Even when there is no occasion to be celebrated, it’s always exciting to go out for a nice meal.
Sitting in a romantic setting, drinking a nice glass of wine, eating delicious food.
However, there is always the small chance of disappointment when going out to a restaurant.
The food might take a long time, the waitstaff might be rude, or perhaps worst of all, the food just might not be very good.
Making you wonder if it was worth the money you were spending.
Redditor No-Benefit5935 was excited to take his girlfriend out for a nice dinner at a place which came highly recommended.
Unfortunately, the experience proved not to be everything the original poster (OP) and his girlfriend had hoped.
Resulting in their making a decision which his friend declared to be an “a**Hole move”.
Wondering if they had done anything wrong, the OP took to the subReddit “Am I The A**hole” (AITA), where he asked fellow Redditors.
“AITA because I walked out of a restaurant without paying after waiting an hour for my meal.”
The OP explained what led him and his girlfriend to take an early departure from their dinner, and what they neglected to do before leaving.
“I M23 am in a long distance relationship with my girlfriend 22.”
“I went to see her last weekend and to take her out for our one year anniversary.”
“I wanted to take her somewhere nice so we went to a place my coworker recommended.”
“I looked it up and it had great reviews for food and service.”
“So we went to see the Van Gogh experience and then out for dinner.”
“I had made a reservation and the restaurant was not busy at all.”
“So I was surprised when we were asked to wait.”
“We went into the lounge and had a drink and waited.”
“About twenty minutes later the hostess came for us and we were seated.”
“It took a long time for the waiter to come for our order.”
“I was trying to have a good time but I was hungry.”
“We ordered straight off the menu.”
“No substitutions or deletions.”
“And then we waited.”
“We had another drink.”
“I asked the waiter about the food.”
“‘It’ll be right out'”.
“I saw people that were seated after us get their meals.”
“One hour after we sat.”
“I had had enough.”
“I asked my girlfriend if she was comfortable if we left and she said she was waiting for me to suggest it.”
“So I left money for the drinks on the table and we walked out.”
“The waiter saw us leaving and came over to ask us what the problem was.”
“I said that we had waited long enough and that we had other plans.”
“So we left.”
“We went to a chain steak restaurant and had a great meal.”
“My girlfriend thanked me for getting us out of the other place without a scene.”
“The server asked about our evening and we told them.”
“They brought us a complimentary dessert even though they and their restaurant did everything right.”
“I tipped very well 20% plus the cost of the dessert.”
“When I got back to work I told the guy who recommended the first place about the crap service and he said I was an a**hole for walking out without paying for my food.”
“I never got any food.”
“I don’t think I’m wrong.”
“Even our appetizers never made it out of the kitchen.”
Fellow Redditors weighed in on where they believed the OP fell in this particular situation by declaring:
- NTA – Not The A**hole
- YTA – You’re The A**hole
- NAH – No A**holes Here
- ESH – Everyone Sucks Here
The Reddit community agreed that the OP was not the a**hole for refusing to pay for food which never came.
Everyone agreed that the OP had every right to leave after waiting an hour for no food, and since the food never came, they should have felt no obligation to pay.
“NTA.”
“I’d have walked out too.”
“Especially when you see people seated after you, who order after you, get their meal before you do.”
“A restaurant providing good service would’ve had someone come and attend to you fairly soon after being seated.”
“And then come back regularly to see how everything is going and to make sure that you have your food and enough drinks.”
“If they did that you would have the opportunity to ask how much longer and whether there is a problem.”
“This restaurant has not done themselves any favors.”
“Perhaps you may have called the waiter over to see how much longer your food would be.”
“But if it’s not out within an hour and no one is paying attention to you.”
“Then they may have learnt a lesson to prevent this happening again.”- KitchenDismal9258
“If a restaurant makes you wait an hour or more with no food at all then they deserve to be walked out on without payment.”
“NTA.”-yas_astro
“NTA.”
“10 to 1 the server forgot to put your order in.”- A1askaKnight
“Why the f*ck would you pay for food that didn’t come after an hour?”
“Your coworker is delusional.”
“I would Google & Facebook review this restaurant & describe everything about your experience.”
“NTA.”- CraigBybee
“NTA, your food order never came so what would you have been paying for?”
“You paid for the drinks and left, you didn’t dine and dash, your coworker is wrong.”-Plenty_Metal_1304
“NTA.”
“No food.”
“No money.”- CptPureBloood
“NTA.”
“I don’t understand how your coworker would even suggest you’re an AH.”
“You should never pay for food you don’t receive.”
“That’s just common sense.”
“You were even gracious enough to pay for your drinks.”
“Kudos to you on that.”- Secret-Sample1683
“100% NTA.”
“No one should expect to wait an hour for food and have others seated after you receive theirs.”
“You paid for the drinks you consumed and that was good enough.”
“Was the restaurant understaffed?”
“It might be a reason why, although it isn’t an excuse.”
“Are there issues with you and that co worker?”
“From you have said you were pretty much ignored, if it isn’t because of being under staffed it’s usually due to discrimination/rude behavior, from both the server and diner, or from management.”-braedonwabbit
“NTA.”
“Mmmm yeah no someone really messed up there.”
“I would say, as an ex-waitress, that it would’ve been better that you tell the staff you’re leaving because you can’t wait anymore, but you’e not TA for leaving without paying for the meals you never got.”
“There are at least three points where someone should have realized that they’d screwed up, and they didn’t.”
“This is wholly on the restaurant.”
“And considering that it seems like your food never even began to be prepared, you didn’t cost them anything by leaving either.”- Left-Car6520
“NTA obviously.”
“An hour is crazy even if they HAD been slammed and/or of the kitchen had messed up.”
“Not acceptable at all.”
“Someone screwed up and your ticket never made it to the kitchen, would be my guess.”- gnothro
“NTA.”
“Sounds like your server forgot to enter your order into the point of sale system.”
“Meaning you weren’t even waiting on the food itself, you were still waiting on your server to turn over your order to the kitchen.”
“Who knows how long before they noticed their mistake and it would’ve conservatively been another 20 minutes after that point for the food to be finished.”- GeorgeBird0457
“NTA.”
“You didn’t make a scene.”
“You were hungry and you wanted food and went someplace else.”
“Just because your coworker had a good experience at the location doesn’t mean everyone else will.”- burner444_
“NTA.”
“I working in the hospitality.”
“Customer won’t get blame if the food come out late without any valid reason and they choose to go out.”
“Its Chef in Charge fault.”- Inotlike_you
“You did everything right, and your behavior seems logical in keeping with the situation.”
“You paid for the drinks and told the waiter the truth before you left.”
“Totally NTA.”
“Happy you were able to enjoy the night regardless.”- Vera_Telco
“NTA.”
“They stuffed up.”
“Big time.”
“You waited 20 minutes for your table as well as an hour for your meal.”
“More than, after an hour, you didn’t even have your meal yet!”
“I’d possibly be saying NTA even if you hadn’t paid for the drinks.”- embopbopbopdoowop
“NTA.”
“They should have explained if they had that much of a delay.”
“I assume from staffing shortages.”- ParsimoniousSalad
“An hour and you didn’t even get the appetizers?”
“Leaving was fine.”
“You were polite.”
“You didn’t make a scene.”
“You just went to a place that would actually serve you food.”- coffeecoffi
You get what you pay for.
Since the OP got absolutely nothing, then they shouldn’t have needed to pay for anything.
Making things all the more shocking was the server’s apparent indifference to the amount of time the food was taking.
Making one wonder if the OP should have even paid for the drinks, as he did.
As the polite thing on the restaurant’s end would have been to comp them.