I have around 5 years ago. Waited an hour for food, it didn’t arrive then was told it would be another half hour. We got up to leave and pay for the drinks we’d had and were told if we stay we could have complimentary drinks to go with the meal. The meal arrived and was clearly microwaved. We ate anyway and then spent 15 minutes trying to get our bill. Eventually I went to find someone so we could pay but was ignored or brushed off by staff, and ended up walking out.
I was reminded of this by an article that said 5% of US customers had done this at some point and wondering how many people in the UK have done it.
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Yes, but my daughter had just had a major asthma attack and we were taken away by ambulance on blue lights. I did go back later to pay, but they said not to worry about it.
Got a taxi back from a club once with uni housemate who was drunk and insisted he had enough money.
As the car pulled up and we opened the doors he looked at me and shouted “run” – so we did, and hid behind some green bins. The driver must have radioed some mates because the area filled with taxis for 20mins and then we ran the short distance to our door.
Why did I run? Guess I felt I would take the full blame for friend running and was scared.
Running isn’t even a skill I have.
No, Officer.
No. Closest I have come is stealing beer from a supermarket by mistake. Went through self checkout, used Google pay and didn’t notice that the payment had rejected until after I got home.
Once. Table with half a dozen old friends, some very leisurely service, lots of wine, about five hours, and eventually get to the point where the waitstaff wished us a good journey home and we left.
The next morning it occurred to someone she hadn’t paid, so asked who she owed money to, we all realised none of us had, so one of us called them back and paid over the phone.
Since having kids I’ve accidentally done it a few times but always realised by the time I’ve left the next shop and gone back. Not an issue. Left my wallet by mistake even more times. Not forgotten a child, yet.
Technically yes, because I remember when I was younger we was out for a family meal and my parents decided we wasn’t paying and we left. I don’t remember all the details though, but I just remember it been awful service and then we was ushered out quickly.
I have never done it as an adult though. I seem to be really lucky because I eat out regularly and mostly have had good experiences. Nothing bad enough where I have felt the need to run out at least
Similar situation as you in another country, the meals were decent enough and once we finished we stayed for a few drinks. It got to the point where we had to leave, and after about 20 mins of trying to get someone’s attention, even attempting to pay at the bar we just walked off because they clearly didn’t want our money.
I have left without paying for drinks. We tried to order food for about 45 minutes – it was almost comical how shite the staff were. After waiting so long, we decided to give up and go for a Maccies instead – tried to pay for the drinks and one of the waitresses yelled at me to “sit down and wait”
I couldn’t be arsed with it, so we just walked out.
I once left a service station without paying for our breakfasts. The till wasn’t open for some reason when I was served, so I intended to go back later and pay, but didn’t remember until we were back on the motorway.
Twice, and both times were Pizza Express (different branches).
1st time we waited over 75 mins for pizzas, it wasn’t overly busy and the waitress was constantly coming over to say in was in the oven every 5 minutes but no sign of it. Ended up walking out after already having starters and drinks.
2nd time the staff were so unbelievably rude. He brought us 1 cold drink and 1 room temperature drink with ice, despite me saying I don’t want ice. I asked for a cold drink and he said that’s all they’ve got unless I want to wait for it to cool in the fridge. Then the pizzas were brought over by a guy shuffling his feet and didn’t say a word. We asked for some chilli oil, and was told it would be right over, he then proceeded to set a table for 8 even though no-one was waiting. We asked him twice more before he asked someone else to do it for him. The pizza’s were disgusting and almost cold. Mine was absolutely covered in pepper. The table behind us had the wrong drinks brought over that were for the table next to them, they couldn’t get the staff’s attention and ended up giving it to the other table themselves. We tried to look for a manager to complain and there was none to be seen, and the staff had all cowered in a corner so we walked out.
I have never been more anxious in my life than walking out of those two places and we have never returned to any Pizza Express since.
I bit into a burger and CRUNCH!! It was a bit of ice , the burger had been cooked (pretty much burnt) around the outside but the inside was literally stone cold
I just went “nope” downed the pint I’d ordered already and walked out, weren’t willing to let them make me another if they made me wait 30 miniutes for something they didn’t even cook
We waited over 20 minutes for the bill once. We tried to pay. We asked the waiter three times directly for the bill. We went to the bar and asked the manager for the bill. Nothing.
So we all got up and put our coats on, and _lo and fucking behold_ they manage to print off the bill and bring it over. We didn’t let him leave we pounced on him with our debit cards to settle the fucking thing.
Food was shit too.
