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Anyone with restaurant experience can attest how tiresome, fun, frustrating, entertaining, and intense it can get. That’s because while working there, they get to experience everything—the good, the bad, and the ugly.

That typically entails familiarizing oneself with all the ins and outs of the industry, including its darkest secrets. Redditor u/PocketGoblix has recently addressed the restaurant workers of the ‘Ask Reddit’ community asking about said secrets; they wanted to know what people who frequent such places should know. Scroll down to find the redditors’ answers on the list below and see what dirty secrets are hidden behind restaurant walls.

Bored Panda has reached out to the OP and they were kind enough to answer a few of our questions. You will find their thoughts in the text below.

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#1

“Everyone Will Hate You”: 35 Restaurant Workers Reveal Dirty Secrets You Might Not Want To Know I'm guessing my comment will get lost in all of this, but here goes. Managed restaurants for over 25 years and my #1 piece of advice is to stop going to any restaurant that is always hiring. No one is more likely to give you food poisoning than understaffed, undertrained, overworked brand new employees.

doughty247 , Mr. Blue MauMau (not the actual photo) Report

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#2

“Everyone Will Hate You”: 35 Restaurant Workers Reveal Dirty Secrets You Might Not Want To Know Any kitchen I've worked in (been many years) you did NOT f**k with people's food. You didn't joke about it, you didn't threaten to do it, it was not amusing. Not like sending out a wrong temp steak or slow working a ticket if a table sucked, that kind of thing was fine, you can f**k with people. But you didn't adulter the food. No bodily fluids, no foreign substances, you send out clean food and you don't f**k with that.

uncre8tv , Pixabay (not the actual photo) Report

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Moë
Moë
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10 months ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Agree 💯 that would be an automatic termination

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#3

“Everyone Will Hate You”: 35 Restaurant Workers Reveal Dirty Secrets You Might Not Want To Know That the staff hates when religious groups come in. Like a lot. Christians were always the WORST! Church group comes in and you know they're gonna be high maintenance and loud af, Karen WILL complain and you're lucky if they tip you. Always hated the Sunday crowd.

freebirdie100 , Viktoria Danielová (not the actual photo) Report

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Ray Ceeya (RayCeeYa)
Ray Ceeya (RayCeeYa)
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10 months ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I worked a brunch place that was popular with the after church crowd and I can confirm. The waitress can't feed her kids with bible quotes and good intentions. She needs MONEY so she can buy FOOD.

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In a recent interview, the OP told Bored Panda that they used to work in a restaurant themselves, which is why they became curious about the experiences of others in the food service industry.

They revealed that they were a part of it back in their teenage years and shared that, compared to the answers from fellow redditors, their former place of employment didn’t have very many dirty secrets.
#4

“Everyone Will Hate You”: 35 Restaurant Workers Reveal Dirty Secrets You Might Not Want To Know If you order from pizza delivery places regularly, you will be treated different depending on how you treat the staff. A lot of systems have sections to leave notes on customers.

Personally, if I knew the person was cool I would hook them up with discounts, or as much cheese and peppers and napkins as I could stuff in their bags.

If they were jerks, it was always "Whoops, sorry buddy, just ran out!".

shartnado3 , Norma Mortenson (not the actual photo) Report

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#5

The cleanest food you can get grilled is waffle house. Everyone can see the grill. It's cleaned with a grill brick every day. Police come and eat there all day. If you want to bag on the House, go ahead, but I worked that grill, and I can tell you, it's clean.

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The OP said they were very surprised about the amount of similar answers they saw in the thread. “Many of the comments repeated the same ‘secrets’, confirming the fact that it must be a very common thing; for example, not washing silverware properly.”

Unfortunately, said secrets are rarely ever positive and likely more common than customers would like them to be. A 2014 investigation of public health inspection reports from national chain restaurants in Canada has found that nearly one fourth of them reported at least one major violation.
#6

“Everyone Will Hate You”: 35 Restaurant Workers Reveal Dirty Secrets You Might Not Want To Know Don't come in 10 minutes to close. Everyone will hate you.

