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.

Mouse Meets Its Maker

August 15, 2013 Insect & Animal Stories

The following incident occurred at a popular Wilmington, North Carolina restaurant one block off the Cape Fear River. My (then) wife and I were having a cocktail at a small table nearest the kitchen’s “food out only” door. There were maybe 7-10 other diners in-house. We were enjoying ourselves in conversation when I happened to see […]

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Owner Blows Snot Rocket onto Restaurant Floor

August 2, 2013 Sanitation Stories

My wife and I visit a neighborhood mom and pop restaurant about once a month. We’ve been going there for years. They specialize in pizza and Italian food. They make a wicked hot sauce for pasta; the best I’ve ever tasted. Their pizza is served in an oblong pan with a thin crispy crust and […]

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Shoddy Service for Diners Splitting a Meal

July 27, 2013 Server Stories

My wife and I are retired. We are active and financially secure, and enjoy dining out three to five times a month. For a variety of reasons, our appetites are not what they used to be and we don’t drink alcoholic beverages. Normally we split an entrée and an appetizer, and have iced tea or […]

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Cheapskate at the Concession Stand

July 24, 2013 Odds & Ends Stories

Hi there. I think this will be a little different from the stories I’ve read on here since this experience comes from a movie theater where I worked in a concession stand for a year and a half. It was a major movie theater in my area that’s since gone out of business but that’s another […]

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Piss-Poor Tippers

July 4, 2013 Tipping & Etiquette Stories

Fortunately, this didn’t happen to me, but I did witness it. It was late night, maybe 1:30-2:00 am in Anaheim, California, and I’m with a bunch of friends from Northern California. We decide, hey, we’re hungry. What’s a good place to go that’s open that late at night? Well, we chose a chain restaurant that specializes […]

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No Break for Child with Steak

June 24, 2013 Food & Drink Stories

My husband, mother, mother-in-law, father-in-law, two daughters and I were going out to dinner for my husband’s birthday. We decided to head to a favorite higher-end local restaurant that recently changed owners. Everyone was very excited.

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Jerry the Jerk

June 20, 2013 Diner Stories

A few years ago, I was working at a local restaurant that featured breakfast, lunch and dinner buffets. I always worked the breakfast and lunch buffets; we turned tables very quickly so even bad tips could be forgiven due to getting so many of them. Servers rarely forget a bad tipper, or a good one, […]

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Little Delinquents Ruin Diner’s Meals

May 13, 2013 Kid Stories

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 […]

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Alley Annoys Diners

April 19, 2013 Server Stories

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 […]

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Drenched by Drink

April 15, 2013 Accident & Mishap Stories

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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Dining is a Big Bust at Bob’s

March 25, 2013 Odds & Ends Stories

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 […]

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Diners Charged Dinner Price for Lunch Item

March 12, 2013 Server Stories

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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