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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.
This post may include affiliate links.
#1
If a restaurant has a HUGE menu...it's all frozen
Sum Guy 4 years ago
Gordon Ramsey also taught me this... basically, Gordon Ramsey has taught me a lot
Steve Barnett 4 years ago (edited)
I concur. I know in the US you've had Kitchen Nightmares and Hell’s Kitchen, which is aimed at the US market, but is also syndicated in the UK. OK, he might come across as being abrupt and vulgar (maybe that’s for show), but he does know what he's talking about: He's a Michelin starred chef and a very good chef at that.
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Dave P 4 years ago
not always true, usually, but not always. I knew a place that had a huge menu, but when you looked at it, it really was just 5 different types of fish, 6 different types of pasta, and 3 specialty items (plus a few generic pizza's). For the fish they offered each one cooked three different ways and had a different combo of sides for each one, but they only had 7 total sides to mix and match from. With the past is was 6 different types with the same 5 sauces, just the garnish and mix ins were mixed and matched. What was really a small number of items were disguised to look like a massive menu. There also used to be a fancy top rated steak house in New York (Owner Shut down permanently in May and the chef owner said he was just going to retire rather than ride out Covid losses) and they had a 350 person dining room and a 50 person high end bar and lounge on the second floor to serve people as well. They had a massive kitchen with 50 cooks, so large menu, everything fresh
Rakjell Hanwell 4 years ago
Ok, no. It also depends on how much staff they have and how many seats. I was in a restaurant in St. Petersburg and they had a menu the size of a small catalogue. But you also got to watch your food getting prepared, so it definitely wasn't frozen.
Peter Buckley 4 years ago
Many Asian restaurants have huge menus with items that are cooked to order so bullshit to Gordon
Pascal Oudot 4 years ago (edited)
Well know in France, where we are very attentive to the quality of the food service in our restaurants. We have now a label "Fait Maison" (cooked home) which allows restaurant customers to identify dishes cooked or processed on site from fresh or raw products or traditional cooking products (oil, butter, bread, etc.).Be aware of it if you come here!
Loki’s Lil Butter Knife 4 years ago
That sounds wonderful-- I wish more restaurants would implement this type of practice.
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Sara Larca 4 years ago
I work there .. the only thing that's frozen is the cheesecakes, French fries and a few other things ... everything else comes fresh 3 times a week
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Janice Blaufox 4 years ago
If it is your favorite hang-out diner, who cares? You didn't expect gourmet anyway.
somnomania 4 years ago
frozen isn't bad though, not anymore. plenty of stuff is flash-frozen in a way that doesn't remove nutrients from it, and god knows it's easier to store.
RELATED:
#2
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
Ozzie Ogawa 4 years ago
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 4 years ago
Because fresh fish is not supposed to smell. If it does smell, it has gone off already.
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Steve Barnett 4 years ago
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.
Debra Trayler 4 years ago
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 4 years ago
For anyone wondering, fish only begins to smell when it isn’t fresh
Dónal Ó Murchadha 3 years ago
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 4 years ago
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...
Leo Domitrix 4 years ago
If you can smell seatfood/fish, then it's already too late, is what my m om taught me.
Yort 4 years ago
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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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
When the menus are super dirty and never cleaned, that means everything is super dirty and never cleaned
Beezel Palomar 4 years ago
That's a Cracker Barrel Menu! I''d like some catfish, fried okra and hasbrown casserole!
Nevits Yibble 4 years ago
Same rule applies to restrooms. If they're dirty, the kitchen is likely even dirtier
Thomas Helms 4 years ago
Yep, this is how I operate; whenever I get to a restaurant, I always go to wash my hands to 1) wash my hands and 2) see how clean the restroom is. If the restroom isn't taken care of, kitchen's not taken care of. To me, it's an indicator of overall quality.
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Kori Chamberlain 4 years ago
The staff that handles the menus is seperate from the staff that cleans the kitchern.
Kelli Lindsay 4 years ago
And management either does or does not make them clean
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Mel in Real Life 3 years ago
To be fair, this menu is from Cracker Barrell before the pandemic. It was paper and paper is hard to keep clean, if it gets stained by anything, even water that is not coming out. Doesn't mean it isn't clean. Now I think they have plastic menus, easier to keep clean.
#4
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'
Nikki Sevven 4 years ago
Not always. I've seen a zillion examples of misspellings on menus, usually because the graphic designer is unfamiliar with culinary terms and the chef hasn't proofread his menu. I mean, "rueben sandwich" is not trying to sell you something fake; it's just a misspelling.
Colin Jamieson 4 years ago
Alternative view: best burger I’ve ever had is VeganBurg’s Chilli Krab. Deliberately misspelled to not mislead, but the taste and texture are like crab. But it’s more… vegan
N G 4 years ago
So what's the substitute ingredient for tommato? This was a spelling mistake at a place I went to, so I think this rule applies only to printed menus, as in this case, the girl writing the specials board genuinely couldn't spell tomato, and they got someone else to rewrite it once it was pointed out.
Ms.GB 4 years ago
I go to a Japanese restaurant and their drink menu says cosmoporitan...pretty sure that was a typo
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
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
Vic 4 years ago
Hmmm.... Restaurants?? Now where have I heard that word before?
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Henry Halliday 4 years ago
Was going to say this. Most Chinese restaurants I've been to have HUGE menus, and all dishes come out delicious (at the good places at least!)
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K.Kobayashi 4 years ago
This one is silly. "Catch of the day" just means a fish that's not a regular item on the menu, but they got that day (or week) for some reason. It's usually because that fish is in season. It's not a bad thing.
Candia Lee 4 years ago
Your comment got bumped to the wrong post. Happened to me today too.
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Candia Lee 4 years ago
Or not. I wanted to try a new Hawaiian place until I saw their menu: five? kinds of chicken, with macaroni and potato salad. Not worth the trip. Short menus are pretty unimaginative.
#6
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.
Pungent Sauce 4 years ago
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."
#7
'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
Dave P 4 years ago
actually chances are it is that fresh. There is a 65 year old fish store near me, that also distributes to restaurants. The Salmon is caught in Alaska, packed, flown all the way to New York, and is on his table to filet in under 12 hours. He gets daily fresh fish flown in from Iceland as well where the fish are packed and flown within 2 hours of getting caught. While this is New York, there are distributers who do the same thing in other markets. This is not true.
Pungent Sauce 4 years ago
Jet-fresh really is a (very expensive) thing, but 90% of fish is flash-frozen on the boat and you’ll likely never know the difference outside of sushi/sashimi, And a lot of that was flash-frozen and carefully thawed as well
Dave P 4 years ago
and those freezers use a special nitrogen method that freezes the fish (when properly sealed) in under 60 seconds, leaving no chance for freezer burn. Expensive machines, but in the Tuna industry is very common. A lot of these things were true years ago, but not with modern technology
Load More Replies... another one 4 years ago
Nearly all seafood is flash frozen at sea, on the boats. That's as fresh as it comes. If you want fish that has never been frozen, you better sea it swimming in the tank right before you eat it, or it's not fresh.
