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Each of us has specific standards for the quality and degree of service we want when going out to eat. However, just as the restaurant can have a variety of high-level qualities, there are some warning signs that can point to a poor eating experience or even serious health risks. Paying attention to details before and during the dining experience can help you spot warnings, which can be anything from bad food conditions to poor customer service or generally terrible food. Every time we go to a restaurant, we want to guarantee a safe and enjoyable dining experience by being aware of and avoiding these warning signs.

The red flags that indicate you are in not the best restaurant were recently discussed in this online group on Reddit. Here you can find 34 of the most liked ones we've gathered for you, and feel free to comment with your thoughts and the considerations you make when dining out!

More info: Reddit

#1

30 Red Flags To Keep An Eye On To Spot A Bad Restaurant, As Shared On This Online Group Ethnic restaurant with no customers of that ethnicity in a town with a large population of that ethnicity.

baronvonbee , itsbruce Report

#2

30 Red Flags To Keep An Eye On To Spot A Bad Restaurant, As Shared On This Online Group If you smell freshly popped popcorn, but they don't serve popcorn, they have a cockroach infestation. The smell is the result of a potent insecticide and dead roaches.

Goatmanthealien , White93 Report

#3

30 Red Flags To Keep An Eye On To Spot A Bad Restaurant, As Shared On This Online Group Long menu. Pages and pages of food that doesn’t really make sense or go together

blackaubreyplaza , Quinn Comendant Report

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Uncle Pato
Community Member
1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Cool pic, the woman looks like she's floating above the floor. She must be sitting on a stool or something.

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#4

30 Red Flags To Keep An Eye On To Spot A Bad Restaurant, As Shared On This Online Group The very moment Gordon Ramsay appears and calls the employees f*****g donkeys

Christ_Hater666 , gordongram Report

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Cuppa tea?
Community Member
1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

From what I read, it's just for TV show, once camera off, he's quite nice person. And also certain amount of British humour and attitude is involved.

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#5

30 Red Flags To Keep An Eye On To Spot A Bad Restaurant, As Shared On This Online Group A dirty bathroom means a dirty kitchen.

ManifestsOnly , Lou Stejskal Report

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LH25
Community Member
1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

The last time we went to what had been our favorite sushi place the bathroom was really dirty. We never sent back and they were closed down by the health dept not long after.

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#6

30 Red Flags To Keep An Eye On To Spot A Bad Restaurant, As Shared On This Online Group The restaurant isn't even busy but they take ages to serve you, and when they finally do they seem reluctant.

peculiar-pirate , Dušan Šimonovič Report

#7

30 Red Flags To Keep An Eye On To Spot A Bad Restaurant, As Shared On This Online Group If it smells like fish. Even fish-selling restaurants (the good ones) aren’t supposed to smell fishy. No pun intended.

Competitive-You-6317 , psyberartist Report

#8

30 Red Flags To Keep An Eye On To Spot A Bad Restaurant, As Shared On This Online Group Sushi, pizza, AND burritos are ALL on the menu.

financialfreeabroad , mike Report

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David H
Community Member
1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Well in the NYC area, it is quite common to find in many kosher place both Pizza and Sushi. Many dairy kosher restaurants have both on the menu. Many are quite good

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#9

30 Red Flags To Keep An Eye On To Spot A Bad Restaurant, As Shared On This Online Group Dirty floor, if they can’t keep the floor clean, they aren’t cleaning the important stuff.

lovelynutz , Adam Brown Report

#10

30 Red Flags To Keep An Eye On To Spot A Bad Restaurant, As Shared On This Online Group If it’s a restaurant that tries to act like it’s upscale and yet hires a bunch of teenagers to work in the kitchen or front of house. Speaking from personal experience as a past server.

SevIsGoth , Donald West Report

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Tim Nicebutdim
Community Member
1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Massively disagree on this, I went to a 3* Michelin restaurant, turned up 10 minutes before service started, there was a staff huddle in the car park, service staff mainly, all late teens early 20's, did a massive group high 5 on the end of it, good to see that level of teamwork and not something I'd seen before.They were all impeccable and the service was excellent (their boss has won many, many awards), an utter credit to their employer and themselves.

