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Would You Send Back an Overcooked Burger?
Oh, it's going back!
I like my burgers medium rare, but I've learned to always order them rare. There are several reasons for this:
First, I don't mind my meat red and bloody, but I hate it gray and dry. Unless you're dealing with refined food, cooks will typically overshoot the desired temp on a burger.
Second, it puts the kitchen on notice that I am serious about my burger temperature. I figure that unless the kitchen is unusually detail oriented they aren't likely to pay much notice to 'medium rare' but 'rare' might get their attention.
Finally, I feel asking for rare gives me extra license to send the burger back if it's overdone. Which isn't to say it's wrong to send back a burger that was ordered medium rare, but when I ask for rare I have made myself very clear and I'll have no qualms about asking the restaurant to get it right. I'll suck it up if the burger comes out medium, but anything past that and it's going back.
To be sure, I don't like the food going to waste but I agree with Nick, it's the kitchen that is at fault. Aside from that, I feel no guilt. The ingredients in a burger are very cheap, the meat costs maybe a $1.50. I'm paying for the labor and have every expectation that it's done right.
Also, I've never once gotten any attitude from a server when I send back a burger. They always seem to understand and are usually apologetic. And the restaurant itself, I agree is better off with a second chance to make good than with a disgruntled customer and without feedback that might help them avoid repeat mistakes.
Beef and Gorgonzola Burgers
Blue Cheese on a burger is awful. Blue cheese in a burger is something worse.
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Recent Comments | Response to Comments
Stage Restaurant: Snatching Defeat from the Jaws of Victory
I applaud the effort. Yes, Stage is foremost about Polish food, but it also a good part greasy spoon and one should expect a reasonable chance to find a satisfying or perhaps craveable burger. I don't blame Nick for hoping he'd find a hidden jewel of a burger even if it's not the first thing that comes to mind when one thinks of Stage.
But alas Nick's review is pretty on the mark. The folks at Stage definitely care about serving good food and use quality ingredients -- that's why, for instance, they buy fresh ground beef daily. However, when it comes to burgers they are missing either the right know how or sensibility. The only thing I disagree with Nick on is the bun, it's not any good either. Soft is good but this bun is all fluff. It has the cotton candy effect, disintegrating on your tongue.
So yeah, Stage misses the mark on the burgers. The non-Slavic dishes are wild cards. Some things they get right, and other things they don't quite understand. But still Stage is one of my favorite places for all the things that are on the mark, from the food to the ambiance and even, with my penchant for punishment, the impossibly uncomfortable seating. I love Stage for the meat pieroges with onions and sour cream, the keilbassa, the endearingly simple boiled beef with horseradish sauce, the solid mashed potatoes, the equally solid boiled potatoes, the inexplicably awesome roast chicken, and the knockout beets.
Would You Send Back an Overcooked Burger?
Oh, it's going back!
I like my burgers medium rare, but I've learned to always order them rare. There are several reasons for this:
First, I don't mind my meat red and bloody, but I hate it gray and dry. Unless you're dealing with refined food, cooks will typically overshoot the desired temp on a burger.
Second, it puts the kitchen on notice that I am serious about my burger temperature. I figure that unless the kitchen is unusually detail oriented they aren't likely to pay much notice to 'medium rare' but 'rare' might get their attention.
Finally, I feel asking for rare gives me extra license to send the burger back if it's overdone. Which isn't to say it's wrong to send back a burger that was ordered medium rare, but when I ask for rare I have made myself very clear and I'll have no qualms about asking the restaurant to get it right. I'll suck it up if the burger comes out medium, but anything past that and it's going back.
To be sure, I don't like the food going to waste but I agree with Nick, it's the kitchen that is at fault. Aside from that, I feel no guilt. The ingredients in a burger are very cheap, the meat costs maybe a $1.50. I'm paying for the labor and have every expectation that it's done right.
Also, I've never once gotten any attitude from a server when I send back a burger. They always seem to understand and are usually apologetic. And the restaurant itself, I agree is better off with a second chance to make good than with a disgruntled customer and without feedback that might help them avoid repeat mistakes.
Beef and Gorgonzola Burgers
Blue Cheese on a burger is awful. Blue cheese in a burger is something worse.
Seriously Delicious Holiday Giveaway: Two Peter Luger Steaks
Dry Aged Prime Bone in Strip (i.e. Kansas city Strip).
Seriously Delicious Holiday Food Giveaway: Russ & Daughters
Poached eggs and kick ass home fries.
Schlow Now, Ground Cow: A Radius Burger Walk-Through
That third to last shot shows one of the most perfectly cooked patties ever. Damn it looks good. Great photos throughout.
Shopsin's General Store, for the Best Sliders in New York City
Do they also charge $9 for three sliders at White Manna? I'm pretty sure that's where the comparison ends (I think it's $.95/slider). I don't mean to start a discussion of restaurant economics in Manhattan, but I can never bring myself to pay Shopsin's inflated prices. This is simple food made with inexpensive ingredients (I bought a half pound of ground beef from Jefferey's last week for about $1.50). I'm all for food cooked with soul and pride, and I'll even pay a premium for it, but Shopsin's is over the top. They don't charge a premium for quality, they charge a premium so they only have to run the restaurant part time.