Geert DeMuynck 4 years ago
Once enterd an restaurant in Ireland and ordered "Catch of the Day". "Can take up to 3 hours" was the answer. The fisherman was just entering the harbour.
Pungent Sauce 4 years ago
Had that happen at a place in Jamaica, we ordered the lobster and a kid ran down to the docks to get 2. I’ll admit that was indeed fresh, lol
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WillemPenn 4 years ago
Fresh is not always the best. I live near the mouth of the LA River. I'll skip the fresh local flounder, bass and rockfish -- with their lead, mercury and PCBs. Also, if you are eating sushi (or other raw fish) anywhere in the US it has likely been flash frozen in order to comply with FDA regulations on parasites destruction. Be happy you are eating frozen, not fresh.
Dónal Ó Murchadha 4 years ago
Also catch of the day or today's special means they want you to eat it today because tomorrow they have to throw it out.
Anne Mitchell 4 years ago
"Catch of the Day" is colloquial for "fish on special". It has nothing to do with when it was caught.
#8
If the area is busy but the restaurant is empty, that’s usually a bad sign.
Nubmaeme 4 years ago
It could also be the lull between rushes. That's when I prefer to go to a restaurant since the staff is not so over-worked. My favorite restaurant has a lull between 1PM and 4PM. The food is hotter, the portions bigger (I take home the extra making the meal an even better value) and the staff friendlier.
Andy Acceber 4 years ago
Yeah, true. I worked for one of those. Pretty much all of our business came from people who didn't want to wait in the line next door. We were friendly. Cheaper. But yeah, food was definitely better next door.
sylvantic 4 years ago
eh. there was this resturant that was AMAZING but recently shut down. didn't get many customers in store (most we ever saw was on christmas bc it was chinese and all the jews were there) but it must have had a pretty good amount of takeaway orders bc it stayed in buisness for a while
Kate Johnson 4 years ago
Am Jewish, will corroborate that we all eat Chinese food at Christmas. Thank you to the Chinese restaurants that are open!! We really do appreciate it!
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Daniel Kamanao 4 years ago
The exception I have seen is where a great ramen shop was open before ramen became so popular. It was in the U district and I would always see people come in and ask "what is it" and walk out.
Jyri Hakola 4 years ago
Or you are a tourist and walk in a completely wrong time of the day :D
Noemie Houtekie-N'Da 4 years ago
Honestly also, it could be that there is another place nearby, like let’s take an old fashioned coffee shop that doesn’t have a gorgeous exterior, with a Starbucks across the road. More people would go to the Starbucks.
"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.
#9
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
María Hermida 4 years ago
I wish everybody understood this. I never go to places (shops, cafeterías, etc) where I know the boss doesn't treat the staff with respect. I won't support a bully.
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Doubleheader 4 years ago
This is the most important one for me. Can be applied to other businesses just as well!
Yort 4 years ago
Except sometimes the staff are such good friend that they spend 20 minutes chatting and don’t bring you your food.
Paradise 4 years ago
I went to a place to get a gift card for someone and the manager told me as he rung up how he was filling in for no shows and his feelings about it. Not something you tell a customer. And a nearby customer was also an employee on his day off - that was a good sign at least. Willing to show up for food.
Kelli Lindsay 4 years ago
If it takes you half an hour to “examine” whether the place is chaotic, you really have no business examining anything as it’s clear you don’t know what to look for. “Big red flags your customer is going to be a jerk”
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No matter how well managed a buffet is, it can never be sanitary. It is not reasonably possible to run a sanitary buffet business
Person2638 4 years ago
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
Dave P 4 years ago
Depends if it is a self serve buffet, there are ones where staff handle the food and are very sanitary. There is a difference.
Serbob 4 years ago
I think buffets with staff serving is the only way buffets will manage to stay afloat after Covid. I certainly won't look at them the same way again.
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Katinka Min 4 years ago
Buffets might not be super sanitary, but they're not going to kill you either. In some cases, like breakfast or lunch, there is no other way to serve lots of people quickly. And I had great food at buffets, especially at events.
Art Tomboy 4 years ago
There's a world buffet near ish where I live and it's nice I met one of the chefs and he showed me around trust me most places are fine it's just a few that tip the scales
Nancy Massi 4 years ago
How is a well-managed buffet not sanitary? I've been to impeccably clean buffets and never had any problems resulting from eating the food. I've also been to upscale restaurants and my stomach complained.
#11
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.
M O'Connell 4 years ago
Why? I am 98% sure that's just the pan a turkey was roasted in. A whole turkey can render quite a bit of fat.
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Radek Suski 4 years ago
You can say about chains like McDonald's whatever you want but I worked there during my school holidays and we were ordered to clean those filters and the entire exhaust every single night.
Susanne Bækvig 3 years ago
While studying I went out in the evenings washing dishes. Once I came to a restaurant where the back kitchen was really full og dirty pots and pans and dishes. They told me their regular dishwasher had been ill for 3 days. I did what I could, but decided to forego the free meal they offered.
Joy 4 years ago
Photos of that tray would put WeightWatchers out of business. How is that grease green?!
Kori Chamberlain 4 years ago
More yellow then green. From spices added to the meat that was cooked in this.
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Brandy Grote 4 years ago
Yep. Also, look up. If the air vents are dirty, they aren't paying attention to areas that get dirty and need cleaning.
Kelli Lindsay 4 years ago
Don’t look in the kitchen on Thanksgiving, then, bc I’d bet $ a turkey was cooked in this pan and these are its juices.
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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.
Foxxy (The Original) 4 years ago (edited)
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.
Kiss Army 4 years ago
We went to a restaurant that we go to quite regularly and I ordered a special strawberry cake they had for dessert. When I got it, it tasted like onions (I am allergic to onions), we called the waitress over and told her and she looked thoroughly confused. She must have told the manager and they tried the cake... apparently someone have used a dirty "onion" knife to cut the strawberries for the cake and they came out and apologized profusely, told us that they threw the whole cake away and comped our whole meal. We told them they didn't have to but they insisted because we came there all the time and they felt so bad about it. P.S. Foxxy - What is chicken schnitty?
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CatWoman312 4 years ago
I remember ordering a steak, medium rare. I was very disappointed because it was a restaurant that I had frequented and I’ve never had an issue. The first time the steak came out rare, like almost raw and had no seasoning. The second time it came out burnt on the outside but cooked in the middle and they put so much seasoning on it that it was inedible. I had to file a complaint with the manager because I thought that the chef was being very unprofessional in his regards to criticism. Everyone makes mistakes but literally pouring half a bottle of salt/pepper on a steak to be funny isn’t cool. Never went back.
