‘I left a restaurant without paying for my food after an hour wait – my pal is furious’

The dinner was meant to be a special occasion to celebrate the man’s one year anniversary with his partner – but the night took a turn when their food never arrived

A man has received a huge backlash from his friend after walking out of a restaurant as they waited more than an hour for food that never arrived.

The man took to Reddit to explain his friend had given him the recommendation for an upcoming anniversary meal between the man and his girlfriend but the night did not go according to plan.

In the post, the diner, who remained anonymous, explained: “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.”

When the pair arrived at the restaurant, they were asked to wait which was a surprise given it was not a busy evening.

However, they were soon sat down and that is when more issues with service began to arise.

The main explained: “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 [and they said] ‘It’ll be right out’. I saw people that were seated after us get their meals. One hour after we sat. I had enough.”

The man went onto say that he then asked his girlfriend if she would be comfortable with leaving and she replied saying she was waiting for him to suggest it. So the pair left and went to a nearby steakhouse.

But as they tried to leave the waiter came over to them.

“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,” explained the author.

“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.”

When they explained to the steakhouse what had happened at the other restaurant they were given better hospitality and even a free dessert for their troubles.

But when the man returned to work he told his co-worker what had happened and the friend was furious that he left the restaurant and said he should definitely have paid for the food, but the man did not agree.

In response, many have been quick to support the diner, as one said: “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.”

While another said: “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.”

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