Guest Rights: What to Do When Things Go Wrong at a Restaurant

Breakdowns happen, even in gastronomy. For some, the hosts have to stand up, for others, restaurant guests are simply unlucky.

Berlin – go out and let yourself be pampered in a chic restaurant, a hip bistro or a cozy café – what a welcome change in everyday life! But things don’t always go smoothly in the restaurant business. We will show what options you then have as a guest using 6 practical examples.

If the food was not satisfactory

Whether a guest has to pay for the meal he or she is dissatisfied with depends on the individual case. “If the guest simply didn’t like it, there is no defect in the legal sense,” says lawyer Jürgen Benad from the German Hotel and Restaurant Association in Berlin.

A food shortage occurs when, for example, something is served that was not ordered. Suppose the guest has ordered an Argentinian rump steak and is served pork instead. “This is objectively a defect,” explains Christian Feierabend, a specialist lawyer for international commercial law in Berlin. The guest must promptly report this defect to the service staff. “Eat about half first and then complain, that’s not possible,” says Feierabend.

There are also deficiencies in the food if, contrary to what is stated on the menu, the fish is more or less raw instead of fried or baked, or the dish that is supposed to be hot is cold. Or oversalted.

In general, if there are objective defects in the food, the guest has the right to return the order. He or she must give the catering establishment the opportunity to make improvements. If the meal is then still objectively defective, the guest is not obliged to pay for it. If the guest only complains about the food when it comes to paying, it’s too late – because then the landlord didn’t have an opportunity to improve it.

When the guest gets sick from the meal

“It would be extremely difficult to establish a causal link between the possible lack of quality in the food served and the malaise,” says Benad. Because it may be that the guest simply does not like the food – not because it is contaminated with germs, for example, but because the guest simply cannot tolerate the dish for health reasons. The respective catering establishment cannot be prosecuted for this.

If the discomfort occurs at the table and the guest attributes it to the food because it smells strange, he or she should address the complaints to the service staff. “If necessary, you can also report the facts to the local regulatory office,” explains Feierabend.

If guests want to reduce the price

“In the vast majority of cases, there is no basis for this,” says Benad. After all, landlords usually try very hard to satisfy guests and are usually willing to meet their requests for improvements in the event of objective defects.

However, a price reduction of up to 20 percent would be conceivable if the ordered food is not on the table within an hour despite demand. According to Jürgen Benad’s observation, however, it is often the case that restaurateurs approach the guests on their own initiative when there are signs of bottlenecks in the kitchen and point out: It’s taking a little longer today, please understand. “The waiting time is then often compensated with a free drink or other courtesy on the house,” says Benad.

If the restaurant specifies a specific time frame

Especially in popular restaurants, it is common for hosts to only make reservations for a certain period of time. Guests often have to vacate their seats after one and a half to two hours. According to Tatjana Holm from the Bavarian consumer advice center, such restrictions are generally permitted – “if they are announced in advance”.

If you then want to order something shortly before the end of the time window, you can ask the waiter whether that is okay. It is possible that there will be no booking at all afterwards. But even if there is one: Whether you really have to leave as soon as the reservation period has expired has not been judicially clarified.

If the waiter soils the clothes

Suppose the waitress accidentally knocks over a glass of red wine while serving and the contents spill on the guest’s clothing. “In such cases, the respective restaurateur – and not the service staff – is responsible for paying for the cleaning costs,” says Christian Feierabend. If the clothing is damaged and the original condition cannot be restored, the restaurateur must replace the item.

When the wardrobe is lost

“From a legal point of view, in most cases guests cannot claim damages from restaurateurs if their coat is lost in the cloakroom,” explains Jürgen Benad. Guests have to keep an eye on their coat or jacket themselves. This is especially true if the notice on the cloakroom states that the operator of the location assumes no liability. But even without this notice, guests must take care of their wardrobe themselves.

The situation is different when the service staff takes the coat of arriving guests and deposits it in a place that is not visible to the guests. If the cloakroom is then lost, the restaurateur is liable. This also applies if he has assigned an employee to look after the cloakroom.

If something is left on the bill

Especially in groups that eat and drink together, but later pay separately, it often happens that the last payer has something left over on the bill that he did not consume himself. But even if everyone else is already gone, that doesn’t mean that person has to take care of the rest.

“Each guest concludes his own contract with the host,” says consumer advocate Holm. “That means everyone only has to pay for what they have ordered themselves.” In practice, it can still be less stressful to settle the outstanding items and later get the money back from friends and acquaintances. After all, you might want to visit the restaurant again.

When the landlord wants to turn guests away

In principle, restaurateurs are entitled to turn away guests – after all, there is freedom of contract. Hosts may also ask misbehaving guests to leave. When rejecting guests, however, no one may be discriminated against, for example because of age, gender, sexual orientation or religion. If discrimination occurs when guests are turned away, those affected are entitled to compensation, which they can claim through a lawyer. dpa