JessG 4 years ago
This is dangerous miss-information. I've worked in restaurants (all positions) for 25 years, and I've never seen ANY employee spit or sneeze in food. It just doesn't happen like people think. But, the first bit is true, if it tastes "funny" or off, and they don't take it back, that's a problem
Ayrendal 4 years ago
Sorry Jess, but sadly it does happen. A large proportion of cooks & chefs have highly-strung temperaments, and can and will snap over things you and I might simply shrug off. If you’ve never seen food mistreated in an unhygienic manner in 25 years then I suspect you’ve had a very very charmed existence. But - if you’re the type others think might drop a line to management I’d you saw such behaviour, it’s also possible they waited until your back was turned, or they had more subtle ways of getting revenge - a chef’s cloth that had maybe seen better days, or cleaner floors; cooking utensils not necessarily hygienically maintained - doesn’t have to be a spit/sneeze/etc.
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Andrea Paternioner 4 years ago
me as a waiter once had some problems with people ordering dishes they never had before. a guest ordered moschus-duck and then complained it to be awful. I took it back to the kitchen, me and the cook tried it - to me it was awful too, but the cook said that kind of duck tastes always like this - so I went back to the customer and convinced him to take something else, there are dishes not anybody likes, but a satisfied customer has to be the goal of the restaurant anyway
M.e. Amrani 4 years ago
Some lunchroom served me raw chicken. They kept on insisting that it was not raw 😂
Pungent Sauce 4 years ago
Briefly worked at a place that had pre-cooked, pre-sauced ribs, and the red color actually permeated the meat giving it a pinkish hue. Customer completely lost his mind that we were serving “raw” ribs and could not be dissuaded even after we brought the box out from the freezer (embarrassing).
super dan 4 years ago
I had a similar experience once. Went out for a dinner with family and ordered a grilked beef steak medium done. What i got in return was a piece of meat which was rare done and only cooked on one side. After i asked the waitress to take it back she started saying there is nothing wrong with the order, that i have no idea what i have and what i want. Even though i wanted to speak with her manager or the chef, both refused to come out. Needless to say, that was the last time i went there.
Chucky Cheezburger 4 years ago
Wow, I think I would have just left. I like my steak well done. Nine times out of ten, it isn't. I've gotten to where I don't bother sending it back, I just take it home to finish cooking it. I understand that it takes longer for well done, and a chef that knows what they're doing can do well done and do it good. If they take "offense" at how I like it cooked, in my mind, they're either incompetent or lazy, and they won't get my buisness. Now if they do it well done and do it right, I like to tip the chef themselves at least $20.
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Mica Silvia 4 years ago
If the owners don't have a chef then they don't have a business.. it's probably more about finding the right chef than sacking them and having to close the restaurant.
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Ask where your oysters come from. If they don’t know, you don’t want them. Same for most seafood.
Aunt Messy 4 years ago
They do, because in good restaurants, the staff has a meeting before service so that they can memorize the specials and are told at that time where the food is coming from. If a restaurant doesn't do this, I won't eat there.
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John Field 4 years ago
I tried asking the oysters where they came from. All they did was clam up.
Doc Thissen 4 years ago
On shellfish: Never eat anything that can carry its house around with it, because you never know the last time it was cleaned. :-)
Sue User 4 years ago
Once went to a restaurant that was selling steamed clams, which they normally didn't do. So bro asks what type of clams ? They are not quahog , right ? The waitress said there was only three types of clams. Pass on that
Charles Bosse 3 years ago (edited)
"the kind you have, the kind your ex has and the kind your step-mom has"
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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
Ozacoter 4 years ago
An hour wait as in waiting for the food to be prepared or waiting to be seated?
DG 4 years ago
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 😂
Commander OwO 4 years ago
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 :')
Aunt Messy 4 years ago
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.
Margaret O'Connor 4 years ago
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.
KT 4 years ago
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
Michael Sanders 4 years ago
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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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.
mulk 4 years ago
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!!!
Diemond Star 4 years ago
Wow, this doesn't happen very often. Sounds like a great place to dine and I would love to try this place.
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Whatever 1999 3 years ago
I don't know. I mean if they are super angry, maybe, but I would rather the waitstaff has authentic emotions. Working in a restaurant is probably super stressful and people can be quite annoying. On the opposite end, I wouldn't trust people who are to friendly and outgoing, like they are clearly overcompensating and definitely desperate to sell me something.
Kelli Lindsay 4 years ago
Oh we care about the customers food bc the customer is the one paying us! What we don’t give a s**t about is if we have this job an hour from now or if Chip the AM is going to be staffed tomorrow.
Y T 4 years ago
Like I said in another post: are you supposed to sit there for 30 minutes and watch the staff??
FelineWine 4 years ago
If your body language reading skills are bad enough that you need to to observe someone for half an hour to understand how they're feeling, I would disregard this advice.
Load More Replies... #16
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.
Pungent Sauce 4 years ago
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).
Bored&InSchool 2 years ago
"pungent sauce" get you the upvote for the area you're commenting in heh.
Load More Replies... Dave P 4 years ago
I know a great place in NYC, abaita, the chef uses his weekly special to test out his new experiments and if the feedback is good it goes on the next seasons menu (aside from a few key dishes they are famous for, the menu changes every few months to reflect the seasonal ingredients). It means he got the ingredients specially shipped in from another region or country to test it out. He was weekly specials the whole season to test dishes for the next. Always a great adventure.
Pamela Blue 4 years ago
We went to an Olive Garden years ago. They sat us right near the kitchen doors (they were busy so I gave that a pass), but while waiting for our food, a fight broke out in the kitchen. I watched through the small window while one guy punched another into the dish rack, and there was a massive crash of breaking dishes. We got up and left. I don't think the attitude was very good, and the place closed after another month or two. Never been to an Olive Garden since.
Kelli Lindsay 4 years ago
That’s so funny, bc, as a server for 40 years, my husband and I always asked for a table by the kitchen bc that’s where the action is!
Load More Replies... #17
Pro tip: Look up the health inspector reports for your county.
Brandy Grote 4 years ago
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.
Dre Mosley 4 years ago
In my area, one of our local news networks does a "Dirty Dining" segment where they report on local restaurants with health violations. It makes you sad when you see one of your favorite places reported.
F. H. 4 years ago
In Germany they are often kept secret so they don't interfere with the free market. Yes.
Fabio Ribeiro 4 years ago
But we in Germany have European Laws, which makes us having higher Standards than USA. We even banned a lot of "ingredients" that they use daily
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#18
Most often, lemons for water are really gross and dirty
Id row 4 years ago
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.
Jen-Jae 4 years ago
that is because you CARE about your costumers. Great job.
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Paradise 4 years ago
I would assume they don't wash the peel and then they put it in your drink. Wash that peel.
Lizz Lor 4 years ago
The tongs for them usually go missing so they use there hands to grab a wedge... especially if you ask for multiple or they stick it on the lip of the glass
Load More Replies... Andy Acceber 4 years ago
My mom loves lemon in her water, but she started to ask for it on a plate. Then, she would just squeeze in the juice. It's not ideal as it was still probably sliced unwashed, but at least the unwashed peels weren't soaking in the water as she drank it.
Nicole A 4 years ago
In the USA, the waxes used on produce must be edible.
