I'm a restaurant manager and in my experience when tables walk out, 99% of the time it was because their server never greeted them or acknowledged them. Nobody wants to sit around and be ignored, especially when their hungry. My restaurant has a two strike policy for servers before they are terminated for this happening.

As for myself, the only time I've walked out of a restaurant as a customer was for this exact reason. We got our drinks, then waited. And waited. And waited. After about twenty minutes we got up and went elsewhere.

I suffered through some nasty situations and stayed because I thought courtesy demanded that I do so. Now that I'm old and cranky, I would walk out and leave those people behind.

Something didn't happen in a restaurant that made me walk out. Couldn't get any service.

Being ignored as many others have mentioned. And I'll add another type of business to the list (making it 2, LOL!). A couple of weeks ago my ex and I had to get a car for our daughter. Mom communicated with the "Internet sales manager" of some dealer group, confirmed there was a particular car we were interested in and made an appointment.

We show up for the appointment and are greeted by a regular salesperson in the lot, ex tells him we have an appt. He asks what car, she tells him. He walks us inside. He disappears. A short time later the "sales manager" comes over and tells us that the car we're interested in is actually not available and was listed by mistake. It was involved in an accident and is a total loss (completely in conflict with the info advertised about the car). So now we feel misled. He immediately offered to show us other cars. This is a classic bait & switch tactic that is completely dishonest. We told him we felt misled and we walked.

No, but I remember a time I wanted to walk out. I took a woman to dinner once and we had a table for two. She decided to shake up the ketchup and the lid came off while she was shaking. This was before the days of paint ball.

I used to be a chef, so I know all of the problems that can happen, and believe me a lot can go wrong.

One of the most common is when the kitchen gets slammed. That is usually caused by the hostess seating every one at once and the servers scramble to take everyones order. and the kitchen gets every order at once, which makes prepairing every thing takes a little while, so some that are waiting for their order will have to wait a while, which sucks.

Another is having a special dish or two. As a chef you can only guess how many might be served, you don't want to buy too much of an item be it fish, or seafood, or anything else that doesn't have a long shelf life, so if you don't sell them you are kind of screwed. at the same time you don't want to get too little so you don't run out.
I've had the latter happen many times, and I know how frustrating it can be to a customer that ordered the spacial, only to have the server come back after a while and say, sorry we are all out of that dish.

But to answer your question.
Yes I have. But only a few times, and it's never just one thing.
It's usually a mix of a terrible server, Bad food, ( I don't mean not a good recipie, I mean Food that has gone bad), but they serve it any way. Over or under cooked food.

It hasn't happened often, but, yes I have.

someone tried to serve me a steak that wasnt pink in the middle.

1. When out with my dad, we might walk out if he thought the prices were too high.
2. Waiting too long to be waited on.
3. Noticing a sign that reads "We reserve the right to refuse service to anyone", which is a bit of a throw back to when restaurants opposed serving people of color after ti became illegal to refuse them service (in U.S.). If I see such a sign today, I will go elsewhere.

Fortunately, we were already on our way out when I noticed a mouse break dancing maybe 2 feet from the hostess station. I pointed it out to them, but got an indifferent shrug in response. Suspect that the mouse may have ingested poison. Haven't been back in over a year.

Two things.

1. A roach crawled across the table, over our utensils and everything.

2. An ethnic group of people got VERY hostile when a waiter stopped by the hostess stand and asked if he could help a lady who had just come in the door (several people were seated on a bench, waiting for the hostess who had yet to show). They screamed accusations of racism. The situation felt dangerous. We skedaddled.

I walked into a McDonald's near Government Camp exit off I-84. Went to the restroom first to wash my hands. As I was walking out one of the cooks walked out also after leaving a stall. He didn't wash his hands and I watched as he walked right back to cooking burgers without stopping anywhere to wash his hands. I caused a stir and walked out.

Yes, I walked out of a restaurant in Christchurch New Zealand because they showed us our table, handed us our menus then ignored us for 30 minutes (despite serving tables around us). I wonder how long it was before they noticed we were gone.

Anyway I notice they went out of business a long time ago. Fancy that?

Not really. I walked out of an Indian restaurant when I realized that not one meal on the menu included any greens.

A lady making a cheese sandwich and licking her fingers to get the cheese unstuck...
Never been back..

Sure. After 30 minutes of waiting to be served in a half full restaurant.

Several times, Once watched a cook wipe her nose then handle my food. But usually I leave for bad service.

Bad bad service. Totally ignored for over an hour and had to be somewhere afterwards.

This week I was in a restaurant with friends. I finished my meal and was tired of sitting. That caused me to pay my bill and walk out.

Yes

Great topic! I feel like I probably have but honestly don't remember... I know I have gotten p'd, then didn't go back, but I'm the kind of person to give everyone a chance, one chance, lol ?

I found pubes in my drink at an ihop

Yes, a few times. When the service was at a snails pace and one time when me and my family went and we had an argument. We all left one by one.

I have only once. The place smelled like arse, and 20 minutes later we were asked to place our order. I have been in places (not in Murka) where people frying the bread were standing barefoot on the stovetop and I had no problem. Poor service is what leaves a bad taste in my mouth.

During this past winter I went to a restaurant for breakfast. It was seat yourself, I took an empty table where I thought I'd be warm enough with the door opening. One of the waitresses took my order and brought my drink, then another waitress "suggested" I move to a smaller table as they had a bigger party come in. Problem was the new table was out of the line of sight and cold. After waiting for my food for a long time, my waitress finally saw me and said she thought I had left and canceled my order. I was hugely torked and walked out.