7 Times You Should And 5 Times You Shouldn’t Send Your Food Back

There is no such thing as rare chicken, and nobody — seriously, nobody — should be eating undercooked poultry unless they want to have a very bad time. According to Insider, it can put you at risk for life-threatening bacteria like campylobacter and salmonella, but there’s actually a whole bunch of foods you should never eat raw. For this reason, YouGov found that a whopping 82 percent of adults in the U.S. would send back undercooked food, but just 43 pervent of them would send back something that’s overcooked.

Nonetheless, unless you’re in the small minority of people who like your food extra crispy, it’s still okay to send back food that’s burnt — not charred when it’s supposed to be charred, but burnt. Per one server on Reddit, who claims to have several years of restaurant experience, the chef will make your meal again if it was cooked incorrectly the first time around.

Unfortunately, sometimes the idea of “cooked incorrectly” is in the eye of the beholder. In this case, it’s still okay to inquire. The server will clear it up for you. “Sometimes it’s the customer’s misunderstanding of the preparation standards for the food,” Tanya Holland, the chef and owner of Bay Area restaurant Brown Sugar Kitchen, told Eater. “A lot of people think chicken that’s been brined and is really moist inside [is still raw] and we have to explain it’s cooked to the proper temperature, for instance.”