Never run out. A group of us did refuse to pay the service charge included automatically on a bill. We’d waited 90 minutes for our first drinks to arrive and over 2 hours for our food (there were 10 of us so we’d all been chatting and hadn’t notice just how slow the service had been, just we’d been waiting a while for drinks). When we walked out, the entire waiting staff sarcastically created a guard of honour and applauded us out.
Yes but it was completely by accident.
It was in Amsterdam, so we were incredibly stoned. We went to a place to eat pancakes and you could also smoke, it was great. I even put my phone on charge behind the bar.
When we were leaving I got up, asked the barman for the phone and he gave me it. We said our goodbyes and left.
About 10 minutes later whilst I was doing my mental check of everything, “phone is in my pocket, purse… I last got it out… not at the pancake place” and suddenly released.
Being stoned we panicked for a good 10 minutes but then just moved on, we felt bad but I don’t think the barman even released so it’s not the worst
Only once but the service was so appalling that it was a similar situation to OP except when the food arrived it was cold and the pasta was still crunchy so we tried to talk to a member of staff, failed and gave up.
Left a fiver as a token for the starter and drinks we’d had over the three hours we were there. The table had been booked and it was valentines day so one would assume they would have prepared accordingly.
We romantically picked up a kebab on the way home and haven’t bothered eating out on 14th February ever again.
Yeah, can’t remember the name of it but it was in the O2 and is no longer there.
A mate and I went to see Nine Inch Nails and we ate there and they took fucking *ages* with the food and then we asked for the bill ***four*** times and it never arrived, so we just fucked off.
Was it a succulent Chinese meal?
No but I’m not averse to it
Yes, I think i was 20. I was with a friend in an unfamiliar city, and I was in that “having a cooler more badass friend” admiration stage and was going down a dark path to kind of impress him/be just as wild, so I suggested it and we slowly walked out one by one, I think I pretended to take a call outside.
Luckily its up there on a (I hope) short list of the morally wrong things i’ve done in life.
Yes, once.
There was a fusion restaurant in the village that had mixed reviews “great food, terrible service” but then some others saying “never had an issue with the service…” so we looked at it to see if it was like a Monday or something that had bad days but there didn’t seem to be a pattern.
Anyway, we went.
We got seated and it was around 20 minutes before someone took our drinks order, then 20 minutes before our drinks arrived, then 20 minutes to take our food order… so almost an hour, one lot of drinks, no food.
I think we ended up getting our food, which if I remember rightly was lovely. But the time between this and then asking for another drink, not getting said drinks, asking for the bill, not getting the bill left us to the point where I stood up and asked for the bill – was told someone would come – they never did… so we left like 4 hours after we arrived, 1 drink, 1 bit of food. Not a 3 course meal… just mains….
–
This is from memory so some of the above may be wrong, in the wrong order, or not quite as bad but I genuinely remember think – wow… I’ve had shit service before but that was a whole other level of “what the hell.”
It only had about 10/15 tables as well so it wasn’t like it was some huge place?
edit: fixed some obvious typos
No, but one time I wanted a dessert and left without having it because couldn’t get attention to order. Dining alone gets you shit service.
Did this once my accident. Went regularly to eat at a cafe near me with a friend, we usually paid up front when ordering. For some reason this one week we didn’t pay up front, we got halfway home then realised we hadn’t paid – went back and paid up, they hadn’t even noticed we hadn’t paid!
I had cancer when I was 19, after a year of treatment I got the all clear and my mom bought me the book 101 Things To Do Before You Die
One of the things on the list is skip the bill and run from a restaurant
My girlfriend at the time and I went to a sushi restaurant in Manchester, we were drunk, she said we should run so I could tick it off the list, I didn’t want to as I ate at this restaurant every payday with work friends….
She grabbed my wallet and ran
I realised I had to run
I didn’t eat there for a year, when I eventually went back I left a large tip
Once but was in a bar so was just drinks. Literally no other customers in the place but it took us around half an hour to find a member of staff to order.
We got a jug of cocktails and took about four attempts before they actually had the ingredients for one – not sure why they had them on the menu! Were told to sit down and they’d bring it over, another half an hour for that. Tried to pay and no staff were around so we left and went somewhere else.
Was on holiday in Greece with my then girlfriend. Shit food. Shit service. Very expensive. She walked off first so as not to arouse suspicion. I followed five minutes later.
Walked out after asking for the bill for over an hour.
Wouldn’t have minded if it was busy, but it was practically empty.
