Getting scammed sucks. Especially when it leaves you with a growling stomach. So to give you an idea of what to look out for, we at Bored Panda compiled a list of pictures, depicting the moments when people received not what they thought they had ordered.
These include sad sandwiches, minimum-effort pizzas, missing ingredients, and so much disappointment that you can almost hear Gordon Ramsay cursing "Bloody hell, what a disaster!" Bon appétit
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What I Ordered From Panera vs. What I Got
Picture Of The Flatbread Pizza On The Online Menu vs. What Was Delivered. Room Service In An Expensive Chicago Hotel
Of course, running a safe and smooth restaurant operation is no small feat, and, yes, life happens. But this doesn't give a business an excuse to serve whatever subpar meal they choose.
Rick Camac, the director of industry relations at the Institute of Culinary Education and a restaurant industry expert with over 20 years of experience says there are three cleanliness red flags that make him immediately leave an establishment.
First, hats and gloves aren’t worn in the kitchen at all times. According to Camac, these kitchen essentials act as a barrier between ready-to-eat food and bare skin or hair contact which can easily contaminate it. Furthermore, gloves help prevent cross-contamination and the spread of foodborne illnesses.
The Meltdown "Giddy Up Melt" Sandwich. I Cried As I Shoveled It Into My Mouth Anyway
Pizza Served At My University
Ordered A Caesar Salad For $15 From One Of The Local Restaurants
Second, the bathrooms aren't clean and neat. Walking into a dirty restroom can easily kill your appetite. What’s more, Camac believes that cleanliness in the "front of the house," aka the customer-facing side of a restaurant, is just as important as the "back of the house," aka the kitchen — he thinks that one often is a reflection of the other.
"A sure sign that your kitchen is dirty and in disarray is if you see similar signs in the front of the house or bathroom. I will not return to a venue that has a dirty bathroom. It should be maintained often in a busy venue,” Camac told Well+Good.
This Is What You Get When You Order "No Lettuce" At Taco Bell
Orange Chicken Taken Too Literally
Cheese And Tomato Bagel From My Collage Cafe
What My College Deems Acceptable For A $9.50 Pizza
Third, the server, runner, and busser’s uniforms are not neat and well-maintained. Camac claims that restaurant employees should also maintain a high level of personal cleanliness due to the obvious fact that they have direct contact with what they’ll be eating.
Because of that, uniforms should be clean and staff members should be washing their hands repeatedly throughout the day. Any effort to avoid the spread of germs or contamination of food is critical in Camac's book. If that's not the case, it’s a no-go for the expert.
I Ordered The World-Famous "Cucumber Salad"
Ordered Macaroni And Cheese At The Texas Roadhouse. The Server Said It Was Made From Scratch. It Was Still Cold. She Said, "That's How They Make It Now"
$50 Slow-Roasted Prime Rib
Ordered Carbonara From A 5-Star Uber Restaurant
Camac also shared the green flags that should reassure you that you're at the right place. First, neat, clean, and sanitized work areas. This may sound obvious, but places should "clean and sanitize work stations and utensils after each task or periodically—no less than two to three times per day," he said, adding that a deep clean of the kitchen at least once per month is also necessary.
The Size Of My Sister’s Burger At Applebee’s
Ordered The Brisket Nachos. Got A Pound Of Kraft Singles
Chicken Sandwich I Ordered From Dairy Queen In A Small Town. Not At All What I Was Expecting
That's Just Plain Insulting
Second, clean, well-maintained, and up-to-date menus. They tend to get a lot of exposure and hands-on time, so Camac believes it’s important to ensure they're clean, well-maintained, and consistently up-to-date with what’s being served, as they're a reflection and representation of the care a restaurant staff is putting into what they do.
Paid $9 For This. Speechless
Ordered A Burger With A Bean Patty Substitute. They Substituted The Bun Instead
Grilled Cheese From Subway In NYC
1. That is not a grilled cheese. 2. WHY order a grilled cheese from Subway? They don’t have the equipment to make a decent grilled cheese.
Don’t Ask For Cheese Grits In The North
Finally, clean flatware, dishes, and glasses. Of course, lipstick-stained glassware and flatware with leftover food remnants can be a quick giveaway when it comes to restaurant cleanliness. So, the next time you’re waiting for your order, take a peek at how clean your eating tools are!
Ordered A Side Of Fries
Tell them they are confused. Lincoln logs have notches in them. Please tell me at least one other person here knows what Lincoln logs are
I was trying for ages to think what tof means in "find there's tof my damn fries"
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They paid attention to the wrong stuff in culinary school i think..were they going for Pont Neuff perhaps
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How can we make sure they will be cold before they leave the kitchen?
