10 Restaurant Fails That Turned Awkward in Seconds

Restaurants serve millions of meals every day, but sometimes things go spectacularly wrong. From awkward mishaps to diners’ jaw-dropping reactions, these moments escalate faster than anyone expects. Fails, surprises, and staff blunders combine to create chaos you just can’t ignore.

• Went to a very nice restaurant one night with my wife. Like something out of a movie, she brought her fork out of her bowl of mussels to her mouth and a cockroach was on her fork. We told the waitress and she quickly took out plates, removed the table cloth, reset the table and said, “Your meal is on the house, have a good night.” And ushered us out the door. I got the feeling this had happened so many times they now had a procedure for handling it quickly and swiftly. © Unknown author / Reddit

• I was trying to impress a date and took her to an expensive French restaurant. I accidentally set my menu on fire when I leaned it down to look at her while she was speaking. Those little candles on the table are dangerous. We both had a good laugh after all of the excitement was over. © TinglyThing / Reddit

• As I approached the table, a lady brushed me out of the way and sat down next to the couple there. The couple were obviously on a date. The lady turns to the woman on the date and said, “So, I’m his wife. Who are you?” © jetsjane / Reddit

• Early 2000, I served a couple, and as soon as they were seated, the guy got a phone call—and it lasted the entire meal. By the time I brought out the dessert, his wife/girlfriend was furious. When he finally hung up, she said, “Screw you and screw your mom, we can’t even have one night out!” © Daniel Kh / Bright Side

• I set down a plate of garlic bread as a girl was turning down a marriage proposal.
  “I... I... I’m sorry. I just can’t marry you. Its-...”
  “Alright! Who’s ready for some breadsticks!?” © roseanna777 / Reddit

• “I was at a restaurant with my date (this was like our 5th date or something, we’d just started seeing each other) and I threw up all over my plate at the restaurant. Didn’t feel it coming at all, was completely taken by surprise. I was so embarrassed/sorry, but she played it really cool and seemed genuinely worried about me. I’m marrying her in a few months.” © Edril / Reddit

• “My first day at my first job as a server at a sushi restaurant (17 at the time with minimal people skills, lol). I had just checked in an older woman, possibly in her early 60s/late 50s, with a young man who couldn’t have been older than 25.
  Midway through their meal, I went to check up on them, asking, ‘Aw, are you taking Mom out today?’. They both turned with straight faces and the young man answered, ‘She’s my girlfriend.’ I whispered an apology and just peeled myself away.” © b****saidwhuttt / Reddit

• A couple came in, and they were arguing already, but once they sat down it got progressively worse and louder. I felt embarrassed because the table right across from them was celebrating a Birthday. I rounded up everyone I could find....about 7 of us, and we sang the Happy Birthday song as loud as we all could. The arguing couple left shortly thereafter. © carmabound / Reddit

• I once witnessed a couple (who were already seated when I arrived) sit at a table for ~45 minutes and not say a single word to each other. The weirder thing (given it’s 2018) is that they weren’t even looking at their phones, they were just sipping drinks and awkwardly looking everywhere except at each other. I thought maybe they were a couple in a fight who just wanted to eat the food they paid for, but they lingered after finishing their food. © d*mpandchange / Reddit

• So my wife gets a call from an old classmate. He goes, “Hey, the guys and I were at a restaurant, ran short on cash. Tried calling everyone—no one’s home. Can you help us out?” Being the sweet soul she is, my wife drops what she’s doing, grabs some money, and heads to the restaurant. When she gets there... she can’t believe her eyes. A whole crowd of classmates is waiting at the entrance, all chipping in cash.
  Turns out, a couple of pranksters had this wild idea to gather the whole class in a super unusual way. They called everyone, and get this—nobody said no! Try doing it the normal way, sending out invites or notices... in a couple of months, you’d maybe get a third of the class showing up. Most people are busy. But with this? They all just showed up and stormed the restaurant as a group. © adedas / Pikabu

Here, you can check out restaurants that surprised diners with their dish presentations.