HarveyMushman72 , Tim Mossholder (not the actual photo) Report

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#7

“Everyone Will Hate You”: 35 Restaurant Workers Reveal Dirty Secrets You Might Not Want To Know Most restaurants are lawless, godless s**t shows staffed and run by alcoholics, addicts, and idiots. You'll never have more fun at work or meet more awesome people though. I miss it terribly.

Appropriate-End714 , Andrea Piacquadio (not the actual photo) Report

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#8

“Everyone Will Hate You”: 35 Restaurant Workers Reveal Dirty Secrets You Might Not Want To Know Contrary to popular belief, in my city at least, food trucks are inspected much more frequently and thoroughly than brick and mortars. The health inspector tends to show up at every single event/festival and inspects all food service. For some trucks, this can mean multiple inspections PER WEEK.

So, in general in my city, food trucks are far more sanitary than most restaurants.

killplow , RDNE Stock project (not the actual photo) Report

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Gustav Gallifrey
Gustav Gallifrey
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10 months ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Presumably, the health inspector enjoys food-truck fare more than he/she does sit-down restaurant food.

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Just a couple of years ago, in 2022, there were roughly 12.5 million people working in the food service industry in the US, marking a slight increase from the 11.2 million a year before, Statista reports. It is unclear how many of them bear witness to secrets that stay behind the closed doors of restaurants, but the members of the ‘Ask Reddit’ community who did didn’t seem to shy away from sharing their experiences with fellow food service workers.
#9

“Everyone Will Hate You”: 35 Restaurant Workers Reveal Dirty Secrets You Might Not Want To Know Stuff is microwaved a lot more than you expect.

Bugaloon , Andy Melton (not the actual photo) Report

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#10

“Everyone Will Hate You”: 35 Restaurant Workers Reveal Dirty Secrets You Might Not Want To Know There are exceptions but most people who own restaurants are horrible people. The business attracts the worst kind of people to work for because it's easy to take advantage of people who need money, are easily replaceable and often undocumented immigrants. Sexual harassment is very common with usually no consequences. If you work for a big company that has HR then maybe you can report your handsy manager but when it's a mom and pop type place and pop is the boss then you can either quit or deal with it. I have been lucky enough to work for a couple of really great bar owners but in my experience most of them are smarmy, greedy little shits with God complexes and bad breath that put their grubby little hands all over their staff if they can get away with it and try to squeeze as much labor out of people for the smallest amount of money and have zero appreciation for anyone.

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Vicki Doggurl
Vicki Doggurl
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10 months ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Very true. Very sad, but unfortunately small time restaurantt owners get away with a lot of “hands on” tricks bc they know the wait staff will put up with it and still work for literal pennies! Been there, done thank.

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#11

“Everyone Will Hate You”: 35 Restaurant Workers Reveal Dirty Secrets You Might Not Want To Know Pasta is one of the highest-mark-up items on the menu (with soft drinks being #1 by a country mile). A plate of pasta that costs $15 to order probably cost $1 to make.

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Ray Ceeya (RayCeeYa)
Ray Ceeya (RayCeeYa)
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10 months ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Actually the highest isn't even in a restaurant, it's in a movie theatre. You can get away with over 5000% markup on popcorn at a theatre. It's so cheap it's almost free.

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#12

“Everyone Will Hate You”: 35 Restaurant Workers Reveal Dirty Secrets You Might Not Want To Know The special is just some meat or fish that is a day away from going bad.

Kyadagum_Dulgadee , Christine McIntosh (not the actual photo) Report

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#13

“Everyone Will Hate You”: 35 Restaurant Workers Reveal Dirty Secrets You Might Not Want To Know The amount of food that comes frozen, from a plastic bag and straight into the microwave is shocking.

jetlee7 , Marco Verch (not the actual photo) Report

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Ray Ceeya (RayCeeYa)
Ray Ceeya (RayCeeYa)
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10 months ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

When I worked at Pizza Hut in the '90s, ALL the deep dish/pan pizza dough was frozen. Oil the pan, put the frozen dough disk in the pan and put the pan in the proofer. Three hours later, dough ready to go.

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#14

“Everyone Will Hate You”: 35 Restaurant Workers Reveal Dirty Secrets You Might Not Want To Know They work sick. All the time. While handling your food. Especially while handling your food.