One time I was at a buffet restaurant with an ex. Smoke started coming out the Vent and everyone was coughing. So we all went out to get some fresh air. We started walking further away from the restaurant and closer to the station. F it we had more or less ate as much as we could, do we jumped on the train
Yep pretty much same scenario happened with me, I waited over half hour for the bill after repeatedly asking for it.
We had over plans we were running late for, was getting really frustrated and ended up just getting up and walking out.
Many, many moons ago my mate was having his stag do, and he was, back then, tighter than a gnat’s chuff, despite being not badly off. So he booked us – maybe 10 in total – to somewhere he’d seen in “Time Out” – “best places to eat for under a tenner”.
It was a Greek place, the reason it was so cheap was that one guy was doing the waiting and cooking.
In the two hours we were there we had starters only – very small portions of humous / taramasalata. We did however drink copiously of the fairly foul wine available, and in desperation I remember us eating the table’s flower decorations.
We’d already had a few beers before going in, so after 2 hours + wine on top, we were fairly steaming. The groom, also not a patient man, then went into the kitchen, asking “where’s our bloody food”. The proprietor said “there’s your food”, throwing the contents of his pan into the bin. Blows were nearly exchanged. We left, sharpish.
Later that night the groom was incredibly ill, to the point where his wife to be considered taking him to A & E. It could have been a lot of booze on an empty stomach, or maybe just the carnations he’d eaten. They’re still married 30 years later…
I was witness to this once. While out having food the table behind us was obviously a young couple, probably students, on a first date. Part way through the meal the guy fell asleep and started snoring! The woman looked absolutely livid and sat there eating her food, finished her drink and left (him still asleep!). After she left the restaurant (could still see her outside) she called him and told him she had left. He in a very sleepy slumber woke up and ran after her (no one having paid the bill) and then a member of staff ran out after him.
Very entertaining.
We were waiting 3 hours after we finished eating for the bill to arrive. We just walked out.
Yes, pretty much a similar story to yours.
We finished our meal and waited so long to pay up. We were busy chatting so didn’t really notice time, but pretty sure it was 45 minutes or so, no plates or drinks left on the table. Nobody offered us anything either.
We went and stood by the area where you pay, and still nobody acknowledged us.
She said, shall we go out for a cigarette, maybe they will notice us then.
After we finished a cigarette, we thought okay they’re not interested in taking out money, so we just walked away.
I felt quite guilty the next day. But it looked like the sort of place that could suck it up.
Me and a friend were out at a favourite restaurant.. it was busy and it was really hard to get anyones attention for anything all night. We asked for the bill a lot before it eventually came.. I paid cash so put it on the dish with the receipt, someone walked over and swiped it away before we could ask for the card machine for my friends payment!by which point she had had enough and walked out! I was so worried about it I went back the next day to pay it 🤣 the manager said he was just in the process of looking at the cctv to see which server he could blame which made me feel worse!!
He was ever so grateful I went back he offered me a glass of wine.. he could probably sense my nerves haha
I’ve only ever run out of a restaurant (before ordering food) because my girlfriend (10 years ago when we first met) felt uncomfortable because it was too posh. That restaurant was Frankie and Benny’s.
Yes, I was on holiday in Gibralter. Had a lovely meal in a nearly empty restaurant, asked for the bill when finished. We waited nearly an hour for the bill to show up and asked multiple times. It never turned up, we just walked out and they didn’t even notice.
Me and the family went to a Toby Carvery a few years back.
Had our meal, no issues, said to waitress can we have our bill etc. She says sure, she’ll be right back with it.
5 minutes go by.
10 minutes go by.
At about 12 minutes I get up and go to find her, bank card in hand to pay. I spot her, she walks over to me and just basically walked through me like I wasn’t there.
I tried for a couple more minutes to get someone’s attention but everyone was just ignoring us, so I told everyone to get up and we left.
Nearly – by mistake.
My mother and I had lunch in a cafe in Glasgow. They were very friendly and waved as we left. 2 minutes down the road I asked her how much it had cost – and discovered she thought I’d paid. We looked at each other, turned and literally ran back.
They hadn’t noticed yet.
In fairness we were distracted because we were on our way to scatter her father’s ashes.
By accident.
Special occasion, at a fine dining restaurant with an excellent cocktail bar, went for drinks after the meal and had a great time with the mixologist showing us tricks & tips.
End of the night they called us a taxi and wished us a good night.
Half-way home the base called the taxi, saying the restaurant had called because we left our umbrella there.
We pointed out several times we didn’t have an umbrella, but they were insistent. Before I realised, oh shit. we didn’t pay!
Obviously the “Umbrella” was supposed to be a hint.
