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Did you call them? Do they know? What did they say?

I've had one bout of debilitating food poisoning where I know exactly where the food came from - it was the only time I've been to that restaurant and I will never go back. But they didn't give a flying fig when I called to let them know.

Thats a tough one, I am very picky where I will eat and have gotten sick from a couple places. Its a terrible feeling just thinking about it. You don't want to say anything to anyone there either because they will just deny it. Then prob. go into the kitchen blabbing what you said. Although I had a bad experience with a coffee drink where the milk was bad and didn't realize it before I drank about 1/2 of it. I got so sick!!! I went back a couple weeks later and mentioned it to one of the counter staff and the young worker admitted to the refrigeration now working properly a couple weeks prior.

I think we need more information. What did you eat? If it was seafood or, especially, shellfish, I would be inclined to give the restaurant a pass, and just avoid the dish you ate (which you probably wouldn't want to eat anyway, for fear of Proustian memories). More of a fish-monger problem than a restaurant problem.

If it was dairy or meat, I'd be considerably less likely to go back, as its easier to tell if those are off.

In either case, call and let them know what happened- they should be aware of a potential problem, and their reaction will guide your decision.

I'm glad you're finally feeling better!

It is very difficult to identify the cause of food borne illness. Your doctor gave you a time window that is too small (12 to 18 hours) in reality it should be a time frame of several hours to several days (everything you ate and drank). Unless multiple people get sick, it is very difficult to pin it down on any one thing.

So, if I was you I would continue to visit Cafe X unless you are no longer able to enjoy yourself (keep thinking that every bite is going to lead to getting sick).

My source is the CDC:

What happens in the body after the microbes that produce illness are swallowed?

After they are swallowed, there is a delay, called the incubation period, before the symptoms of illness begin. This delay may range from hours to days, depending on the organism, and on how many of them were swallowed. During the incubation period, the microbes pass through the stomach into the intestine, attach to the cells lining the intestinal walls, and begin to multiply there. Some types of microbes stay in the intestine, some produce a toxin that is absorbed into the bloodstream, and some can directly invade the deeper body tissues. The symptoms produced depend greatly on the type of microbe. Numerous organisms cause similar symptoms, especially diarrhea, abdominal cramps, and nausea. There is so much overlap that it is rarely possible to say which microbe is likely to be causing a given illness unless laboratory tests are done to identify the microbe, or unless the illness is part of a recognized outbreak.

I'd definately tell them. It may not have been bad practices on their part, but instead a bad batch of something that they bought. And that something could still be in their freezer.

If no one tells them, they'll never know. If only one person tells them, they'll think that it was something else that made you sick (because they'd expect that if more people were ill, they'd have heard about it.) If not enough people tell them, they'll never be able to narrow it down to the particular food or beverage or supplier that caused the problem.

As far as going back to eat there again, for me, part of it would depend on their reaction when you tell them you got sick and you relate to them what your doctor said. See what they say, and see how you feel about that as a response.

After that, if you decide to go back again, you probably won't want to eat the same food again, anyway. At least not there, and not for a long time. But if you like the place and the people and the food in general, go back and see how it feels to you.

I'd bet that most people get foodborne diseases from food cooked by family and friends. You wouldn't stop eating at mom's house because she bought that bad spinach, would you?

It's important to get a second opinion about your medical condition as well before you make a decisive commitment to go or not go back to that restaurant. While one doctor can say that you had food poisoning, another doctor can give you another point of view on what might have happened (be it that the span of the food poisoning occurred in a longer period or you have a certain allergy, etc).

A couple of years ago, my husband got food poisoning from undercooked chicken at McD's. It was the most sick I have ever seen anyone get. He became sick within 4 hours of eating the ill-fated meal. Yet, he continued to eat at the same McPlace.

Thanks for these comments. I have let the restaurant know, via voicemail directly to the owner, because they do have the right to know. Beyond my own case, though, I think it's an interesting question: just how much responsibility restaurants can have over what is coming out of their kitchen. It's true that I wouldn't stop eating my mother's food if I'd gotten sick from it, once! But we hold restaurants to a higher standard--correctly, I think.

oops, sorry, hadn't scrolled through and noticed that you'd reported this.