Mundane-Gap6009 , Polina Tankilevitch (not the actual photo) Report

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Pittsburgh rare
Pittsburgh rare
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10 months ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

If they don't have paid sick leaves that's what ends up happening

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#15

“Everyone Will Hate You”: 35 Restaurant Workers Reveal Dirty Secrets You Might Not Want To Know Our ranch was just the Hidden Valley seasoning packets, following the recipe on the back. The only difference, our ‘secret’ ingredient if you will, was just using buttermilk instead of regular milk. People would come in regularly just to buy our ranch, still blows my mind.

donn_jolly , Willis Lam (not the actual photo) Report

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AtMostTheFabulist
AtMostTheFabulist
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Premium 10 months ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I really don't understand the obsession with ranch dressing. How can you dip your toast in ranch and then eat it? 🤢🤮

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#16

“Everyone Will Hate You”: 35 Restaurant Workers Reveal Dirty Secrets You Might Not Want To Know The delicious brownies sold for 10$ a slice? Yeah, that's Duncan Hines.

seeasea , Mike Mozart (not the actual photo) Report

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#17

“Everyone Will Hate You”: 35 Restaurant Workers Reveal Dirty Secrets You Might Not Want To Know If you wait tables, find something in common with your guest. Even if it’s a lie. I used to tell people I had family where the were from, tell people I used to live where they are from, tell them I graduated from their university. Really whatever it took to create a larger tip. People are more willing to give to someone they share things in common with. Never be overly nice either. People don’t like you to sound fake. So that’s my secret, oops.

CountVoodoo77 , Andrea Piacquadio (not the actual photo) Report

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SCamp
SCamp
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10 months ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

‘Whatever it took to create a larger tip’ 🤔 Another reason I hate US-style tip culture

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#18

A good portion of the entire restaurant industry, especially fine dining, relies on undocumented workers for menial labor like cooking/prep cooking, washing dishes, and cleaning. They intentionally hire these people to exploit them and pay them far less than the minimum legal rate.

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Gustav Gallifrey
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10 months ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

The US economy would probably collapse without a massive army of undocumented workers who can be underpaid, exploited and terrorised into compliance.

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#19

“Everyone Will Hate You”: 35 Restaurant Workers Reveal Dirty Secrets You Might Not Want To Know You should not drink fountain drinks. If you knew what the hoses inside looked like and how rarely they were cleaned you’d never touch one again.

FeebysPaperBoat , Phillip Pessar (not the actual photo) Report

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#20

“Everyone Will Hate You”: 35 Restaurant Workers Reveal Dirty Secrets You Might Not Want To Know Where I worked, we knew most of the time when the health inspector was turning up. We also tried to delay letting them into the kitchen. Also, some health inspectors don't really give a s**t.

stuloch , cottonbro studio (not the actual photo) Report

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Pandapoo
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10 months ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

As a teenager, at the place I worked at, the inspector would stay for lunch after the inspection. They had awesome food and of course a very clean establishment.

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#21

“Everyone Will Hate You”: 35 Restaurant Workers Reveal Dirty Secrets You Might Not Want To Know The rags used to wipe your table were used to wipe several dozen other tables before yours in addition to any other surfaces that needed wiping before you showed up. They are disgusting.

JohnnyPolite , Ketut Subiyanto (not the actual photo) Report

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Pittsburgh rare
Pittsburgh rare
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10 months ago (edited) DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Unless you're licking the table you should be fine. Also, hardly a secret. Did they think they get a new rag for every table?

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#22

“Everyone Will Hate You”: 35 Restaurant Workers Reveal Dirty Secrets You Might Not Want To Know I once worked at an upscale, no children allowed on the property bed and breakfast ... and the staff was instructed to save everything. Someone didn't finish their milk? Pour it back into the container for the next meal. Only ate part of their steak? Cut off the rest, slice it thin, and now we have steak for breakfast. And it was everything served. Butter, vegetables, desserts ... just everything. So f*****g disgusting. But I was young and didn't know you could report them. Luckily, I was just a maid but I still feel bad that I didn't do anything to stop it.

zombiegirl_me , Fredrik Rubensson (not the actual photo) Report

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#23

“Everyone Will Hate You”: 35 Restaurant Workers Reveal Dirty Secrets You Might Not Want To Know Truffle oil is fake in most restaurants, do your own research on what it’s actually made with.