Taxi took us back and waited while we apologised and paid, then drove us home and nicely only charged us the standard fare.
Had appalling service in TGI Fridays in London and not one person would make eye contact so we could ask for the bill. We waited for 45 mins trying to get the bill and got fed up so walked out holding my bank card to the cameras so they could see we were prepared to pay if we had been presented with the bill.
By accident in some chain Aussie sports bar off Rembrandt Square in Amsterdam.
Was on holiday, Celtic were playing a Champions League playoff against Be’er Sheva. Long story short I was offered a tab as I was sat at the bar watching the game on the only telly it was on. My brother and his pal joined and they were clearly fancying the sesh so the tab started racking up. I got involved as the game was shredding my nerves.
Ordered food as the game was ending and moved to a table. More drinks and it wasn’t long before we were all steaming.
Was only a couple hours later when back at the hotel that I realised I hadn’t picked up the tab. Asked my brother and his pal who got it and it suddenly dawned that we’d walked out without paying.
The right thing to do would’ve been to go back the next day to pay for it but we had another 4 nights ahead of us and the tab must’ve been sitting at €200 minimum so we inevitably lived up to the stereotype of tight Scotsmen. Bar was right across the square from our hotel too so the following morning I asked the hotel reception if they had a back or side entrance (they did) which we ended up using the rest of the stay 😬
Clearly a dick move but fuck it. No doubt the barman got his arse chewed for letting us walk out without paying which is the only thing I felt guilty about in all honesty.
Once. Thought my friend was paying (we had a thing where we alternated costs). Turns out she thought the same thing. We had both gone to the bathroom and both assumed it had been taken care of by the other during that, so just walked out together. She went back the next day red-shame-faced to correct the mistake.
It was suprisingly easy and I’ve wondered afterwards if this isn’t a huge problem for restaurants, especially in busy areas with lots of foot traffic and outdoor seating.
Only by accident when I was drunk and sheepishly went back the next day to pay.
LOL, what a horrible restaurant for OP. That place won’t stay in business for long.
No I’ve stolen just about everything from shops but don’t think I’d do this
Closest I’ve come is I noticed the bill was substantially lower than it should have been, I kept me mouth shut and paid. Gave the waiter a pretty hefty tip in the process. Never usually tip but felt his incompetence had earned it this time!
Because we’d been waiting for nearly three hours and still hadn’t been served.
Table of eleven, three families with young children. We were three rounds of drinks, five years of catching up and two hours into a sunk-cost-fallacy before any of us realised.
We reordered our meals and got more drinks but when the second child started crying, we’d re-reordered and there was still no sign of starters we decamped to McDonald’s.
I made a token effort to pay for the drinks but the staff were even less interested in taking payment than bringing our meal.
By accident but Ive come back the next day to settle up.
I sometimes think how easy it would be though. I was in a bar in Warsaw a few years ago and waited for ages before catching the staffs attention in order to pay. I did think to myself “if I just walked off now, no one would notice” however morals won out.
Did it yesterday after being left waiting for 2 hours only to be told our order had been lost…
Once.. but I was a silly tourist.
Most restaurants I go to you pay as you order or before you order on your phone so it just arrives and you leave.
Went to spain in 2017. Had a LOVELY meal. Lots of drinks, just 4 of us and I was paying for everyone anyway. Were there for about 6 hours and the bill would have been about 400 euros.
Anyway, rather drunk everyone started leaving and I went to the toilet. After 5 minutes of reddit and a 20 second poop I got up, cleaned up and went back to the hotel. Didn’t think anything of it as I caught up to my group, just kept talking about the nice time we all just had.
I woke up the next morning with a mild hangover getting ready for the airport. I pick up my wallet and it’s heavy.. and I think wow! I have so much spending money left, just to realise I didn’t pay and just walked off that night! I go back to the restaurant because I genuinely had good service and amazing food and drink but it was a sunday and they were closed and this little town didn’t have any website or phone numbers for me to call. I thought about leaving an envelope with money in but there was nowhere secure and I didn’t wanna just waste money so I left.
I still think it about it to this day sometimes about amazing the food was but I never told my friends I didn’t pay haha.
We went to a nice restaurant in Paris. Ordered a bottle of wine. Started drinking it. Ordered our food.
The people next to us finished their food and left.
Another couple sat at the empty table and ordered food. Their food came. They ate it and left.
Another couple sat down. They ordered their food…. And their starters arrived.
By this point we had had two bottles of wine and no food. We had asked multiple times and been told our food was on the way shortly.
We got up and left. The staff shouted at us a little. We left anyway.
A well-deserved runner.