NJ restaurant nightmares: Sending back a bad meal you ordered

A woman in a Taco Bell in Newark tried to send back a burrito that according to her "tasted funny" and she received a beat down. Three employees, all under the age of 18, are seen on camera coming around the counter to attack the woman.

We'll see where the lawsuit goes, but if you want my opinion, it's time to crack down on unruly and undisciplined teens. Even if the customer was more agitated than necessary over the funny-tasting burrito, a beating over a burrito seems wildly unjustified.

I hope she wins a settlement from the fast-food giant. And I hope that these three teens have to serve many, many hours of community service. That said, sending food back to a restaurant can be as stressful for some as negotiating when buying a new car.

Most people seem to just go along and take the meal and not make a scene. For me, it's all about the price and the reason for the less-than-quality serving.

If a steak in a higher-end place is undercooked as happened to me in a chain steak house where literally half the steak was rare and the other half not cooked at all, I sent it back. But if I've ordered a shrimp cocktail and the shrimp has no snap and has a fishy essence, I leave it alone, knowing that the next batch will likely be no different and it will set up the wrong relationship with the server and kitchen before the main meal.

My strategy is to be reasonable, and if not satisfied, to never return. This happened to me and my wife Jodi at a high-end sushi place in NYC. We didn't have a chance to send anything back as she started to react to a bad piece of shellfish about halfway through dinner.

The car ride home was a tough one and my follow-up call to the restaurant was classic. Listen to my story here:

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The post above reflects the thoughts and observations of New Jersey 101.5 talk show host Bill Spadea. Any opinions expressed are Bill's own. Bill Spadea is on the air weekdays from 6 to 10 a.m., talkin’ Jersey, taking your calls at 1-800-283-1015.

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