anunhappyending , David Jackmanson (not the actual photo) Report

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timhood
timhood
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10 months ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

So my own research? In the time it took you to type that, you could have just told me. SMH

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#24

When I worked in a restaurant (Cajun/Creole bar and grill, the owner was from Baton Rouge) we kept it clean and followed code even if the inspector wasn’t coming, so nothing “dirty” really, but…

We cold-brewed our iced tea by filling huge Rubbermaid trash cans (they were dedicated for this, had never been used for their manufactured purpose) with cold water and throwing a few kitchen-sized tea bags in them before leaving them in the walk-in overnight. We filled them with a hose attached to the sink while they were in the walk-in otherwise they’d be too heavy to move. We’d fill the tea dispensers by drawing it from the trash cans with small buckets. We would go through two of those f*****s a day, and the little bit remaining at night would be emptied, and the cans would be cleaned with bleach water and hosed out thoroughly before being refilled again.

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PFD
PFD
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10 months ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Some of these supposed dirty secrets end up sounding like helpful tips instead

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#25

The staff is sleeping with each other.

esoteric_enigma:

As someone who managed restaurants for years I can confirm this. Half of my problems stemmed from drama that led back to someone on staff fucking or not fucking anymore. But to be fair it's not just food service. I have friends who worked in retail and basically everyone there is fucking too. If it's a mall, it's damn near an orgy.

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10 months ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Can confirm as well, though I'm kinda the dad who watches over all the children and talk to them about all of their relationship problems. I try to have the backs of the ladies who get hit on waaaay too much by cooks who have no boundaries or social cues. I tell them "I'm not your wingman. I'm the father of a teenage girl. I will cut your d**k off and throw it in the dumpster out back."

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#26

Sexual assault and harassment is still very common in the industry. Anthony Bourdain was nice enough to discuss this topic.

Corporate run restaurants have procedures to deal with this issue, but non-corporate restaurants turn a total blind eye.

If you work at a place where you feel unsafe, be careful about your personal safety.

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Ray Ceeya (RayCeeYa)
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10 months ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

18 years ago I was part of the opening staff of a new brewpub. We were open for less than six months before the first manager got fired for sexual harassment. The closing waitresses always asked me to walk them to their cars. I figured it was because they were afraid of getting mugged. No they were afraid of our bar manager.

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#27

“Everyone Will Hate You”: 35 Restaurant Workers Reveal Dirty Secrets You Might Not Want To Know You would be REALLY surprised with what restaurants can legally get away with as it pertains to cleanliness. Stuff that you think would absolutely get a restaurant shut down is just a simple warning from a health inspector.

You think the restaurant you eat in is pest free? Think again. Even the nicest, outwardly cleanest-looking restaurants have roaches and rats. You can’t eliminate them - you can only manage them.

FormerLifeFreak , Domas Mituzas (not the actual photo) Report

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10 months ago (edited) DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

It's not about that they are there, but how many and where exactly they are. I worked in two bakeries. Both had mice. I would take home food from one of them but not the other. In one of them the mice came through the doors and never too many, but due to generally being as hygienic as possible and using appropriate storage containers, they weren't in the foods or ingredients, they merely were on the floor and behind corners and lived of the unavoidable spills and kernels falling onto the floor in the loading areas. In the other bakery they came through the walls already since no one bothered to ever move the storage cupboards to clean behind and since the storage was problematic, they lived behind furniture and machines and were everywhere. I wouldn't buy from a that bakery since I saw people clean mice droppings from sheet pans right before use, something that never happened in the other bakery. But yes, both had mice. You couldn't prevent it completely.

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#28

In most places in the US, your tips are the servers wages. The tipped wage minimum in the US is $2.13/hr. Any tipped employee can make below minimum wage, so often a server has to tip out the bar tenders and other staff. The restaurant is supposed to make up the difference if you don’t hit normal minimum wage. Often, they don’t. Wage theft is not everywhere, but is common.

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Ray Ceeya (RayCeeYa)
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10 months ago (edited) DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Not here in Oregon. Minimum wage is $15/hr and you will make fifteen an hour, before tips, or BOLI will shut the whole place down.

