How often have you had a meal out at a restaurant and had a disastrous experience?

Or had to wait over an hour for your meal (even though the waitress was really nice and chatty...). Comes the bill, and the staff asking you how everything was and - since you just want to go home you let him know that you had a "marvelous time". Truly, you are not doing them any favour (ok, you might be doing one to yourself as you don't want the chef to spit in your cream of pumpkin...).

I have often wondered if I should just make fake business cards, or even better register a business company credit card as "restaurantguides.com" and hand it to waiter when the bill comes... A few free gourmet meals would be great right now, as I am setting up my own business and need to save every little coin. Well, my dream has almost become reality. This afternoon, I stumbled upon www.mysterydining.co.uk where I registered as a volunteer mystery diner for the Brisbane area (I am in luck, they are currently recruiting a few stomachs on legs!). Mysterydining provides hospitality business owners with extensive intelligence on how their restaurant is performing on different factors. And, if I get accepted, I get to experience new restaurants for free!

It reminds me of a French movie called "l'aile ou la cuisse" (the wing of the thigh, literally) with one of my favourite actors, Louis de Funes...