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Cooking a nice dinner is hard so don't be too hard on yourself if the rice is a little gummy and the chicken is a little dry. That is, if you're not charging people money for it, of course. If you are, they expect quality. Or at the very least, to not have food poisoning.

To find out how to spot places that can't promise these things, a now-deleted user posted a question to Reddit, asking "Chefs, what red flags should people look out for when they go out to eat?" And they responded.

Continue scrolling and check out some of the most upvoted replies.

#1

30 Chefs Reveal Restaurant "Red Flags" That Indicate You Should Eat Somewhere Else If a restaurant has a HUGE menu...it's all frozen

utahjuzz , Brian Kelley Report

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Sum Guy
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2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Gordon Ramsey also taught me this... basically, Gordon Ramsey has taught me a lot

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#2

30 Chefs Reveal Restaurant "Red Flags" That Indicate You Should Eat Somewhere Else The first thing they told us in culinary school when you're learning food safety is: If you enter a seafood restaurant and smell fish, leave

XxcontaminatexX , Brian Fitzgerald Report

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Jihan Kim
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2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

fresh seafood don't smell. the smell is sign of seafood going bad

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Ozzie Ogawa
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

And/or they don't handle waste properly. The smell can come from not fresh seafood and guts (yes, sometimes the gut of freshly caught one still has smell as well)

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MiriPanda
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2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Because fresh fish is not supposed to smell. If it does smell, it has gone off already.

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Steve Barnett
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Fresh fish doesn't smell (maybe minimally by nature), fish that is starting to go off does. Top tip: when buying fish buy frozen not 'fresh'. Frozen fish is pretty much frozen from scratch, 'fresh' fish has probably been caught several days ago. Also, if you do buy 'fresh' check the eyes, 'fresh' fish eyes are shiny, old fish eyes are cloudy.

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Debra Trayler
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Fresh fish don't have a fishy smell, they just smell like sea water. If there's a a distinct 'fishy, offensive smell', that means the seafood is old, tainted, and best not to consume it.

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Eliza Schuyler
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2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

For anyone wondering, fish only begins to smell when it isn’t fresh

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Dónal Ó Murchadha
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

The bacteria that we smell on fish develops the moment they are caught and killed not when they begin to go off or isn't fresh. It's meat... flesh... it has a smell!

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TheGirlFromTheNorth
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Only fish that's gone bad smells like fish. Fish that's fresh dosn't smell at all, if it smells anything, it smells a bit like the sea...

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Leo Domitrix
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

If you can smell seatfood/fish, then it's already too late, is what my m om taught me.

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Yort
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Yeah, I don’t get this. I mean, aquariums with living fish smell like fish. All fish smells like fish. It shouldn’t smell like rotting fish right inside the door, but...

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Ivana
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

There was a seafood store that that opened in a mini-mall kind of deal. The smell was sooo bad and strong it traveled to all the other stores and they all went out of business. All I could think is, how is the seafood place still in business? They are selling "fresh fish" and it smells like the ocean died.

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StrawberryParfait
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Pro-tip from my Chinese bestie who cooks a lot of fish, which is a staple in most Chinese diets: dip the fish in vinegar prior to cooking. Then your house won't smell like fish after.

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Kissarrah
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

So all the seafood in the grocery store is already going bad?

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Ayrendal
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

People saying seafood shops & markets get guts & gore everywhere & “should” smell like fish - balderdash. If they can’t keep the shop/market clean enough to have it NOT smell like fish, I’m not walking in there, let alone eating anything from there. Yuk.

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Paul Beebe
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

So true. I am a life long fisherman. I know if you are actually clean, you should never know I am a fisherman if you come to my house. If I walk in a grocery store or restaurant and I can smell the stink of fish, I leave....

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Kenne Warren
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Now, if I could find a seafood restaurant where the food doesn't taste like fish.

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BorPand8
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Depends on where you live. If you're landlocked it's pretty much impossible. You could try going to Palau or someplace. (Highly recommend going to Palau before it gets messed up. Gorgeous place.)

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Sam Yobado
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I get this for a restaurant. They should know how to cook and prep the fish to cut the smell, also the fresher the less smell to start. Ocean fish will have a smell soon after being killed though, caused by trimethylamine oxide. It doesn't mean it's bad or unsafe, if it looks fresh it's typically fine.

