BamaVol

Although I live in a relatively small town, there are many, many restaurants in the area because of the tourist trade. That doesn't mean they're all good, but I still feel like we are blessed with an abundance of good places to eat. I tend to patronize locally based establishments.

A year ago, we had a less than satisfactory experience at one such place and I swore I would never return. It wasn't a disaster, just rowdy kids in the bar, lackluster food and a disinterested server. Given all the other choices, I figured I wouldn't miss them and given all the non-local business, I figured they wouldn't miss me.

Last weekend, we were out shopping and Mrs BamaVol, having skipped lunch, declared that she was ready for an early dinner. My stomach was upset so I agreed to any place with a bar where I could get a glass of red wine. She pointed to the restaurant in question and asked if I was ready to go back. I agreed since 1) it was not a busy time, 2) the server in question had likely moved on and 3) I wasn't eating.

Well, it was a much better experience this time. The food was good (I snatched a forkful of her salmon), the happy hour prices were cheap and the bar was practically empty. Not the best dinner of our lives, but good enough to put this restaurant back on the list. We'll eat there again, if only to test whether it's truly changed.

For once, maybe I'm glad I wasn't so rigid.

Do you go back? If so, how long do you wait?

bitburgr

I'm currently boycotting a restaurant in town.

My wife and I went a few years ago with another couple. Food was good but the restaurant was loud and very crowded. I wasn't keen on going back, but my wife received a gift certificate so we went again a month or two ago. Once again, the food was good but the place was loud and very crowded.

Reviews on Yelp show that other diners have had the same concerns.

I just don't see myself going back a third time.

wrp96

Last restaurant I swore I'd never go back to and returned to, the wait was 5 years before I returned. Most of them I stick to my guns because we have too many choices - both local and chain - to return to a restaurant that's been below par in any way. Note: usually it doesn't take only one experience for me to swear off a restaurant (unless that first experience was truly THAT bad).

Usually though, the restaurants I swear off follow through by eventually closing, proving that my bad experience wasn't a one off thing. In fact there currently is only one restaurant in town that is on my "won't go back to" list. As it's a chain, I would be surprised if it closed, but I know I'm not the only one that has stopped going there.

BamaVol

Would you go back if your wife received another gift card? I probably wouldn't if I could regift it to someone else. That's easier and probably more valuable to the recipient if it's a chain. I don't have anyone I care enough about to give a gift card to any local restaurant. Friends and family mostly live many miles away.

My less than satisfactory experience came after several so-so visits and a few pretty nice meals. I think my main issue was the kids running through the bar area. Not the restaurant's fault but I have too many choices and that's the main reason I don't frequent a number of chains. I used to think of bars as kid free zones, but that isn't true everywhere so a lot of my meals are taken at nicer restaurants and bars that sell good food with an emphasis on the beer and/or wine. That seems to minimize the kids (whom I enjoy at the right time and place).

Gamecock

There are enough restaurants in my town competing for my money that they get one shot, and that is it, period.

Flaneurs

We have one marginal restaurant/bar in our town so I find it hard to boycott on the rare occasion we feel like going out to eat. If there were more than one restaurant I am sure I would feel differently.

LtKernelPanic

Usually after awhile we'll try them again to see if things have changed. That time has has ranged from a few months to several years.

Badenoch

It depends why I was dissatisfied.

Any place can have a bad night. So I might try a place a second time or even a third if I encounter bad service or food that wasn't what I expected. But if subsequent visits don't show improvement I don't go back.

Reasons to never go back are a menu selection that doesn't appeal to me, a poor physical lay-out (e.g. tables to close together, bad acoustics, uncomfortable seating) or an unsatisfactory response from the owner/manager if I have a problem.

BamaVol

[/U]Tripadvisor lists 565 restaurants between my town and the next. The two towns have a combined population of under 50,000 but we get 14,000,000 visitors a year.

exerda

Ran into a coworker Wednesday as a few people from my team were heading to a nearby place for lunch. He got agitated and said he will never go there again.

I've never had a problem with that particular place (and rather like their food, and the service is fine); he claimed they showed up with a party of 9, in the middle of lunchtime, and "they just didn't know how to handle it." Note the biggest tables in the place seat 4, and most are booths (so they can't be pushed together), and the place is popular and thus very busy at lunchtime, so I find their criticism a bit unfair.

The "last straw" according to him was that he overheard the server say, "I will never serve them again." Given the guy's attitude in general, I suspect it was deserved... probably made snide remarks to the servers the entire time, refused to tip, etc....

BamaVol

Sounds like a win-win.

nineworldseries

I'm very cold-hearted about this. Columbus has about a billion marginal restaurants, so if I have a bad experience at one, they're dead to me forever. I'm tired of spending money on bad dining experiences in this mediocre city.

dolcevita

We recently went to a chain restaurant MrDV had sworn off twenty years ago. He agreed only because it was at the request of a friend who has very limited choices for medical reasons. It was not as bad as he remembered but not good enough to go without our friend. Outside of this one, we never go back to restaurants we've sworn off.

365RoadWarrior

I never go back to restaurants I've sworn off (excepting the few places where my elderly father feels comfortable). On the other hand, I regularly find myself back in entire COUNTRIES I've sworn off.

josephineperry

Nope.