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Theresa SilentCrow 4 years ago
I always ask for lemon on the side. That way I can control what goes in my drink.
Pezor Zass 4 years ago
Try water with bitters instead. It's delicious, you dont have the dirty lemon issue, and they're usually fine not charging for a splash of bitters (when you home alone, try a splash of angostura bitters on vanilla icecream)
Nicole A 4 years ago
Grew up drinking this in bubbly water. Especially if you had an upset tummy.
Load More Replies... TheAnimalLady 4 years ago
Some people add it for health reasons, flavor, don't drink or can't afford soda, etc. Problems occur if the server squeezed the lemon with a dirty hand and then dropped it into the glass.
#19
Used to work in a fancy kitchen. Any place that is charging more than $25 for a chicken entree is a goddamn scam.
Pungent Sauce 4 years ago
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.
Paul Davis 4 years ago
I can never figure out if it's ethically better to kill and eat a happy chicken or one that was miserable and wants to die.
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Lis Daglish 4 years ago (edited)
I once had THE best chicken dish of my life and happily forked £40plus something for it. It was a Poulet de Bresse speciality chicken, you could absolutely tell how much much, utterly more, delicious it was from a standard bird.
Temma Tainow 4 years ago
Animals endure-that's what animals do. Why have to decide whether it's ethical or not. Stop raising them and eating them. Their lives are torture
Jessica Amie 4 years ago
I own a restaurant and chicken is not as cheap as you all think. Especially with the post covid inflation plus the ever increasing labor rate.
minnybri 3 years ago
Depends on your location, feed prices vary a lot between areas that produce a lot of feed crops like soy and areas that less rural or less suited to that. With current feed and slaughter costs, in my area, I'd lose money selling pasture-raised chicken for less than about $25/bird. A restaurant could break that down into a bunch of different meals, but they have to add their own markup.
John Baker 4 years ago
There's no chicken dish I'd want to eat that I can't make myself for a hell of a lot less than $25.
#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.
JP Doyle 4 years ago
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.)
Manuel Delgado 4 years ago
If you are on the US, it's very likely that most of the best restaurants that you've been, of any kind, are heavily staffed by mexicans / latin americans.
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C.S. E. 4 years ago
Ooh, this gives me memberberries. The best Mexican food I've ever had (I'm from Texas) was in, strangely, middle of nowhere north eastern Oklahoma. A little hole in the wall that made food SO good, the afterglow was still there even after realizing I had locked my keys in my car and the subsequent 45 minutes it took to retrieve them.
Sheccid Mendoza 4 years ago
As a Mexican it’s sad to inform that most Mexican places don’t take their time and effort to deliver a good meal. I like to call them Mexican fast food
Dre Mosley 4 years ago
If no one working in the place is actually Mexican or speaks Spanish, go elsewhere.
M O'Connell 4 years ago
The best way to tell if a Mexican restaurant is good, is to ask if they have a "special salsa." My favorite restaurant generally caters to "midwestern" tastes, but if you ask they have several house-made salsas not mentioned anywhere on the menu that they'll bring out for people who would appreciate them.
Donkey boi 4 years ago
The best, authentic Mexican restaurants are in Mexico. I haven't found a singe one in the UK that does decent authentic Mexican food.
Nevits Yibble 4 years ago
True, but it's also excellent in the southwest of the U.S. if you know where to go
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#21
If you order a meal that should take a long time to cook and it comes out very quickly, it’s been pre-cooked
troufaki13 4 years ago
Greek cuisine can be pre-cooked and it's ok. Like mousaka, pastitsio, fasolada
Sum Guy 4 years ago
Not all precooked food is bad... I don't want to wait 4 hours for my oxtail to cook
Indra Servo 4 years ago
Yup, imagine waiting for 23 hours for pulled pork lol
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Not A Panda 4 years ago
Lots of stuff is precooked depending on the restaurants experience with how many people generally order. Nothing wrong with that. Or do you want to wait 3 hours for your spag bol?
Henry Halliday 4 years ago
Nothing wrong with pre-cooked, as long as it wasn't pre-cooked 6 months ago
Marika Miettinen 4 years ago
A lot of stuff is prepared in advance though. I've been in good and bad restaurants. In the good ones the morning shift would prepare sauces and side things for that evening's á la carte. In a bad restaurant there was no such prep and their wine sauce came our of a box and PEPSI was added into it. Things that take a long time to cook will have as many components as possible made in advance so that the cooking time can be cut down drastically.
#22
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
Jo Morris 4 years ago
A good tip when travelling overseas to countries with unreliable water sources (not that anyone is doing that lately, but still helpful to know).
Jo Ellen Washburn 4 years ago
On planes too. Don't get ice in your beverage, and don't drink the coffee or tea.
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Isaac nicholson 4 years ago
I don’t clean my ice machine at my house. Imma probably ignore this, if this was a big problem then people wouldn’t overlook it so much
Natalia A 4 years ago (edited)
You often hear about health inspections/tests finding fecal matter in ice, as well as bar snacks like free nuts and crisps.
Todd Hunter 4 years ago
I worked in restaurants for years after high school, from high end places to family dive places, not one place cleaned the ice machine, Not one.
Christine Curtiss 3 years ago
In Cuba, I had a drink and asked for no ice because I didn't know if it would be made from safe water. It came with ice and I complained. The waiter proceeded to fish out the ice with his fingers! Still laughing about that one. I think I drank it anyway, and didn't get sick.
AJ Ventura 3 years ago
28yrs restaurant management and I agree!!! I went into one store when I took over and the first thing I asked of one of my dishwashers was to unplug the main ice machine. 3hrs later we were staring at a thick slippery black ring that went all the way around the inside of the ice bin. I called my boss with pictures from my phone and we shut the store down for a 3 day cleaning party.
#23
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
Dave P 4 years ago
this is a myth, I know people who work in the fish industry in distribution, while this is true in smaller markets, in places near water with fresh local fish or large market areas (aka big cities) deliveries are coming in daily.
Joe Reaves 4 years ago
I was just going to say I live in a fishing harbour. Most of the restaurants I eat fish at you can probably see the boat it came in on from the window!
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Daniel Marsh 4 years ago
So places that deliver fish just sit on their hands Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday? I don't think so.
Daniel Engel 3 years ago
Ok call me a fool.. in my kitchen my seafood proveyor delivers daily. Sunday or Friday, or Tuesday and even Sundays
Shadow 4 years ago
I live in a place where no one is more then 50km from the ocean. Fishermen go out on the water everyday, and the trucks are delivering every day of the week. So fish only being delivered on certain days is not true where I live, especially with the roadside live lobster sales trucks on every corner.
hello Wendy 3 years ago
Did he really say that he regretted it? I wonder why!
Load More Replies... Not A Panda 4 years ago
That just depends on where you are. Restaurants where I am get fish deliveries any day they like.
#24
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
Karl Baxter 4 years ago
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” 😳
Jo Morris 4 years ago
My partner spent 10 months in SE Asia with the Army. His saying was "anything curries".
