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 customer, 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.

Children Run Amok to Candy Machine

August 29, 2011 Kid Stories

I have worked at the same steakhouse for over 3, going on 4 years. There is one table that completely sticks out in my mind every time I think of a horrible day. It was a table of 2 adults and 7 kids, so 9 total. Not a huge deal; I handle big tables all […]

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Apology for Tossed Tomato

July 1, 2011 Kid Stories

In this story, I was the person who made someone else’s dinner miserable. In my defense I was a little under the age of two at the time. My grandfather decided to take my mother and me out to eat at a steak house. Being on a limited budget, my mother couldn’t afford a sitter and […]

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Volcanic Eruption in the Kitchen

June 3, 2011 Kitchen & Chef & Boss Stories

Quite recently a rather unusual and downright dangerous incident took place in the kitchen at the restaurant where I work. We have these huge pots to cook our soups and other hot meals in. There was a big pot of boiling oil on the grill for our meat dishes that we were serving that day. […]

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Food Falls Onto Diner

May 30, 2011 Accident & Mishap Stories

I once worked for, what is now, a large hotel chain that had a string of restaurants in the Washington DC/Baltimore area. I started as a “Manager-in-Training.” This required that I learn all of the stations in the restaurant, everything from cashier to dishwasher. This story begins on a busy Sunday morning; the after church […]

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Champagne Bottle Propelled Like a Rocket

May 25, 2011 Food & Drink Stories

Let me set the scenario… I work at a world-renowned health spa. I’ve been in the food and beverage industry for 20 years. I’ve opened many a bottle of wine and Champagne throughout my career. Since it’s a health spa I work at, not as many people order alcohol as in other restaurants, so it’s […]

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Diaper Dilemma

May 21, 2011 Kid Stories

While enjoying my meal at a nice restaurant, I noticed a couple at a nearby table with a baby. Although they doted on the baby during their entire meal, it didn’t bother me much since the baby was well behaved. Later on in the evening I noticed that several servers were crowded around the couple’s […]

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Diners Deal With a Parade of Problems

April 1, 2011 Odds & Ends Stories

I had my reservations about going to this hamburger restaurant in the first place, given the number of less than stellar reviews on both Yelp and FourSquare. As a social marketer I do my research on new places and generally think the crowd gets it right. But I figured, “What the heck, it’s in the […]

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Vegetarian Surprised by Seafood Medley

March 27, 2011 Food & Drink Stories

I’d been backpacking for two weeks all up and down the East Coast of Australia. I spent the entire day on a boat going out to the Great Barrier Reef, snorkeling, and then coming back to this little island near the mainland. It was a day in the sun all day long, a lot of […]

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Frugal Flight Attendant

March 19, 2011 Diner Stories

It was my first Paris layover and since I don’t speak a lick of French I decided to stick with my crew (I’m a flight attendant). Usually I like to venture out on my own in a new city, but I knew dinner was going to be a massive problem if left to my own […]

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Cruise Ship Pig-Out

February 15, 2011 Food & Drink Stories

My wife and I were on a Caribbean cruise and decided to eat at one of the specialty restaurants on the ship. They charge an extra fee per person for these meals. The Italian restaurant we chose was wonderful in terms of service (attentive and informative), taste (everything was great), and ambience (quiet, view). The […]

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Mr. Snooty Snoot

February 11, 2011 Server Stories

Many years ago I had my first experience involving a “fine dining” establishment. I took my college sweetheart to a high-priced restaurant in Sarasota, Florida for her birthday. We dressed in the best clothing that we could afford at that time with our limited incomes. She wore a nice dress, and I had on a […]

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Mad Over Menudo

January 11, 2011 Food & Drink Stories

We have been regulars at a local New Mexican restaurant since it opened over 12 years ago. Last winter my husband and I ordered the seasonal posole soup. The waitress brought the bowls of soup out, only his was menudo, made with tripe. They looked and smelled differently, and when we pointed this out to our […]

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