Not to overwhelm the pages of Consumerist with stories about NFL running backs, but when the league’s best set of legs shows himself out to be one of the country’s worst tippers, we can’t not cover the story. [More]
restaurants
Florida Restaurant Won’t Provide Ketchup Or Salt For Customers Over The Age Of 10
By 9.5.14
Listen, you’re old enough now and it’s time we had the talk: Not everything you eat needs to be slathered in ketchup and encrusted in salt. I know, it’s harsh, but that’s what happens when you choose to eat at one Florida restaurant, where ketchup and salt won’t be provided to patrons over 10 years old. [More]
Groupon Now Offering Time-Based Restaurant Deals That Require A Reservation
By 9.3.14
Part of the hassle Groupon customers traditionally have faced is presenting that printed or mobile deal voucher to redeem it when the time comes. And that time wasn’t always ideal for businesses, either, with owners complaining of floods of customers wielding vouchers and overwhelming them. In an attempt to allay both stressful situations, Groupon’s new foray into the deal world for restaurants that take reservations comes with a time limit, with no voucher presentation involved. [More]
Asian Restaurant Would Really Like Its 800-Pound Wok Back
By 8.21.14
If someone tries to sell you an 800-pound wok, the police in Wichita, Kansas would like to hear about it. The Associated Press reports that earlier this week, the massive piece of cookware was stolen from the Bamboo Express Asian Cuisine restaurant while it was sitting outside. Moving the wok most likely required more than one person, and police could really use some leads. [Associated Press] (Thanks, Derek!) [More]
Restaurant Realizes Maybe It Shouldn’t Force Servers To Pay Credit Card Fees Out Of Tips
By 8.21.14
Earlier this month we told you about the Minnesota restaurant owners who decided the best way to offset increases to the state’s minimum wage was to deduct credit card transaction fees from servers’ tips. While it’s legal for businesses to do this, a poll of Consumerist readers found that 91% of you think it’s not a wise idea. Looks like the restaurant owners have finally gotten that message. [More]
Taiwan Restaurant Apologizes For Naming A Dish “Long Live The Nazis”
By 8.21.14
While I suppose there could be a worse name for a pasta dish, “Long Live the Nazis” is pretty much as horrifying as it gets. Yet the manager of an Italian restaurant in Taiwan says they had no idea the moniker for menu items featuring a German sausage would be a bad idea. Or just completely offensive. [More]
Woman Burns Mouth On Sweet Tea Filled With Industrial Cleaning Chemicals At Restaurant
By 8.15.14
There’s nothing quite like taking a big sip of a nice cold drink when you’re thirsty — unless that beverage is filled with chemical cleaners used to degrease restaurant deep fryers. Officials say a 67-year-old woman burned her mouth when she drank from a cup of sweet tea at a restaurant that was laced with lye. [More]
Scammers Call Restaurants At Peak Hours, Demanding They Pay Power Bill Now Or Lose Service
By 8.12.14
A good con artist knows that distraction and an added sense of urgency can help to separate a mark from his money. If you want to hustle a cashier into believing that he gave you the wrong change, it helps to have a line of impatient customers behind you. And if you want a restaurant to pay an electric bill they don’t actually owe, there’s no better time to threaten them with losing service than the lunch rush. [More]
Restaurant Gives Mom The Boot After She Changes Baby At Table
By 8.12.14
A mom in Texas claims that a local pizza restaurant overreacted when it asked her and her kids to leave because she had changed her baby’s diaper on a table, but the eatery’s owners are sticking by their decision. [More]
Study: Most Meals In America Are Now Eaten Solo
By 8.7.14
Did you eat breakfast on your own today? What about lunch — did you grab a bite with friends or eat something at your desk while pondering why it’s taken so long for your Netflix DVD to arrive? If so, then maybe you’ll be pleased to know that you’re part of the majority of Americans who consume those meals without a companion. [More]
Restaurants Can Deduct Credit Card Fees From Servers’ Tips, But Should They?
By 8.7.14
A few days ago, the minimum wage in Minnesota increased for the first time in years to $8/hour, putting it slightly above the federal minimum of $7.25. Some businesses are responding to the pay hike by tacking on “minimum wage” fees to customers or by taking credit card service charges out of servers’ tips. [More]
Burglar Breaks Into Restaurant To Cook Himself Crab Cakes
By 8.5.14
Every master criminal has his or her weakness that lands them in jail. Some get caught because they feel compelled to clean out every diamond from a vault. Others can’t resist the temptation of going up a supposedly unbeatable security system. Then there’s the guy in Delaware who was caught robbing a restaurant because he stopped to cook up some crab cakes for himself. [More]
Facebook-Shaming Gets Another Dine-And-Dash Artist To Pay Up
By 8.5.14
Even though it’s no different than other forms of theft, it can sometimes be difficult to get the authorities worked up about a restaurant customer who skips out on a meal without paying. But some restaurant owners are having success with getting these dine-and-dash scofflaws to pay up by publicly shaming them on social media. [More]
3 Reasons Why Yelp Should Reconsider Its “Elite” Yelper Program
By 8.4.14
Nine years ago, online review site Yelp began bestowing “Elite” status upon certain reviewers, rewarding them — sometimes literally, with free swag — for their frequent write-ups and their dedication to the site. While it’s arguably a positive thing for Yelp to recognize certain users, it may be time for the site to reconsider how it runs the whole Elite program. [More]
Restaurant Offering 15% Discount For “Praying In Public” Says It’s More About Gratitude
By 8.1.14
If a restaurant wants to offer a discount on a customer’s check, it can go right ahead and do that. But when the discount is tied to showing gratitude for your meal, how the heck is a restaurant supposed to decide who’s grateful and who’s not? [More]
Tourists: Read The Menu Before Ordering So You Won’t Need To Call The Police Over A Big Bill
By 8.1.14
When that gelato is more expensive than you think it should be, who you gonna call? Well, no one, or at least you shouldn’t if you failed to read the menu before ordering it. After all, numbers are written in a language everyone can understand, even if you don’t speak the language. [More]
Restaurant: Kids Can Eat Here If They Can Sit Quietly Without Special Seating Or A Stroller
By 7.30.14
Restaurants that have tried to tell parents in the past that children or babies aren’t welcome inside have faced backlash for coming out and saying so in the past, but one restaurant has instead decided to just make it really difficult for anyone with a small child or infant to eat there. [More]
Presenting The 9 Most Calorie-Filled Chain Restaurant Meals Of 2014!
By 7.30.14
To some, the Center for Science in the Public Interest’s annual Xtreme Eating awards are a reminder of how some restaurant meals can pack thousands of calories, oodles of saturated fat, and piles of sodium on a single plate. To others, the awards make up a to-try list of over-the-top menu offerings. Both will find plenty of sugary, fatty, salty treats to study with scorn, concern, curiosity, lust, or awe. [More]
