What do you do about "menu discrepancies?"

This is one of my pet peeves when ordering delivered food: Restaurants whose menus have items that are no longer available, or items with erroneous prices. In the first case, I have usually spent a few minutes picking out something that I have a taste for, only to have the order taker tell me they don't have it anymore. I can forgive this more easily than the up-pricing. This usually comes up when the bill ends up being more than a few bucks off from what I had mentally calculated when I placed the order. Delivery guys are usually incapable of handling any crisis of this sort. When I call the restaurant they usually say that they raised the prices on some items, but don't have an updated correct menu. This makes me wonder if the place is just scamming me or what. If a restaurant raises their prices, is it too much to ask for an updated menu? I have had restaurants charge me different prices for the same thing, 3 times in a row. I have had restaurants tell me on the phone that they raised prices, then the next day I call and someone else says they haven't raised prices. The ones that send you a receipt with only a total at the bottom, and no breakdown on the item pricing piss me off too. I'm just in a bad mood. Grrrr. Had one of these experiences last night. End of rant.

Grubhub. (www.grubhub.com)
never have to worrry about this again If you do have a problem, they deal with it for you. And send you gift cards for future orders if the screw up is significant.

I have also started to notice that some places raise the prices on their delivery menu vs eating there w/o telling you like Jimmy Johns. Tricky tricky. They also throw in a delivery charge.

This is unrelated to the original post, but it's what I thought the topic was about when I read the title, so I'll stick it here.

I hate discrepancies between the list of ingredients in the description of the dish on the menu and the actual dish. This ranges from simple things like my curry from a local Thai restaurant that came with everything listed on the menu, plus onions (I'm not very fond of onions) to less simple substitutions like switching tilapia for halibut and not telling me beforehand.

Llama wrote:This is unrelated to the original post, but it's what I thought the topic was about when I read the title, so I'll stick it here.

I hate discrepancies between the list of ingredients in the description of the dish on the menu and the actual dish. This ranges from simple things like my curry from a local Thai restaurant that came with everything listed on the menu, plus onions (I'm not very fond of onions) to less simple substitutions like switching tilapia for halibut and not telling me beforehand.

I had a similar experience at a restaurant where shrimp was subbed into a risotto for another ingredient. Not only was this simply wrong from a service point of view -- we were actually eating in and our server never mentioned it -- but since shellfish is a fairly common allergen, it was especially unprofessional on the part of the restaurant. We voiced our concern, finished the meal, paid the bill -- yes we were billed for the risotto in question -- and never returned.

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guinness wrote:I have also started to notice that some places raise the prices on their delivery menu vs eating there w/o telling you like Jimmy Johns. Tricky tricky. They also throw in a delivery charge.

CEO deliveries and (I believe) grubhub also do this. Not sure if it's the restaurant or grubhub in the latter case, though.

I don't sweat minor changes in garnishes and the like, but a main ingredient should never be substituted without notice.

Of course, sometimes it's hard to tell what's the main ingredient and what's a garnish. These days so many menus have, instead of the name of a dish, a laundry list of what's supposed to be in it: "seared pork belly, green grape grenache, black pepper raspberry puree, smoked chicory reduction, orange zest potato smash, redeye gravy, Pretentious Farm smoked bacon, popcorn shoots, cilantro aioli."

How are you supposed to tell from this that the bacon, say, is three artfully placed bits studded into a tablespoonful of potatoes?

Tricky tricky. They also throw in a delivery charge.

would you expect free delivery if that wasn't promised? this seems odd to me. doesn't pretty much everyone charge for delivery?

(for the OP, many to-go menus will state "prices subject to change without notice" somewhere on them, and that's specifically to address this sort of issue, where you've got a menu that's been in your drawer for a couple years and the prices have since been raised).

Apologies for going off on a tangent here...but I don't think there is anything wrong with having completely different prices for eat in and delivery, whether or not there is a delivery charge. Yes, it would seem simpler to have a single set of food prices and a single delivery charge (or one based on distance, etc.) But at the end of the day, the restaurant can charge whatever it wants. It is only "scandalous" if you don't know about the prices.

Frankly, I've always thought the common $3 delivery charges were way too low. I would certainly be willing to pay more than that.

elakin wrote:(for the OP, many to-go menus will state "prices subject to change without notice" somewhere on them, and that's specifically to address this sort of issue, where you've got a menu that's been in your drawer for a couple years and the prices have since been raised).

That is understandable. But when you ask for an updated menu and they say they don't have one, I find that troublesome. ASAIAC if you are willing to furnish a current, accurate menu, you shouldn't be raising prices. It just looks shady.

Whether or not a place can change their prices, I prefer my costs to be covered by the delivery charge I can see on the bill - if this means more of a delivery charge, so be it.

Sometimes this means I get my lazy butt into the car and pick it up myself.

