Man asks if he was wrong to leave a restaurant without paying because of bad service.

Restaurants are fast-paced work environments. An empty table is money lost, so restaurants are incentivized to get people in and out as quickly as possible. This pacing can, unfortunately, lead to mistakes that can ruin people's experiences. On a popular Reddit thread on the Am I the A**hole Subreddit, one man tries to have a lovely anniversary dinner but runs into restaurant trouble.

He writes:

I, M23, am in a long-distance relationship with my girlfriend, 22. I went to see her last weekend and to take her out for our one-year anniversary. I wanted to take her somewhere nice, so we went to a place my coworker recommended. I looked it up, and it had great reviews for food and service.

I thought the purpose of a reservation was to avoid this.

So we went to see the Van Gogh experience and then out for dinner. I had made a reservation, and the restaurant was not busy. So I was surprised when we were asked to wait. We went into the lounge and had a drink, and waited. About twenty minutes later, the hostess came for us, and we were seated.

It took a long time for the waiter to come for our order. I was trying to have a good time, but I was hungry. We ordered straight off the menu—no substitutions or deletions. And then we waited. We had another drink. I asked the waiter about the food. 'It'll be right out.'

There is nothing that makes me angrier than this.

I saw people that were seated after us get their meals.

One hour after, we sat. I decided that I had had enough. I asked my girlfriend if she was comfortable if we left, and she said she was waiting for me to suggest it.

Expect a poor yelp review.

So I left money for the drinks on the table, and we walked out. The waiter saw us going and asked us what the problem was. I said we had waited long enough and had other plans. So we left.

Expect a good yelp review.

We went to a chain steak restaurant and had a great meal. The server asked about our evening, and we told them. They brought us a complimentary dessert even though they and their restaurant did everything right. I tipped very well, 20% plus the cost of the dessert. My girlfriend thanked me for getting us out of the other place without a scene.

Does your co-worker own that place?

When I got back to work, I told the guy who recommended the first place about the cr*p service, and he said I was an a**hole for walking out without paying for my food. I never got any food. I don't think I'm wrong. Even our appetizers never made it out of the kitchen.

Everyone unanimously agrees that waiting an hour for food is ridiculous in the United States of America.

yas_astro says:

If a restaurant makes you wait an hour or more with no food, then they deserve to be walked out without payment. NTA (Not the a**hole).

Left-Car6520 says:

NTA. Mmmm, yeah, no, someone messed up there. I would say, as an ex-waitress, that it would've been better to tell the staff you're leaving because you can't wait anymore, but you're not TA for leaving without paying for the meals you never got.

There were at least three points, someone should have realized that they'd screwed up, and they didn't. This is wholly on the restaurant. Considering that it seems like your food never even began to be prepared, you didn't cost them anything by leaving, either.

CraigBybee says:

Why the f*ck would you pay for food that didn’t come after an hour? Your coworker is delusional. I would Google & Facebook review this restaurant & describe everything about your experience. NTA

OP, you didn't make a mistake, and it sounds like you salvaged your anniversary night from being ruined sounds like an L-W-W (loss-win-win).