At an upscale restaurant, how much time would have to pass before you complained about not being served your meal?

I would ask about the food at about 30 minutes, and maybe complain at 45 minutes, depending on how busy the restaurant is. I keep my eye on incoming customers and whether or not they are being served before us. If they are, I complain.

probably between 45-60 minutes

This has never happened to me, but, then again, I've never been to what would be considered an upscale restaurant. They are a bit out of my league, price-wise.

I've never been in an "upscale" restaurant, but assuming that I was, I would rarely expect my food in under 15 minutes anyway. If it's there that quick then they haven't just made it. I go to cheap restaurants and I expect my food to take a while to cook even there. In a British restaurant, I might ask a waiter after an hour if nothing had appeared. But in other countries, I know that food can take hours and hours to appear and I would probably just stay quiet.

It would really depend on what I ordered. If I ordered something that the menu said would take 30 minutes or whatever to prepare, then I would wait at least 15 minutes after that time was up and then inquire if my item was almost ready. This has never happened to me but I generally don't frequent upscale restaurants that much. I think I've been to one only 2-3 times in my life. They tend to be spendy considering my income.

Probably about 45 minutes...

It would depend on what I ordered and how many people were in my party. I'd most likely ask about the order after about 30 minutes.

Well that all depends, one time at a KFC, which is fast food, you expect your food right away; however, this particular occasion, my chicken took almost a 1/2 hour! And I think that is bogus!

Also one time I was at a pizza restaurant, and my soda took 20 minutes, (I was on break from work) and I never got my food, and I told all my friends how rotten this place was, and how poor the service was. I also heard complaints that the pizza was doughy, and not done correctly, and they had a sign that said that you have to wait 1 hour for your food whether the dining room is empty of full. They also lost a lot of business, and eventually closed up. Also one person told me they waited 45 minutes for salad!!

So this place was the worst for waiting for food!!

It depends on the restaurant and how hungry I am.

It would depend on the restaurant, but I guess about 45 minutes. 15 minutes seems fairly normal. At 30 I would be wondering what was up. At 45 I would probably ask.

more than 30 minutes and in an upsacle place and I get pissed

I've never been to an upscale restaurant. I do not have the money for that. Plus I could just make the food my self for way cheaper compared to what those restaurants would charge.

They say it's a very European thing to do and it's impolite in Canada, but I'll always ask the waiter when is the food coming. I'll also flag down the waiter. I learnt that from my parents.

At an "upscale restaurant", I imagine circumstances which would not be conducive to the scenario described. I doubt I would be looking at my watch or timing how long the meal took to arrive. I suppose that if I had finished my second drink and the hors d'oeuvres still hadn't arrived, I would confer with my dining companions before mentioning it to the waitstaff when they came 'round to freshen our cocktails.

It depends on how busy it is in the restaurant and what I ordered. Some dishes take more time to prepare you know.

Complaining about not being served your meal to us is an American thing, as they are used to fast food.

hhhmmm, it would depend on the restaurant and what food was ordered. many upscale restaurant will give you time between courses and if you are somewhere that cooks all meals freshly then you have to give more time because your meal isn't precooked or partially precooked. i would imagine 30-45 minutes depending. when at an upscale restaurant you are suppose to dine not be rushed out the door!

Between 30 and 45 minutes I suppose, I'm usually pretty understanding if a restaurant is particularly busy or whatever. I have waited longer than this before, our food arrived eventually. No point getting cross about it - I just don't go back. I've been a waitress, I can see both sides.

45 - 60 minutes, I guess. Especially with upscale restaurants food can take longer to make because dishes are more complicated.

On average I'll wait 30 minutes. It also depends on how busy the place is and if I'm having drinks and good conversation with my woman/and/or the group I'm with. I'm not usually in that big of a hurry. I'm not complaining at 30 minutes either really I'm just checking on it. At 45-60 minutes depending on what has been ordered I would probably sart to ask more often.

It's not complaining about meal not being served, simply asking when is my food going to arrive.

30 to 45 minutes, depending on how busy the restaurant was at the time.

Oh, well I can't say asking that is 'very European'. I have never heard anyone asking that here.

45 minutes but generally in upscale restaurants, the idea is to take it slow and enjoy.

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Maybe even longer than an hour since I won't go to dinner with someone I don't enjoy conversating with.

Maybe it's more of Mediaterranian. The woman who told me that is Cyprian.

Probably more than 15 minutes, but less than 30. I'd be more inclined to be patient if the server had come by to let me know how things were progressing, and also if I'd requested a meal that took an expectedly long time to prepare.

I don't know--30 minutes?

This hasn't happened to me because I don't go to fancy resterants. Partially cause I dont have money, but more importantly I don't like fancy resterants and in general try to avoid them like the plage.

If I ever find myself in such a place, I would probabbly assume it is normal and supposed to happen or something.

us Americans don't like waiting for too long for some reason. Its better cheaply made and given to us NOW rather than to wait for too long (up to a point off course). 2 Hours would be pushing it, even for the best food on earth.

I would have figured that would be more of our thing though?

You do mean we have had our order taken? Hopefully by upscale you don't mean microwave cooked so I would think a certain wait would be in order. Once, in a mid priced restaurant, we waited 25 minutes, no one even came to offer a drink or take an order. We got up, I complained, we left and never went back.

I am assuming that my order has been taken ..... 30 minutes between appetizer and entree unless its something like fresh fish cooked to order or some such dish and then it normally states the time to get this.

i think 60 minutes, look i don't care about everyone else but when i order something, i expect it to arrive on my table within about 20-30 minutes!!!

You know, after 40 minutes, I am wasting time. Like, it should never be more than 25 minutes, if even.

I mean, I understand it's fancy food, but come on, have like 10 chefs or something.

When you go to a restaurant, they shouldn't start making your order completely from scratch right after you order. They should have parts of meals prepared in the morning before opening. Things like sauces, cleaning meat, etc.

> On average I'll wait 30 minutes. It also depends on how busy the place
> is and if I'm having drinks and good conversation with my woman/and/or
> the group I'm with. I'm not usually in that big of a hurry. I'm not
> complaining at 30 minutes either really I'm just checking on it. At
> 45-60 minutes depending on what has been ordered I would probably
> sart to ask more often.

I agree about the group thing. If I'm hungry and alone or whatever, I want my food.... FAST!!!

at the max 45, last time i waited an hour and my bf flipped out

I don't go to upscale restaurants, mostly to mom and pop types of restaurants. If I did go to an upscale restaurant, I'd probably wait at least 45 minutes, especially if the restaurant was packed.