The waiter/waitress brings you meat

[Ahimsa24/7]

I was visiting a medium-sized city in a nearby state for a concert last week, and chose an Indian restaurant for pre-concert dinner. I ordered a dish listed as "vegan" on the menu - "mango vegetables". When it arrived a short time later, I was suspicious that no vegetables were evident under the sauce. I was guessing that the big chunks were pieces of mango (what else could they be?). Digging around a bit with my fork, it sure looked like some type of animal flesh was on my plate. I called the waitress over and she told me that it was chicken. So you're me ... how would handle this? Is there anything the management could do to make this anything but an exceptionally negative experience?

 

[Emma JC]

I would send it back and ask for tofu instead of chicken.

Emma JC
Find your vegan soulmate or just a friend. www.spiritualmatchmaking.com

 

[PTree15]

I would send it back as well and ask for something else. I'd also politely suggest they take the vegan label off that particular menu item.

 

[Raven]

I would have sent it back and complained there and then and then made an official complaint in writing after I left. Restaurants need to be very careful with allergies these days and that is unacceptable.

 

[LoreD]

I would have sent it back, paid for it, informed them that I was never coming back, and left. You can't eat food that is remade. Restaurant workers will tamper with the food when people complain. Even spit in the food.

This happened at a restaurant. My daughter ordered an Impossible Burger, took one bite, and said, "This is meat". We left the food on the table, paid the bill, and left no tip.

 

[shyvas]

I would send it back and refuse to pay for something that I hadn't ordered. Make a formal complaint and a negative review.

 

[silva]

I'm interested in the interaction between you and the server!
I've never had any problems with ordering vegan at Indian restaurants. I'd have guessed the plates got switched.
I would have repeated that I ordered the vegan mango dish and had it returned.
I wouldn't be negative unless they come across that way. It's no different than any other dish that came out wrong. It happens

 

[Deleted member 20024]

What teh bloody hell?

I would probably point at the menu stating that I ordered a dish that was listed as vegan, and that I would prefer to have something containing no animal remains or products at all.

Some restaurants might have strange ideas about what veg*an means: I have experienced some people still think chicken to be vegetarian or vegan. (The same goes for fish, by the way... I still cannot see why people believe chicken and fish to be plants.)

 

[beancounter]

What teh bloody hell?

I would probably point at the menu stating that I ordered a dish that was listed as vegan, and that I would prefer to have something containing no animal remains or products at all.

Some restaurants might have strange ideas about what veg*an means: I have experienced some people still think chicken to be vegetarian or vegan. (The same goes for fish, by the way... I still cannot see why people believe chicken and fish to be plants.)

Yea, I've experienced that as well, but I'd still be polite about it.

I haven't experienced it often, but in all of my years as a Veggie (since 1991), only one waiter became agitated and pushed back.

 

[Blues]

Unless I know restaurant I ask politely to talk the chef to convey what I’m eating

 

[Jamie in Chile]

I think I would have eaten the rest of it* , maybe asked for a discount or reduced tip. Sending it back is food waste, creates awkwardness especially if you are with others, and I agree about the risk of them doing something.

I think clarify if it was a mistake and if they say no ask them to remove vegan.

Write a bad review, and don't go back. In your review put in the title "Vegans/vegetarians don't go here" so vegans will be more likely to see the review as the title could draw attention to it.

Probably don't let it bother you too much.

*I do appreciate many vegans would be uncomfortable with that for various reasons (cross contamination, pieces of dead animal in front of you etc), but just answering the question of how I personally would handle it.

 

[Ahimsa24/7]

I'm interested in the interaction between you and the server!
I've never had any problems with ordering vegan at Indian restaurants. I'd have guessed the plates got switched.
I would have repeated that I ordered the vegan mango dish and had it returned.
I wouldn't be negative unless they come across that way. It's no different than any other dish that came out wrong. It happens

I wound up having a discussion with the server and later the manager. The manager blamed the server for the mistake, adding that "She's really smart, she has a PhD", and the server apologized without explaining why the mistake was made, or who actually made it. It's not like there was an "add a protein" option on the menu for this dish, so whether the mistake was the server's or the chef's, they went off the menu to come up with this! The tiny "complimentary" desert (her words), which I think every customer gets as it was brought to me without any consultation, didn't help, as it wasn't vegan either (I had to ask a few questions to arrive at that conclusion) and it was politely refused.

