Dinners From Hell offers true stories about restaurant dining disasters written by diners, servers and chefs.

We've all had those dining experiences when things went dreadfully wrong. Perhaps it was a social blunder, an obnoxious diner, a waiter or waitress with an attitude, a temperamental chef, an embarrassing faux pas, or a food or beverage incident. Find out what others have had to endure by reading stories about dinners gone bad.

My wife and I frequented a family restaurant that had decent food, fast friendly wait staff, and good prices. One Tuesday night while mid way through our entrees, two fairly large women walked in dragging 5 children along behind them. The women promptly proceeded to ignore the children and started talking among themselves while the kids ran amok. The manager repeatedly told the women to bring the kids to heel but he was pointedly ignored.

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About two months ago, my grandmother, mother, sister, and I decided to eat at a chain restaurant in Cape Cod. Boy, that was a mistake. (Note: this was not a fast food restaurant.) We are good friends with the manager and have eaten there countless times before. The hostess was very nice, but the waitress was the problem.

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Yesterday evening my husband and I went out to a well known restaurant in Tampa, Florida for what we thought would be an uneventful dinner. The restaurant is a wonderful sports grill founded by one of Tampa’s football heroes.

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I am not shy to say this is regarding the Bob’s B** B** restaurant in El Cajon, California. This place was an epic disappointment!!

To start the hostess/waitress was very short and placed us at a dirty table when the whole restaurant was empty. The “kids menu” was a laminated black and white copy that you could barely read, and the coloring page for the kids was just a sheet of white paper with one blue crayon, no other color options.

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A few years back I stopped into a Mexican place for lunch with a friend – my treat. I had just graduated from college and was on a somewhat tight budget and asked my friend to constrain himself to the lunch menu.

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A bit of a long story, but this woman has stuck in my memory through the years. She truly taught me to be patient as a server. 

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This incident happened about a year ago. I work at a very popular restaurant and tea room. On one of my days off I was passing by and decided to pop in and say hello to my workmates. I was having a chat with my supervisor when I saw one of the waitresses having some trouble with a customer. This woman was really giving her a hard time, yelling and berating her to the point where she started to cry. Everyone was staring in shock as this red faced bitch screamed her head off.

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This is a story of one dinner that I ruined and one that could have been ruined by… me. My first job was a busboy/food runner at a fairly upscale restaurant (linen tablecloths, complimentary sorbet between course).

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Bloody Burger Lover

February 13, 2013 Food & Drink Stories

First you have to understand that I like bloody, rare burgers. When dining out, if I want a burger I will always ask the server if the place does rare and if not I will order something else. I am also not usually shy about sending something back if it is not cooked right.

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Hospital Dining Room Staffer Harassed

February 2, 2013 Diner Stories

While I was cleaning up the dining area of the hospital I worked at, there was a pregnant woman and her husband/baby daddy, whatever, sitting in the very back table in a corner. This part of my job is to pick up napkins, push in chairs, make the place look nice before the lunch crowd. [...]

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Uncouth Crowd at Chicken Joint

January 1, 2013 Fast Food Stories

After a long day out of town (our town is very small so most of our shopping has to be done hours away), it’s nice to come home with a meal someone else cooked and in containers you won’t have to wash – and that was the exact reason we had for stopping at a [...]

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Server Stiffed by Difficult Diner

November 4, 2012 Diner Stories

When I was 19 I worked at a small chain restaurant/ice cream place. A woman came in with her three small, unruly children 15 minutes before the kitchen was set to close and I was the only server there. I come to the table with a smile, and she glares at me. OOOH this is [...]

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