Anyone ever have a meal comped at fine dining restaurant?

This was a first for me. On Friday my spouse and I went to a fine dining restaurant that I've been to in the past. I specifically asked if a dish contained mushrooms, as I am allergic. I was told no, so I ordered the dish. When the entrée arrived, I found 5 pieces of mushrooms in the dish. No biggie, I just picked them out, but I did bring it to the attention of the server. He apologized and comped the entire bill, including my husband's meal. I left a tip in cash and put all of this in the report. Do you think I'll be reimbursed for the tip and parking?

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Yes, I have. I was reimbursed for the tips; server/bar tender (bar tab was transferred) and valet parking. The MSC I work for now has a question, "Was your entire meal comp'd?"

Yes. I paid for my drinks, tips, and an additional dessert ordered to-go. I was reimbursed for my drinks, tips, but not the dessert because I didn't submit that receipt.

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Plan the work. Work the plan.

No, I haven't while mystery shopping.

However, I have worked in restaurants for quite a few years. There, it is a standard practice to discount part or the entire meal for restaurant mistakes. The idea is to pay to make the customer happy. Another way of saying it is to pay for the customer not to bad mouth the restaurant. Restaurants rely heavily on word of mouth to survive. So it works for them.

Allergies are a potential problem for folks that are deathly allergic. They don't want the bad word of mouth that you could be spreading. As it was no biggie for you, I guess you are only mildly allergic to them.

If it happened on a shop, I would wonder how to get a proof of visit for the MSP.

Happily shopping Rhode Island and nearby Massachusetts and Connecticut

I've done a bar shop where one of the standards is if the bartender asked if you had any allergies when you ordered food.

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Yes, panic that I would not have a receipt. The MSC asked me to write up a mock receipt depicting all the items I ordered and their prices to the best of my ability and that's what I did.

Madetoshop Wrote:
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> Yes, panic that I would not have a receipt. The
> MSC asked me to write up a mock receipt depicting
> all the items I ordered and their prices to the
> best of my ability and that's what I did.

Wow. That is certainly an unusual method of dealing with a comped meal. I'd love to hear which MSP is so considerate and adaptable.

Happily shopping Rhode Island and nearby Massachusetts and Connecticut

Yeah…I've had the meal comped a few times. In each case, it was a MSC I had a long-standing relationship with and they send me my fee + tip in exchange for the report, with no receipt required.

It would be pretty big waste of effort to try to cheat the MSC by saying the meal was comped, write an entire report and only ask for the fee and/or tip, so I think those situations generally get accepted without question. The manager will probably remember the incident as well, so there is very little chance the report would be questioned.

I did fill out the extensive report. That's really the key, not the mock receipt.

Or you could reschedule and get two free meals.

Because of food allergies, I always like to go to the restaurant's site and go over the menu (especially if there is a tight reimbursement) to get an idea of what I can or want to eat. Onions and peppers is a hard allergy. That way, I also have the knowledge if I need prices or names, I know where to find them.

The ONLY time I ever get something comped is while I am shopping. It is a running joke with my husband, we wonder what will they take off the bill this time! Anytime I have had something taken off the bill, the MSC has always reimbursed the rest of the shop including the remainder of the food, drinks, valet, etc.

We were in Iron Chef Morimoto's restaurant in Philly. Meal went fine, we ordered the dessert to share. Something with molassis that we were not thrilled with. The server asked how we liked the meal. The meal was wonderful, but the dessert we were not happy with. So he took it off and apologiced.

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Anyone ever have a meal comped at fine dining restaurant?

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