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.
This post may include affiliate links.
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 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."
When the menus are super dirty and never cleaned, that means everything is super dirty and never cleaned
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'
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."
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
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.
Developing a relationship with a particular sushi restaurant/chef will get you all kinds of tasty morsels.
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."
'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
If the area is busy but the restaurant is empty, that’s usually a bad sign.
"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."
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.
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
No matter how well managed a buffet is, it can never be sanitary. It is not reasonably possible to run a sanitary buffet business
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
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.
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.
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.
Ask where your oysters come from. If they don’t know, you don’t want them. Same for most seafood.
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
An hour wait as in waiting for the food to be prepared or waiting to be seated?
Something is not right when you think it's normal to wait for an hour to be seated... 🤷🏼♀️ Fortunately in my country that's not normal, unless you go to a very popular/exclusive/expensive place that only tourist go to.. ahah and I just noticed the time! 7pm here and all restaurants are very very empty.. only by 9 pm we could find some lines to sit 😂
Once a restaurant made us wait for exactly three hours when I was 7 but we didn't leave because we already paid. I remember the whole wait but not the food :')
We don't wait - because we won't go anywhere without a reservation. However....if you have a reservation and they make you wait for more than 15 minutes, LEAVE. It means the kitchen is in the weeds and even if you do sit down, you aren't getting your food any time soon.
Nope. She's a bitch. The wait is about the sizzle, NOT the steak. Her 15 minutes of popularity will be over in 15 minutes. Be smart and find a classic place with great food and no bitch BS in the front.
well you might not want to wait an hour if you're starved or have children with you too. Plenty of restaurants that don't have an hour wait and are good
Fair, but I would stay put and wait the hour. Driving around trying to find a place on a Saturday night with a short wait time will eat up that hour and more you would’ve waited if you just stayed.
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I don't care how good the food is, I am not waiting an hour just to eat a meal.
So go spend an hour driving around, finding parking, dashing in to ask about the wait, jump back in your car, go to different place, find parking, run inside, ask about the wait, repeat for next 45 minutes and then give up and go to McDonald’s. You do you, lol.
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The acceptable time between ordering and meal arriving should be no more than 40 minutes.
“Hi I know it’s Saturday and we didn’t make a reservation, but we have 7 people and really want to try you out! Do you think you will be busy at 8:30? Think we could get a table?” The restraint it takes a host on these calls should be commended.
I don't want it so busy I have to wait an hour, though. It also can mean nobody is working or they phucked your food up. It just depends what kind of establishment you're in. High end French restaurant: yes. Red Robin: if it is jam packed. But I wouldn't stay if I saw it was that busy. Ihop: nope.
You listed three completely different tiers of restaurants; different service, different price points, different product and different salaries as well. To imply that someone cooking your one minute eggs is going to be more careless than the person cooking your duck confit shows how little pay has to do with ones character. Your whole comment reeks of smugness and classism.
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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.
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.
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).
Pro tip: Look up the health inspector reports for your county.
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.
Used to work in a fancy kitchen. Any place that is charging more than $25 for a chicken entree is a goddamn scam.
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.
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.
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.)
If you order a meal that should take a long time to cook and it comes out very quickly, it’s been pre-cooked
Greek cuisine can be pre-cooked and it's ok. Like mousaka, pastitsio, fasolada
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
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
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
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” 😳
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.
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...
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
Seeing fruit flies. Fruit flies are an indication of a dirty kitchen
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.
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.
When there are pictures of food on the menu that clearly aren't from the restaurant
A $4 steak is not a good steak.
Note: this post originally had 46 images. It’s been shortened to the top 30 images based on user votes.
some advice is good but when i'm eating out i'm obviously not expecting a perfect level of cleanliness and as long as the food doesn't kill or make me sick i'm okay
Agreed, basics like does it smell weird, are the menus visibly dirty, does it have a recent certificate of cleanliness are quickly done.
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How much time do they think we have on our hands to do an investigatory piece on every place we may potentially eat.
It’s just a few things here and there that you have to look out for. It’s always good to be mindful of what you put in your body.
