On a couple of occasions, I’ve been out to dinner with a friend and they’ve decided to send their meal back. It’s a bit cringe-worthy if it’s just because they decided they want something different or just don’t like it.
But there are a couple of situations where it is perfectly fine to send back your dish:
1. If you find a foreign object in your food, send it back. A bug, a hair (or a bat or frog if you’re eating salad)…these items don’t belong.
2. If your food isn’t cooked the way you requested. For example, if your meat is undercooked or overcooked, send it back.
4. If the temperature is really wrong, send it back. You have every right to complain about a hot dish being cold and vice versa.
5. If they bring you the wrong order or don’t place your order with certain dietary requests you’ve specified, you can send it back. On the flip side, servers and chefs don’t appreciate it, understandably so, when you make add-on’s or deletions to your order that are over the top.