There was recently a very heated discussion about this on a Chowhound thread. I don't know if there's a "correct response"—I only know there are responses that feel as though someone is revealing a genuinely hospitable streak with a substantial gesture of concern and others that feel disingenuous and deceptively stingy.

I'd have removed at least one entree, but I don't say that with any sort of back-of-the-house authority, just intuition that may be faulty.

I think, given your circumstances, the restaurant could have comped your drinks or offered free dessert. Certainly, an apology from management would have been appropriate. To pick up the entire tab seems a bit excessive since you did actually drink and eat although not as quickly as you might have preferred.

I would say a comped meal (or free desserts, or coupons for a free meal next time you came in) would be appropriate, because then at least you have something concrete that you received for free for your troubles. 20% doesn't really mean anything...he deducted what he'd hope you'd add back in in a tip? If he was a manager, he handled the situation very poorly.

Nancy,
I am a manager at a very busy restaurant in town that in fact does serve brunch. So I will answer from a point of experience. First, your server had a "blame" problem. He should use we phrases like "We are slicing some fresh lemons, they should be right out" or "I apologize, but we have lost your ticket and your food should be out shortly" at that point he should have offered some fruit or pastry to ease the wait. He was trying to save his tip by laying blame elsewhere. Never blame the bar, the kitchen, etc. The manager should have approached with an apology...mistakes happen. If it was me and we lost a ticket, I certainly would have comped your entrees at the very least, if not the whole thing. Comping a bill can often be a weak managers easy way out, but ithis time it would have been appropriate. Comping your meal would have hopefully insured your return...I mean at this point, would you go back? It is short-sighted in my mind to resist comping in that situation. It's choosing $47 today over repeated business on much more later. In my view, both the server and manager dropped the ball as it pertains to customer service. Hope to see you soon at brunch.

Cheers,

SK

Most of you are nicer than I am. I would have flat out REFUSED to pay for the entrees after service like that, and it really wouldn't matter how they felt about it because I would never return. With a million great places to spend your hard-earned money in Denver, why put up with that?

I agree with everyone's comments, especially Sean K. The meals should have been comped. Not sure that a 20% discount is appropriate, but I did want to mention that you probably did get a 20% discount--on the food. By my math 6.70 is 20% of 33.50. Perhaps that was your food total? I have rarely seen places give discounts on alcohol, even in this type of situation.

I write about food for a restaurant trade magazine, and I’d think the restaurateur’s goal should be to turn the bad feelings you have about the restaurant into good ones, whatever it takes. Comp the meal if you like, or invite you and your friend back for a free meal and really lay on the good service and give you extra desserts or whatever. I'd be interested to know if there's anything the restaurant could do to redeem itself in the eyes of ErykaWynter. Sometimes in restaurants, one strike and you’re out.

The EXACT thing happened to a friend and me at City O' City.

The waitress didn't even apologise, much less comp anything. No manager was available, or I would have lodged a complaint and maybe received a comp or discount.

As it stood, we tipped 10% and I've never been back.

All that said, I believe your meal should've been comped just based on status quo as I've seen it. I've never lodged a valid complaint with a restaurant manager when they didn't at least offer to comp the meal or a reasonable portion of it (i.e. -- the person whose meal was screwed up, if there's a large party or dessert for the entire party).

Thanks for all the feedback!
Eric, thanks for the explanation of the $6.70. Even the waiter didn't understand why it was $6.70 since the bill was $47 before tax.
What I didn't say (purposefully) is that the food was terrific and because they did comp a portion of the meal, I will go back. But I am torn. I’ve always believed that great food can’t make you forget bad service. And bad service can make you forget great food. Will I go with the excitement and enthusiasm I went with on Saturday? Nope. Will I go with trepidation that the service will be dreadful again? Yup. And I can guarantee that I will not be recommending the restaurant to anyone until I go back again and have a better experience myself. But I will go back because I would hate to cut off my nose to spite my face. I would hate to miss out on a potentially great restaurant and great food in the future because either the server messed up or because the kitchen messed up. Life's too short to cut restaurants off my list because of ONE meal. The fact is, even the best restaurant, chef or server can have a bad day. But had they not comped anything, it would have seemed, to me, like they didn’t care about my business, and like ErykaWynter said, if they don’t value the fact that I’m spending my hard earned money there, and there are a million other places to spend it. So had they not done anything, I might be willing to let my nose go. I agree with Sean K. as I see it more as a lost opportunity by the restaurant to get me to go back. Instead of me feeling a little embarrassed that that I had to actually ask for more than a 20% discount (could I have felt like more of a jerk?) and a whiner, had a manager come over and acknowledged our "pain", I would probably be remembering that and the food. I sound like I’m writing about relationships and not food when I say; it really wasn't about who screwed up, it was more about someone acknowledging that they screwed up and saying they were sorry. Now can we all cuddle?

So many issues to address here. First, for anyone who has worked in a restaurant, you know it can be almost impossible to communicate with the kitchen especially about problems. As a waiter/cook/manager I have seen numerous times where the cooks lie about times/missing tickets and I have seen waiters totally miss the fact that a problem is developing until too much time has passed by. I also know for a fact that customers exaggerate times. But mistakes do happen. Especially when the kitchen and wait staff is populated by idiots. The manager/owner bears full responsibility for any problems. It is usually a sign of bad management that a situation like this develops and gets worse. However, customers should never demand a certain amount off, that is just plan rude. You should wait until a manager offers and then pay. If you do not think you were treated fairly then do not go back. Asking for a specific amount is like asking for an apology. If one is offered then good, if one is not offered you lower yourself by asking for one.

Great point Anthony P. I felt like it was rude when I said it and you confirmed my feeling like an a-hole. Lesson learned.

To me this indicates a communication problem between the server and the staff. As both a restaurant manager and a frequent (as much as time allows) restaurant patron, I understand both sides of the coin. When a server says that the kitchen "lost the ticket" I immediately, though not vocally, scream bullshit. That's old hat bad server technique. I think, had the manager been made aware of the problem, his first instinct would have been to offer another round, gratis. Grease the wheels and give the guest a little something to work on in the mean time. The server was probably just trying to cover his own ass. You've gotta comp something in that situation, and a drink is a damn fine option in my book. Also, the manager needs to have the opportunity to take the temperature, so to speak, of the guest at that point, which also makes me think this was more an example of bad server than bad service. Having waited on you in the past ( though I won't say where), I'm pretty confident that an acknowledgement and a comped round from the beginning of the problem, coupled with a ramping up of the tete a tete, would have saved your experience; you're not a fussy diner. when people ask for comps, though, they immediately get lumped together with people who say they're friends with the owner when they walk in the door, to which my internal response is, again, "bullshit."