You have to sell them every time.

Went out to dinner tonight at Little Taste of Texas. It's a place that I have traditionally enjoyed and that Rachel has been ambivalent on, so we didn't go often. Last year Rachel tried their food at the Big E, liked their pulled pork sandwich, and suggested we go to the restaurant again. She liked it and we added it back to our dining out rotation. 

Tonight they managed to serve us two undercooked plates of corn fritters (too big to cook right, gooey inside = ick), served me overcooked ground buffalo on hard shell tacos when I asked for soft tacos and gave the baby a plate of chicken tenders where one was raw in the middle - discovered when we cut them in half to cool, thankfully. The waitress was extremely apologetic and they didn't charge us for anything. However, being comped for a crappy meal does not make it a better meal, it just means you're not paying for crap.

End result, while the waitress handled the problems well enough to garner a tip (hell, it wasn't her fault) we aren't going back there again. A truism of the restaurant business is that you have to sell the customer every time - one bad experience means they're likely not coming back (unless you've built up an enormous reservoir of good will). This was their second blow attempt with Rachel at least, and it will take more than a goof sandwich at the state fair to get back on her good side.

The punchline is that Rachel figures our meal was so crappy because they were using their back up cooking crew - the main guys were off at the Big E this weekend serving pulled pork sandwiches to the crowds.