What is the Worst or Most Disgusting Thing You Have Seen Happen in a Restaurant?

United States
March 20, 2009 10:29pm CST
I have been a culinary school graduate for only 2 years now and I have seen the most disgusting things happen in both the front-of-the-house and in the kitchen. Sometimes I wonder what are these people thinking? Whether is a cooked dropping food and still serving it or a server eating food off a plate that has come back, where do these people get their motivation? So what is the worst thing/situation you have experienced in a restaurant as a employee or a patron?
2 responses
kookiman
@kookiman (25)
• United States
27 Apr 09
Having spent twenty years in food service, I have seen some things that would curl your hair...I could write a book ! From a restaurant owner that bussed a table and handed me a plate of sausage to reuse, to mice/roaches in a country club, to a hospital that washes their floor mats in the same dish machine used for patients' dishes...probably the most disgusting was when I saw a busboy wash the urinal screens in the dishwasher ! Needless to say I ate off paper plates from then on.
hannahandhenry
@hannahandhenry (65)
• United States
16 May 09
Oh yeah me too. I've only been in for eight years, two of those graduated from culinary school, but I've definitely seen some of the same things. We're always sharing those stories in the kitchen because luckily I work for a large resort in one of their outlet kitchens and everyone in there is super paranoid and has ocd to the fullest so we get a huge kick out of them. I guess it's like seeing the most disgusting thing laying on the sidewalk and you can't figure out what it is, but instead of walking away you keep looking at it and sometimes pick up a stick to poke it just because it's that gross. Thank goodness for cooks with ocd!
westernangel
@westernangel (237)
• Canada
21 Mar 09
We were eating at a chinese restaurant (my son-in-law, husband, daughter and myself) Our son in law was just beginning to eat his food and a large centipede fell down and landed right in the middle of his food. It must have come from an overhead vent or something. Needless to say, he won't go back there any more.