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Ditto on the salt on the potatoes but the meat that I've noticed restaurants have a specific issue with is duck.

Over dressed salads. I'd like to taste the lettuce and other vegetables and not have them swimming in dressing.

I quit ordering scallops. They are either raw or rounds of rubber. If you send either back, you get the other.

It has to be never providing enough salad dressing, unless you order it on the side. Also, serving bottled salad dressing instead of making it fresh.

I never order pasta when we eat out, partly because I am yet to see a really exciting pasta offering at a restaurant.

Only in restaurants that I know and trust will I order shrimp, scallops and/or mussels - all three are too often overcooked, and I pretty much gave up on them (especially, if it's my first time at a restaurant). Even my favourite place where "maple-glazed scallops with port & fig risotto" are pretty much my standing order, manages to overcook them once in a while (but at least they do cook them right the second time, and it has only happened twice out of probably a hundred times that I ordered this dish).

Crab cakes - very often they are more like "everything else" cakes.

Eggplant Parmesan. It's always an oily, soggy mess.

Kelly

Wow, sounds like you send food back a lot LoCo...have you ever seen Waiting...

Ha ha just kidding.

My boyfriend always wants prime rib, and I always have to remind him that by the time we usually go out to eat, around 7:30-8pm, that prime rib has been cooking for hours and hours and he's not going to get a piece less than medium well. He orders it anyway, and lo and behold, I'm right. But most prime rib in restaurants is not good.

I hate that most pastas have such a thick alfredo sauce (which is sooo bad for you I hardly eat it) or a flavorless tomato sauce. I have several pastas in my repertoire with....flavor! Why can't a restaurant do it?

Yeah. Meat doneness is really haphazard. They usually overcook, so I've compensated by asking for it rarer. Then sometimes it's too rare for my tastes cause the restaurant is doing it right.

That's my main beef. Most of the time, things are fine.

fries, frites and potatoes. The easiest simple thing to do is for some reason not taught anymore and it makes me bananas.

I have also had many a baked potato served that tastes & looks like it has been hanging-out in a warming oven all day:(

What beverages are routinely loused-up?

Wow, quite a rousing question JEP. I don't eat out a lot, so I go back to my tried and true favorites, but as for beverages, I rarely find a lemonade I like. It's either filled with ice and gets way too diluted halfway through the meal, or way to tart. I love a good fresh strong lemon flavor, but the sweetness has to be up there to match. And don't get me started on the artificial junk.

I often find that risotto is not made well. It's one of my favorite thins, and I order it whenever I can, but even so called vegetarian dishes are often made with chicken stock. When it is actually vegetarian, the biggest insult is when they just used regular rice, not arborio. That's not risotto. Then, often when it IS made with arborio, they don't cook it long enough and it's granular in the center of the grain. Such a shame since risotto is such a perfect food. So, I just usually make my own fresh mushroom risotto with a delicious mushroom stock and freshly grated parmesan. Yum!

eggs, fruit salad, salads at diners and cheaper restaurants (iceberg, crunchy water, anyone), salad dressing (more selection in the grocery stores), bagels (better off going to a bagel store), pbj (I prefer organic cashew butter with a better choice of jelly than Smuckers), and soup and coffee are often too cold

All of the above, plus...

Undersalting desserts / cakes / cookies / pastries. Sweet stuff needs salt, too, or else it just tastes flat and awful! When are people going to learn?!?

It always makes me wonder when I ask for something (something simple, like a salad) very specifically eliminating one of the items, like black olives or avocados, and for some reason they can't seem to handle that.
sometimes it's the waiter, stumbling over the order as if they couldn't imagine something so drastic, or sometimes they seem to get it down perfectly but somehow the olives or avocados or whatever the omitted item was show up on my plate.
I always have to laugh -- is omitting a salad item really such a crazy idea?

Tepid soup - I can't stand it!
Tepid fries - I send them back - I want to see that fryolator oil bubbling on the fry!
Iced tea out of the soda fountain - wrong on so many levels! I always ask if it is fresh brewed if the menu doesn't indicate if it is (don't give it a second thought Kerosena - maybe if we ask enough they will change it!)
Sezchuan Chinese food that is not in any way, shape or form spicy or spiced or even has a flavor!
I too am particular about my seafood and rarely if at all order it in the area in which I currently live. I grew up just miles from fishing boats, and now live in the midwest - sorry, but for me, chain seafood restaurants don't cut it.
I also don't like when items aren't garnished as described - I had a cheese dip last week that was supposed to come with diced tomatoes and balsamic vinegar - no vinegar, and could not find the waitperson to request it!

