Reader Poll: How Many Chances Do You Give a Restaurant?

July 18, 2007

TeamSugar member MotoLinz wants to know how many chances you give a restaurant. Most professional restaurant reviewers visit twice, if not three times before making their judgment call, but how about you? How many times do you give it before you make your decision?

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27 Comments

robs1325 5 years 43 weeks

Why would you back a second time if you did not like it the first time?

AmazonChick 5 years 43 weeks

It depends what was bad - if it was service (having been a bartender) I know that doesn't refect on the whole restaurant. But if no one I'm with liked their food, then unless someone convinces me that I had a bad experience, it's not going to be on my list of 'try agains.'

Chiquita 82 5 years 43 weeks

only one chance! I just can't go to a restaurant again if i had a bad experience there.

NdHebert 5 years 43 weeks

I am a pastry chef in a restaurant, and PLEASE don't let the server represent the place. If the service is bad, you tell the owner! The manager is on salary, of course he doesn't want bad service but one unhappy couple doesn't mean much. You tell the owner, and that means the WORLD. At the same time, if the food is bad, dont blame it on the server. I dont want to tell you the stuff i've seen people do to plates when rude people send them back.

covergirl smile 5 years 43 weeks

It's all dependent on the experience the 1st time around. There have been times when I HAVE NOT gone back all because of horrible service -- even if the food was YUM-O!

LaLaLaurie06 5 years 43 weeks

I actually don't think I've ever been to a restaurant where I said "I never want to come back here!" There's always been some redeeming positive value about it.

CestLaVie 5 years 43 weeks

Usually only once- if they screw up service, meal takes forever to reach the table and something is wrong with it/missing.... my mind is pretty made up by that point.

tdamji 5 years 43 weeks

up to 3.

Rachiepop 5 years 43 weeks

I give it 2, sometimes the first visit isn't the best just because maybe I don't order something that is good, or I don't like the way they make it. However there are places I've tried a second time and gotten something different and turned out to really love it.

Mon715 5 years 43 weeks

Serve me bad food once shame on you. Serve me bad food twice, shame on me.

WildHeavenFarm 5 years 43 weeks

(voted: one time only) While I like to think of myself as a fair person, it's hard to make oneselft sit down to a meal with such a high statistically likelihood of being awful.

ryanmcnitt 5 years 43 weeks

i think anyone can have a bad night, so if im not completely satisfied with my first visit, ill give it one more shot...sometimes, too, i need to look at what i ordered, perhaps i took a chance on something i dont really love, so ill return to try something i should like, and if i still dont, i wont return

julie f baby 5 years 43 weeks

come on if you go to a restaurant and you get food poisoned are you going back - i dont think so.

LiviNikki 5 years 43 weeks

I used to be a server, so I know anyone can have a bad night. That's not a deterrent... unless it's outright rudeness on the staff as a whole (for example - the hostess staff making a racist comment, which has happened). If I didn't enjoy the food, I'll give it another shot. However, I draw the line at a lack of cleanliness: people that don't wash their hands, dropped food, dirty dishes/silverware. I once walked out of an IHOP. I was sketchy about going there at 3 in the morning anyway, but when I saw a silverfish climbing the wall, and then the server came up to me and said, "I don't know what minestrone soup is supposed to look like, but I wouldn't eat it," I was out of there. Just thinking about it makes me sick.

sumnboutme 5 years 43 weeks

It depends. If the problem was the food, then once is enough. If the problem is the service, I give them another chance.

mominator 5 years 43 weeks

Usually I know after the first visit even though I have punished myself and gone back a second time.

kiddylnd 5 years 43 weeks

If I didn't like my food, but everyone in my party did I'd give it another shot. If the service sucks and the food is great, then it gets a second change. If after two chances I still am not overjoyed with a place it's unlikely that I'll return for a third trip.

Chaoticfury 5 years 43 weeks

Depends on the restaurnat.

d_ford 5 years 43 weeks

I'm with Linda. If it's bad once, like a poor waitress or long waits because it's busy, then I'll go back. If it's bad the second time, I won't go back again. If the food is questionable or down right horrid on the first go, I won't go back. I've got such a picky stomach that I won't risk feeling ill by the same place twice.

butterflyforaday 5 years 43 weeks

oen is my limit.

Linda McP 5 years 43 weeks

I'll go back, but if anything isn't to my liking on the second try, the restaurant is off my list forever.

bigestivediscuit 5 years 43 weeks

It really depends. If it was just one thing, then I'd give it a second chance, if it was an overall bad experience I'd never go back again!

eaker 5 years 43 weeks

I hate revisiting restaurants where I had a bad experience or didn't enjoy the food. This can be bad though because the available pool of places where I will eat is getting smaller and smaller.

onesong 5 years 43 weeks

if anything besides the service is bad, I won't give it another chance. However, if eveything besides the services is great (the food, drinks, ambiance), then I will usually try one more time to see if it was just an off night (in the case of a long long wait) or a poor server (in the case of...well...a poor server!).

partysugar 5 years 43 weeks

There are so many restaurants that I give it just once chance to nail it!

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