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.

Customers Completely Ignored by Server

December 26, 2015 Server Stories

My boyfriend and I attempted to eat at a restaurant we used to frequent when we first started dating. We went for lunch. They were pretty slow; just an elderly couple, a family with a baby, and another couple who came in with us. When we went in we were told to sit wherever we […]

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Deceptive Actions Spoil Party

November 7, 2015 Odds & Ends Stories

Back in the 80’s I worked at a hotel and casino in Reno that also was home to a male only club made up of a who’s who of business leaders and politicians. One of the members was the District Attorney. My work shift was split between serving breakfast as a room service waiter, and […]

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Cruel Parents, Horrible Customers

November 1, 2015 Diner Stories

I work as a waitress in a family run café/restaurant in a relatively small country town. The place I work at is really busy normally; today was a bank holiday so it was even busier. I don’t usually complain about busy days, but with the combination of us being understaffed and a waiter being “ill,” it […]

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Lousy Server Tacks on Automatic Gratuity

October 13, 2015 Server Stories

A little DINER BEWARE! story when eating at a place known for being fun, rodent-oriented… and expensive.

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Chaos Reigns in Restaurant On College Grad Day

October 2, 2015 Diner Stories

I’m a hospitality worker in a college town. This was “One of those Red Letter Days” – university graduation. If you work in said environment, you know the deal. It is a super busy, super popular “All Weekend” brunch joint. It’s a local standard for tourists and students alike. Every year those days come around. Big money. Big headaches. Overbooked reservations, people adding […]

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Manager Runs Restaurant Into the Ground

September 26, 2015 Odds & Ends Stories

I used to work in an Italian restaurant in a small midwestern town. It was run by an Italian family. The father was the sweetest man you could ever meet. He was our dishwasher. His oldest son mainly cooked, while the youngest son, Tim, was the general manager.

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Trashy People Tip Poorly

September 5, 2015 Tipping & Etiquette Stories

I work for a corporate chain so customers are not always of the best quality, but I try not to prejudge my tables because they seem to surprise me now and then.

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Dinner From Hell: Singapore

August 30, 2015 Accident & Mishap Stories

I remember Singapore. I learned a lot there. For one, Jack Sparrow doesn’t know Jack Shit about Singapore. In five years of working there I never once saw a tight corset, let alone it removed publicly with zeal and gusto. Quite the opposite, it’s a place of lawfulness. It’s a place of fearsome efficiency. And […]

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Diner’s Service Etiquette Lecture Disturbs Server

July 12, 2015 Diner Stories

I am a server at a busy pub. It is oftentimes not unusual for a server to have 5-6 tables and a big party all at once. However near the end of the night, the hour before I got off, the pub slowed down and I was sort of on autopilot and not really paying […]

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Server Treated Rudely for Not Taking Order

July 5, 2015 Diner Stories

I had a table tonight that told me my service was horrible. Now I won’t try to say that I did nothing wrong, because I could have been more on top of things, but I still feel as though they overreacted.

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Scofflaw Judge Sneaks Martini

June 16, 2015 Diner Stories

A federal judge walks into a restaurant with a martini… Wait, that’s not a joke, that happened the other night. Not only is it a violation of my liquor license, it’s just gauche.

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Waiter Walks Away

April 12, 2015 Diner Stories

I am a server in a Mexican restaurant. We have a night where our enchilada plates are half price, so we do not allow coupons on the enchilada dinners. I misunderstood my manager and thought that we didn’t accept them at all on that night.

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