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#29

“Everyone Will Hate You”: 35 Restaurant Workers Reveal Dirty Secrets You Might Not Want To Know I worked for a pizza place in college. The hot wing sauce was just straight Frank's (I think it was Durkee brand back then and later changed to Frank's). The mild and medium were Frank's diluted with liquid butter... ungodly amounts of liquid butter.

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Angela C
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10 months ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

In fairness that was basically how it was originally made

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#30

Hand-washing by the cooks sometimes was just a quick rinse in the pot sink water. But those same cooks prepared my free shift-meal with those dirty hands, and I ate it, often sitting on a milk crate next to a dumpster. Now, restaurants are best-enjoyed by forgetting I ever worked in them.

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Fall F.
Fall F.
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10 months ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I always had kitchen chefs, who went in Gordon Ramsay, when somebody doesn't wash their hands properly coming back from a break or changing posts, working with different food items.

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#31

Many people in the biz have substance abuse issues or personality disorders.

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Bonesko
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10 months ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Yup. I'm 3 glasses of wine in and just popped a gummy. I hate my job 😔

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#32

“Everyone Will Hate You”: 35 Restaurant Workers Reveal Dirty Secrets You Might Not Want To Know I worked at Chipotle for about a year. We did not clean the ice machine or soda machine that entire time. It honestly didn’t even cross our minds. The rest of the restaurant was spotless though so that’s good I suppose. 

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10 months ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Until someone files a complaint with the health department, because they got sick.

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#33

We served instant potatoes (like from a powder) mixed with boursin to a $500/plate event because our exec was a moron (and banging the owner) and forgot to order. They got rave reviews because boursin is amazing.

This is probably more common than anyone who pays that much for a dinner cares to know.

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Gustav Gallifrey
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10 months ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

You go to, like, an 'Irish pub' or something that has 'shepherd's pie' on the menu. Guess what? It's topped with instant mash. There's no way anyone is peeling, chopping, boiling, mashing a whole lot of spuds for something you can do with just boiling water. Jazz it up with some milk, some butter, some cheese, whatever, but it's still instant, and no-one ever complains that the mash isn't 'real', because it's good. Same for most whipped/creamed/mashed potato items.

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#34

Worked in a place that has won "Best Pizza" in the city awards in a large regional city, nearly a million population and lots of restaurants.

All of the ingredients they used were bought prepared from supplier from crust, to sauce, shredded cheese.

There were no culinary skills involved. Customers could have made the same pizza with a Kraft pizza kit from the grocery store. Yet everyone right up to food critics just f*****g raved about this pizza.

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Ray Ceeya (RayCeeYa)
Ray Ceeya (RayCeeYa)
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10 months ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Too many pizza places are like this. The one that gets me is the bagged shredded cheese. I can tell the difference. Fresh shredded gives you that authentic stretchy melted cheese you used to see at pizza places until the '90s. The pre-shred has anti-cake like corn starch added to keep it from clumping together. So no more gooey stretchy cheese. :(

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#35

“Everyone Will Hate You”: 35 Restaurant Workers Reveal Dirty Secrets You Might Not Want To Know Sometimes your ginger ale is sprite with a splash of coke.

Appropriate-End714:

And if you think you can tell, I promise you can't.

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timhood
timhood
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10 months ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I'm going to try this because I think I can tell. Ginger ale has a snap that the Coke can't replicate. And Sprite is too sweet to be the base.

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#36

All you need to know is what the carpet or floor looks like at the kitchen exit. If it’s dirty, go somewhere else. If the toilets are dirty, go somewhere else. As a hygiene barometer, they’re pretty accurate. Loads of restaurants have pests which come and go: it’s a part of life, especially in old city centre buildings, but if a cockroach lands on your head, then you’re better off not coming back.

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Papa
Papa
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10 months ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I agree with this one. My wife and I went to a restaurant a few years ago. The food and prices were okay, but when I was in the men's room I made a line in the soap scum in the sink in the restroom with my fingernail. I told our waitress about it. We went back a week or so later, and guess what? That mark was still there. We didn't go back.

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#37

We absolutely judge you not just for what you ordered, but how you talk to us. Yes, we gossip and laugh at you. Learn how to act in public if you don’t like it.