Would You Send Back an Overcooked Burger?
I'd be afraid of what would come back, so I wouldn't send it back, but I would not go back to that restaurant again.
Would You Send Back an Overcooked Burger?
Hell YEA I would send it back - I ASKED FOR RAW!
Beef and Gorgonzola Burgers
Love the blue cheese! The only thing this burger needs is a side of this:
http://www.eatandletdie.com/gorgonzola-mac-and-cheese-ball
Schlow Now, Ground Cow: A Radius Burger Walk-Through
Note to chef : Wlll you open this burger place in Seattle? Oh please, please, please?
Would You Send Back an Overcooked Burger?
I'd send it back if it's overcooked to the point where it tastes dry. If it's medium and still juicy I'll eat it. I generally wouldn't send back an undercooked burger unless it was almost completely raw.
A properly cooked burger with spit on it tastes much better than a dry chunk of charcoal! j/k
Steak and prime rib always go back if I don't see red.
Would You Send Back an Overcooked Burger?
I'm with Blogkitten. There are very few restaurants that I will trust with rare/ med-rare ground beef. I generally only eat a bloody burger if it's at home from a butcher where I know they're grinding their own beef on-premises and not getting it pre-ground from an e. coli factory.
Would You Send Back an Overcooked Burger?
Without question: the burger goes back.
Would You Send Back an Overcooked Burger?
I never send anything back. I just don't go back.
Would You Send Back an Overcooked Burger?
I've sent it back 3x unbelievable! I like mine xtra rare so if it's not the way I want it back it goes.....
Would You Send Back an Overcooked Burger?
I can answer your question with a story - not only do we send them back but we then go eat somewhere else... http://burgerconquest.blogspot.com/2008/12/corner-bistro-dont-believe-hype-vs-old.html
Would You Send Back an Overcooked Burger?
I agree with @yr momz - I don't trust the restaurants hygiene levels to not give me some illness from the undercooked meat.
If I want a medium rare burger, I'll grind the meat myself and prepare it myself. Otherwise I go for medium well in a restaurant.
Would You Send Back an Overcooked Burger?
Ive done it but i got really nasty looks and a brief explanation that they thought they heard me say "well". Well???
It makes me nervous though.. what are they doing to my second burger??? !!!
Would You Send Back an Overcooked Burger?
I have no doubts or hesitations - send it back!!!!!! You're paying for your food to be prepared to your specifications, and if something you clearly ordered isn't prepared properly and would be truly nauseating to you (as a well done burger is to me), then you are neither obliged to eat it or pay for it. The chefs, restaurant owners or managers should also be aware when something is amiss, as a service establishment, particularly a premium one, that doesn't deliver what customers are paying for is unlikely to survive for long.
I do send badly cooked food, including incinerated burgers, back. I only had one waiter/restaurant give me a hard time - I specifically asked if a fish special was filleted and ended up with a whole fish. The establishment was gone a few months later.
Would You Send Back an Overcooked Burger?
I went to a restaurant recently where they accidentally put cheese on my burger which I noted at the time of delivery so they took back the burger and brought me out a well done one when I had asked for medium. Since it would have been the second time sending it back, I just ate it - but I HATE well done burgers.
Hillary
Chew on That
Would You Send Back an Overcooked Burger?
only if it is cooked gray -- i TRULY don't like the flavor of cooked-through ground beef. and i ask for rare, so this would have to be a big misstep in the cooking.
Would You Send Back an Overcooked Burger?
Depending on the establishment, I normally I ask to have it taken back and cook a new one. At more expensive restaurants that serve a burger, I will send it back.
One place, I sent an overcooked medium rare burger back TWICE in the same night at a Downtown Seattle Restaurant that advertises their 1/3 lb burger for $2 on their happy hour menu. This is a popular place, my dining companion is a regular, and they get a lot of orders for their happy hour food.
The waitress was very sorry for us and apologized for the restaurant and waived our bill. She said she would tell the management, though I don't think anything was done about it.
They still overcook their burgers!
It wasn't particularly busy that night, so I don't understand why they can't get it right?
Would You Send Back an Overcooked Burger?
"I bet someone on the wait staff would eat it."
Per this earlier comment, I thought I'd mention that in the over 10 years I waited tables, I never worked anywhere where the servers were allowed to eat anything while they were working, not even if it would otherwise go in the trash. In indie places, the dish dogs were given chances at the food before the trash. In chains, everything had to be thrown out and accounted for on some nutso ledger sheet but nobody was allowed to eat while working.
Would You Send Back an Overcooked Burger?
You'd have to be an idiot not to send it back.
I never understood people who felt "bad" about sending it back. You ordered rare, you got medium, send it back.
www.ubereater.com
Would You Send Back an Overcooked Burger?