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Roxy Eastland 4 years ago
I've never understood why I'd care. I am going to presume that it's not so out of date that it is a bio-hazard, because restaurants that week after week give their customers food poisoning aren't going to last too long. So if it's just that the seafood isn't at its best, but it's been made into a delicious stew and I'm just in the mood for a seafood stew, well why shouldn't I eat it?
Kori Chamberlain 4 years ago
And if they're pricing it based on the quality? Then its all good.
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Oskar vanZandt 4 years ago
I think this has been a practice throughout history... especially when there was no refrigeration. Same goes for dishes like stews, chowders or curries. Nothing wrong with using leftovers so long as they've been stored properly.
Liv 4 years ago
Where I live in southeast Europe soup du jour is made with fresh veggies, it's cheap and usually the best choice if you're feeling like soup.
Load More Replies... Pungent Sauce 4 years ago
Generalization. Our Senegalese Seafood Stew was spicy, fresh as could be and enormously popular.
#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.
Oskar vanZandt 4 years ago
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...
JuJu 4 years ago
This is horrible. I will never order at the "Punjab Pizza Kebab House" around the corner. They do EVERYTHING. I rather eat some Wasa bread
Load More Replies... Person2638 4 years ago
We have this restaurant nearby that has like 20 cuisines (Italian, Indian, Thai, Chinese, Greek, Turkish, etc.) and the food obviously isn't terribly great but it's good when everyone in the family wants to eat something different. When we have arguments over where to go, we usually end up there. Then I can get a lasagna and my sister can get pad thai and my mom can get a panini and my dad can eat some noodles lol
Elizabeth Sundby 3 years ago
worst food experience of my life. went to a seafood place. got chicken. it was watery and smaller than a chicken strip. (also i was 7. now i would have ordered actual seafood.)
Crystal R 3 years ago
And on the opposite side, I went into a barbeque place and at 7pm they were out of meat completely. They had Cole slaw and bread and that was it. They were just starting out and only had one barbequier and so they could only make so much and ran out every single day before closing. On my third visit I managed to get some and it was some of the best barbeque I've ever had.
danielw 4 years ago
so I'm a manager for a security company. my office is on one of the client sites. They had this hipster dive that opened up, billing itself as a 'Whiskey Bar', and offering over priced re-bottled whiskeys, as well as 'southern' cooking. grossest food you ever laid eyes on, and all the smoked meats they 'specialized' in, tasted of liquid smoke. The quality of the food was best summed up, by a local, semi-famous food critic (Star trib), who stated that she has had better steaks at [a local stripclub that was right next door].
Rumthacker Cooley 4 years ago
Never order a steak medium well or well done. Kitchens portion out their steaks and set the bad cuts aside for those orders. If someone hasn't ordered a well done steak in a while, your steak is going to be of poorer quality and old. Just order it medium and if you want it cooked more, just ask them to cook it a little more after you receive it.
#26
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
Daniel Engel 3 years ago
Rule to live by... The first thing you smell walking I the doors should never be anything but delicious.. it's a restaurant not a detergent supply nor an outhouse
Bernadett Nagy 4 years ago
Nope. Riverside establishment i worked at killed rats. With poison and hid the smell with perfume air freshener sticks.
Lola 4 years ago
Just a tip on shrimp. If you don’t see the head, don’t buy it. Shrimp is very fresh if the head is still on. You don’t necessarily have to cook it with the head although I do and it is delicious because that’s where all the taste is, you can just take it off. But do yourself a favor and only buy shrimp with head on.
#27
Seeing fruit flies. Fruit flies are an indication of a dirty kitchen
Vic 4 years ago
Also appearance of bears, but in that case, you may be on the menu :-)
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karla Meixnerová 4 years ago
I don't know about that... I think I have a very clean kitchen, but because we eat a lot of fruit, which ripens, we have sometimes fruit flies...
Michael Sanders 4 years ago
Don’t go 100% on the fruit fly test. Fruit flies love fermentables. Beers, alcohol, citrus and there is a lot of that behind bars. It can be addressed and mitigated, but is a constant struggle. I’m not saying they don’t mean a dirty kitchen I’m saying that for anything with a bar, if they are good, they are constantly thinking about it and worrying about it probably even more than you are. If you see something crawl, that’s when you take off.
Terri Olson 4 years ago
I disagree with this. Fruit flies come in on fresh fruit and you can't control that.
Beverly Tenhagen 4 years ago
Disagree. Fruit flies are gross, sure, but in hot climates like the southern US there isn’t much you can do about them. They come up through the drains and are attracted to the smallest thing. Usually alcohol.
Tyler Trudel 4 years ago
I once worked at a restaurant that had a fruit fly problem. I spent a week scrubbing everything from floor to ceiling every day to kill them and destroy the eggs. its insane how fast those little buggers proliferate but I eventually got them under control.
Jade Dazy 4 years ago
Fruit flies have nothing to do with dirt. Every home that has fresh fruit especially bananas, will have fruit flies on occasion. It doesn't mean they're dirty. And once fruit flies get into a restaurant, It's nearly impossible to get rid of them. We had them in our restaurant because we had potted flowers and vases on the tables even though we changed the water every other day.
Melvin Dragvelk 4 years ago
Fruit flies do not hang out in a dirty kitchen. They hang out at the bar. If using open pour spouts on bottles, the Fruit flies will be attracted to those. They really love Scotch.
#28
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.
Philly Bob Squires 4 years ago
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.
Pamela Blue 4 years ago
But that's not the restaurant's fault. That's just disgusting habits of the customer. I doubt very much that 99% of people would be so crude. You were unfortunate to meet the one that was.
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Daria B 4 years ago
This one isn't true for the buffet restaurants that sell well and have lots of customers. Many times you can see how they change the emptied food plate with a brand new one. So, this one applies to places that are low quality and not so well frequented.
Jasmine Kallas 3 years ago
Some buffets are really good especially (to me)Pizza ranch they have to refill it with the same stuff or people are just gonna lose interest in the food?they came there for certain food so they expect certain food right?why else would they go to pizza ranch if when they go to pizza ranch theres no pizza??
Steve Barnett 4 years ago
+ contamination. Kids, nose picking, sneezing. I don't need to elaborate more.
WildHoneyPie 4 years ago
I once watched an employee at a restaurant with a round buffet. They entered the middle of it through an opening under the counter (weird but whatever) this busboy crawled through the opening then reached back and dragged the serving spoons he was bringing with him over the carpet. Haven't eaten at a buffet since...
#29
When there are pictures of food on the menu that clearly aren't from the restaurant
mulk 4 years ago
exception: asian restaurant.. food pictures seems to be s cultural thing ^^
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Winx 4 years ago
I kind of disagree with this one. What if I walk into a Greek restaurant and don't know what "souvlaki" is? Sometimes its nice to have a picture to get an idea of the dish.
