Dealing with restaurant problems Your rights

Eating out should be relaxing and pleasurable – no slaving over a hot stove and, best of all, no washing up.

But what if things are less than perfect? For example, your fish pie is frozen in the middle, the restaurant has double booked your table, or you get ill from the food.

When you're eating out you have a right to expect a certain standard of service. When you book a table in a restaurant, or sit down to eat, you enter a contract with the provider of the service.

If you don't get that level of service the restaurant could be in breach of contract. The law gives you a right to a refund or compensation in some circumstances.

Your rights if a restaurant doesn't keep your booking

When you book a table, a restaurant has a contractual obligation to provide it. If the restaurant doesn't keep your booking, you may be entitled to claim reasonable compensation:

• to cover any expenses you incurred that served no purpose, such as wasted travel costs
• for loss of enjoyment and disappointment if, for example, a special occasion was ruined.

Your responsibilities as a customer

However, the contract works both ways, and a restaurant can also claim compensation from you if you fail to turn up for a booking. But it must be able to prove that it made every attempt to fill the table. If it hasn't lost out on custom due to you not turning up, then they can't charge you.

If the food isn't up to scratch

Food has to be 'as described'. If it is not, the restaurant is in breach of contract. What's more, the Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading Practices Regulations 2008 prohibit traders from misleading consumers over, for example, "the main characteristics of the product" or its price.

If you were tempted into the restaurant by the sound of 'freshly-caught mackerel' or 'home-made soup' and then get served something frozen or out of a tin, you have a right to reject that item.

You can either order something else as a replacement (and pay only for the replacement), or deduct the cost of the dish you rejected from the bill.

Under the Supply of Goods and Services Act 1982 you have a right to expect food of satisfactory quality and 'as described' on the menu.

Sub-standard food

If you get served something of a poor standard, for example, food that is frozen in the middle or burnt to a crisp or is not as described, (a vegetarian dish that contains meat, say); you should also reject the item.

You are not entitled to get your whole meal for free if only one dish is below standard, although of course a decent restaurant may offer this as a goodwill gesture.

When you have to pay a service charge

Some restaurants add a compulsory service charge to your bill, and others leave it to your discretion. If a service charge is automatically added the restaurant must, by law, warn you of this before you eat.

The charge must be clearly displayed on any price list or priced menu inside or outside the restaurant.

What if the service is poor?

If you are told about a compulsory service charge, you must pay it, unless the service was particularly poor. If this is the case, you can refuse to pay some or all of it.

But bear in mind that the quality of service should match the type of establishment you are in. So you shouldn't expect the same quality of service from a burger joint as you would from a restaurant in a five-star hotel.

And you can't refuse to pay some, or all, of the food component of the bill if the problem was only with the service.

If no service charge is shown

If the compulsory service charge is not clearly shown you are within your rights not to pay it, for example, if you thought the service was substandard.

You could also report the restaurant to Trading Standards as unclear or misleading pricing is a criminal offence, according to the Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading Practices Regulations 2008.

If there has been a particular problem with the service, for example, the waiter tipped spaghetti bolognese down your white shirt, you can also claim the cost of cleaning the clothes.

If you get ill from the food

It is a criminal offence for a business to serve food that is unfit for human consumption. If you can prove that food at a particular restaurant caused your illness you may be able to claim compensation for your pain, suffering and any loss of earnings you incurred as a result. Take legal advice as soon as possible from a personal injury solicitor.

You can also report the restaurant to the environmental health department covering the restaurant, which can take action to make the restaurant clean up its act.