they order that dish, then no. There is no argument. You can't blame the kitchen for other people's failings or misrepresentations of the dish, and whether you prefer it this way or that way is not the responsibility of the restaurant.

There are of course obvious cases where restaurants fail, and it happens often, but on the other hand, there are some customers who, in the words of Marco Pierre White, need to be fired.