Fabio Ribeiro 4 years ago
Same for Sushi Menus, Asian etc.. I like when Sushi Menus have a picture since i dont know all types.. But Greek, yeah, i once looked at menu to order to deliver home, and was most time in Google checking wtf was each one
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Chris Martin 4 years ago (edited)
Hey WTH! Koa’s Pancake House is a local restaurant in Hawaii that is always packed and serves delicious breakfast food! Furthermore, if you order eggs, rice and home fried potatoes, it will look exactly like that photo except that it comes with three tasty pancakes on the side! Come on panda, choose a restaurant that deserves the shame. Koa’s is the bomb and the line out the door proves it.
Sam Jaime 4 years ago (edited)
Hey. That place Koa Pancake House actually has amazing food. It's on Oahu, Hawaii.
Bogdan Petrini 4 years ago
My favourite restaurant in my hometown has a menu full of pictures of the dishes. That really helps a lot, because sometimes the description is just not enough to figure out and every time I ordered something new, it looked exactly like the picture.
Daniel Marsh 4 years ago
This doesn't mean "bad." It just means "small." If the pictures on the menu match, it's probably because it's a corporation.
Kate Jones 3 years ago
Hey some of the tastiest hole in the walls do this. I think every take out chinese food place i've ever been to has the same pictures up on their wall. And there's always the one where the dish is upside down. But damn if it's not delicious. lol. I just don't want to know what they're doing in the back.
LazyPanda 4 years ago
Yeah I dunno about this one. In the area I live, there are a lot of immigrants starting businesses, many of them restaurants. And getting started in a new country, it may not be worth it to cook a bunch of meals and have a photographer photograph and design your menu. They are authentic and they are yummy, even if the photo isn't there. Though, you do have to use discretion. Some restaurants that do this really will just disappoint you
Lucy Skinner 4 years ago
Once, I ordered a “fish fillet” from the menu, which pictured a beautiful, rectangular, well-cooked piece of fish. What I got was a whole fish with bones, eyes, and everything. It was good, but not a fillet.
#30
A $4 steak is not a good steak.
Debra Trayler 4 years ago
Hell of a lot of difference between four dollars and four pounds! :D
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Not A Panda 4 years ago
A steak restaurant around here does nothing but steak and potatoes. They buy in bulk and sell in bulk (I think they have 10 chefs or so working at once) and yes, you get very cheap but very good steak.
CatWoman312 4 years ago
It just means it’s not filet mignon lol. I’ve had cheap steak and it was delicious.
Loki’s Lil Butter Knife 4 years ago
Where in the great wide world are you getting a steak for $4.00? I mean, I can get "steak" in my Gregg's Steak Bake Roll for a couple quid, but I'm sure it's made with the steak that was left on the butcher floor. Still, oddly delicious.
Donkey boi 4 years ago
4USD = 2.90 Pound sterling. If steak is cheaper than £10 ($13.79) it's rarely well done (pun intended).
#31
If the bathroom is a mess, the kitchen is a mess aswell.
JennyLaRue 4 years ago
Not necessarily, you could have a meticulous chef and just poor waiting or cleaning staff
Anna Banana 4 years ago
I think this is about management, not individual people. Is a meticulous chef likely to work in a place with messy bathrooms?
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Dónal Ó Murchadha 3 years ago
ALWAYS check the cleaning log on the back of the bathroom door. You'll know if a mess is an incident or a regular occurrence by how frequently it's been signed.
Aunt Messy 4 years ago
There was a restaurant in Dallas (no longer open because the owner retired), that had half a dozen cans of Lysol in the bathroom - which was spotless. It turns out that the Ladies Who Lunch who go there would eat their weight in food, then spend about five minutes in the toilet throwing it all up after. ...///... Disgusting, right? It was so common that they never ran out of Lysol.
#32
If your server’s response to 'How is the [item]?' seems disingenuous, that’s a big red flag. They know what goes on in the kitchen, they know the complaints, and they know which items to stress over when they deliver them
pusheen buttercup 4 years ago
Sometimes when you work in customer service you may sound ingenuine because you're trying to sound perky when your feet hurt :)
Kathryn Baylis 4 years ago
Also, good restaurants have servers taste everything they sell, especially if there are going to be additions or replacements to menu items, so they can describe them from experience.
CatWoman312 4 years ago
As much as I completely understand it’s not as if someone working in customer service can just talk bad about their place of business even if it were true
Kevin Beard 4 years ago
One of the things I've also noticed is that if they don't stop by to ask how it is, it's because they know it is not good.
#33
There's a Chinese restaurant in my town with a sign out front that says: "Clean food. And fresh." I still can't help but wonder why they would bring that up unprovoked.
MonsterMum 4 years ago
Maybe want they wanted to say translated badly into 'Clean food. And fresh'? I often find non English restaurant menu's have clumsy English on them
Radek Suski 4 years ago
Many people think that Asian restaurants aren't particularly clean so that's probably the reason. The best Asian restaurant I've ever been had a kitchen that was visible for every customer
M O'Connell 4 years ago
I've generally found that the worse the English is on the signage/menu, the better the food tends to be.
Pezor Zass 4 years ago
saw a fish store advertising some particular fish on sale "as is". i'm guessing they meant whole, not cleaned, etc, but the phrase "fish as is" will stay with me for ever
Paul Davis 4 years ago
Like those places that advertise "now with live entertainment". Makes you worry about the health of the previous entertainment
CrunChewy McSandybutt 4 years ago
In my home town, there is a restaurant with a neon sign that says, "Health Inspected." First, why would you make a permanent sign that says that? All restaurants are health inspected. Also, notice it didn't mention how the inspection went.
#34
Carpet is a red flag. Yeah, it's quieter and doesn't get slick, but it is one of the most disgusting things I've ever seen in restaurants. Vacuuming only goes so far in a restaurant and I know they never, ever shampooed the one at my place
Not A Panda 4 years ago
Ok, that's just stupid. Nothing wrong with carpet. Lots of high end places have carpets.
Foxxy (The Original) 4 years ago (edited)
Pretty much every restaurant i have been to has carpet.
CrunChewy McSandybutt 4 years ago
In New Orleans, it's super rare to find any restaurant with carpeting.
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Anna McHugh 4 years ago
Damn right it's quieter. The amount of noise in restaurants is diabolical. I haven't eaten out for over 18 months because I wind up with sore ears and a sore head from the racket.
Ayrendal 4 years ago
In Australia once you move from fast food and “family” restaurants everything is carpeted. (Family restaurants are ones with (generally) massive pots of six different types of pasta, 14 pre-cooked pasta sauces, a pizza menu, basic a-la carte - steak, chicken, pork - all with one of six different pre-made sauces, etc. also commonly called “value” restaurants.)
M O'Connell 4 years ago
Go on Youtube and watch Advanced Cleaning Systems steam-clean some restaurant carpet :) They do a pretty good job.
Daniel Marsh 4 years ago
Don't munch on the carpet? Not expecting this advice from Bored Panda.
#35
If a pitcher of water touches your glass, it has also touched everyone else's glass. Also, if you can't see them pour your water, there's something wrong
Indra Servo 4 years ago
Wut my drinks always served already poured in, what kind of fancy-ass place is this?