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Dónal Ó Murchadha
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Just to clear things up.... fish smells of fish. Bad fish smells of bad fish. If you can't smell fish.... it's not on the menu.

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Jill Tremblay
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

This doesn't make sense to me. When you cook fish it makes your whole house smell fishy, so how could a restaurant NOT smell fishy?

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royal_antelope
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

i disagree. fish smells. even if it just got out of the ocean, there is some smell to it, it is never neutral.

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Nicholas Kindel
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Same thing in a public pool... We'll not the fish smell.. if you smell fish at a public pool,,Leave? I think.. anyhow, a chemical engineer once told me that if you smell chlorine at a public pool don't swim in that pool. The reason is that if not enough chlorine is used in the water the chlorine will bind chemically with fecal matter and rise from the pool. If they use the proper amount you won't smell it.. he also used to remind us technicians that if you smell a fart, you are smelling micro fecal matter. Good stuff.

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Dawson James
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Well there is a very very fresh fish smell but it's not the really bad fish smell we all know. Its actually really good. It also mostly comes from shellfish and not fish though so keep that in mind.

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K.Kobayashi
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Seafood is the only thing that's considered bad when it smells like what it is.

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Fabio Ribeiro
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

As someone that was born and raised near Sea: dafuq are y'all talking about in USA?! Does none of your fish "smell" at all? You tell me a boat that just arrived, or when I fish , it shouldnt smell like fish? xD Goes to say that most of you are actually not eating fish......

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Lawrence Ku
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Nahhh, Just means if they gut the fish on the boat then the innards and blood on the floor or drainage are going bad. Seafood restaurants that serve fresh seafood do not smell like fish because the fresh seafood are all alive up until minutes before they are prepared. No smell of decay/decomposition.

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Donkey boi
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

First thing they taught me a culinary school is personal and food hygiene, followed by knife skills, followed by 'front of house' basics and then it was identifying foods and freshness.

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Annabelle LEE
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2 years ago

This comment has been deleted.

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XxcontaminatexX is one of the people who replied to the post. "I've only been a cook for [about] seven years now," the humble Reddit user told Bored Panda.

"From what I've seen during this time, restaurants should pick up the slack when it comes to product dates."

In fact, that's exactly the red flag XxcontaminatexX mentioned in their initial comment. "The first thing they told us in culinary school when you're learning food safety is: if you enter a seafood restaurant and smell fish, leave."

#3

30 Chefs Reveal Restaurant "Red Flags" That Indicate You Should Eat Somewhere Else When the menus are super dirty and never cleaned, that means everything is super dirty and never cleaned

SoMuchBsHere , Yourhero88 Report

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JessG
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2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Not always true. I worked for this menu's restaurant and the cleaning procedures were very fastidious and strict, however, admittedly the menus aren't always checked by management, or the menus are running low so the old ones need to be used

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#4

30 Chefs Reveal Restaurant "Red Flags" That Indicate You Should Eat Somewhere Else In culinary school, every single chef instructor says the same thing: If it's misspelled on the menu, that's on purpose. It's so they don't have to sell you the real thing. A prime example is 'krab cakes'

splinkyyy , NoScratch Report

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To save their supplies from the bin, restaurants may freeze them. And this isn't necessarily a red flag! Contrary to popular belief, not all frozen foods are bad for you, and many frozen ingredients can be a key part of a healthy meal.

The act of freezing doesn't make food healthy or unhealthy—a lot depends on the nutritional content of the food that gets frozen. Frozen fruits and vegetables, for example, can be just as nutrient-dense as their fresh counterparts

Edward Meier, a former Chef in Resorts at Myrtle Beach and Mackinac Island, said restaurants might freeze their food for other reasons too. "By freezing food you can cook it in quantities large enough to keep the cost per portion reasonable," Meier explained. "Cooking in large quantities then portioning and freezing it, you can hold it ready for service, cutting prep time to the minimum needed to reheat it."

