Were we right to walk out?

shezzone

We dined out at a popular Mexican restaurant chain. We ordered our food and waited over half an hour for it...fair enough...as the evening wore on the restaurant got busier and busier. We finished our meal and waited about another 20-30 minutes for service. My daughter went and found a member of staff to bring us the bill. We waited a further 20 minutes for a member of staff to come and take the payment. When they didn't come we waited 5 minutes at the till. Several staff members walked past. We were waiting to leave by this time. We all stood and waited by the till and still several staff members were dashing by on other jobs. Having caught the eye of several through this time and being ignored we decided to leave. A family on the table behind us said they knew how long we had been waiting because they themselves had been waiting for service for deserts.
In the end we left. We couldn't pay.
I feel bad about leaving the restaurant but we had no choice. The service was awful.

gettingtheresometime

So you stole the food?

elsien

Of course you had a choice.
You could have demanded to see the manager.
You could have told them you were about to leave to ensure you got their full attention.
You could have stood on the middle of the restaurant and made a huge fuss to ensure you got someone's attention.
You could even have phoned later and paid by card.

So did you try any of these?

Blackbeard_of_Perranporth

I have walked after food not appearing in twenty minutes. Drink finished, goodbyes said, up and off. I would not have waited thirty minutes.

However, I would not attend an establishment that employed robots!

[Deleted User]

shezzone wrote: »

My daughter went and found a member of staff to bring us the bill. We waited a further 20 minutes for a member of staff to come and take the payment. When they didn't come we waited 5 minutes at the till. Several staff members walked past

Not sure why you didn't say "we need to pay because we're leaving now". Not sure that you should have had to chase anybody to pay, but that's not the point here ....

Jamiesmum

No of course you wasn't right, you stole! You say you caught the eye of staff many times, did you actually ask any of them to take your payments?

You was there for around an hour and a half / 2 hours. You waited to order, then waited for your order to come, then you ate your meal - this took up at least 1 hour of time. With idle chit chat between yourselves it's hardly a shocking amount of time for eating out at a popular busy restaurant? Your daughter should have gone and grabbed someone again, if they were busy they was probably focused on the people who was more abrupt.

gunsandbanjos

I'm sure the member(s) of staff who had to foot your bill at the end of the night are delighted you walked out.

Mkl79

I think you know the answer or you would not have come on here!!!
Terrible.

Poppie68

So you committed a criminal offence and not want validation!
What you did was illegal, go back and pay before cctv pictures end up in the local paper.

shezzone

My son is returning tomorrow to speak to the manager during the day, when they are less busy. It's my first experience of this restaurant, who clearly couldn't cope when it was virtually empty when we arrived. There is a new cinema due to open directly above it next week. I fear it could only get worse for them.

tomtontom

gunsandbanjos wrote: »

I'm sure the member(s) of staff who had to foot your bill at the end of the night are delighted you walked out.

^^ Is a good point. Places like this often expect staff to make up the till if it doesn't balance.

OP, there's nothing stopping you ringing now and paying.