Aliquid A 4 years ago
If you don't see them pour your water, maybe that's because it comes from a water dispenser... place glass under dispenser, push button, glass fills. They aren't going to lug that thing over to your table.
F. H. 4 years ago
Wait, you guys get pitchers? In Germany you might get a bottle if you pay for it.
Load More Replies... Foxxy (The Original) 4 years ago (edited)
Our water jugs you get from most restaurants is for your personal use to take to the table. And glasses of water are often poured using a special nozzle thingy.
Anna Banana 4 years ago
And if the bottle opener touches your bottle, it has also touched everyone else's bottle. What's the problem?
Becky Samuel 4 years ago
Your bottle hasn't already been drunk from. If the jug touches your glass during a refill, it has already touched the glass of the lady with the greasy pink lipstick, the guy with soup down his tie, the snotty-nosed kids a couple of tables over who were just playing on the floor, etc.
Load More Replies... #36
If there is different cuisines on the same menu. It usually means it's not gonna be good. I don't trust that people can do Japanese and Italian in the same kitchen.
Kira Okah 4 years ago
I know a restaurant that does multiple food cultures, whih would ordinarily be bad. But. This place is HUGE, like four restaurants size huge, and all of the kitchen space is on show. Each cuisine is being handled by different chefs from that culture - the Indian food by Indian chefs, the Chinese by Chinese chefs, French by French chefs. Very highly rated with very experienced specialised chefs.
Karl Baxter 4 years ago (edited)
I remember two takeaways I used to use a lot when I was a student. One was run by Asians, the other by Italians and both did Curries and Pizza. The Italian place did terrible pizza but wonderful curries and the Asian place did amazing pizzas but diabolical curries. Odd how these things work out sometimes.
Roxanne D'souza 4 years ago
This is almost every restaurant in India. The menu has an Indian food section which will serve both North and South Indian food. And then sometimes there's an Italian food section with pizzas and pastas. The Chinese food section has all the fried rice and noodles and Continental section has everything from burgers to steaks and fish and chips. And the food is always pretty good. I'm salivating thinking about it.
Dorothy Parker 3 years ago
There was a great Japanese Italian restaurant in West Hollywood, California years back. Itamashia. I still miss it.
Daniel Marsh 4 years ago
Strangely, this is not necessarily true. Friendly, an ice-cream restaurant, used to have excellent fajitas for a low-brow, corporate place. At least the one near me.
#37
I was a chef for four years. Honestly, if you’re ever curious, go hang out near the back door/ trash cans. If it’s a good restaurant, it’ll look like a regular back door trash can area. If it’s somewhere you shouldn’t eat, it’ll look like a goddamn disaster zone. Cooks who can’t keep up in the kitchen can’t keep up with breaking down boxes and taking out garbage, so they just throw stuff outside and deal with it later. Full sized, not-collapsed boxes, garbage bags not in the dumpsters, food waste leaking out of orifices, etc. A messy outdoors is a reflection of a poorly run kitchen indoors. Also if you never see a cook go out to take a smoke break, they’re inside and overwhelmed.
Oskar vanZandt 4 years ago
Not likely to go outside to check the alleyway behind a restaurant but I appreciate the logic...
CatWoman312 4 years ago
OK I highly doubt anyone is planning to go check out the trash cans before they eat at a restaurant
Frozengeckolover 4 years ago
In every restaurant I've ever worked in, the dish washers and busboys took out garbage; NOT the cooks. If we were super busy, stuff got sat outside the back door until we had a minute to deal with it. Would you rather the garbage sit in the kitchen, or dish room, so you can't see it? What are you doing nosing around the back of the restaurant?
John C 4 years ago
Daniel, get real man. Yes culinary elites will frown upon smoking because it kills the palate, but here in the real world smoking is deeply entrenched in food service culture. Why don't you just accept the word of "a chef for four years"?
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#38
Remember the specials always look and sound great, Most likely a leftover. Trying to get rid of it. Did it myself as a chef for years.
N G 4 years ago
This runs counter to the advice that the special maybe something the chef has worked on for weeks. So maybe take both bits of advice with a pinch of salt and in conjunction with the other advice (e.g. ask the wait staff)
M O'Connell 4 years ago
It depends on the overall style of the restaurant. If its a chain, then they're disposing of surplus. If its an independent restaurant you have a better chance.
Load More Replies... Pungent Sauce 4 years ago
As a chef for years, I’m going to respectfully disagree and suggest you seek employment at a better place.
CrunChewy McSandybutt 4 years ago
Honestly, I'm not that worried about leftovers, as long as they haven't turned bad. I guess that depends on the cost.
Leo Domitrix 4 years ago
The special at our fave Thai place was ALWAYS something incredible that the owner and chef worked on for a month.... at least!
David carro 4 years ago (edited)
As long as it is not off, a restaurant is a business to run, and all has to go. Better to somebody's stomach than to the bin
CatWoman312 4 years ago
Not necessarily especially when seafood restaurants. The catch of the day was likely a fish that caught fresh, but it was cheaper that day to buy from market because of it not being a peak day
#39
dirty stained carpets
N G 4 years ago
They're a reflection of overall cleanliness and hygiene standards though
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#40
If there are to many items on the menu. If you have 50 combo choices, man you know half that stuff is frozen, old, canned etc. Nothing is gonna be great like an In-N-Out burger. It's all gonna be 'meh'
Person2638 4 years ago
I honestly don't even mind if it's frozen, old, or canned. As long as it doesn't kill me and tastes relatively good, who am I to complain? If I wanted fresh home-cooked food I'd buy and cook my own food.
Nikki Sevven 4 years ago
Disagree. I object to paying restaurant prices when the chef is merely deep frying some frozen, pre-made crap. If I'm paying $20 for a main course, it had better be scratch made food.
Load More Replies... Nevits Yibble 4 years ago
A little ironic that this person cites a fast food restaurant as an example of "great" compared to frozen, old and canned
John C 4 years ago
I disagree that frozen = bad in all cases. Today's flash-freezing processes are so quick as to avoid forming the jagged ice that destroys cell walls and leads to poor quality. It really is a win-win. Just remember that professional flash freezing is NOT the same as throwing a hunk of meat in your home freezer.
Spork420 4 years ago
I always have to laugh at the people that take ages figuring out what to order at In-N-Out.. Like you either want a cheeseburger, or you don't want a cheeseburger. There's seriously like 6 things on their menu.
CatWoman312 4 years ago
This is literally the third time this post has been made. Does no one moderate the posts?
#41
If you are seated right away during peak hours, that is a red flag. The common folk aren't eating there, and for a good reason
JennyLaRue 4 years ago
There are too many variables that would affect this for it to be a reliable cause of concern.
