Restaurants and "Best By" Dates

This evening (Sept. 9th) I got some tasty food to-go from a local restaurant, including some pre-packaged gelato. The gelato was creamy and very flavorful, though there were a few small ice crystals in it (I didn't think I was outside that long for them to form). Also, I'm not much of a gelato expert, but it seemed a bit denser than it should be. I did notice that the Best By date was more than a month ago (Aug. 2nd)-- could that have affected things? I'm wondering if I should call the restaurant and mention it, or just leave it be. It was a tasty treat overall. It was not expired, so that's not an issue, but I wonder if I should mention that it may be at the point of not being as good.

[Robin Garr]

That's a very interesting question, Marie! As you know, "best by" dates aren't actually mandatory, and its confusing because some things - like gelato! - really do diminish in quality after that time, while other - canned goods!? - could last unchanged for years.

Honestly, I'd say it depends on your relationship with the restaurant. If it's a nice place, you like it, maybe you've chatted with the manager before, then sure, I'd give them a friendly call. If it's a faceless national corporation, I probably wouldn't bother. And I'd also be mindful of the tone of my approach, to guard against the management's probably natural instinct that you're looking for a refund.

I'm sure this hasn't been particularly helpful, but it's a really interesting question. I wonder what others think.

If I were in retail, I would not knowingly sell a customer something with a "best by" date of over a month ago, that just seems sloppy.