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I mean this stuff isn't always true. I once went to a small Japanese restaurant with a HUGE menu, dirty, interior, and teenage waiters/waitresses. But, the food was super fresh and was the best sushi I've ever eaten.
But it all comes from the same family of food. It's not like it was q huge menu of variety. But dirty? No thanks
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I no longer eat out, mainly for a variety of reasons, some of which are mentioned here. I like cooking and prefer to eat at home. I have horror stories of eating in restaurants, but the main one was eating in a restaurant, where there was this constant dripping of water splashing down behind me. Turned out it was from the men’s urinals that were located above me.
Used to be married to a guy who treated everything like this. He was quite the snob. I also rarely eat out anymore.
mostly all good tips, but things you might not discover until you've already decided to eat there -- when it's too late
I used to work in a country club restaurant and I can confirm that a lot of things are done behind closed doors that would make you cringe. The best piece of advice I can offer is be nice to your server otherwise you have no idea what might be happening to your food. I once complained to management about a guy who threw a customers food on the floor on purpose and then picked it back up to cook because he didn’t like him. These things happen and often times don’t go reported. Not everyone works with integrity
Ask people of the same ethnicity where THEY eat. Found the best Thai, Indian, Mexican and Carib-Cuban that way. :-)
It's worked for me, so far, in the US. Ask where they eat ----- what's most real ----- and most will tell you, even if they themsleves prefer the "crap on toast" option for price.
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To me a lot of these would appear to be very American problems. Nothing wrong with a buffet in my country, just saying.
Most buffets here are fine too. Not sure why this article is hating on them so much. They're an awesome deal too for how much food you get.
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Damn! Here in India we got great restaurants (we try many newbtypes ofc with reviews) the places with less rush taste good and also with most rush too! Only some places (rarely) taste awful. I went to travel to a hill side recently and on day one we went to a street restauraunt. I had a really bad reputation with the look of the shop (and more angry as it was a veg one I was craving non veg)...BUT DAMN! The food was YUMMY as hell
In the UK, everywhere that serves food has a hygiene rating posted in the window, which is given by the health inspector. They are dated so you know they're recent.
In Wales it's compulsory for restaurants, cafes and takeaways to display their rating. If they have a "1" it's best to stay away. "5" or even a "4" and they're okay. They're regularly inspected and have to pass on cleanliness, cooking standards, paperwork up to date etc. The rating notice has to be prominently displayed on the window by the door so customers can easily see it.
We have exactly that in the U.S., the rating system is just different - it’s either letter grades or basically levels of smiley faces.
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I went to a burger place once... got a cheeseburger. It was a total hole-in-the-wall. I bit into the burger and it was raw in the middle. Not rare. RAW.
You could win a lawsuit with that. I mean, at least in America, if the place isn't a rich franchise.
Load More Replies... Sorry, second comment. I think that the crux of the matter is that eating out is, to many, an easy option; no cooking, washing up etc. However, it (literally) will come at a certain price (mainly financially). I've already mentioned one bad example of eating at a restaurant, the other big one was getting gastroenteritis from eating a burger at McDonalds; wow, that was one very unpleasant week.
Rather than being so highly cautious its better for you to learn to cook delicious dishes. In that case your girlfriend or boyfriend or any other guest will be extremely impressed , specially if cooking is not your profession. How many agrees with me?
When 3verything is drowning in sauce or dressing. I'm paying for a meal not 6 litres of dressing. I don't mean to b*tch but French cuisine does this all the time. Anywhere that is for rhe location or status, not the food. If I'm a tourist I usually get a coffee there to enjoy the view and leave. The food is just bland rehashed stuff. This is not a critical but millions of places replate desserts. Especially if they're not a pastry place they do not specialise in dessert so it's not unusual. If you go to a fish place don't expect a specialty dessert
I currently work on the local college campus in one of the dining halls. The food is average not terrible but definitely not 5-star.