Paul Davis 4 years ago
I see it as a point of suspicion. Maybe keep your eyes open about your food, and don't go overboard ordering
Load More Replies... CatWoman312 4 years ago
Not necessarily. A lot of things are considered like how many are in your party? A lot of other times waitresses have their table split up by sections so a two top might become available a lot sooner because someone else left in another section it’s not necessarily because of bad service or bad food
Oskar vanZandt 4 years ago
Not sure what "common" means here, but I assume it's meant to be "locals"... in tourist trap cities/towns it could very well be that the restaurant overcharges for their food and locals know where the less expensive places are or eat at home as per usual for most people when they aren't on holidays.
Y T 4 years ago
Exactly. There's a place here in my town that have excellent food but it's pricey. So me, a common person, goes there for special occasions. But a lot of tourists go there. It doesn't mean that they're conned out of their money.
Load More Replies... #42
I look for dust. Dust on the ceiling tiles or in the air-conditioning vents. I also have a habit of running my finger along chair frames after I sit down to check for dust.
MiriPanda 4 years ago
You don't seriously expect me to aks for a ladder to inspect the ceiling tiles or air conditioning vents each time I enter a restaurant?!?
NaruTheCollective 4 years ago
If you can see how dirty it is by simply looking up.
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#43
I’ve worked in restaurants for over a decade. A couple years in the kitchen and the rest as FOH. If your server’s response to “how is the [item]” seems disingenuous, that’s a big red flag. We know what goes on in the kitchen, we know the complaints, and we know which items to stress over when we deliver them. Servers who pause or seem uncomfortable with that question generally equates to a menu full of stuff we wouldn’t eat even as a free shift meal. A GOOD sign is when servers hang out and eat at the restaurant post-shift. Generally we are getting a discount but not free food - if we are spending our nightly tips on it, it’s worth it.
Person2638 4 years ago
what if it's a new server that doesn't know all the dishes yet or the server is exhausted and unable to properly fake enthusiasm?
M O'Connell 4 years ago
"I'm sorry, I'm new here. I will ask someone else for you." Is more than good enough for me. Everybody has their first day on the job.
Load More Replies... CatWoman312 4 years ago
First of all this is a repeat, second of all how are we going to know if the waitresses hang around and eat afterward? Are we supposed to wait outside to see what they do?
Frozengeckolover 4 years ago
I disagree with this. I've been a server. No one is hanging out at their workplace after their shift ends, just because the food is awesome. Customers get priority, so a server often has to wait till they clock out to place to-go orders; I want to go home after I clock out. Also, no matter how good the food is, after you smell it (and look at it) ALL DAY, you dont want to eat it.
#44
It’s a good idea to avoid restaurants that sound like snapplecheese
Paul Davis 4 years ago
Applebees is also notoriously horrible to its employees
Load More Replies... Paul Davis 4 years ago
It seems to me that some Red Lobsters are actually good, and others are extremely bad. I generally avoid them because I don't like rolling the dice on whether my food will be any good or not.
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Daniel Marsh 4 years ago
Also avoid: restaurants that sound like "All of Pardon" and "Bed Mobster."
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CatWoman312 4 years ago
I actually had to look up snapplecheese and surprise! It isn’t an actual word so yeah
#45
If it’s an Italian place and they serve butter with their bread. Not a red flag, but really nice/authentic places serve bread with oil and vinegar.
AzKhaleesi 4 years ago
Take it from an italian. Butter is good, but next time you go request a saucer plate, olive oil and cracked pepper. (whole pepper not the stuff you buy in a tin can) put a generous amount of oil on the plate, and cracked pepper (I use quite a bit but that gets spicy quick so to your taste) stir it up and dip your bread in it. Especially if it's warm bread.... omg, you'll never be the same.
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pebs 4 years ago
Actually no Italian restaurant in Italy serves bread with oil and vinegar ... especially vinegar. In Italian restaurants, bread is served on the side, not seasoned (unless it is slices of pizza or focaccia without tomato or other condiments other than oil and oregano, served as an accompaniment to the appetizer) For example, in Italy there is no "garlic bread". The Italians, if they want (but it is considered unpolite by the bon ton experts) can use the bread to collect the sauce from the dishes. Another thing: in Italy the bread is served in baskets, but it is perfectly normal for the customer to place the piece of bread he has chosen on the tablecloth. Nobody, and I mean nobody, in Italy, places his piece of bread on the plate on which he is eating. It's a foreign thing.
Sasy 4 years ago
This is hilarious, real Italian places down here in the 70s used to have olive oil, vinegar, black pepper and salt on tables...would give basket of bread and eventually the oil was gone and replaced by butter, because of the using it on bread not salad only...it got too expensive. If paying for bread with oil that is different, but this made me laugh. Many of them used to give free wine too but that got taken advantage of and stopped also.
#46
If the'res a window that goes into the kitchen and there's a microwave in there.
Sasy 4 years ago
I don't understand this one really, a microwave doesn't mean it is being used to cook necessarily. It can be used to defrost something, melt something etc.
Paul Davis 4 years ago
I agree, a microwave may be used for some small tasks -- if they have banks of microwaves that's a whole different ballgame
Load More Replies... 𝔹𝕖𝕝𝕝𝕒 4 years ago
Microwaves aren't always bad as they can be used for many different things, not just heating frozen food.
Dónal Ó Murchadha 3 years ago
If your food has been cooked, then frozen and reheated in a microwave you're scrapping the barrel of restaurants. There's vending machines that provide that service.
Load More Replies... CatWoman312 4 years ago
So if you can see a microwave through the window? is that what you’re trying to imply?
Pauliina Pain 4 years ago
I assume that if there is a microwave they reheat the food there.... ?? Tho, could be also for frozen stuff like gluten free bread. Or for the staff. Weird anyway. In my country there is usually a microwave for customers to use to heat babyfood. You know at family friendly places.
Load More Replies... Oskar vanZandt 4 years ago
I don't need to see the food preparation area if there are no other red flags...
Nevits Yibble 4 years ago
Microwaves are common equipment in most restaurant kitchens. Dozens of practical uses
What do you think ?
Person2638 4 years ago
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
Treessimontrees 4 years ago
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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Helen Haley 4 years ago
How much time do they think we have on our hands to do an investigatory piece on every place we may potentially eat.
Lola 4 years ago
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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Random Person 4 years ago
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.
Frannie Kaplan 3 years ago
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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Steve Barnett 4 years ago
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.
Don't Look 4 years ago
Used to be married to a guy who treated everything like this. He was quite the snob. I also rarely eat out anymore.
Craig Silberman 4 years ago
mostly all good tips, but things you might not discover until you've already decided to eat there -- when it's too late
Person2638 4 years ago
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
Treessimontrees 4 years ago
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... Helen Haley 4 years ago
How much time do they think we have on our hands to do an investigatory piece on every place we may potentially eat.
Lola 4 years ago
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... Random Person 4 years ago
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.
Frannie Kaplan 3 years ago
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... Steve Barnett 4 years ago
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.
Don't Look 4 years ago
Used to be married to a guy who treated everything like this. He was quite the snob. I also rarely eat out anymore.
Craig Silberman 4 years ago
mostly all good tips, but things you might not discover until you've already decided to eat there -- when it's too late
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