I've been a vegetarian my whole life and I've never liked greasy foods or potatoes, so I've gotten good at making substitutions. I also feel that you're paying for what you order, so they should accommodate you. Arctic Mama has it right though, make sure you go off of a regular menu item as opposed to making up your own thing. Occasionally I'll ask for a special veg meal, but those are only at nicer restaurants where I can expect the chef to use some creativity.

Alaskanlaughter, I can't believe that they actually told you that you could not substitute! Like seriously, how hard is it to plop veggies on a plate vs. plopping mashed potatoes?

Daki, I always get so frustrated when the veggies come covered in butter or oil! I wonder why they do that?

HungryHungryHippo, does that actually work? I never considered that!

This happened to me and PF Changs. I asked for a side of steamed broccoli and it was covered in some sort of oil/butter mix and it was WAY over cooked and they charged me $3.25 for it. It was nothing at all.

OMG, yes. There are a few restaurants around here like that with the oily/buttery vegetables! Once at this restaurant, I asked if they had any fresh veggies to steam, I got weird looks back along with a "NO" and that their veggies are automatically seasoned with butter and salt. So I just opted for the baked potato without the butter and ironically, they still put the fricking butter in it after I asked them not to.

In restaurants, you do pay more to eat healthier which I think is ridiculous but whatevs.