Food temperature in general. Hot food served on cold plates. Salads served on hot plates fresh from the dishwasher. A couple of weeks ago I was at this place, very highly recommended. My entree, risotto, was served in a cold soup plate. My salad, in the exact same style dish, but hot. I was just speechless. How would this happen? Even in my own home, alone, I heat/chill the dishes.

No matter how many times I tell a diner/deli that I want a lot of mayo on my BLT (I know, and yes, I am ashamed), I always end up with the thinnest little smear.

Overdressed salads.

Sad little mass-produced, warmed-in-the-oven rolls or bread at a high-end restaurant. My favorite restaurants create and bake their own breads, and I really appreciate that before a nice meal. There is nothing like a good, tangy homemade sourdough fresh out of the oven. And then again, there's nothing like a glorified round of what is essentially Wonder bread sitting lukewarm in a bread basket. Shame.

We've hit on entrees, soups, salads & vegetables. I've had cheesecake served on a warm plate...what desserts are routinely messed-up?

Breakfast in general. Basically, I have given up on ever trying to have a decent one outside of a couple of places that I know are good. How hard is it to get warm pancakes? Really. If it's that difficult, don't offer them. Cold pancakes, where the "butter" doesn't even melt (because I have also given up on trying to order them without that little addition, since they never seem to be able to even remember that), are gross. As are undercooked, cold has browns. And cold toast. Honestly. it's not hard. I could understand, if it was really busy, but when you are the only ones in the place, I don't get it.

And I agree with everyone else who has mentioned that you get strange looks when you ask for adjustments to your order. Any sort of adjustments.

And years ago I gave up on hamburgers in any restaurant, because I have had far too many experiences where they came to me very undercooked, and even when sent back, arrived again, still undercooked. I can't stand that.

I am just glad that i am not the only one!

Desserts that get messed up:

Hot fudge sundaes - where the "hot fudge" is actually "chocolate syrup" from the squeeze bottle. Yes, there is a difference, and yes, I will notice and tell you take it back.

Any place that lists its cakes or cheesecakes as "homemade" and it comes to you with the little divider piece of parchment still attached - not to mention the slice is too perfect.

Tiramisu made without liqueur and mascarpone. I hate when restaurants substitute ricotta (although I love ricotta) for the mascarpone and leave out the liqueur. It just doesn't taste right!

I've had trouble ordering pizza and having them get my substitutions right. I'll order a specialty one, ask for two substitutions, and then they'll charge me for two additional toppings. It's frustrating. I've told them, "I ordered this same exact pizza before and was not charged for substitutions."
I know that this is supposed to be about restaurants, but I've had trouble with fast food as well. I've gone into a place, asked clearly for no condiments, and then had the burger made with them anyway. I've had to ask for re-makes a few times in this one place.
And, I don't like it when my hot food comes lukewarm!

Melting all the ice in Ice Tea. I want lots of ice.

As both a former food service professional and current food writer, the restaurant business is one of the most difficult ones to get right. Our palates are all unique, affected by our upbringing and hundreds of other factors a restaurant staff couldn't possibly know or predict.

When a restaurant genuinely makes an error, like overcooks or undercooks something, it deserves the criticism it gets. If a burger that should have had no condiments comes fully loaded, that's a mistake. Unfortunately, when it comes to food, people's tastes can be impossible to sort out. And when it comes to restaurants, everyone's a critic--myself included.

To minimize mistakes and faulty lines of communication, if you know that you have a specific taste preference, tell your server. If they still make a mistake, that's the restaurant's fault. Waitstaff cannot be expected to be clairvoyant. Most of the time, they can hardly be expected to be competent, with hourly wages in some states that hover around $2. Many line cooks and prep cooks similarly hover right around the poverty line.

That said, I've had a very tough time lately finding the perfect flan.

When a place serves Cappuccino, Macchiato, Latte, frappy-fatty-inos and what not, but tells me they can't make a cafe au lait.