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#11

30 Red Flags To Keep An Eye On To Spot A Bad Restaurant, As Shared On This Online Group Very often the better the location, the worse the restaurant. If there’s an amazing view, they don’t need to make good food to fill tables.

legalbeaver , Rod Waddington Report

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Ana Klekijeva
Community Member
1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

This ! A nice little restaurant in Rome, just accross the street of the Colloseum. Wonderfull view, espetially durring the sunset. Worst pizza I've seen and tasted in my life 😝

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#12

30 Red Flags To Keep An Eye On To Spot A Bad Restaurant, As Shared On This Online Group Order something complicated and it comes out immediately.

prince-pauper , wewe yang Report

#13

30 Red Flags To Keep An Eye On To Spot A Bad Restaurant, As Shared On This Online Group Lots of elderly diners = bland food

Drain smell and/or fruit flies

Staff seem stressed

A really big menu usually means little of it is done well.

vibrant_crab , Vincent M.A. Janssen Report

#14

30 Red Flags To Keep An Eye On To Spot A Bad Restaurant, As Shared On This Online Group Bad lighting or sticky tables

trashbagbum , WikiConnections Report

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Uncle Pato
Community Member
1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I can deal with poor lighting as I'm sensitive to bright light, but can't do sticky tables.

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#15

30 Red Flags To Keep An Eye On To Spot A Bad Restaurant, As Shared On This Online Group The Sysco truck unloading a pallet of frozen food.

roadfood , Northwest Retail Report

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Nonbinary Reptile
Community Member
1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Not necessarily a problem, it could just be fries and onion rings. I also hate to tell everyone but unless you are on the shore and you know the fried seafood is fresh, it's probably from Sysco and it's delicious!

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#16

30 Red Flags To Keep An Eye On To Spot A Bad Restaurant, As Shared On This Online Group In university I went out with some friends and they decided to go to mid-priced restaurant before we caught a film. I was really broke so I feigned not being hungry to excuse the fact that I couldn't order anything. As we were hanging out I noticed a cockroach crawl onto the table and quickly scurry out of sight. That is one of the few times I was happy to be poor.

gildorratner , Ian Carroll Report

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Headless Roach
Community Member
1 year ago (edited) DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

What's the problem with an innocent roachie, trying to feed on mid-priced meal, for a change? Stop being so judgemental, people 🙄

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#17

30 Red Flags To Keep An Eye On To Spot A Bad Restaurant, As Shared On This Online Group Whatever is on the menu 60% is not available

XqueezeMePlease , Steven Miller Report

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Hugh Cookson
Community Member
1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Ah, to be fair, one of the best meals I ever had was at a tiny local Restaurant in rural France, where the owner / Chef bought his ingredients for the day at the local market, then made his menu round those ingredients. 2 chalkboards outside told you what was on offer and you had to wait for a table as the locals always got there early. I forget what I'd ordered (possibly an Ossobuco style dish and my girlfriend had a parma wrapped Chicken dish). Both were stupendous - we were almost the last people to get food that evening and the locals who'd arrived late had a few drinks and wandered off, not unhappy, but a bit dissappointed that he'd run out of food. Had a chat with the owner afterwards in my really bad French and he stated that he would only cook for the number of people that would'nt put him under stress but would make him a decent living, something he seemed to have achieved. Went back many years later, the restaurant was there under new management. It wasn't the same.

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#18

Not busy on a holiday, Friday, or Saturday night.

Cycleofmadness Report

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ConstantlyJon
Community Member
1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

this depends. the restaurant I work at can be not busy on holidays because we're 1 mile away from a major university. on holidays all the students are gone, so we tend to be slower.

#20

30 Red Flags To Keep An Eye On To Spot A Bad Restaurant, As Shared On This Online Group Dirty restroom, poor service, stale food.

Emotional_Tax_6741 , queennepy Report

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#21

30 Red Flags To Keep An Eye On To Spot A Bad Restaurant, As Shared On This Online Group Windows are greasy. If they don’t clean the windows then how can I trust the kitchen is cleaned and the grease is handled properly?

martusfine , Orin Zebest Report

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Craftsman 64
Community Member
1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Not a deal breaker for me. If the food is good, I'll just believe that they have a limited time to clean and the kitchen is a priority over the windows. I'm blissfully happy in my ignorance.

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#22

30 Red Flags To Keep An Eye On To Spot A Bad Restaurant, As Shared On This Online Group Years ago went to a "fancy" buffet. Kid in front of me sneezes...his height is such that he's below the glass fence thing. He was facing the food. We left, never will go to a buffet again. Not really a red flag...

skyrider8328 , shankar s. Report

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Fat Harry
Community Member
1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I would never go to a buffet anyway. People handle food and put it back, they cough and sneeze on the food, they taste soups straight from the ladle. People are disgusting. And the food at a buffet is usually really badly done anyway.

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#23

30 Red Flags To Keep An Eye On To Spot A Bad Restaurant, As Shared On This Online Group The parking lot is empty.

ConstantlySlippery , Jose Espinal Report

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𝖇𝖗𝖊𝖆𝖉𝖘𝖙𝖎𝖈𝖐
Community Member
1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Not neccesarily true. One resuarant that I know of has absolutely amazing food, but it's a smaller one and less crowded.Other people haven't discovered it yet, so I get to keep it to myself. (:

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#24

Not necessarily a "bad" restaurant, but more like "bad" circumstances...

