Worst. Meal. Ever.

[rareboy]

Last evening, we stopped for a quick bite at a Fish and Chips place my partner had wanted to try out.

While he was going to have the deep fried halibut and fries,,,they also offered pan seared fish with salad for the diet conscious.

While his meal was indifferent, my halibut came out bone ceramic white, without salt or seasoning of any kind and certainly had not been near any pan that had oil or butter in it.

The salad was a pile of iceberg lettuce with 2 pallid wedges of tomato and a single shred of onion with 2 tbspn. bargain basement 'Italian' dressing.

This ranked right up there with a fish meal we had about 20 years ago at another restaurant near where we lived....where they took the frozen fish fillet and microwaved it and served it with a boiled potato and frozen peas and carrots.

I am sure we've had many other horrible meals over the years eating out or at someone's house...but last night had a sort of Proustian recall effect.

What is your memory of the worst meal you ever had? Excluding anything you ever made at home that went horribly wrong.

Oh yeah...I have asked for the thread to be relocated to the proper forum.

 

[ronboy]

My cousin's wedding in Florida in 1990.
My aunt and uncle left all the arrangements to the bride and groom themselves.
The groom is a notorious cheapskate, and it showed!
We were at an upscale restaurant's party room, on Park Avenue, in Downtown Winter Park.
The venue itself was beautiful and looked like a great restaurant.
The prime rib served was so thin, that there was no doubt that it was cut on a meat slicer.
The rest of the food (baked potato, salad, rolls) were average.
Cash bar (including soft drinks!)...
Water only served at dinner.
Their wedding cake was a cheap shot, too! it wasn't even fine and white. It was a sort of straw color and lumpy.
When they served the cake, there was no coffee accompanying it. Another uncle spoke up and asked a server.

"Oh would you like a cup of coffee?" she asked, surprised by the request.

"I think the whole table would like coffee" he replied. "What kind of service is this?"

About ten minutes later, she appears with a serving pot of coffee. Everyone at the table, (me included) took a cup!

We were asked to leave by the restaurant staff by 5:00 PM so that they could set up for the next party.

We ended up at my aunt and uncle's house to watch the bride and groom open their presents. Again, no snacks or refreshments provided.

I was staying with another aunt and uncle in Sebring, about 100 miles away.

On the drive back, we stopped at a Perkins and had a decent meal!

The bride's father (my uncle) was confronted by my father (his brother), about why things were so shoddily done.

My uncle pleaded dumb! "I gave her $20, 000. for the wedding! I don't know what she did with it!"

I think the answer to that question could be found in the bride and groom's joint bank account!
They, sure as Hell, didn't spend it on the wedding!

 

[Cormac135]

I never get too adventurous when eating out, steak and chips, pie and mash etc, i was once served poutine while i was being held captive in Canada disgusting, and parsnips.

 

[rareboy]

^ At least we didn't force you to eat beaver.

 

[ronboy]

You can sure tell it's Thanksgiving!
When I posted here, I didn't even realize it was in the amateur forum.
Rareboy, my dear friend, I will move this to Hot Topics for you!

 

[DantheManFL]

Last evening, we stopped for a quick bite at a Fish and Chips place my partner had wanted to try out.

While he was going to have the deep fried halibut and fries,,,they also offered pan seared fish with salad for the diet conscious.

While his meal was indifferent, my halibut came out bone ceramic white, without salt or seasoning of any kind and certainly had not been near any pan that had oil or butter in it.

The salad was a pile of iceberg lettuce with 2 pallid wedges of tomato and a single shred of onion with 2 tbspn. bargain basement 'Italian' dressing.

This ranked right up there with a fish meal we had about 20 years ago at another restaurant near where we lived....where they took the frozen fish fillet and microwaved it and served it with a boiled potato and frozen peas and carrots.

I am sure we've had many other horrible meals over the years eating out or at someone's house...but last night had a sort of Proustian recall effect.

What is your memory of the worst meal you ever had? Excluding anything you ever made at home that went horribly wrong.

Oh yeah...I have asked for the thread to be relocated to the proper forum.

 

[Cormac135]

^ At least we didn't force you to eat beaver.