#5

30 Chefs Reveal Restaurant "Red Flags" That Indicate You Should Eat Somewhere Else If a restaurant has a one-page menu, that's usually a pretty good sign. It means their line cooks have become specialists and can usually nail all the dishes listed. Conversely, if a restaurant has a giant, multi-page menu, that's a gigantic red flag

fancyfrenchtoilet , Nacho Facello Report

#6

30 Chefs Reveal Restaurant "Red Flags" That Indicate You Should Eat Somewhere Else We have a sushi place me where the chef gives you free samples of future dishes. This usually means they take pride in their work and want to see peoples reactions before committing it to the menu.

[deleted] , Thomas Marban Report

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Pungent Sauce
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2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Developing a relationship with a particular sushi restaurant/chef will get you all kinds of tasty morsels.

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Meier said that most restaurants try to cook from scratch at time of service whenever possible. But some foods take much more time to prepare for service. "For example, you go to an Italian restaurant with a friend who orders pasta primavera while you want lasagna. The pasta dish can be assembled and served relatively quickly but making one serving of lasagna from scratch would take much longer and cost per unit would be high. Whether you make the pasta order wait on the lasagna to go out together or serve the pasta and make the lasagna eater wait on service so they are forced to watch the other customer eat while they wait, you are not going to have happy customers."

#7

30 Chefs Reveal Restaurant "Red Flags" That Indicate You Should Eat Somewhere Else 'Catch of the day' restaurants better have a lake or an ocean within a 50-mile radius. If they are advertising fresh-caught Alaskan salmon and you aren't in Alaska, chances are that [thing] is not fresh

ComedyCookingFitness , Paul Einerhand Report

#8

30 Chefs Reveal Restaurant "Red Flags" That Indicate You Should Eat Somewhere Else If the area is busy but the restaurant is empty, that’s usually a bad sign.

AAiBee , Chris Report

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"By making lasagna in large quantities then portioning and freezing it, the loss in flavor is minimal but being able to heat it up while the pasta dish is cooked fresh means both orders can go out at the same time," the former chef said. "This way the customers eat as soon as possible, making them happy and turning the table over quicker so you can serve more people sooner. Win win. It also means the cost of making the lasagna is cost effective meaning you can charge less but still have a profit margin high enough to justify offering it on the menu."

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I guess, the important thing to remember when looking out for red flags in restaurants is you have to be mindful. Serious issues aside, use your best judgement and if you're unsure about something, you can always ask the staff about it.

#9

30 Chefs Reveal Restaurant "Red Flags" That Indicate You Should Eat Somewhere Else I always look for how the staff interact with each other. If they all seem to enjoy being there, and coordinate well, more often than not it's because everything is running smoothly and they have a good system, which usually means they know what they're doing and you can expect good food

ruizpancho , Michael Davies Report

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Scagsy
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2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Plus, anywhere that treats their staff badly don't deserve your business.

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#10

30 Chefs Reveal Restaurant "Red Flags" That Indicate You Should Eat Somewhere Else No matter how well managed a buffet is, it can never be sanitary. It is not reasonably possible to run a sanitary buffet business

contrabardus , Alan Light Report

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Person2638
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

this is probably the only advice i will ignore, as long as it *looks* sanitary i will continue living in blissful ignorance and shoveling my face with mountains of cheap tasty food

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#11

30 Chefs Reveal Restaurant "Red Flags" That Indicate You Should Eat Somewhere Else This is late but I clean kitchen exhaust systems. If you walk in a restaurant and can smell grease walk out. That means the place isn’t clean. From the exhaust system to cooking equipment.

We clean some places where grease drips off the hoods onto cooking surfaces.

FoxZach63 , Sean MacEntee Report

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#12

30 Chefs Reveal Restaurant "Red Flags" That Indicate You Should Eat Somewhere Else If employees try to argue with you about food quality in order to dissuade you from sending something under cooked back, just leave. It means they have a cook who can't take criticism and your chances at getting a sneezer are greatly increased.

