40 Obvious Signs That You Should Never, Ever Eat At A Restaurant 99% Of People Are Completely Oblivious To (2024)

If you've ever worked in a restaurant, you know there are certain gigantic red flags that scream "this place is going to give me food poisoning," amongst other terrible things gastrointestinal maladies. Throughout the years, chefs have shared lists of those warning signs and I'm pleased as a peach to share them with you. According to chefs, some tell-tale signs a restaurant is bad are... 1. "If you notice your feet sticking to the floor, turn around and leave immediately." 2. "Number one evaluation effect for me is smell. If it’s a sour smell or disinfectant smell — red flag." 3. "A huge menu is a sign that food is either frozen, precooked, and reheated — or ingredients are not very fresh." 4. "When there are pictures of food on the menu that clearly aren't from the restaurant." 5. "Seeing fruit flies. Fruit flies are an indication of a dirty kitchen." 6. "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." 7. "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.'" 8. "When the menus are super dirty and never cleaned, that means everything is super dirty and never cleaned." 9. "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." 10. "No matter how well managed a buffet is, it can never be sanitary. It is not reasonably possible to run a sanitary buffet business." 11. "The bread. It has to be good bread. If they can't get the bread right, they don't know anything. No chef in their right mind half-asses the bread." 12. "If the waiting staff grabs clean glasses at the top when handling them." 13. "If you ask about your food allergy and the waitstaff can't answer because they don't know what's in the food." 14. "Most often, lemons for water are really gross and dirty." 15. "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." 16. "A very well-hidden kitchen is usually a bad sign." 17. "If you order a meal that should take a long time to cook and it comes out very quickly, it’s been pre-cooked." 18. "If the area is busy but the restaurant is empty, that’s usually a bad sign." 19. "If you can smell the seafood when you walk in, then it's not fresh. Fresh seafood doesn't have that scent we usually associate with it — it doesn't get that until it's old." 20. "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." 21. "If you see lots of plates left half-full, run." 22. "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." 23. "Cheap ketchup on the table, or if they even let you see the ketchup brand." 24. "The water. Does it taste like chlorine? Does it smell like a dishwasher? Is there any odor at all as my face approaches the cup? Is the cup hot? I’ll pretty much never complain unless there’s something floating in my water, but I am always silently judging." 25. "Does it sound like it could be two or more restaurants? For example, sushi and pizza at the same place. They probably can't do either well." 26. "Ask where your oysters come from. If they don’t know, you don’t want them. This works for most seafood." 27. "My ex-husband was a chef. We always left if he saw workers not wearing nonslip shoes. He says that’s super important and if they don’t care about that, he doesn’t even want to know what the kitchen looks like." 28. "If you can smell the fryer from outside the building, get back in your car and drive on. If they don’t maintain the fryer oil, they don't deep-clean at all." 29. "Look at the wait staff's name tags. People usually keep the same name tags the entire time they work there. There should be a little bit of wear and tear on them. If everyone has brand new name tags, that means they're all new, and service is going to be slow and bad. It also shows that the restaurant isn't good at staff retention and should make you question the quality of what you're eating." 30. "My red flag is going into a busy restaurant and noticing none of the tables have food or not many customers are eating yet. This usually means the kitchen is going down in flames." 31. "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." 32. "If all anyone can talk about is the view, then you might as well go to a diner because the food will be bad (awful for what you'll pay). I've never worked nor eaten anywhere with a 'stunning view' that didn't serve lukewarm garbage at a highway robbery price." 33. "Ceiling tiles. It sounds strange but if the ceiling tiles are stained, dusty, or otherwise in poor condition, you can bet that there are things being overlooked. And if there are tiles actually missing? Run." 34. "Any bars with incredibly large/deep ice tubs. If you're going to have ice in your drink, ask when it was last emptied and cleaned. Deep tubs aren't normally emptied in a busy bar; they'll just have more ice dumped on top." 35. "Random, but if there's a fish tank, take a look at it. If it's clean, you can bet the kitchen is too." 36. "Former restaurant manager here. I judge by the cleanliness of the windowsills and chair rails, exclusively." 37. "Where's the manager and what are they doing? Do they look exhausted or are they upbeat, helpful, and engaging with their staff? Good managers tend to attract good staff which in turn leads to a good business. Bad management does exactly the opposite." 38. "Salt shakers. If the holes are clogged and the top is dirty, that thing has been refilled 100 times without being washed." 39. "Dirty restrooms. Usually, if the restrooms are dirty, so is the kitchen. They seem to go hand-in-hand." 40. "Flies. They’re attracted to spoiled food. So, if I see flies, either they’re too lazy to clean properly in the kitchen, don’t clean out their equipment or fridge, or worse, they’re using spoiled food by trimming bad parts out or using the entire thing."