‘What’s worse than stupid?’: Sushi chef forced to blowtorch fish after couple were surprised it was raw
By Carl Samson
July 13, 2023
A sushi chef was reportedly forced to sear sashimi after a pair of customers returned their fish to be cooked.
Smiles fade fast: A worker at the unnamed restaurant detailed the incident in a now-viral Reddit thread. They said a couple came for lunch and ordered the omakase, a multi-course menu that features the chef’s “best of the best.”
The worker said they explained what was in the order, which cost $110 per person. They recalled the couple being “all smiles and thumbs up” until they were served the first course: a massive bowl of sashimi.
“The smiles falter and within a minute, I’m being called back to the table,” the worker wrote. “They ask us to take back all this beautiful fish and cook it.”
Chef frustrated: The worker told the couple that the fish cannot be cooked but can be seared by the chef. The customers agreed and the fish was returned to the chef, who then spent 10 minutes blowtorching each individual piece of fish.
“The chef spends about 10 minutes blasting each fish muttering, ‘What’s worse than stupid? That’s what this is,’” the worker recalled.
“Debate” ensues: After the searing, the worker said they dropped the “now-mangled food off.” The couple took a bite, asked for their check and declined the rest of the course. The worker said they then stepped in:
This is where the debate came in. I was feeling extra spicy so I said keep the bill as it is. Myself and the menu explained what the order was and they both had smartphones to do even a little Googling on what they were about to spend $220 on. Another server felt bad and said they didn’t eat, [so] don’t charge them anything.
The parties met in the middle and ultimately charged the couple for just one order. The worker said they believe it was the “correct move,” but the other server still felt bad for charging the customers for food they did not eat.
“I maintain that if you’re about to spend a lot of money on food, you should be sure it’s food you’re going to enjoy,” the worker noted. “If you walk into a sushi restaurant, order the chef’s choice and are expecting cooked food, that’s a level of either stupidity or ignorance that I will be charging you for.”
Reactions: The Reddit thread has received over 13,000 upvotes since its posting. Many commenters agreed that the customers should have paid the full price.
Another commented: “LMAO IT IS 2023. If you can’t look up what a restaurant is and what they serve before you go, then you go in and order an expensive ‘experience,’ which is exactly what they did, then you deserve to pay the full order.”
“100% charge for what hit the table,” another responded. “I’m sure you have a Philly fry roll or some other Americanized stuff that they could have ordered off the menu with a few simple questions to you.”
“How do these stupid f*cks even survive daily life?” one user wrote. “‘Let’s get sushi. What’s that? IDK but let’s go get it and then potentially be pissed off cause we are too stupid to know what we are eating.'”
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