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#38

The ice cream/milkshake machine is never broken…

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#39

Lettuce is *the* grossest thing at a restaurant. Comes with bugs, dirt, and s**t. Large vegetable spinners can hold water for days. Cross contamination is a huge concern because it's never heated. I've almost come to blows over my sanitized lettuce sink.

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Darth Kittius
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10 months ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I'm gonna push back on this one a bit. Until recently, I worked salad at a local restaurant. We always thoroughly washed our salad, then chopped and mixed oourselves. I was always extremely careful with cross-contamination and cleaned the station often and changed my gloved after each order.

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#40

Behind the scenes, all kitchens and staff (front of house and back of house) are all the same. It doesn’t matter if you are eating at the most fine dining establishments imaginable/5-star rated places, or chain restaurants or tiny little dumps- the kitchen guys are swearing like sailors, tatted up and may be on work release, and are blasting their rap music (if allowed), servers can go from super professional and polite, to cussing and talking s**t about their customers. All of the behind the scenes drama is all the same, from one place to another. 

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Momo Skarsgård
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10 months ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Ok so? Are they not allowed to be themselves? This one is dumb af, so what if they do all of that? Just because they working doesn't mean they are going to stop being themselves.

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#41

When fajitas come to your table all sizzley, it's just a mixture that is sprayed onto the hot plate the moment the food is about to leave the kitchen that makes it do that.

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#42

That the secret sauce at Bronco Burger is ketchup and mayonaise.

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#43

The margins are razor thin, which means most joints are going to buy the cheapest ingredients in bulk that they can find. Only rarely, as in my experience, does the restaurant buy only from local producers in small batched at exorbitant prices, but the end quality is exceptional. Support those precious few places that do it this way—they are putting you the customer first.

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iseefractals
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10 months ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Profit margins for U.S based Restaurants is 2-5%, with most being closer to the low end than the high.

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#44

“Everyone Will Hate You”: 35 Restaurant Workers Reveal Dirty Secrets You Might Not Want To Know The dishwashers I worked with would eat whatever the customer didn't finish.

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AtMostTheFabulist
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Premium 10 months ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I worked at Wendy's years ago and a co-worker would do this. He would eat around where the customer had eaten. I don't think he had a lot of food at home.

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#45

If your beer is flat or comes out tasting weird/off it’s because there is chemical residue inside of the cup which means the dishwasher isn’t washing properly.

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Bogdan Chelariu
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10 months ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Or it just means the owners are cheapskates and use less gas on the tap... or the tank is almost empty!

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#46

Ask the server what they eat on their shift comp/discounted meal. Then order it exactly the way they do.

Just got a Wygu burger no mushrooms tonight.

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Hobby Hopper
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10 months ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

There was another post on BP some time back where server said they made fun of people that asked for recommendations.

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#47

All cut fruit is disgusting. Lemons, limes. Don’t put it in your drink. It’s been touched by 30 people and probably fallen on the floor. Also has some bar liquid on it.

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10 months ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I kinda feel most of the posters on this thread are folks who just worked in bad places. I worked in 4 different food serving businesses, none of them ran in this horrible way

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#48

Not a restaurant, but a high end movie theatre. I'll never eat "fresh" movie theater food again.

Hot dogs: Always super overcooked and came in bags that smelled awful and didn't have expiration dates on them, so it was a mystery how old they were when they went out on the heated rollers.

Nachos: The chips were fine, but the nacho cheese that came with them was usually so gelatinous that we had to cut it with whatever oil we had on hand to get it to an edible consistency.

Popcorn: We'd always pop it on a big opening night or, more often, Friday night as that was always our busiest day. We'd pop it then because customers could see it and it gave the impression that the popcorn they were eating was fresh. It wasn't. It was at the very least 2 days old and, more often than not, a week old. Whatever we popped on that Friday, we'd bag in these giant, thick yellow plastic bags while the popcorn was still hot (usually burning little holes in the, I'm assuming, food-grade safe plastic, but honestly who knows) and keep in the back for up to 7 days. Then we'd take the least fresh bag, rip it open and toss the popcorn into the heated cabinet, and shovel that into the bucket you ordered.

