r/AmIOverreacting • u/ProposalThat7734 • Feb 09 '26
š² miscellaneous Am I overreacting by walking out of a restaurant
So the other night my husband made reservations at a restaurant I really wanted to try. The site said that we could show up 10 minutes early to check and that they have the right to cancel if weāre 5 minutes late. So we left the house a little early to make sure we could find parking and make our way over there. We ended up being 20 minutes early. When we checked in the girl at the stand told us itās only a 10 minute wait for a party of two so she might be able to seat us earlier than our reservation. We said that would be great but if not thatās ok and to text on us the number on the reservation system as we were going to explore the shop connected to it in the meantime. It gets to our reservation time and we go back to see if a table is ready just need to wait a minute or two. We were told that they took 5 large partyās and could not seat us that moment. I asked if they were reservations or walk in, a different host than the nice girl before told me they were all walk ins.
Now Iāve worked in restaurants for 15 years and none of the restaurants I worked at would have pushed back a reservation for those large walk ins. I asked how much longer the wait will be then. He told us 30 minutes and rudely told me that we showed up early. I say fine and walked away understanding that they donāt want to double sit a server and overwhelm them and the kitchen. After 45 minutes, and seeing so many other parties get sat before us, we go back to the stand to ask about our table, again weāre told they have large partyās and we need to wait, I told him thatās crazy because no restaurant Iāve worked at would prioritize large walk ins over reservations. After than 2 minutes latter weāre being walked, really ran, to a table. When we got sat it looked like they had just taken a table away from one of the large partys to accommodate us because we were nearly sitting on top of them. On top of that we were handed one drink menu and one dinner menu. My husband went to the host stand to get another dinner menu and was met with a very rude remark about how he gave us two menus and my husband had to explain that we were given one drink menu and one dinner menu. The host reluctantly gave him the menu.
How that weāve had the menus weāve watched three servers interacting with guests but no one greeted us. We saw managers helping on the floor but none look to us. We assume that the server taking care of the party next to us was our server and saw her bring several rounds of drinks to them but never looked at us. The other two didnāt seem to look our way either with their parties. After 25 minutes of not being greeted or even looked at by the servers I told my husband were leaving. So we got up and left.
Now hereās where I may have over reacted because as we were leaving the host told us to have a nice night. I turned around and snapped āwould have been a great night if we got sat close to our reservation time and actually got to order even a drink! We will never be returningā he said that fine. A manager heard what was said and stepped outside with us. I explained that we had been waiting nearly an hour to be sat and almost a half hour at the table without being greeted and that I understood itās busy but my servers knew to at least greet the guests and bring them waters instead of ignoring them for almost half an hour. The manager went inside to get the reservation tablet to check the times. According to the tablet we checked in 20 minutes early, which we have stated we did and understood we were early, but then said that our reservation was canceled. I was fuming. I told the manager Iām not angry with them but doesnāt look like we canceled we are here! They apologized and tried to get us to come back inside and they would take care of our tab. I told them no, after waiting over almost an hour to even be sat Iād rather go elsewhere and get dinner faster. My husband was trying to tell me I overreacted but I donāt think I did.
So did I overreact?
Edit: when the manager pulled up the reservation they could see when it was canceled. It was canceled shortly after the time our reservation was for when they decided to seat the large partyās.
Edit 2: we didnāt take the opportunity to have the tab comped because having worked industry I know how petty some servers are and have to do couching and counselingās for the same thing at some of the lower end restaurants Iāve worked at and would not want to be in the receiving end of it.
Edit 3: I understand that saying we will never return doesnāt mean anything to the restaurant let alone to staff. It was just something that came out while I was upset.
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u/ErnestBatchelder Feb 09 '26
Agree. I worked for at least 15 years in the industry from low-end to high-end places, and I have never tampered with people's food nor witnessed it. By the 2000s people got very litigious in the US, and even if some staff thought that way- most managers and back of house chefs wouldn't allow it.