Ignoring portion size, those are at best Number 2 potatoes. You can tell from the curvature they are small potatoes and you can see some bad spots they didn't pare out. TIP: If you make fries at home - see if there is a restaurant supply store near you. I bought a box of restaurant quality steak fries at mine and they are SOOOO much better quality than the 'chaff' I get in a bag at my local grocery store.
Ordered Pancakes From McDonald's With Bacon, And This Is What I Got. I'm Not Too Sure What I'm Going To Do With All This Bacon
$29 Plate Of Brisket
The Worst Cheese Fries On Planet Earth
Legit Laughed Out Loud When I Was Served This "Deconstructed Caesar Salad"
My Wife's Flight Got Delayed For Over 12 Hours, So The Airline Is Supposed To Provide Food For The Passengers. That's What They're Treating Them To
Wife Asked For Extra Sour Cream On The Side
Well, you kind of asked for it. They might have just taken it too literally.
The Steak At My Local Restaurant
Ordered Wings For Lunch. Banana For Scale
Red Robin Has Pizza Now, But When You Customize The Order, It Defaults To No Cheese And No Sauce. I Didn't Notice It Until I Got Home From Curbside Pickup
In Connecticut, Breweries Require Food With Drink. This Is Their "Charcuterie Board"
This Pizza We Ordered At A Restaurant In Altoona, Pennsylvania
We were driving from Pittsburgh to Philly and stopped by at Altoona as we were hungry. We went to this one restaurant and the waiter strongly suggested that we try their specialty, the Altoona-style pizza. We assumed it'd be good and was popular for a reason since it was named after the city. Little did we know it was going to be this atrocity.
Apparently, this type of pizza was only served at the Altoona Hotel. But the hotel caught fire some years ago and had to be shut down. The other local restaurants then picked up the mantle and started making the Altoona-style pizza.
Why would they do that? Nature tried to kill it once, let it die.
"Veggie Taco" Served At A Taco Festival
I Ordered Chicken Wings For Dinner And Got A Box Of Only Vegetables And Sauce
"Chef's Choice" Futomaki: More Like $10 Worth Of Carrot
Ordered Steak Tacos From This Smokehouse Joint. The Second Picture Is What I Received
Ordered Chicken Nuggets In A Hotel In Saudi Arabia
Ordered A Plain Cheese Pizza. Got An Old Cheese Pizza With New Cheese Sprinkled On Top And Re-Baked
What I Ordered vs. What They Sent Me. Beyond Disappointed
This is the second time someone has ordered this and gotten pretty much the same results. Where is this place so I know to avoid it?
Ordered Crispy Spicy Salmon At A Sushi Restaurant. Got Spicy Salmon On Pringles Chips
Cheese Fries My Sibling Ordered. They Were $5
Ordered A $12 Salad
Restaurant Serves This $5.99 Macaroni And Cheese
My Friend Ordered A Pizza And Got Two Different Ones
Tim Horton's Breakfast Wrap
When You Order The "Three Meat Skillet" And This Comes Out
My Sister Just Got A Job At McDonald's. I Pull Up In The Drive-Through and Order One McChicken. I Get Handed A Super Heavy Bag, Drive Home All Excited And Then See This. No McChicken Either
When You Order Cheese Fries On DoorDash
Deconstructed cheese fries?! Also again with the plastic, just why?!
Ordered An Egg McMuffin This Morning. Got To Work And Opened This Monstrosity
My Order For Fried Mozzarella Sticks Are All Without Mozzarella
I Ordered A Sprinkled Donut. They Took It Very Literally
An Airplane Omelet
Paid $22 And Waited For An Hour For This "Parmigiana"
$9 Nachos. They Also Come With A Dried Cucumber Slice. I Love NYC
Paid An Extra $2 To Upgrade To These "Cookies And Cream" Pancakes
It looks like an attempt of a five year old as the cream has been licked off.
The Meat To Bread Ratio On This Sub From My Local Deli
I feel like American expectations of sandwich fillings are wildly different to the UK! That looks normal and good to me.
This Burger I Paid $10 For At A Football Game
You smuggle burgers into a football game...cold just like that one.