To answer the OP's question, this is exactly what I do:

Mhays wrote:Sometimes this means I get my lazy butt into the car and pick it up myself.

I rarely get food delivered.

Delivery is too unpredictable in terms of time, cost, and quality (and you have no ability to rectify the problem from your front porch). Plus, I find that if I do takeout from a place on a regular basis, the owners get to know me and I get much, much better service. Hopping in my car and picking up some food is always a known quantity in terms of time and if there are cost discrepancies or problems with my order, I can note it right there. It's a bit more of a pain, but I always know what to expect.

If the pains of delivery are too much for you (as they are for me), choose a more reliable method of buying food.

Best,
Michael

not sure how the price would change with Grubhub assuming you're using their online ordering system. You pick your items, it totals as you go, includes the delivery charge (which you can see before you ever click on the menu), you can tip if you choose and it asks for authorization for a charge to your credit card which is then processed. The receipt is then emailed to you. The restaurant processes nothing. Of course, they can leave things out of the order, deliver late, etc.--even those things Grub hub will take responsibility for and issue you a credit or GC if you let them know. It definitely takes the hassle out of delivery.

Doesn't make mediocre food taste any better though. And you can't order off the Thai menu for Spoon.

DUH...I re-read Gleam's post and realized he was talking about the price at the restaurant being different than the delivery price...

I always assumed this was common and never gave it much thought. I guess is doesn't really bother me if a restaurant upcharges a bit since I didn't think the $2-3 delivery charge covered the cost of packing things up and bringing food to my doorstep.

However, I did have a look at Spoon's online menu and GH's site and there are random differences (mostly in the app's)--all about $1 higher on GH. But it's very random and not at all widespread. Almost as if maybe Spoon has raised some prices but not updated their website. And it would make sense since GH's site would need to be accurate since they have to process the transaction.

So this is very interesting...is Spoon's online menu accurate and GH is marking up? Or is Spoon's online menu sporting some outdated prices? I've never checked the actual prices of the order to compare to what's advertised on the website. May have to continue this analysis (expose'?) tomorrow evening.

boudreaulicious wrote:However, I did have a look at Spoon's online menu and GH's site and there are random differences (mostly in the app's)--all about $1 higher on GH. But it's very random and not at all widespread. Almost as if maybe Spoon has raised some prices but not updated their website. And it would make sense since GH's site would need to be accurate since they have to process the transaction.

So this is very interesting...is Spoon's online menu accurate and GH is marking up? Or is Spoon's online menu sporting some outdated prices? I've never checked the actual prices of the order to compare to what's advertised on the website. May have to continue this analysis (expose'?) tomorrow evening.

One of the folks behind GH has posted on this type of issue in the past: http://www.lthforum.com/bb/viewtopic.php?f=17&t=20516&p=235580&hilit=grubhub#p235580.

Restaurant prices on GH must match their takeout menu prices, per that post. That said, their takeout menu prices can be higher than their eat-in menu prices, I imagine. GH is just ensuring that their customers are not being charged any more than anyone else not eating in would be.

I can remember back in the previous century when Leona's was, as we used to say, "way cool". They would circulate delivery menus in which the prices were LOWER than what you'd pay to eat-in. I thought this was kind of a bait-and-switch scam actually because the menus functioned as advertising to get you to come in, then that $2.75 meatball sandwich was suddenly $3.25. But I was a young rube, just moved to the city. That free bread and spread thing seemed sophisticated, the meatball came with 2 sides, and with a pre-HFCS coke the whole bill mighta been $6.

Still seemed shifty though. And nowadays Leona's is the farthest thing from cool.

Darren72 wrote:Frankly, I've always thought the common $3 delivery charges were way too low. I would certainly be willing to pay more than that.

I agree with this. I'm often surprised by how low delivery fees are and would happily pay more for delivery if it ultimately expanded the number of places that delivered to my house. It seems we're in the minority, though, as evidenced in part by this thread.

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ronnie_suburban wrote: I'm often surprised by how low delivery fees are and would happily pay more for delivery if it ultimately expanded the number of places that delivered to my house. It seems we're in the minority, though, as evidenced in part by this thread.

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I don't know about that. I put "I don't like/ value delivery" posts in the same category as "Looking for the best canned mushrooms" posts. Our views are just so far apart, there doesn't seem much point in replying.

Kennyz wrote:

ronnie_suburban wrote: I'm often surprised by how low delivery fees are and would happily pay more for delivery if it ultimately expanded the number of places that delivered to my house. It seems we're in the minority, though, as evidenced in part by this thread.

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I don't know about that. I put "I don't like/ value delivery" posts in the same category as "Looking for the best canned mushrooms" posts. Our views are just so far apart, there doesn't seem much point in replying.

Maybe it's the pain meds but I honestly have no idea what you're saying.

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Your pain meds, my lack of sleep. The odds of us having a coherent conversation are probably small