A_pencil_artist , ITTO Tech Report

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Foxxy (The Original)
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2 years ago (edited) DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I had a terrible experience at one restaurant. I ordered a chicken schnitty with gravy, which is what I order from most restaurants so I am pretty familiar with how it should taste. Anyway I had a few bites and all I could taste was fish. My mum mentioned something to the waitress who then proceeded to speak to the chef. The chef stormed out and rudely spoke to us demanding what the issue was, accusing me of lying and said it was impossible for it to taste like fish and I have obviously never had a chicken schnitty before. He argued with my mum for a good 5 mins. He refused to make a new one or refund my money and went back to the kitchen thinking it was all over. Well my mum stormed into the kitchen and wouldn't leave until we got a refund for my meal. My mum also emailed corporate of our experience and turns out that chef had a few complaints and the restaurant closed a couple of months later.

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#13

30 Chefs Reveal Restaurant "Red Flags" That Indicate You Should Eat Somewhere Else Ask where your oysters come from. If they don’t know, you don’t want them. Same for most seafood.

heroesforsale , Jonathan Pearson Report

#14

30 Chefs Reveal Restaurant "Red Flags" That Indicate You Should Eat Somewhere Else When my boss (the owner) used to host and people would complain to her about the hour wait on Saturday night at 7pm and then threaten to leave, she would tell them, "If the restaurant you choose does not have a wait on a Saturday night, you may not want to eat there." And then turn her biggest sh*t-eating grin on them

newgrl , K8 Report

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Ozacoter
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

An hour wait as in waiting for the food to be prepared or waiting to be seated?

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#15

30 Chefs Reveal Restaurant "Red Flags" That Indicate You Should Eat Somewhere Else Watch the wait staff. If the majority of them seem disgruntled or upset, things probably aren't great. They probably don't care about your food if they aren't being treated fairly.

CrossFox42 , zoetnet Report

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mulk
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Same with restaurant's staff turnover. One of my favourite near the place I live, has the nearly the same staff members for 20 years!!!

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#16

30 Chefs Reveal Restaurant "Red Flags" That Indicate You Should Eat Somewhere Else Pastry chef here. As much as people say avoid specials, I can't speak for everyone but at least in desserts/breakfast pastries, if you see something new its worth trying. Chances are it's something the chef has been working on for weeks on their own time, there's a lot of love and effort put into it.

Also, the standby if the menu is a book, it's probably not great.

The biggest thing to keep an eye on though imo is the staff. If there's pissed off people, get out as fast as you can obviously. If everyone is kinda apathetic and not talking to each other much, get out. That's also a shitty environment, everyone is probably really passive aggressive, and that's going to show. If people seem genuinely good with being there even if it's busy or if there's playful ragging going on, that's where you want to be. The better the staff gets along, the better everthing in the place runs.

robotran , Louis Hansel Report

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Pungent Sauce
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Best post here yet. I loved making the special of the day, and would often base it on what I wanted to have for dinner (not that I ever made an actual full meal for myself, lol).

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#17

30 Chefs Reveal Restaurant "Red Flags" That Indicate You Should Eat Somewhere Else Pro tip: Look up the health inspector reports for your county.

homeboi808 , Austin Distel Report

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Brandy Grote
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

We have the recent code posted on a placard in the window. Generally, an A is what you need. For authentic Chinese, you will rarely find better than a B, because of the way they age foods like duck. For other places, a lower rate could mean visible insects, or water that isn't hot enough to sanitize dishes.

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#18

30 Chefs Reveal Restaurant "Red Flags" That Indicate You Should Eat Somewhere Else Most often, lemons for water are really gross and dirty

randyjacksonsarmpits , Doug Beckers Report

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Id row
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I worked as a bartender in several establishments and restaurants for 9 years and dispute this. I've never even seen a 'gross and dirty' lemon and if I had, I would have thrown it out.

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#19

30 Chefs Reveal Restaurant "Red Flags" That Indicate You Should Eat Somewhere Else Used to work in a fancy kitchen. Any place that is charging more than $25 for a chicken entree is a goddamn scam.

Zuchm0 , Tony Alter Report

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Pungent Sauce
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

But it’s hyper local farm to table organic free range cruelty free no-antibiotic vegetarian fed chicken that lived a long and happy life and it’s name was Betsy.

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#20

Easy way to tell if Mexican food will be good. If the salsa is bad, then the food is likely bad.