They did replace the food with the proper dish. As a 20+ year vegetarian, poking around in my food to determine if there's animal flesh in it is not something I wish to experience. The manager gave me a generic, "How was everything?" near the end of the meal, making no mention of the error. I gave a half-hearted "okay" and he walked away. For whatever reason, he came back a few minutes later and asked why it was "only okay". I explained why my experience was pretty much unsalvageable after the mistake and he just stared at me. I tried to calmly and politely explain that an animal had died for my meal, whether I ate that animal or not. At that point, he literally walked away, mid-sentence. So I added, I thought sufficiently under my breath and for my own entertainment, "Yeah, you really don't give a s**t, do you?". I paid the bill, I gave the server a standard tip, and left. The manager followed me into the parking lot, and offered me another half-hearted apology (I guess realizing he'd been rude before? This is when he added the weird comment about the server being smart.) He still didn't get why replacing the incorrect dish wasn't enough to make me happy.

I was visiting from out of state, so it's unlikely I would have returned to this restaurant (now it's a certainty). As I drove to the concert venue I tried to see his perspective - for a business that has fridges loaded with dead animals, what's one more dead animal? We made a mistake and we fixed it, get over it. It's like we were just speaking two different languages.

 

[shyvas]

Yea, I've experienced that as well, but I'd still be polite about it.

I would send it back as well and ask for something else. I'd also politely suggest they take the vegan label off that particular menu item.

about it.

Unless I know restaurant I ask politely to talk the chef to convey what I’m eating

I would have thought that is kind of obvious. An assertive person is always polite. When complaining, you always gain more when you're firm and polite.

 

[Emma JC]

such an interesting mix of answers.... it's what makes the world go 'round, our differences

Emma JC
Find your vegan soulmate or just a friend. www.spiritualmatchmaking.com

 

[g0rph]

Mention it to the waiter.
Almost certainly a genuine mistake.
But when ordering food I usually simply double check with the waiter that it contains no meat, dairy or eggs...

 

[g0rph]

I would have sent it back, paid for it, informed them that I was never coming back, and left.

And if it was a genuine mistake?

You can't eat food that is remade. Restaurant workers will tamper with the food when people complain. Even spit in the food.

Wild assumption. Possibly if you are rude. A simple word with the waiter might actually get an apology and a new dish.

This happened at a restaurant. My daughter ordered an Impossible Burger, took one bite, and said, "This is meat". We left the food on the table, paid the bill, and left no tip.

Without saying anything?

What a world we live in where every mistake is taken for malevolence.

 

[Emma JC]

What a world we live in where every mistake is taken for malevolence.

that is an interesting conclusion - people are so on edge - I watch youtube videos from people's dashcams and road rage is always just an error away with people brake checking semis etc - humans make mistakes, be compassionate to them as well as to animals

Emma JC
Find your vegan soulmate or just a friend. www.spiritualmatchmaking.com

 

[g0rph]

that is an interesting conclusion - people are so on edge - I watch youtube videos from people's dashcams and road rage is always just an error away with people brake checking semis etc - humans make mistakes, be compassionate to them as well as to animals

Emma JC
Find your vegan soulmate or just a friend. www.spiritualmatchmaking.com

Without wanting to sound like a conspiracy theorist...Of whom I abhor....
It is what they (the elite) want.
We all blame...
brown people
arabs
poor scroungers
muslims
black people
etc etc
for our problems.

When it's rich (and this next word is not strong enough) C. . U..... N. T....S
who are making the current world what it is.


And if I get a ticking off for the above. So be it.

 

[g0rph]

Without wanting to sound like a conspiracy theorist...Of whom I abhor....
It is what they (the elite) want.
We all blame...
brown people
arabs
poor scroungers
muslims
black people
etc etc
for our problems.

When it's rich (and this next word is not strong enough) C. . U..... N. T....S
who are making the current world what it is.


And if I get a ticking off for the above. So be it.

AKA.
Create division.
Create problems.
Create enemies.

When in reality, they are not the enemy. They are not the problem.
The USA seems to be at the forefront. But it is spreading.
Nationalism.
Authoritarianism.
(Us) first.

But they make (Us) out to be ...America, The UK, France, Spain, Argentina...etc etc.

Us..in reality, is not bound by legal borders. It is bound by morals, by world-view. by compassion or lack of.

I am English and white and own a house and car and motorbike. But I have far more in common with a plumber in Nigeria who is maybe vegetarian and left-leaning, than I do with any of the English politicians.

 

[silva]

Without wanting to sound like a conspiracy theorist...Of whom I abhor....
It is what they (the elite) want.
We all blame...
brown people
arabs
poor scroungers
muslims
black people
etc etc
for our problems.

When it's rich (and this next word is not strong enough) C. . U..... N. T....S
who are making the current world what it is.


And if I get a ticking off for the above. So be it.

"I'll tell you what's at the bottom of it," he said. "If you can convince the lowest white man he's better than the best colored man, he won't notice you're picking his pocket. Hell, give him somebody to look down on, and he'll empty his pockets for you."
Lyndon B Johnson