If you ever walk into a restaurant, and no one has their food, you should just leave. The kitchen is going down in flames, and you probably won't see your food for a long, long time.

A_Gain_Again Report

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Quarkbeast
Community Member
1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I remember going into a newly opened restaurant and seeing that. We gave it a chance because it was new but after getting a drink the waitstaff disappeared. Periodically someone would sneak through the dining room and deliberately not make eye contact. After about 15-20 minutes no-one had come back to take our food order and NO-ONE in the place had been served food that whole time. We left and never went back. Place went under within about a month. Big surprise!

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#25

30 Red Flags To Keep An Eye On To Spot A Bad Restaurant, As Shared On This Online Group My big red flags are: it has less than 3.5 star reviews on google (seriously, anytime I don't follow this rule I get sick, or the food is awful), seeing that very few people have been served, filth anywhere (if I notice it), not seeing the server within 10 min after being seated, and too many flies.

billybobdankton , Angela CoffeeRank Report

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Na Schi
Community Member
1 year ago (edited) DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Completely agree with the "Google rule". Below 3.5 stars it's probably not worth (well or it's the s****y pub at the end of main road everbody goes to...). Between 3.5 to 4.0 you still can be up for a mixed experience - most of the time poor wait-staff. (Judging my middle European country.)

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#26

30 Red Flags To Keep An Eye On To Spot A Bad Restaurant, As Shared On This Online Group you don’t know if you can seat yourself or have to wait

GemmaIsMyOverlord , Clemens v. Vogelsang Report

#27

30 Red Flags To Keep An Eye On To Spot A Bad Restaurant, As Shared On This Online Group Sanitation rating isn’t in plain sight

No-Strawberry-5541 , cottonbro studio Report

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R Dennis
Community Member
1 year ago (edited) DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Not everywhere does ratings. *Edit: Even if they do, that doesn't guarantee much. My company was doing a favor for a chain to get ahead of some bad videos that were coming out, so we inspected all their restaurants in the area. I had to wait for the Health Department to finish at one - they received an excellent report from them. In the first minute, I came across cockroaches. I found severe infestations of cockroaches and rodents, a failing walk-in cooler, and sewage dripping near to-go containers in the basement. None of it was on the report. They were closed to fix the issues and I had to go back a month later. They fixed none of it. To make matters worse, someone from my company gave them a passing score on their regular inspection before I showed up for the follow up visit.

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#28

30 Red Flags To Keep An Eye On To Spot A Bad Restaurant, As Shared On This Online Group I worked at a pizza place for a few years. We made our sauce in house.

I noticed that all the pizza places that just bought the sauce and didn’t make it themselves were significantly worse

flagstaffvwguy , Thomas van de Weerd Report

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Nikki Sevven
Community Member
1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Pizza sauce is the easiest thing in the world to make. Roma tomatoes, bit of garlic, salt, and fresh basil in the blender. Done. You don't need to cook it because it'll cook in the pizza oven. (If it's too thin a sauce, throw it in the fridge and let the pectins do their thing.)

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#29

30 Red Flags To Keep An Eye On To Spot A Bad Restaurant, As Shared On This Online Group Carpeting throughout

rollercoaster_5 , rlb78 Report

#30

30 Red Flags To Keep An Eye On To Spot A Bad Restaurant, As Shared On This Online Group Slot machine.

TheLooseJointedCat , Alan Kotok Report

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Carole G.
Community Member
1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I won $1,000 on one of these, back when $1000 was worth something. It was a very happy day!

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#31

30 Red Flags To Keep An Eye On To Spot A Bad Restaurant, As Shared On This Online Group Rude staff or careless staff

Plates and water are dirty

Your order takes forever to come

Tables and chairs have food spills

throwawayaccountuse1 , Pixabay Report

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#32

Chef with a white stained t shirt, not wearing gloves, and wiping sweat from his face with his t shirt.

zryan3564 Report

#33

30 Red Flags To Keep An Eye On To Spot A Bad Restaurant, As Shared On This Online Group Kind of specific, but check to see if there is warm running water in the bathroom sinks. Warm water kills the must germs, and the staff must wash their hands. If the bathroom doesn't have warm running water, chances are the staff don't have warm running water in the kitchen, having dirty hands.

Also, check for clean dishes. If there are glass smudges or lipstick stains, food pieces stuck on utensils or plates, or if they feel greasy, that's a good sign that the establishment doesn't care about hygiene.

Dirty uniforms, hair down, open wounds on hands.

Long story short, you want an establishment that prioritizes hygiene.

Wild-Garbage-9050 , Nithin PA Report

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#34

There’s no food or menus or wait staff or windows. Only a bed mattress and a door that locks from the outside

Mexican_mamba028 Report