Thursday, March 10, 2011

Not For A Weak Stomach

Tuesday night I went to dinner with Katherine, Chelsea and a few others at our favorite local (family friendly) sports bar.
This is a place Mr. D and I frequent.  It's not a chain, located close to our house and very delicious.  In fact, we were there last less than a week ago. 

I was super excited for dinner with some of my favorite people and happy to be out of the house for the evening.  I ordered a salad with grilled chicken (they have great salads!) and was just giddy about it.  At one point as we were waiting for our dinner I'm pretty sure I spent a good two minutes talking about how excited I was for my salad.  (Yes, I would have rather ordered chicken tenders and fries...but I was trying to be good.)

Our food arrived and we all chowed down.  My salad, true to form, was delicious....at first.  All of a sudden I looked down to get another bite.  As I took my fork and pulled back some lettuce and chicken a big, hairy creature crawled out from under the lettuce where he had been pleasantly napping snuggled amongst my veggies. 
IT WAS A GIANT MOTH!!!!  IN MY SALAD!!!!
I was instantly sick.  My stomach was churning and my body broke out in a sweat as the little creature crawled around my plate.  I tried to stay composed and keep my cool as my fellow dinner dates called the manager over.  The manager took my plate away and offered me something new.  I politely declined as I'm pretty sure my stomach was inside out at this point.

The manager said he was sorry and "didn't know how this happened."  That was it.  The manager was gone, my plate was gone and it was over.  I hadn't even had a chance to process all of this when I left the restaurant and drove home.  The longer I sat and thought about it the more upset I got.  I didn't expect them to fawn all over me, but there was a BUG crawling around in my dinner!!!!  This is a place we go very often and we are regular customers so I expected more than their lack luster apology and offer to bring me a new dinner. 

I'm still really upset about the bland reaction I received from the management.  Is this normal for them and maybe that's why they didn't get up in arms and super upset over the friend I found in my salad...?  I certainly hope it's not normal.  My stomach has been queasy for the the last two days and I'm pretty sure it's gonna be a looong while before I can go back there. 

I struggled with whether or not I was going to blog this story.  This is a local restaurant everyone in Lexington seems to love.  I don't want to deter people from eating there.  However, the more I thought about my recent experience the more I decided if this happened to someone else (and not me) I would want to know.  I'm not going to tell you the name of the restaurant (it rhymes with "huggins" and there may or may not be a brand new Orange Leaf next door) but I'm sure you can figure it out if you want to.

How do you feel about this?  Do you think I have a right to be disappointed by the way I was treated post-moth?  Has anything like this ever happened to you?  (I really hope it hasn't because it was repulsive for those of us sitting at the table.) 

xoxo,
Mrs. D

P.S. BIG thank you to those of you sending sweet comments and prayers to McGruff yesterday.  He's still down and out but we're hoping he'll be back to his old self in a couple of days. 
P.P.S. I know I'm really bad about responding to blog comments.  I promise I will try to be better and answer you all soon.  I've just been super busy lately and I've let my comments get out of control.  Sorry.  I love reading them and hearing from all of you and I promise I will respond soon.  xoxoxo

13 comments:

  1. i was thinking about this yesterday...i can NOT believe the OWNER was sitting a table away and didn't even bother to come over. WTF?! i'd write a letter. for reals. ya'll spend a lot of money there and deserve better service!

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  2. Oh my. I would be very upset! Especially if it were a place I frequented. I don't blame you in the least!

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  3. You have every right to be upset! To me, that's a pretty big deal and deserves to be addressed by them, especially since you are "regulars". It sucks that one of your fave places is essentially ruined now for you!

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  4. Bri and I had a recent experience like that too, at an extremely high class/price restaurant in Arlington. I emailed the headquarters, and the manager of the restaurant we went to emailed us back, offering us to come in for a free dinner for both of us. The manager who was in the restaurant when it happened stated, verbatim, "Uhh, sorry. This happens at every restaurant. We're not the only ones, ya know." And he then WALKED AWAY.

    Seriously?

    So, I saw email/call headquarters! ESPESH if it's a place you go to all the time.

    Sorry you had a bad experience!

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  5. Oh my gosh... that is disgusting! They should have offered to take your meal and someone else's off of the bill. That would have made me sick, too! Gross! Well, looks like they just lost a loyal customer!!!

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  6. Unbelievable, not to mention downright disgusting. He should have been offering you whatever he could to make sure you and your friends come back. Hope you're back to eating by now.

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  7. Oh gross! I would have reacted the same way you did...how could anyone eat after that. How are you ever going to be able to eat there again?!?!?! You will always be looking for a moth...tres traumatic! They really should have waived the food cost for the whole table...to show that they were really embarrassed by what happened! I mean, it is not like a speck of dirt we are talking about here people…it is a whole, live, hairy moth!!!!!!

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  8. Tres gross. They should have brought you a new meal and perhaps even comped your meal. I think I would have to pass on ever dining there again. (When I lived in Lex, I had an apartment on Duke Road, so I'm thinking this place is near there? :)

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  9. OMG, I cannot imagine! I would be totally freaked out too. I'm willing to forgive an errant hair every now and again, but a BUG??! And a LIVE bug at that. EEWWW. I can't believe they weren't more forthcoming with an apology, and you have every right to warn people about your experience. Feel better, sweetie!

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  11. Ditto. I feel that he was not very sincere. I know the owner wasn't working, but he is the OWNER {should have said something}. Since it was my first experience there I was a little surprised. Taking the item of the bill is protocol, they should have done more.

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  12. seriously i just want to youknowwhat just thinking about that - i once had a fly in my salad. it was sick. they gave me a 50 gift certificate and a free meal. the thing about that is i never wanted to eat there again, but at least they tried. boo to your restaurant for not treating you better!!!

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  13. OMG that is horrible and that is one of my favorite restaurants! OMG I am so sorry for you and I am in customer service, have been for the past 5 years, and that response was completely UNACCEPTABLE. You were completely right in thinking that they should have treated you better and in the very least, offered to pay for your dinner. I don't live in Lex now, but I will be sure to tell my parents, they go there ALL the time! You deserved a lot better!

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