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I’m curious what did he suggest was a good solution? Were they unwilling to do that? I’d be a little peturbed about taking home half a cake and likely would have purchased a whole cake in a different flavor. If the bday boy or girl only had one favorite flavor then I would have bought just the slice of that too.

Unless he spoke to someone at the bakery counter and placed or confirmed his cake order before having a drink at the bar I would not have asked for the beer to be comped.

I agree with @Mrs. Lemon-Lime: what did you DH ask for as the solution or did he just agree to what they offered? A lot of time the place is waiting for you to say what you want the solution to be since they don't just want to throw money away. I would be more upset that DH can home with half a cake when he knew it was for a birthday celebration, but that's just me i guess. ( please note he probably would have been so pissed he wouldn't have done anything and just came home with the half a cake too) I have worked in service a long time as well as DH.. And I do see the issue that they didn't make it right to begin with but sometimes I think as the customer you have make it know what you want when they mess up even if it is asking for the manager and making a stink.

I feel like they absolutely could have gone above and beyond because at the time of the order they should have known or double checked before taking payment so time is not wasted. OR they really could've have told him a lot sooner, before he sat down for a beer for sure. So I'd be annoyed that I waited so long to find out the flavor I already paid for isn't available.

I guess my annoyance level would go up depending on how picky I am (or how specific that flavor was needed for the celebration). I don't think I would've accepted to take half of larger size in that flavor if this cake is meant for a celebration; I would have just swapped flavors. I'm not super confrontational so while annoyed I also would not have pushed for a compensation there, but I probably would have called/emailed management after.

I think their offer wasn't appropriate if they knew it was a celebration cake (and since you'd asked them to write on it, they knew). But I also think it's strange your husband took that offer. I would have asked for a different, whole cake.

My dad is a restaurant manager and he often says that he hates when people just come in to complain without speaking up about how they'd like to correct the problem. People often have an idea in their heads about what they would like to make things right. He wishes people would just say that instead of having to guess and then having customers continue to be angry because they didn't receive the solution they had already predetermined in their minds.

In this case, you wanted a whole cake but never voiced that and are now upset that the restaurant didn't propose the solution you never told them you wanted.

@kiddosc: yeah, if they knew it was a birthday cake (did they?) offering half a cake is odd. But some people don't care - they've no way to know whether you do, so your husband should have said something. He could have bought a small cake in a different flavor, or a whole big one...

And was the order placed in advance? If it was, I'd expect some kind of discount. If it was a walk in order, I'd just get what's available and not expect a price cut. If I go shopping for chocolate chip cookies and the store only has muffins and cupcakes, I'll take one of these or go somewhere else, but I won't assume they owe me something for being out of cookies.

@annem1990: I totally agree I would be more annoyed at my husband! We don’t have Cheesecake Factory around here but with anything else, if I don’t order ahead I will have to accept they might not have what I want and I’ll have to choose something else unfortunately.

I understand your annoyance, but I would probably be MORE annoyed with DH for coming home with half a cake especially without calling or texting me to see if that was ok. He knows what it's for, the employee at CF may not have at that point, or have forgotten in the shuffle. I also completely agree with @kiddosc:, the workers are not mind readers, so if you have an ideal solution in mind I think it's your job as the customer to voice it and then good customer service from the restaurant would be to agree with it (as long as it's remotely reasonable obviously).

@hellocupcake: I'm skirting the customer service question issue, since you've already gotten lots of opinions on that!

But in the instance that you haven't served the cake already, can you perhaps find some way to plate it on a large serving dish with the pieces on their sides or something (like you'd stack cookies) that looks less "half eaten"? And present the birthday person with one slice, upright, on a plate with a candle to blow out?

Did they screw up an order you had placed in advance? Or were they just out of stock in the item that you wanted? I don’t think the latter is a big deal. The only thing that sounds annoying is the slow service.