You didn't mention if you had eaten that same order without consequences, prior to the meal that made you so sick. Just wondering about possible allergy.

I'm with dbcurrie. Letting them know is so important for many reasons.

Just recently I bought some milk with an expiration date weeks away, yet it was sour and curdled. I'm guessing it got a heavy dose of hot temps somewhere on the way to the convenience store. I purchased more a week later (different expiration date) and it was the usual fresh product. If no one reported the spoiled "X" , they would continue to sell it. It's considerate of others to report these sorts of things, to protect and prevent illness. With the restaurant's record, I'd feel confident to try again, unless you see a big difference in staff, cleanliness or ownership. Then it would be sayonara, adios, adieu, hasta la vista baby!

There are two different types of "food poisoning" - the much more common explanation is a germ transferred from a server or other staff member who uses improper sanitation techniques (and who may not be sick him or herself). Less likely is contamination originating with the food itself and exacerbated by poor food-storage procedures, but of course the latter does happen.

Clearly the former - catching a germ from another human for a particularly vile 24-hour flu bug, say - can happen anywhere, not just in a restaurant. If you'd gotten sick immediately after eating, the food at Cafe X would be clearly to blame, but with such a wide time-window it would be too harsh to deny yourself one of your favorite dining experiences because there's a chance your illness originated there.

If none of your dining companions got sick, that's another point in Cafe X's favor, unless you happened to eat wildly different brunch foods. Most brunches consist of variations on the same eggy theme, and since eggs are the likely suspect here, if your friends also ate them and didn't get sick, it probably wasn't the food.

personally, i wouldn't go back. like you said, there are a lot of restaurants there to go to besides that one. even if it wasn't their food, the association seems to be set in your mind, so why ruin a dining experience with paranoia?

During my first semester of grad school, my friends and I would always go to the same place on Thursday afternoon for happy hour. $3 frozen cosmopolitans and decent food at reasonable prices all combined to create the perfect atmosphere in which to get completely loaded and forget all about the previous week.

Three of us (including me) all got food poisoning one weekend, and after a Sunday spent alternating between bed and bathroom, I've never gone back.

I did receive a slight vindication when the place burned down last summer, though.

Hmmm I think you handled it well but I wouldn't go back. Was it something raw or carpaccio? If that's the case, you could be just intolerant of what you ate.

man, that is definitely a tough call!

personally, i've gotten sick several times from my own cooking and the cooking of several close, microbe-conscious friends - despite my near ocd-cleaning of food before preparing. i think because of this ,it's hard for me to hold it against restaurants if i get sick after eating there - sometimes food poisoning can come from microbes that exist within the food and will not be killed off no matter what happens. however, i've also never known anyone who might have gotten a serious-enough case of food-poisoning to die (i.e E. coli), so I can respect that other people might feel differently about this.

so, my opinion is this - if you're craving the food, and it sounds good to you, then you should definitely get it. if you think of it and it makes your stomach curl up and make you feel like you want to be back in the hospital bed, maybe forgo it for a while :)

I once got REALLY sick after eating at Panera... I even went in person to complain the next day and got a free soup/sandwich combo, so they tried...

When you deal with that much 'fresh' food and hire a bunch of teenagers, I guess you're bound to have something go wrong once in awhile.

This very thing happen to me at a place I frequently eat at (and still love to). I was baffled especially because I ate there with a friend that day and she hadn't gotten sick (we ordered the same thing). Then I thought about exactly what I had put in my mouth... I realized that it was the house made spicy condiments left out on the table in little jars/bowls that got me sick. I'm a big fan of that stuff and tend to pile alot of it onto my food. These condiments/sauces don't spoil, but they do sit out on the tables and get basically picked at, forked, dipped(doubledipped!) by countless people all day. Bad idea, and sort of stupid of me never to consider how unhygienic it was.

So, I still eat at my favorite Cafe X... I just watch out and stay away from condiments, sauces, spicy garnish, etc that sit out on tables all day at ANY places.

Incidents of this nature should be reported to the local health department for several reasons;
1. They provide data collection to insure it is not a widespread problem,
2. They will address the issue and not sweep it under the rug, which some institutions may do.