Mexican places that take pride in their salsa take the same pride in their food. If you get the watery, tomato sauce with chips then more than likely the food will be uninspiring.

aquinasbot Report

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JP Doyle
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2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

The best Mexican restaurants I've been to have all had these things in common: Quite a few of the staff spoke Spanish or were of Mexican descent. The salsa was not only delicious, but they served it as a free side along with a basket of homemade tortillas. They were very patient to explain the menu items (usually with Spanish names) since their cuisine isn't commonly found north of the border (and explain why they don't sell chili or wet burritos.)

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#21

30 Chefs Reveal Restaurant "Red Flags" That Indicate You Should Eat Somewhere Else If you order a meal that should take a long time to cook and it comes out very quickly, it’s been pre-cooked

marahsnai , gurmit singh Report

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troufaki13
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2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Greek cuisine can be pre-cooked and it's ok. Like mousaka, pastitsio, fasolada

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#22

30 Chefs Reveal Restaurant "Red Flags" That Indicate You Should Eat Somewhere Else I have a family member who’s worked in multiple different restaurants, and they always advise me never to get drinks with ice because too many places don’t keep their ice machines cleaned because it’s so often overlooked compared to other kitchen equipment

AllyMarie93 , Beatrice Murch Report

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Jo Morris
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

A good tip when travelling overseas to countries with unreliable water sources (not that anyone is doing that lately, but still helpful to know).

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#23

30 Chefs Reveal Restaurant "Red Flags" That Indicate You Should Eat Somewhere Else Don’t order fish on Sundays. Most places get their fish deliveries on a Monday and on a Thursday. Fish goes off fairly quickly, and on a Sunday it’s really not great

thefabulousbomb , Andriyko Podilnyk Report

#24

30 Chefs Reveal Restaurant "Red Flags" That Indicate You Should Eat Somewhere Else Never order the bouillabaisse/cioppino/seafood stew if it's being run as a special. That means the chef has a lot of old seafood to get rid of and is putting it all in a flavorful broth to hide the taste

nihongojoe , Jason Leung Report

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Karl Baxter
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

One particular kitchen I worked in had a maxim when it came to deciding what to do with meat that had been hanging around a while - “If in doubt, curry it” 😳

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#25

I recently went to a new-ish barbecue place.

I knew the moment I opened the menu it was going to be awful.

The place had at least 120 things on the menu that run the gamut from burgers to Lobster Thermidor. When you see that, you know it's going to be terrible. It means they're trying to do everything rather than focusing on a smaller range of things and doing it very well.

As I suspected, it was terrible.

TheGonz75 Report

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Oskar vanZandt
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

If it's not one of those all-nationalities-in-one restaurant where they cook the food at specialised preparation areas, it is likely the food will be sub-par... The whole notion of "specialising" is that you focus on one quisine. I don't expect to get Italian food at an Asian (in the UK, Indian/Pakistani) restaurant...

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#26

30 Chefs Reveal Restaurant "Red Flags" That Indicate You Should Eat Somewhere Else How does the place actually smell? Does it smell like good food? Then it likely is. But if it smells like perfume or something sterile? That could be a sign that they are trying to hide something unpleasant

CrossFox42 , DanaTentis Report

#27

30 Chefs Reveal Restaurant "Red Flags" That Indicate You Should Eat Somewhere Else Seeing fruit flies. Fruit flies are an indication of a dirty kitchen

bucklepuss , John Tann Report

#28

30 Chefs Reveal Restaurant "Red Flags" That Indicate You Should Eat Somewhere Else Stay away from buffets and salad bars. A lot of the time it is the same stuff that just gets refilled over and over. Super gross.

hugsfrombugs , Alpha Report

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Philly Bob Squires
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

My buffet nightmare isn't just the food... it's the people. I went to place once and went in to wash my hands before eating. There was this dude taking a dump in one of the stalls. Gets up, doesn't flush, never washed his hands either, and walks straight out and to the buffet and picks up the tongs. I noped out of there.

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#29

30 Chefs Reveal Restaurant "Red Flags" That Indicate You Should Eat Somewhere Else When there are pictures of food on the menu that clearly aren't from the restaurant

PanicAtTheMetro , Janine Report

#30

30 Chefs Reveal Restaurant "Red Flags" That Indicate You Should Eat Somewhere Else A $4 steak is not a good steak.

InuMiroLover , José Ignacio Pompé Report

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