Yahoo Lifestyle Servers Spill The Beans On The Wildest Menu Requests That Left Them Scratching Their Heads
Working as a server at a restaurant can be pretty wild, especially when you have to deal with all sorts of customer orders.
One minute, you're taking a simple order for a burger, and the next, someone’s asking for a gluten-free, vegan, spicy, no sauce, lettuce-wrapped burger.
Those unusual orders keep things interesting, reminding you that people have diverse tastes and some bizarre food preferences.
So, I asked restaurant workers of the BuzzFeed Community to share the strangest customer orders they've received. Here are the responses, and some of them might make you feel physically ill:
1."Worked at a place that served all sorts of food but also pizza. There used to be a woman who would order a double deluxe pizza with no crust. They'd saute up a bunch of pizza toppings on the griddle and then put them in a container and mix in some pizza sauce. Then, cover it with cheese and pop it in the oven for a bit. We all tried it once. It wasn't too bad. She once said we were the only place who would do it for her."
2."Cottage cheese and clam omelet."
3."I worked at a fast-casual restaurant where you order at a counter, and then we would bring the food to your table. Drinks were self-serve. This couple would come in and each order huge shareable bowls of pasta and then take their pasta to the soda dispenser and fill their bowls with ice. They would then slurp their pasta with the ice and eat the entire huge portion in one serving. All of us would argue over who had to clean up their 'soup' with its nauseating smell. After quite a few rounds of this week after week and protests from some of us brave servers, the managers finally talked to them about not doing this."
4."I work at Culver's, and we offer steamed broccoli on our menu. I once had a guy come up to the register and proceed to order four cups of uncooked broccoli. Then, when I asked for his name, he told me, 'You can call me grandpa' in an incredibly creepy way. That was all he ordered."
5."I worked in a lounge, so my strange orders were drinks: 1. A rough older looking cowboy came in and ordered three shots of tequila served in a champagne flute. He had three within an hour and left. 2. An older man asked for two shots of navy rum, microwaved for two minutes, served with a cinnamon stick and four lemon wedges. The server station reeked for days after, and the microwave has not been the same since."
6."A friend of mine regularly ordered a sandwich with cheese, salami, hot sauce, and Nutella and actually ate that monstrosity."
7."Had one regular, a middle-aged woman, who’d ask for a burger well done — she’d tell us to burn it black. Leave it on the grill until it started smoking. I think she asked for it ‘like a hockey puck’ at one point."
8."BLT with no lettuce or tomato…"
9."I was working the midnight shift in-room services for a bougie hotel. A young man staying at the hotel called in to order just carrots. So, I took some carrot sticks from the kid's menu. He saw it and said, 'No! I want one whole carrot'. So we gave him a lone peeled carrot in a fancy plate, with a food cover on a silver tray. It was the funniest thing ever."
10."We had a regular at one restaurant I worked at who always ordered a 'salad' that was just a plate of cilantro, some apple slices, and a side of lemon wedges."
11."A bowl of milk to put on the ground. Ordered by a dominatrix for her sub at The Cheesecake Factory."
12."I’m not a restaurant worker, but I have this funny story where I was sitting next to a table, and I overheard a lady telling the waitress, 'I will have the tomato soup as my appetizer, but could I have it without tomatoes?' Yeah. No words."
13."Ceasar salad, extra dressing, extra cheese, extra croutons, no salad. Absolutely no lettuce at all. Became a running joke at work for a while."
14."I worked at a small town Subway in 1995/96. I had a regular customer who always ordered a footlong sandwich on white bread with EXACTLY 47 (or was it 49?) slices of cheese and four lines of mustard. That was all. This was back before Subway toasted sandwiches, but she didn't want it heated in the microwave or anything—just a lot of cold cheese and mustard.
15."A cup of coffee: half regular, half decaf, a cup of hot water, another cup of cold water, a glass of ice, three packets Splenda, half and half, and this was just a start. The rest of the order was a substitution of everything!"
16."My daughter, age five at the time, decided she wanted a cheeseburger from McDonald’s (please, don’t judge. It was a long road trip, and that’s all I could find). I hand her the cheeseburger, turn around to get her fries, and she starts crying uncontrollably. When she finally calms down enough to tell me what’s wrong, I discover that she’s upset because they put 'meat in her cheeseburger.’ So basically, she wanted a grilled cheese on a bun with ketchup."
17."My favorite was when people would ask for the gluten-free menu, run me back and forth asking the cooks about ingredients. Then, ask why I didn’t bring a bread basket."
18."When I bartended, a man ordered a full rack of ribs and asked for a side of blueberry jam. I nicely told him we did not have jam. He then asked for pancake syrup to go with them instead. I explained we did not serve breakfast and didn't have syrup either. He seemed genuinely confused as to why I thought jam and syrup were breakfast items."
19."I’ve been asked for freshly squeezed cranberry juice, a cappuccino with 'WHITE' milk, 'grilled' eggs, and if our steak had duck meat inside. I’ve been asked for an egg white omelet made with nine eggs. I’ve been asked for popcorn and peanuts while viewing a menu in a French Asian restaurant, and I’ve been asked for a 'fish steak.'"
20."I worked at a high-end Italian restaurant in a very rich town where there were a ton of 'ladies who lunch.' We offered a price-fixed menu with soup and salads that was a hit and very healthy. One regular would always order her salad plain, with no ingredients, with lemon. She would sit alone and eat a dry heap of arugula with some lemon slices she would squeeze on it. She paid $20 for that and a cup of soup she barely touched. This was a weekly occurrence."
—Anonymous, Age: 38
21."Chipped beef on French toast with cottage cheese and grape jelly on top. Not sure what was happening there, but they seemed to enjoy it."
—Anonymous, Age: 24
22."35 years in food service. Chocolate pudding served instead of gravy on top of a country-fried steak. I had to try it myself and was surprised that it wasn’t awful!"
—Anonymous, Age: 55
23."I had parents bring me blue food coloring and tell me everything their son ate had to be blue. I served him blue mashed potatoes and blue macaroni and cheese."
—Anonymous, Age: 40
24."A taco pizza, but with other more traditional pizza toppings added onto it. Where I worked, the 'sauce' of the taco pizza was refried beans and salsa. This person added things like ham, mushrooms, and even pepperoni to it. I'm all for people liking what they like, but it seemed strange for sure."
—Anonymous, Age: 25
25."I worked at a crepe stand that offered a 'create-your-own' option as a cook and cashier. A customer ordered a crepe with scrambled eggs, Swiss cheese, and strawberries. I had to cook it in front of her and pretend that the smell wasn’t making me gag. She loved it, but it definitely didn’t look or smell right."
—Anonymous, Age: 32
Which of these would you order or definitely not order? Let me know in the comments!
Note: Some submissions have been edited for length/clarity.