Sometimes I'll send it back. As a rare meat eater I find too many restaurants have no clue what rare means. If I get one that is still pretty pink in the middle I'll slog through it. If there is barely any pink I will send it back, otherwise what is the point of asking me how I want my burger. Not to mention I make it VERY clear to the waitstaff that I want it rare. I usually tell them to run in through a warm room and bring it to me. That tends to get my point across. On those sporadic occasions where I get a perfectly rare burger I make it a point to complement the kitchen staff on getting it so spot on. Positive reinforcement is said to work better than negative right?
Would You Send Back an Overcooked Burger?
Wow! I never thought my question, I am the Joshua S in the post, would generate so many comments. I myself do not usually eat red meat, a whole lot of turkey and chicken here, so when I get red meat I would really appreciate it if it was cooked correctly to order as this is somewhat of a "treat" to me.
I also totally agree with the sending it back in the proper circumstances, ie paying a certain amount or being in a place known for good food/burgers.
I would like to thank everyone on the feedback especially those who cited that sending the food back is a form of giving feedback to the restaurant, as I never saw it that way before.
Would You Send Back an Overcooked Burger?
@eatorama:
When you see that kind of nonsense going on in a restaurant, leave--they're not going to cook your food right.
Would You Send Back an Overcooked Burger?
In general--yes, I will ABSOLUTELY send a hamburger (or steak!) back, if they have solicited or accepted my request for degree of doneness. When I'm eating a thick, tavern style burger, I like them medium-rare at the most, otherwise the advantage to this style, the juicy beefiness, is gone.
@zEli173--you do have to request it a little more underdone, sometimes, particularly if, as you said, a little bloody is preferred to lifeless and bland.
This provides the opprotunity for a timely segue on the topic of "do I send it back..."
Last Tuesday I was at Blueberry Hill here in St. Louis, in the fun and trendy Loop area. Blueberry Hill is often cited when you ask people for the Best Burger in St. Louis (I don't really agree with this). I was there for the purpose of "checking in" and seeing if the burger was as I remembered.
The waiter seemed cool, so when I ordered the burger medium rare, I asked him if I should really be ordering rare. He said he knew what I was talking about, and while they would sometimes overcook the burgers (!), the "good grill guy" was working that night, and I "should be good".
45 minutes later (!) the burger came out WELL DONE. I POLITELY beckoned the waiter, and when he came over I said "I don't mean to be a bother, but do you remember the conversation we had?" he did, and cheerfully brought one within minutes that was right-on medium rare.
Not cooking a burger right, to me, is a strike against a restaurant akin to using frozen patties.
If you're paying $7 or $10 or $12 for a burger and they don't cook it right...send it back.
Chris W., St. Louis
Would You Send Back an Overcooked Burger?
If it's inedible, but I haven't really had that happen. I agree with you Robyn though - I don't think it's passive - it just never occurred to me I could send a burger back. I recently read some list (I think through SE, actually) of restaurant faux pas that are unacceptable and I was surprised to see I'd endured a decent number of them and not complained (including waiting even though I had a reservation). Some things just aren't that big of a deal. Now if I spent $40 on a burger and it wasn't cooked properly, I'd probably say something...
We did, however, once send back a burger that was RAW in the middle. The guy didn't understand - we ALL ordered burgers, and only hers came raw, I mean bright red mush that was not cooked in the slightest - but he didn't understand why we wanted it more cooked.
http://feistyfoodie.blogspot.com/2006/11/jackson-hole-64th-street-between-2nd.html
Would You Send Back an Overcooked Burger?
Yes, I would send it back – if it's a place known for its burgers. And I have. But only once. I'm a medium-rare and when it comes medium, I'll grumble, but I'll eat it. But if it's medium-well, as it clearly was the one time I returned to sender, I don't feel bad about speaking up. I don't think it's being too picky or demanding. They asked how you wanted it, right?
Would You Send Back an Overcooked Burger?
I'd have to say no, but it'd be because by the time I get to the center of the burger to see if it's totally overcooked, I'd have eaten a large part of it already and I'd feel not only bad sending it back, but could never eat another...
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I applaud the effort. Yes, Stage is foremost about Polish food, but it also a good part greasy spoon and one should expect a reasonable chance to find a satisfying or perhaps craveable burger. I don't blame Nick for hoping he'd find a hidden jewel of a burger even if it's not the first thing that comes to mind when one thinks of Stage.
But alas Nick's review is pretty on the mark. The folks at Stage definitely care about serving good food and use quality ingredients -- that's why, for instance, they buy fresh ground beef daily. However, when it comes to burgers they are missing either the right know how or sensibility. The only thing I disagree with Nick on is the bun, it's not any good either. Soft is good but this bun is all fluff. It has the cotton candy effect, disintegrating on your tongue.
So yeah, Stage misses the mark on the burgers. The non-Slavic dishes are wild cards. Some things they get right, and other things they don't quite understand. But still Stage is one of my favorite places for all the things that are on the mark, from the food to the ambiance and even, with my penchant for punishment, the impossibly uncomfortable seating. I love Stage for the meat pieroges with onions and sour cream, the keilbassa, the endearingly simple boiled beef with horseradish sauce, the solid mashed potatoes, the equally solid boiled potatoes, the inexplicably awesome roast chicken, and the knockout beets.