Traveled in China. Hungry. Back street of a food area. Restaurant has a sign that says “Beijing Deck”. Went in because we thought it was a funny typo. There was plastic covers on the table, if you’d put your hands on it, you could have lifted the whole table. Chef comes out, dirty apron (aprons are to catch dirt), holding a duck. We all nod, yes please. Best Beijing duck I’ve ever hand!!! After dinner my friend noticed a sink in the restaurant and asked for soap to wash her hands. Chef rumbled in the kitchen, came back, went across the street to buy soap for us to use. 100% would go again 🤤
They don't even have soap in hospitals in China. You risk your life visiting there from a clean country.
Load More Replies... Lots of generalization going on here. I wouldn't take this post too seriously.
I always ask my server what *their* favourite menu item is as well as what's most popular. Never fails - either way. Also, if you're looking for a restaurant with a culturally specific menu, look for the one that is most jam-packed with people of that culture. For example, if you want the best Phò around, go to the place all the Vietnamese go to rather than the place across the street with the one couple raving about how amazing the cinnamon is in the broth. Logic, people...logic.
I once went to a Starbucks in a Target. I'm not even joking. The pastry/sandwich case probably had about 20-30 good-size flies crawling on the food and flying around inside. It was so gross. Luckily, I was ordering a frappe. LOLP.
One they didn't seem to mention is if the cooks wore gloves when preparing the food after it was baked/cooked. It doesn't matter if they washed their hands, it is impossible to know everything you touched between then and when you touched the food. They could've had their index finger brush against a table with raw chicken.
I rarely dine out, but when I do, I read up on the place first if it's new to me. In the UK there are also hygiene rating stickers that a restaurant/takeaway place can display: they usually do if they rate "good" or "excellent"...
I think most restaurants are cleaner than my kitchen, why am I going to expect a white glove cleanliness, germaphobes have taken over our country and are leading it like a zombie horde. Settle down we have an immune system. We are the decendents of warriors we shame are ancestors with our shadow fears.
some advice is good but when i'm eating out i'm obviously not expecting a perfect level of cleanliness and as long as the food doesn't kill or make me sick i'm okay
Agreed, basics like does it smell weird, are the menus visibly dirty, does it have a recent certificate of cleanliness are quickly done.
Load More Replies... How much time do they think we have on our hands to do an investigatory piece on every place we may potentially eat.
It’s just a few things here and there that you have to look out for. It’s always good to be mindful of what you put in your body.
Load More Replies... I mean this stuff isn't always true. I once went to a small Japanese restaurant with a HUGE menu, dirty, interior, and teenage waiters/waitresses. But, the food was super fresh and was the best sushi I've ever eaten.
But it all comes from the same family of food. It's not like it was q huge menu of variety. But dirty? No thanks
Load More Replies... I no longer eat out, mainly for a variety of reasons, some of which are mentioned here. I like cooking and prefer to eat at home. I have horror stories of eating in restaurants, but the main one was eating in a restaurant, where there was this constant dripping of water splashing down behind me. Turned out it was from the men’s urinals that were located above me.
Used to be married to a guy who treated everything like this. He was quite the snob. I also rarely eat out anymore.
mostly all good tips, but things you might not discover until you've already decided to eat there -- when it's too late
I used to work in a country club restaurant and I can confirm that a lot of things are done behind closed doors that would make you cringe. The best piece of advice I can offer is be nice to your server otherwise you have no idea what might be happening to your food. I once complained to management about a guy who threw a customers food on the floor on purpose and then picked it back up to cook because he didn’t like him. These things happen and often times don’t go reported. Not everyone works with integrity
Ask people of the same ethnicity where THEY eat. Found the best Thai, Indian, Mexican and Carib-Cuban that way. :-)
It's worked for me, so far, in the US. Ask where they eat ----- what's most real ----- and most will tell you, even if they themsleves prefer the "crap on toast" option for price.
Load More Replies... To me a lot of these would appear to be very American problems. Nothing wrong with a buffet in my country, just saying.
Most buffets here are fine too. Not sure why this article is hating on them so much. They're an awesome deal too for how much food you get.
