Restaurant substitutions: How much is too much?

So excited to talk about this. So let's talk about you guys out there. You get a menu, right? Do you say like, no, hold the onions or I want a different side with that or can you cook this a certain way? When you order at a restaurant, do you make changes and how many changes are too many changes? Tyler, tell us. The only reason he cares about the story is because he's worried about his lunch right now and he's hungry. Well, we saw all that food with Eli. No, let me tell you this, especially doing as many restaurant segments as I do. It's hard work working at a restaurant. I never ask for a substitution, and I never— No, no, no, not me. The people working in the restaurant, look, not me at all. But I don't make changes. So what's the deal with this, though? There are restaurants that say no more, right? So essentially, you go to a restaurant, and obviously if you're paying for something, you want something you're going to enjoy. But how much can you change before you're asking the kitchen to make an entirely different meal? It's a debate that is obviously growing online right now. So a Thai restaurant in Phoenix says it won't change dishes just to make them more familiar to customers, explaining that its recipes come from families and communities in Thailand. A restaurant operator says that too many changes can actually slow down the kitchen and change the flavors the chef actually intended for you to try. He says restaurants try to accommodate allergies and dietary restrictions to the best of their ability. But for everyday preferences, where do you actually have to draw the line? Is asking for no onions fine, but swapping half the ingredients too much? And does the type of restaurant actually matter here? So obviously we've been asking you guys to weigh in on this. I mean, for me personally, I was just in Europe over the weekend, and they have a lot of concerns with allergies. So I do have an intolerance, an allergy to chocolate that I have to be really careful with. So they always ask you, and that's purely just because, obviously, for safety reasons. And so they accommodate you in that situation. I try to be very careful. Obviously, if it's a burger, I don't care about having onions on it. I'll just say no onions. But, yeah, I think I'm right there with you that you have to be really careful what you ask for. Yeah, I just, I mean, if it's there on the menu, I sort of figure that's how the restaurant wants it to be served, and that's how it's best served, and I stick with what's on the menu. So Ella Talmadge is standing by right now listening to what our viewers are saying. So Ella, what are we hearing from people? Oh, we got a lot of different voices in the chat today, Paul. I want to start off with this one from Katrina. If I'm patronizing your establishment, then I should be able to ask for things like well done, add cheese, heavy onion, since I'm paying for the meal. If the establishment frowns upon such things, then there should be signage on the wall at the entrance or inside the menu, which that part makes sense to me. If your restaurant is requesting that no substitutions or changes be made, then you should make that known to your clientele, yeah. Yeah, that makes sense. Yeah, I do have Luis Perez says, sometimes I do ask for minor substitutions, not everyone likes the menu as it is. So people ask for substitutions or modifications to their orders. Myself, since I'm allergic to shrimp, I have to make sure whatever I'm eating is not cooked together with shrimp, which allergies is a big thing that I understand a lot of people suffer from. So that makes perfect sense to me. I did get a firm number from Valerie. She says, only Google the menu before choosing the restaurant. That's a good point. And I have to agree with Valerie. Maybe I'm in the minority with this. Always Google the menu before going to restaurants. Yes, thank you. I do too. what i'm going getting right before i walk in the door um usually without a substitution but i think i think it's important to know just expect maybe a longer wait if you're going to make a substitution and just ask with kindness if in consideration well that's a big part of it too i think you just hit it like like if you're going to ask for the substitutions like do it kindly know that like these people are working hard to make the food the way you want it all that kind of stuff but keep the comments coming i'm sure we'll talk about this later on today let's go to lunch i'm hungry Okay. You're buying? Sounds good. Okay, sounds good. Have a great day, everyone.