Here we will answer whether or not a guest can get a refund at a restaurant if their food is taking too long. In another article we addressed what happens (and what if) if an individual should leave if their food is taking too long, but here we will address refunds on the same topic.
When payment is given to the restaurant for food before the food has been prepared, cooked, and received, the restaurant is obligated to deliver the guest’s order as requested, else a refund has to be done.
Many individuals that pay restaurants for food beforehand request a refund before their food is finished all the time. It could be for various reasons that they make the request. Some requests for these refunds are requested by guests without giving the restaurant a reason to why they are making the request.
In every case where these things have happened, the restaurant has always given the guests a refund without dispute, no matter how big the order was that was being prepared.
This means that a guest can ask for a refund and have it done under the circumstances that their food is taking too long to finish. Requesting a refund is not a bad thing under these circumstances. However, a guest should be aware of the type of restaraunt that they are dining at. Some restaurants that make certain types of food will naturally take longer to make the food.
An individual that is waiting on food at a restaurant shouldn’t expect all restaurants to have their food made in 20 minutes, 15 minutes, or even less than that. It depends on the type of food and how the restaurant prepares/cooks it at its own usual times.
Some foods are partially prepared hours before the restaurant opens. If these foods run out and have to be prepared during store hours, then they will naturally take longer. The customer will have to wait longer. However, restaurants do give their guests refunds, even for these situations.
In one instance, a guest was complaining about waiting for food for 5 minutes, pressuring the food to be made faster. Of course, this is absurd for most restaurants, even in their least busy times. The restaurant at this time was at their busiest hours, and still managed to get this lady her food in 6 minutes. This was the normal time for a restaurant, and actually very fast for the type of food they were making.
This lady had eaten at the restaraunt previously many times before, but expected her food to always be ready, no matter what, at the times she expected. She didn’t request a refund, but the restaurant would have given her one if she did request one before she received her food.
We understand that 6 minute waiting times for food isn’t what most people reading this are going to be experiencing (hopefully). Majority of the time, people start asking about there food and why it is taking so long after atleast 15 minutes have passed. Restaurants have given out refunds to customers for times that have been above this. This means that at certain restaurants individuals can ask for a refund without expecting the restaurant to feel that the guest was being unfair.
Usually if restaurants knows that the food is going to take longer than the normal, they will notify the guest beforehand with the reason why. They may also do so after starting the food, as they may feel that the guest has been waiting too long. Usually most restaurants’ goals are always to try and be as fast as possible with their orders. Trust us. They jam this into all their employee’s brains. It is one of their top priorities.
If an individual could have a dollar for every time that a restaurant instilled urgency and time of orders to their employees towards their guests, they would never have to work again. Unfortunately things happen, and some of those things are unavoidable. Food takes such and such time to cook and such and such time to prepare to cook. The cooking time cannot be rushed regardless of how irritated the guest may be.
There is actually a restaurant near us that is always infamously complained about locally for taking absurd amounts of time to finish orders. Almost every day the restaurant has a line of cars piled in their driveway. Does this restaurant have to give refund requests to unsatisfied customers? Of course they do. However, to this day, that restaurant is still infamous for having large waiting times for food. It still doesn’t keep them from having a long line of people that know this and still want their food.
If an individual is eating occasionally at a restaurant that they like, then they should pick a time to eat at the restaraunt when they know that they will have more than enough time. It isn’t a good idea to go to certain restaurants when they are packed with people and the individual ordering already has a fixed amount of time to eat. Most restaurants aren’t designed to satisfy these types of individuals, even if they are a fast food restaurant.
The busier restaurants are usually the cleaner ones with the better food. Asking for a refund from a restaurant for most guest is basically choosing to possibly never eat at that restaurant again. That is okay. It happens. However, the restaurants that are usually faster and don’t have a lot of business are also usually the more careless ones that skip all the steps needed to ensure that their guests are getting what they are paying for.
Some restaurants that are taking longer are deliberately taking longer, because they are refusing to send out bad food or food that isn’t food safe to their guests. They will send the bad food back to the kitchen and make them remake the whole thing if they have to, before it even reaches the guest. Sometimes employees try and get away with wacky stuff behind their supervisors’ backs. They will send the food out undercooked, cold, and upside down with no sauce on it if they get the opportunity. We know because we have seen it.
Some employees are wacky and think that speed of service is the number one thing, even over getting what you paid for and food safety. They will be praised by the restaurant until the customer complaints come rolling in like a flood. A good restaurant knows that speed is important, but quality is always above speed.
Many restaurants that are like this are already making a stable income as is, and will not cut corners to give their food out to their guests until it is actually finished. This is even if it has been a 50 minute waiting time. These restaurants at that point will not be surprised most of the time if a refund is requested as they are attempting to finish the food.
They will grant the refund, examine the situation as a whole afterwards, and if anything could have been done better, they will try to do it if ever given the chance again. If they can’t, then they can’t. They will just give refunds to guests that request it because their food is taking too long and move on with the day.
Some individuals just patiently wait out the long waiting time as if they expect it from past experiences, or know it will be because the restaurant is packed at the time. It is the guests choice to request a refund, or just wait while the restaurant is making the food.
Paramedics also run into this problem somewhat too when trying to wait on food at a restaurant. Things come up, so they are unable to get their food in time and need refunds later once they return. The restaurant is usually understanding.
The restaurant usually doesn’t even think twice about it afterwards as long as the guest that wants the refund wasn’t being rude about it beforehand. However, requesting a refund after ordering hundreds of dollars worth of food that took 20 minutes to 40 minutes (depending on how much food it was) to finish may be up for questioning. It depends on how far along the restaurant is in making the food.
