*just a rant*

so me and the hubs went out to dinner for our anniversary to a pricey (for us at least) and nice restaurant. the only veg*n thing on the menu was roasted vegetable primavera. penne pasta, roasted veggies, in a lemon and white wine sauce is what the menu read. i ordered this, but since i am transitioning to vegan asked if i could get it without butter. the server (after rolling the eyes and disappearing for awhile) told me i could get it made with oil instead and i said great!

literally this is what it was: penne pasta, roasted veggies...and oil. that's it. no lemon, no wine, no garlic, no spices, no seasonings. nothing. just oil. and it was 19.00.

how is it that at home i can cook vegan and it tastes fabulous, but some 5 star chef who gets paid 5 or 6 figures a year, can't do crap without butter? grrr.

*lesson learned* - my kitchen rocks, restaurants suck.

Oh man, should have complained. That's ridiculous. They may as well have sent an engraved notice to your table saying they don't want you to come back. That sounds so deliberately insulting.

You should still write to the management or corporate office (if it's a chain) and complain.

That definitely sounds complaint-worthy. If the chef is any good, he or she should be able to improvise and accommodate any dietary restrictions. It's a shame you had to pay for something that they obviously didn't try very hard on.

I would have asked if the message got misunderstood between the waiter and the chef . You can ask "Did we have a misunderstanding. I wanted the oil substituted for the butter only." I think they should have remade the dish.

as always hindsight is 20/20 so there are a lot of shouldas and wouldas. i bit my tongue and said nothing as it was an anniversary dinner and not let's make a scene dinner. also, after having worked as a server and bartender for a few years i am always hesitant to complain.

still.

i shoulda....

Ollie, are you hesitant to complain because they do things to your food? ( I probably don't want to know the answer - but that is why I don't say anything.)

That's a shame that such a nice restaurant did that. That's the kind of thing I would expect from a chain restaurant, where they usually aren't known for thinking outside the box!

The last time I had a problem was when i went to a tex mex restaurant in town. I changed out 3 things on the plate to make it vegetarian. I was almost finished with the enchiladas, and discovered that I had beef chili con carne sauce all inside the edge of the tortilla. I guess they put it on, then saw oops, wrong sauce, and scraped it off the top. I kept my mouth shut because my son wanted to order flan, but later I wish I had said something.

I ALWAYS say something. Although, I don't eat out all that often. But it's like "do your freakin' job".

I had to go to subway the other day, because I forgot to grab my yummy lunch I had packed to take to work. Well, I just got a bunch of veggies on bread that I knew was vegan. And you know how they use that flat knife thing to push the sandwich together? Well, the person in front of me got like a philly cheese steak or something gross like that, and the girl used the same meat-juice-mayo-covered knife on my sub. I was like, very rudely because that is disgusting "you are making me a new sandwich". She rolled her eyes, but she had to do it, because guess what, honey, happy costumers provide you with that paycheck.

As I have gotten older, I have gotten more vocal when food or service is unacceptable. Yet, there is a time and place for complaining. It sounds like you valued the calmness and pleasantness of the evening more than you valued an excellent entree. However, it isn't too late. Write a letter to the restaurant expressing your disappointment over your dinner. Make sure to mention that it was a special anniversary dinner and that you chose them (an honor) to be part of your celebration.

I'm betting they will make it right.

I ask my food to be cooked in vegetable stock instead of oil and butter where ever I go.
I went to PF Changs last week and their cooks seem to do a really good job following specific dietary needs, especially when it comes to vegetarianism. I ordered the Orange peel chicken (sub for Tofu!) cooked in veg broth with light orange sauce, it came out great. We ask that our vegetarian chow mein was cooked in veg broth too and you can really see the difference if they do it or not. =]

I would have done the same thing! I would have felt uncomfortable eating that sandwich if I hadn't. My BF actually go to Subway about once a week and I make sure that my sandwich is made and wrapped before his, because he gets the roasted chicken or something.

My last horrific incident was when I was at my favourite pub type restaurant, Petes, and ordered a bowl of black bean soup. Well, I was very accustomed to Panera Breads vegetarian/low fat soup and was excited that Petes had it on their special for the day. The definition said it came with salsa and tortilla strips on top. So I ordered, ate half the cup when I realized that it was packed with bit of bacon! I felt sick immediately. I rushed my dad to finish his dinner, drove home, and practically downed a bottle of Ipecac to get it out of my system.
Gross.

I agree with everyone that it is so important to speak up about your food. You're the one eating it, you're the one who spent the time asking for the changes to make it fit for you.. the least a restaurant could do is give you what you want.

jennifer - yep, having worked in a restaurant i know people do gross things to other people's food (myself excluded). but countingdown is right, i was into the calmness of the situation.

at "sit-down" restaurants, when you send the food back there is that other person that you're eating with that's like "should i eat? ask em to keep mine warm? what if it gets soggy cause i am waiting on hers to be right" and so then you're waiting for your food and the wine has gone down, now you need another glass of wine etc. etc.

i do complain on some things, but the dish i had in front of me was technically vegan and i could eat it. i simply asked for a plate of lemon and doused my food in lemon and tried to have a nice dinner.

totally woulda complained at the subway about the gross knife.

and not too long ago i ordered a salad from a restaurant and they brought it to me with fried chicken on it. eck! so i sent it back, told the waitress i was vegetarian and please, no chicken. she brought me back a salad and after one or two bites i saw bit pieces that someone "forgot" to pick off because all they did apparently was go and dig in my salad. i asked for a new salad.

i wonder if the land o'food will ever be 100% vegan friendly as in easy. easy substitutions, easy labels, friendlier menus etc. etc. for now i feel safe in my kitchen.

About Subway - Did you tell them you were making a sandwich that had no animal products? The reason I ask, is because it is utterly amazing how many people work in restaurants that don't know what veg/vegan is. Nicer restaurants usually understand, but fast food kids are frequently clueless, and need education.

If she knew it and didn't use a clean knife, then that was either just rude or dumb, but if she didn't know why, maybe she thought you were getting a low cal sub. The veggie delights with no mayo or cheese are their lowest calorie offering, and it's more common with dieters.

I'm constantly amazed that I, someone with no culinary training at all can make delicious nutitious meals but someone who cooks all day long can't come with something other then a bowl of pasta with veggies. Don't get me wrong - pasta with veggies makes me happy but for the price I'd rather dine in! I dream of an all veg culinary school one day!

Ollie - I think you did what you have to do. l've worked in my share of restaurants also and I'm very loathe step up and say something. I've started eating out less and less and less....

That really sucks. Unfortunately all too common though. I have come to have next to no expectations if I'm going to a restaurant that isn't veg*an friendly. If I have to go to such a place and know ahead of time I always call ahead (usually in the afternoon when they’re not busy) and ask to speak with the kitchen manager/chef. They usually know more about the food than the servers and many will even go out of their way to accommodate you if you give them a little warning. I would still complain, might get a discounted or free meal out of the deal, or at the very least let them know that with that kind of service they will have no repeat vegan customers.

I get annoyed having to go out and eat. The only reason I do it is to make the other person happy. Recently, I went to a place where the only veggie food was a grilled cheese sandwich (or so I thought). I've been trying to go vegan for the longest time, but still ordered the grilled cheese. On the menu, it stated that it had cheese and tomato in it, nothing else. Well, when I took a bite, I tasted something slimy and saw it had a piece of ham in it! I didn't want to complain because I could have maybe confirmed with the waiter about the sandwich before I ordered it. I ended up just eating the side of fruit and orange juice I ordered with it.