Issue: Food never gets served to customers.
1) Cause #1: In the EA lot Shimuzu, there is a shelf above the lefthand chef station which prevents that station from serving food, therefore your sim (or your customers) may sit forever not getting served. EA replaced this lot on 6/10 with an fixed version. This is often the case in player-made venues as well; make sure nothing is blocking the chef station, even above the shelf on the wall. EA's fixed lot has the shelf moved higher, which appears to work fine. See ShadyLady_DQ's post on page 2 with pictures.
2) Missing applianaces: this may need playing with on your own lot, but it appears that certain recipes in the game were not programmed into the chef station - base game meals, specialty coffee from the espresso maker, certain ice cream from the ice cream maker, microwave meals, popcorn. You need the stuff/game packs these came with (obviously, or you won't even have those recipes as menu choices) and these items need to be in your restaurant for the food to be served. It can be on your menu but won't get served if the objects are not present. I have not played with these yet myself, but many simmers are confirming that their presence is required.
My original post:
This bug has been reported a few times here and there, but not much.
Possibly because, if I'm right, it's a specific table in a specific restaurant. *edit - thank you
@ShadyLady_DQ ! The issue is a shelf blocking a chef station in Shimuzu* Now, I have not tried every single table in every Maxis restaurant (there are 9 - 6 that are automatically in your library and 3 more from the trailers that are in the Gallery). I posted this in the EA bug thread
http://answers.ea.com/t5/The-Sims-4-Bug-Reports/Dine-Out-Food-Never-Comes/m-p/5386770/highlight/false#M25204:
So I was using the Japanese restaurant by Maxis - Shimuzu, not one of the ones automatically in your library, but in the Gallery (it's in the trailer). My sims, too, would sit for HOURS (I think the longest I waited was 8 sim hours) and never get served. A few other patrons did get served at first, but then the waiters just stood at the chef stations waiting for food, while the tickets piled up, and I never saw the chefs put a single tray up after that. I was not playing with mods on. But, to be safe, I removed my mods folder completely and tried again. Same thing. So I repaired game, then "reset" by renaming my folder and letting the game create a new one, started a new game and tried again. Different restaurant (one of the diners by Maxis found in your library) and everything worked fine. So I took this same couple to the Japanese place, sat in the same seat from my other game - same thing! No food! Had my guy go to another table and order, he got food. So I'm not sure if it's just that one seat (it was on the outdoor patio, the middle of the three 2-seat tables) or something else in that particular restaurant. While I am very glad to know I found the "bug" it's too bad that something's not right with this "premade" restaurant. I actually really like the Japanese place. When I have more time I may go into build mode and see what I can see, but since I'm so new to this type of venue I'm not sure I'll be able to see what the issue is. I mean, they requested the table and ordered food just fine, no problems. They could get a waiter to compliment or insult a chef. But they just never got food.
Anyway, try a different restaurant. It's too bad that if EA has flaws in their own builds it will taint players' first impressions! Kudos to EA! They have uploaded a fixed version of Shimuzu.
Comments
I had the same problem but with 2 restuarents I downloaded from the gallery not maxis ones. The maxis ones are working fine in my game.
I moved the waiter station to the little room and removed the fridge. I added a regular cabinet in the room and put the dishwasher there. I took a few of the island cabinets behind the chef away, they may have blocked the door too much.
Everything is working fine. All sims in the restaurant was served and my sims got served in 20 sim minutes.
My sim didn't like the appetizer. She will want to complain later.
@ST7_MTNMAN As blewis posted, the Japanese restaurant is Shimuzu. There are 2 other Maxis-made Gallery restaurants but I have not played those yet.
The weird thing is, I was able to get served at another table. Other patrons at other tables got served. I would not *think* then that the objects were out of place. The waiter could get to my table and back to the chef station. If there were problems with any of the necessary objects - chef station, hostess stand etc - I don't think any of the tables could get served. But who knows? In TS3 I knew almost every little tweak and detail for venues, but I'm still learning in TS4. There are 2 other tables on that outdoor patio, and the end one (furthest from door) has had patrons and been served. I don't remember anyone ever sitting in the one closest to the door the times I've been there. It will take some more gameplay for sure.
@blewis823 if you have time, will you test your renovated restaurant with the seat I used? It's the front patio, the middle table (there are 3 tables out there).
Origin ID: hannaaj22
For simmers who are having this issue, try having a shift where your sim doesn't recommend any dish and see if that helps the issue. Doing this has helped another simmer with the same issue.
http://forums.thesims.com/en_US/discussion/817478/hello-come-and-introduce-yourself
http://tinyurl.com/OneRoomOneWeek
http://tinyurl.com/rosemow
My Showcase thread https://forums.thesims.com/en_US/discussion/948861/rosemow-s-rooms-showcase
I mentioned having this problem in the Bugs and Issues thread but wanted to add it to this thread too in hopes that any gurus might notice this issue.
As @2011simone said above she fixed it by lowering the difficulty of the food on the menu. Does this fix apply to NPC owned restaurants or only your owned/played ones. I am having my issue at NPC restaurants when I take various families. I did try the Simuzu restaurant and they were never served there. I may have to try one of the lots that actually came with the pack and see if they are still waiting forever for their food!
The only NPC restaurant I have successfully had a meal at so far (only once) was the "flair" restaurant that was on the gallery under MaxisCreator. I forget the name but the menu was pretty simple diner food. That went really smoothly, whole family got their food fairly quickly and everything ran as it was suppose to.
Are we going to have to own the higher skill restaurants just to get the chef to a high enough level to cook the food on the menu? That seems crazy! I just want to take my sims to a romanic fancy restaurant and eat experimental foods, come on EA is it that hard?
Okay, I will try that seating next. Thanks for the suggestion. Also I might have to work on the the chef sims skills through a cheat.
This is not the issue. the issue in Shimuzu is a shelf blocking the chef station. See @ShadyLady_DQ 's post below!