I’d ask to speak to someone who gives a s$%^ first off.

Get the manager, maitre d’, chef over and tell them what is wrong. Ask them to do it as you expect. If the next dish brought out is wrong, call them again and this time tell them you do not expect to get a bill. Let them know you are going to AbraKebabra, Burger King, McDonalds etc. where at least you will get what you order.

Let them know that your experience was not as expected and tell them if you are asked you will be honest in your description of your experience in the restaurant.

Reputation is everything for a restaurant. If they care they will do everything possible to protect it. If at anytime you feel they are not doing their best to protect it, let them know. Do not accept any old excuse, fob off, free this or that, just insist (in the most polite way possible) on getting what you expected and if it works out, let them know.

Thats what I do anyways

it appears yourself and Tom Doorley have had recent bad experiences with undercooked fish (except in Mr Doorleys case he thought it was some new way of serving ray. note to Tom – ray usually doesnt feature in sushi)

I worked as a waiter years ago and the restaurant had a policy of replacing a dish if it was cold or underdone or offering the customer another dish of their choice and the main meal was removed from the bill. It must be said food was rarely complained about in this place but I do remember on some occasions a free bottle of wine being offered or desserts also not charged for. However we never served someone raw fish or meat (unless a blue steak requested so), and i’d expect that customers entire meal to be stricken from the bill.

How come you didnt order a different main course if you were so hungry, or ask to speak to the manager? I realise the fear of food tampering by waiters is always there on a complaint but as long your complaint is genuine (ie not debating medium rare and well done) and you speak respectfully to a waiter making your complaint then you really wont get any backlash from them

The chef however, no matter what the cause will call you everything under the sun, but such is their nature in the hot underbelly of the kitchen at service time.

Paul I was in the restaurant with my two little girls – the oldest is two – and they were already half way through their lunches by the time mine arrived. While they are always absolute angels (ha!), waiting for their dad to get himself another main course whould have tried their patience to extreme levels and there would have been, I fear, tears and tantrums.

The babies might have been a bit grumpy too.

Your options above sound quite extreme one way or the other.

I would say, put through a genuine (and polite – no snarling) request for the dish to be changed, be it of the same thing or a different one. And do explain why you’re trying to send the dish back or believe it’s inedible.

Personally I’d be happy to get a dish more to my taste in exchange and if they do decide to knock it off the final bill, that’s a bonus.

Return the dish politely has worked for me, either resulting in an alternative dish or removal of the item from the bill.

When I was a small boy I spent two rather uncomfortable years with the oddly named Christian Brothers at national school. I seem to remember that they put a lot of emphasis on the regurgitation of facts on demand and that the expression of opinion was, if not expressly forbidden, usually punished. This involved either the informal “clip on the ear” or the ceremonial whacking of the palms with a strip of leather.

They say that older people are less likely to complain and now that I’m heading into that dread category (having been clipped and whacked way back in the 1960s) I wonder if it’s because we have a subconscious fear of drawing attention to ourselves, causing a scene and, methaphorically, getting called up to the top of the dining room for ritual humiliation while the other diners snigger behind their ink-stained paws and hope it won’t be them next. Just a thought…

My girlfriend took me to a nice restaurant in Galway for my birthday a couple of years back. The restaurant is in the same building as a bar (same owners I think). We were seated beside the open door which leads into the bar and had to shout at each other over the music coming from next door. During our dessert, the bar manager fully opened the double doors to allow drinkers to access the restaurant, which many of them duly did. I ended up eating my tiramisu (or whatever!) with a guy holding a pint over my head and shouting at his mate across the table. Others were using our chairs to hand up their coats!! We complained to the bar manager but he pretty much laughed at us but the restaurant manager was mortified and gave us the meal for free. I doubt I’d go back there again but her response was appreciated and because of her, we haven’t spent the last two years slating the place to anyone who would listen. We laugh about it now! As a customer, it pays to complain and for the restaurant, it pays to own up and admit the mistake.