Well actually........the stories i could tell if i ever could find my Canadian hell threads.

 

[Alistair]

My sister took my mom and me out for dinner on mother's day to a restaurant that she bragged about being the best. I was happy when I saw lake Erie perch and pierogies on the menu. Worst meal ever. The perch was as thin as my thumb and as dry as jerky. I swear the pierogies were Walmart brand frozen. They had only been boiled and not browned in butter. They weren't served with butter, onions and sour cream as is customary.

 

[mikey3000]

When I was a kid, we went to my step father's niece's wedding up in Sault St. Marie. The newly wed couple looked beautiful, the hall looked fine, they even gave out drinks, but believe it or not, when it was time to eat, a bunch of guys brought in delivery pizza and paper plates. Everyone was stunned.

 

[NotHardUp1]

The worst meal ever is a tough one. I think I'm going to have to share an assemblage of worst dishes at different times.

In college, on an honors retreat to a lodge in a state park that had no vending machines and no nearby town or restaurants, the professors let Dr. Sanford cook for the group. He was excited to share his lamb and olive soup. It was watery and abominable. Lamb rarely is palatable to me, and this was so strong it tasted like mutton, and the olives were just a hideous addition, whole and black. I was pretty hungry and had to just go without. It was a bleak evening.

Another time, at a Christmas party hosted by my college roommate and his wife about a decade after we had graduated, she had prepared mulled cider. However, she didn't know anything about it and had followed the recipe given her by a friend. The friend had stupidly slipped a cog and written 1 gallon of apple cider vinegar. You really haven't appreciated vinegar until you've had it heated with cloves and cinnamon sticks.

My worst ever restaurant meal, and there have been a few over the years, was in Camborne, England, in Cornwall. I was travelling with my cousin who was my mother's age, and her daughter. She had a membership in RCI timeshares, so she chose this location as we traversed England looking up family history. The property was Clowance Country Club and our rooms were fine but the restaurant was hideously bad. It was our first meal after flying into Gatwick that afternoon. It was a Saturday.

The crowd eating at the club seemed nice enough folk, but the service was poor right off the bat. A high school age hostess was also serving if I remember, and everyone seemed to know each other. I figured fish was a good bet in Britain, so I ordered the snapper. Oh. My. God. It took forever, and when it arrived, it was a naked blob of white fish with no seasoning, no butter, no breading, no salt, just a half baked piece of fish in a small round shape. It wasn't even done. The inside was cold and wouldn't flake.

It took some time to even get the server to return and I showed her the fish and that it wouldn't flake. She took it and was gone another eternity. When it finally came back, she snipped that the chef could no longer guarantee the fish because now it was overcooked or something like that and she added that it wouldn't flake, parrotting back to me what I had told her, but in reverse, sorta. The fish was still horrible, but it was done. It wasn't off. It was just like they had steamed it and had not made any effort to season it.

The next night we brought back Cornish pasties from St. Michael's Mount to avoid having to face the restaurant again. They were ok.

 

[peeonme]

It was at some barbecue place near (or in) Frankenmuth Mi. Horrible food.

 

[Rocky]

The rectangle school pizza from my 1990's lunches is the worst meal I've ever ate.

Everyone else seemed to love it, but I thought it was too weirdly spicy or something.

Not sure what I'd think of it today, though, but I couldn't stand it then.

 

[MusicMan321]

The rectangle school pizza from my 1990's lunches is the worst meal I've ever ate.

Everyone else seemed to love it, but I thought it was too weirdly spicy or something.

Not sure what I'd think of it today, though, but I couldn't stand it then.

I remember the school lunches they didn't look that good I always brought my lunch

 

[jumpup2]

In a Kansas truck stop I got the "lunch special" which turned out to be bologna on white bread with mayo, a pile of bottom of the bag chips and a pickle with juice to turn the whole plate into a goo. It's the only meal in my life that couldn't even.......

 

[Alistair]

The rectangle school pizza from my 1990's lunches is the worst meal I've ever ate.

Everyone else seemed to love it, but I thought it was too weirdly spicy or something.

Not sure what I'd think of it today, though, but I couldn't stand it then.

It's crazy they're still serving that same meal on those same trays all these years later.