Asked for burger medium rare, meant medium well. Should I have sent it back after seeing that it wasn't what I wanted?

I probably would have eaten it, and just tried to remember that next time I want it medium well. If you have concerns about eating meat that is not cooked enough, then I think it would be fine to say, “I mistakenly asked for medium rare, would you mind throwing this on the grill for another minute or two?” I think most places would accommodate that without thinking you’re a PITA.

It was your mistake! You can’t send something back because you ordered the wrong thing.

@GoldieAV16 I have no fears of eating undercooked beef. The problem I had was with the texture. I’ll know better next time. Thanks for the answer.

If the place was super busy then I wouldn’t ask; but if you were very apologetic about it and said, “This is cooked exactly as I asked, but I just realized that I asked for the wrong thing…” they’d probably cook it more without an issue. However, if you wand the middle a little pink, that’s Medium. No pink is medium-well, and hockey puck is well-done.

If they could re-heat the patty without contaminating the grill (depending on what else had been put on the finished product), then I’d ask for that, after acknowledging that it was my mistake in the first place. Otherwise, if it meant a lot to me, I’d ask for this one to be packed “to go”, and order another one the way I want it. The “to-go” burger could be a treat for Willow, or to re-heat at home.

But if you want ‘a line of pink in the center’, that’s really medium on a burger, isn’t it?

I would have asked them to take it back and cook it some more and acknowledged my mistake.

I wouldn’t eat a pink burger, but I wouldn’t send it back if it was my own mistake.

After having worked in the kitchen for 2 months, I would now go ahead and send it back. Normally I would say to just eat it and that it is your mistake, but after working in the kitchen, I know now it is no big deal when something gets sent back.

I have had things sent back and seen things sent back for all kinds of crazy reasons, in just 2 months, so I imagine after a year or so of cooking for a living, the cook just stops caring what your complaint is and why you are sending it back, and just wants to fix it and send it back out to you again fast before it interrupts the other orders.

I had some cheese garlic bread sent back, because the customer wanted it with the cheese melted, the thing was, the cheese was already melted, it even had bubble holes in it from when it had boiled as it melted under the grill. I just changed it to another plate, gave it 30 seconds in the microwave and sent it back out, and was told “it was very nice thank you” by the waitress on behalf of the clients.

With it being a burger, that you want to be more cooked, there is no problem in sending it back. If you sent back that order to me, I would just flip open the burger, put the meat back on the grill for a minute each side or so, then sent it back, problem solved.

@poisonedantidote When I worked at Applebee’s, the cooks got incredibly pissed when someone sent something back. I remember one man ordered a medium steak and wanted to send it back because he said it was undercooked. I took it back into the kitchen and, after throwing a fit because the steak was medium, the cook stuck it back on the grill for a couple of minutes and sent it back to the customer. The guy then sent it back because it was dry. At that point, I didn’t blame the cooks for being pissed.

I guess it depends on where you are. Everyone at Applebee’s is pretty miserable.

I wouldn’t have sent it back unless it was moo-ing. I’d be annoyed with myself but wouldn’t take it out on the cook. Enough ketchup and I wouldn’t know the difference.

Plus, I can’t recall ever sending something back that was undercooked and gotten it back cooked right.

@livelaughlove21 Yea, I have noticed that there are some things that piss off the other cook that I some times work with, namely when people order omelette.

But yes you are right, it could piss someone off. Just personally, I never get pissed off at work because there is work to do, if I am on an hourly rate. I will only get pissed off when something eats in to my time or money really.

However, even if it does piss the cook off, they don’t really have any choice but to do it again anyway. I often in the past worried about cooks spitting in food if you sent it back, but again, after seen how it is, there is not really enough time or saliva to do that, you just have to keep going, otherwise the next 5 orders will all be sent back too because you messed them up, and so on.

I would send it back, and apologize as I did it. I would also double the tip.
If I ordered it medium well, and meant medium rare, I would just bite the bullet and eat it. You can’t send it back for them to cook it less.

@poisonedantidote I used to worry about spit as well. I’ve only seen one server spit in someone’s food (well, drink), and he totally deserved it. After working at Applebee’s, I’m much more worried about roaches.

I would apologize, say it was my mistake and ask if they could cook it a bit more. As others have said, if it were overdone because of my error, I would not ask for another one.

I would throw out the burger and order another properly and consider it a lesson learned.