I Ordered A Cannoli To Go And Drove Home. Opened The Box To This
This Vegan Pizza A Friend Got For £9 After Waiting For An Hour
Papa John's Forgot To Put The Garlic And Parmesan On My Garlic Parmesan Knots. So Basically, I Just Got Bread
Ordered A McChicken. Came With No Chicken
Ordered Extra Onions For Additional $0.50
Wanted To Support A New Local Business, So I Ordered A BLT
Girlfriend Ordered A Turkey And Cheese Sandwich. Removing The Top Showed Almost No Cheese
Ordered A Hot Chocolate, And McDonald's Gave Me A McMilk
My School’s $7 Take On Avocado Toast
When You Order Chicken Nuggets From McDonald's On Just Eat, And They Send You A Box Of Pickles
This Was $8 At Starbucks
Ordered Sushi In Pakistan
Asked For A Dish Of Grilled Vegetables For €8 And Received This
$10 Avocado Nigiri At A Sushi Restaurant
Ordered My Kid A 6-Piece Nugget Meal, This Is What He Got In His Nugget Box
This Pizza Was A Little Greasy
This Cost $10. Never Going There Again
I Actually Paid For This Avocado Toast At A Cafe By My Apartment
Sad Sandwich From The Fyre Music Festival
Worst Hotdog Ever For €5
I Ran To Wendy's For A Quick Bite Between Meetings. After A Long Wait, I Got My Order And Drove Back To Work. There, I Discovered That They Had Forgotten To Add The Meat To My Burger
Got A Small Iced Coffee From Tim Hortons In Canada, Then Crossed Into The United States And Placed The Same Order
Ordered Baconator Fries From Wendy’s And Got 6 Cooked Hamburger Patties Instead. Don’t Know What To Do With Myself
Turkish Airlines - Tomato And Cheese Sandwich
The Vegetarian Option On A Flight To Italy. There’s A Tiny Smear Of Hummus Under That Sad Lettuce Leaf
I Paid £5 For This Tomato Salad In London
I'm amazed you got that much for a fiver in London.
I’m From England And We Don’t See Taco Bell Very Often. It Was Awful
Ordered Pepperoni Pizza, Got Pineapple Pizza Instead
Got Served This In An Actual Italian Restaurant In Rome
I just remembered why I choose to cook at home instead of getting take away
I just wanted to comment the same. Even the cheapest takeaway is better home made.
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Lol.....give me Scotland's deep fried pizza over these any day of the week 🤣
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All of this food is a crime against humanity and the entire food kingdom. Disgraceful
I second you on that! The people who prepared many of these "meals" should be publicly shamed, maybe even horse-whipped.
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A few months ago I ordered this "grilled cheese sandwich" from Freddie's while I was on a road trip. My sister and I couldn't stop laughing for literal hours 🤣.
It was literally just a hamburger bun flipped inside out, with barely melted cheese thrown in the middle. Didn't even look grilled hahaha grilled-ch...cdb086.jpg 
Bro right before u said that I got an ad for freddies
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What was the outcome? Were they returned and situation rectified?
I asked myself the same question. I most certainly would ask or demand a refund
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For God's sake! We get it! You guys hate Kraft cheese and you think it's plastic! Ya'll sound like broken records!
Well before the pandemic, roughly a decade ago, I ordered an eel bento box from a Japanese place, and they had deep fried bananas as desert, which I also ordered. The bento was amazing, but the delivery driver forgot the bananas. So I called the shop, and they apologized and offered to remake new ones for me, but I had to pick up. They were still good, but it was a shame I had to pick them up.
Bahaha. Reminds my of uni student days working for a large catering company. So many lunch lady Doris' that would serve this stuff up with bosses approval. I once got in trouble for blowing the budget ordering $3 worth of fresh basil for a 6l of pumpkin soup I was making to serve. Was $15 for a 400ml serve. No way it broke the budget.
I just remembered why I choose to cook at home instead of getting take away
I just wanted to comment the same. Even the cheapest takeaway is better home made.
Load More Replies... Lol.....give me Scotland's deep fried pizza over these any day of the week 🤣
Load More Replies... All of this food is a crime against humanity and the entire food kingdom. Disgraceful
I second you on that! The people who prepared many of these "meals" should be publicly shamed, maybe even horse-whipped.
Load More Replies... A few months ago I ordered this "grilled cheese sandwich" from Freddie's while I was on a road trip. My sister and I couldn't stop laughing for literal hours 🤣.
It was literally just a hamburger bun flipped inside out, with barely melted cheese thrown in the middle. Didn't even look grilled hahaha grilled-ch...cdb086.jpg
Bro right before u said that I got an ad for freddies
Load More Replies... What was the outcome? Were they returned and situation rectified?
I asked myself the same question. I most certainly would ask or demand a refund
Load More Replies... For God's sake! We get it! You guys hate Kraft cheese and you think it's plastic! Ya'll sound like broken records!
Well before the pandemic, roughly a decade ago, I ordered an eel bento box from a Japanese place, and they had deep fried bananas as desert, which I also ordered. The bento was amazing, but the delivery driver forgot the bananas. So I called the shop, and they apologized and offered to remake new ones for me, but I had to pick up. They were still good, but it was a shame I had to pick them up.
Bahaha. Reminds my of uni student days working for a large catering company. So many lunch lady Doris' that would serve this stuff up with bosses approval. I once got in trouble for blowing the budget ordering $3 worth of fresh basil for a 6l of pumpkin soup I was making to serve. Was $15 for a 400ml serve. No way it broke the budget.