Load More Replies... Damn! Here in India we got great restaurants (we try many newbtypes ofc with reviews) the places with less rush taste good and also with most rush too! Only some places (rarely) taste awful. I went to travel to a hill side recently and on day one we went to a street restauraunt. I had a really bad reputation with the look of the shop (and more angry as it was a veg one I was craving non veg)...BUT DAMN! The food was YUMMY as hell
In the UK, everywhere that serves food has a hygiene rating posted in the window, which is given by the health inspector. They are dated so you know they're recent.
In Wales it's compulsory for restaurants, cafes and takeaways to display their rating. If they have a "1" it's best to stay away. "5" or even a "4" and they're okay. They're regularly inspected and have to pass on cleanliness, cooking standards, paperwork up to date etc. The rating notice has to be prominently displayed on the window by the door so customers can easily see it.
We have exactly that in the U.S., the rating system is just different - it’s either letter grades or basically levels of smiley faces.
Load More Replies... I went to a burger place once... got a cheeseburger. It was a total hole-in-the-wall. I bit into the burger and it was raw in the middle. Not rare. RAW.
You could win a lawsuit with that. I mean, at least in America, if the place isn't a rich franchise.
Load More Replies... Sorry, second comment. I think that the crux of the matter is that eating out is, to many, an easy option; no cooking, washing up etc. However, it (literally) will come at a certain price (mainly financially). I've already mentioned one bad example of eating at a restaurant, the other big one was getting gastroenteritis from eating a burger at McDonalds; wow, that was one very unpleasant week.
Rather than being so highly cautious its better for you to learn to cook delicious dishes. In that case your girlfriend or boyfriend or any other guest will be extremely impressed , specially if cooking is not your profession. How many agrees with me?
When 3verything is drowning in sauce or dressing. I'm paying for a meal not 6 litres of dressing. I don't mean to b*tch but French cuisine does this all the time. Anywhere that is for rhe location or status, not the food. If I'm a tourist I usually get a coffee there to enjoy the view and leave. The food is just bland rehashed stuff. This is not a critical but millions of places replate desserts. Especially if they're not a pastry place they do not specialise in dessert so it's not unusual. If you go to a fish place don't expect a specialty dessert
I currently work on the local college campus in one of the dining halls. The food is average not terrible but definitely not 5-star.
Traveled in China. Hungry. Back street of a food area. Restaurant has a sign that says “Beijing Deck”. Went in because we thought it was a funny typo. There was plastic covers on the table, if you’d put your hands on it, you could have lifted the whole table. Chef comes out, dirty apron (aprons are to catch dirt), holding a duck. We all nod, yes please. Best Beijing duck I’ve ever hand!!! After dinner my friend noticed a sink in the restaurant and asked for soap to wash her hands. Chef rumbled in the kitchen, came back, went across the street to buy soap for us to use. 100% would go again 🤤
They don't even have soap in hospitals in China. You risk your life visiting there from a clean country.
Load More Replies... Lots of generalization going on here. I wouldn't take this post too seriously.
I always ask my server what *their* favourite menu item is as well as what's most popular. Never fails - either way. Also, if you're looking for a restaurant with a culturally specific menu, look for the one that is most jam-packed with people of that culture. For example, if you want the best Phò around, go to the place all the Vietnamese go to rather than the place across the street with the one couple raving about how amazing the cinnamon is in the broth. Logic, people...logic.
I once went to a Starbucks in a Target. I'm not even joking. The pastry/sandwich case probably had about 20-30 good-size flies crawling on the food and flying around inside. It was so gross. Luckily, I was ordering a frappe. LOLP.
One they didn't seem to mention is if the cooks wore gloves when preparing the food after it was baked/cooked. It doesn't matter if they washed their hands, it is impossible to know everything you touched between then and when you touched the food. They could've had their index finger brush against a table with raw chicken.
I rarely dine out, but when I do, I read up on the place first if it's new to me. In the UK there are also hygiene rating stickers that a restaurant/takeaway place can display: they usually do if they rate "good" or "excellent"...
I think most restaurants are cleaner than my kitchen, why am I going to expect a white glove cleanliness, germaphobes have taken over our country and are leading it like a zombie horde. Settle down we have an immune system. We are the decendents of warriors we shame are ancestors with our shadow fears.