I would have, rare meat…yuck! Ya gotta be bold, assertive, read: not an asshole, confident.
I would have said ” I’m sorry, my mistake, but can you toss this back on the grill for a few minutes til the blood evaporates please?” lol

I never woud eat a medium rare hamburger. When I lived in Raleigh, NC restaurants had to make burgers medium or more done by law.

I would apologize and ask them to cook it some more. If for some reason I felt bad about doing that or was in a rush, I would take it home and cook it more later and have it for a different meal. But, most likely I would just ask them to cook it more.

Here’s the thing. They need to cook it more and I need new bread and new lettuce, because if the juices from the raw meat is on any other part of anything I won’t eat it. So, I might just ask for another and pay for two. It really depends.

I would eat it without complaint for two reasons.
1) It was my mistake.
and the most important reason:
2) By sending it back you force the people you are with to either be rude and eat before you are served or to sit there and watch you eat after they were finished. Either way your company does not fully enjoy the meal because of your action .
The most important part of the meal is not the food. It is the person sitting next to you.
If everyone was served at the same time and my meal was wrong i would eat it without complaint – and fully enjoy the company of the person I was with.

Eating soiled food instead of turning it down killed the Budda.

I would just eat it.
After seeing the movie Waiting, I’d be afraid to send anything back.

@Katniss I absolutely love that movie. That restaurant was so much like the Applebee’s I worked at; it was uncanny. No pubes in the mashed potatoes though!

@livelaughlove21 Hilarious, right?? I have to say, however, that I think about it almost every time I go out to eat. lol

@LuckyGuy Soooo, you want your loved one to get Eccoli? lolol
The most important part of the meal is the sensual pleasure of the food, minus disease.
How do you make love to someone who has the runs?
Uh…sorry babe, but, you’re in the guest room tonight.
haha

@Coloma It seems like we are the only two worried about getting sick from it.

@Coloma @JLeslie At the table right next to us there is a guy ordering his hamburger rare, not medium rare. The risk of me getting the runs from a medium rare hamburger from a commercial establishment are close to nil. If the place was teeming with O-157 E-coli they would be closed down by now.

On the other hand, if I send my food back for any reason, the odds of me forcing my date to sit there uncomfortably either letting her food get cold or eating it while I watch are 100%.

I don’t care if the error was the server’s or not . If something was inedible I simply would not eat it. I can afford to skip a few hundred calories for the sake of a pleasant evening. The food is secondary.
The most important part of the date is the person I am sitting with. Really.

I once double dated with a guy who complained about everything and tried to get something for free. He was (and still is) a complete jerk.

I would date you any time, @LuckyGuy, and I don’t even swing that way.

While I’m on a roll here…

I figure if someone is bothered by a minor error like, the meat is medium and they wanted medium well, or the lemon is on top of the fish instead of the side, or whatever, I wonder how they handle the bigger issues in life. What would it be like to be with this person for an extended period of time? Do they not realize how lucky they are? Does it really matter if the ice cream on the brownie sundae was double chocolate instead of double chocolate chip? Are you really going to make everyone in your group wait while the server makes you a new one. Really? I can’t imagine how miserable life must be for that type of person.

Of course if someone has life threatening food allergies they get a total pass and have the right to be as picky as they deem necessary. I will wait for your meal to be redone and reserved before eating my own.

@CWOTUS I’d gladly go out to dinner with you the next time we’re both in your state at the same time.

If my date orders a tall, half-skinny half-1 percent, extra hot split quad shot (two shots decaf, two shots regular) latte with whip and a dusting of cocoa powder, I would say nothing and would pay for it without complaint. But that would likely be last time we go out together.
Life is too short.

@LuckyGuy I agree, ones partner is a big part of the menu, but no bloody beef for me. :-p

@Coloma Can I interest you in a nice salad and a coffee?

You bet! Catch the next plane to gloomy CA. today. lol ;-)
I’ll provide the baby squash for our salad.

@LuckyGuy I just ate a steak tonight that was medium well, when I ordered medium. But, medium rare and medium well are quite different. I did write above I might or mightnot swnd it back if I were the OP. getting ecoli fromhamburger is not a risk I will take. To make sure we are on the same page, a regular steak I would not be worried at all, just hamburger meat.

Gagh is best served live… you don’t want the half dead kind. sorry I can’t find the deep space 9 clip… where dax returns her food.

Gagh fake

Absolutely. All they would have to do is cook it some more. Any good restaurant should be willing to do whatever it takes within reason to please their customer.