Tonight we went out for dinner at, well, a well-established local chain with locations in the Highlands, downtown, Lyndon, Jeffersonville, Prospect, etc. I ordered a dinner salad and it arrived with the house dressing more or less ladled on, which from my experience is not the custom at this establishment. The server saw my horror instantly and offered to bring another salad.
The second salad arrived (different server) with the dressing on the side, but the house dressing still did not appear to be the 'ranch'-style the server had described. I asked if it had sour cream in it, as I am allergic to that (no, I don't know why—must be a particular enzyme) and he assured me it did not. He left and I poured a small bit of the dressing onto my salad. I'd had one mouthful when two things happened: I knew that there was sour cream in it and the guy came running back to confirm this. He took away the salad and the fork and dashed off while I waited for anaphylactic shock that, mercifully, did not come.
The third salad came out a moment later with a different dressing on the side, and the guy (same as with salad #2) said I wouldn't have to pay for the salad. It was all right, but my dinner companions were almost finished with their meal by the time I got mine. (I'd insisted they start, lest it get cold.)
When the bill came, the salad was indeed comped. I know you tip for the full value of the meal when you have a coupon (like at so many of the local Indian restaurants that have a BOGO), but what about when the kitchen and/or server screw up and try to make amends? We couldn't decide and so ended up splitting the difference between the full would-be price of the meal and the total without the salad.
Are there any rules on such things? What would you have done?