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timhood
timhood
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10 months ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I've had that old popcorn once, and it's very obvious when it's not fresh. No more going to that theatre. The theatre we go to pops fresh every day. Most of the time, it's popping right in front of my eyes.

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#49

I have seen parasites pulled out of fresh fish that was longer than my arm on multiple occasions, and there is no way to make sure you got all of them out.

Food hits the floor and goes on the plate far far more often than you would think.

Some places only give cooks a certain number of towels a shift and everything gets wiped off with the same dirty towels all night.

Just because you're eating at I fine dining restaurant doesn't mean everyone in the kitchen is a chef. Sometimes is just a bunch of criminals and teenagers sometimes working their first kitchen job.

Cooking is easy. Most people just don't want to learn proper techniques. Because of that, we roast you every time you order something like Alfredo that you can just make at home for literally 4 dollars.


But mostly everyone is overworked, underpaid, and on drugs.

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WhatEvenIsLife
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10 months ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I like to cook and know how to make alfredo from scratch. It's definitely cheap and easy. But sometimes you just want to sit back and let someone else do all the work - including the after dinner dishes. Not having to do the dishes after cooking feels like a whole damn vacation.

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#50

Sometimes those little cherry tomatoes in your salad accidentally roll off the counter, onto the floor, and then are picked up and tossed right back into your salad.

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#51

If you want to test out your gag reflex, volunteer to clean the soda drip tubes and drains. Never have you seen such putrid yellow snot. A real pleasurable texture in the hand…

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Awesome At Being Autistic
Awesome At Being Autistic
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10 months ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

If those are not being cleaned nightly your restaurant is being run by dirty büggers.

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#52

Many times the species fish you order is not the species of fish you get. 1/2 finished bottles of wine were often drank by the staff, I did often when I was working. I'm in recovery now.

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10 months ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Seafood fraud is too common in stores, too. Get your seafood from Costco.

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#53

At Chick-Fil-A, the workers who make the food wear gloves and hair nets but the workers who bag it don’t wear anything at all. So your fries and milkshakes and everything are all touched by the employees.

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Ray Ceeya (RayCeeYa)
Ray Ceeya (RayCeeYa)
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10 months ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

"but the workers who bag it don’t wear anything at all." Wait, Chick-Fil-A lets their staff work NAKED?!? They're more progressive than I thought.

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#54

90% of what a lot of restaurants serve is prepackaged. The only thing they do is heat it up and sometimes that’s as easy as throwing it in a microwave. Just because it says homemade or hand breaded means absolutely nothing. Your could probably buy the same stuff from Restaurant Depot for a fraction of cost but you’d get a hell of a lot of it.

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#55

Do not ever buy the second most expensive wine on the list. Here is why:

The most expensive bottle is clearly pretentious. So the macho dude knows that and because he know nothing, he picks the second most expensive bottle. And that is the one that is double the price that it should be. It is probably awful.

Instead, you should know what wines you like: Merlot, Melbec, Cabernet, or what ever. Look for the flavor you like and pick that.

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10 months ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

This from someone who clearly knows nothing about wine. Ordering based solely on grape variety is not a reliable way of getting a decent wine.

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#56

“Everyone Will Hate You”: 35 Restaurant Workers Reveal Dirty Secrets You Might Not Want To Know Silverware is not always as clean as people might think.

In HS I worked at a major chain Asian restaurant. The silverware would go through the wash and come out. After the wash there would still be peels of vegetables stuck to the back of spoons that would just be flicked off post wash and placed into the clean rotation.

Every time I go back I always request plastic ware.

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PFD
PFD
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10 months ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Well I guess said vegetable peels were nice and clean by then anyway!

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#57

They usually don't remake your food. They'll refry it or microwave it. If your order is messed up or cold, ask for the manager to remake it. They are more inclined to physically recook the item because they don't want to have to discount your check.

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Warrior Mama
Warrior Mama
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10 months ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

One time a restaurant forgot to remove nuts from my husband's salad to which he has a deadly allergy. The salad they brought back looked suspiciously mussed up, so I looked through it just to be sure (he's also vision impaired), and they had only picked the visible nuts off the top - there were still lots of fragments lower down. So terrifying!

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#58

The nacho machine that spits out that nasty orange sludge can get really gross. Don’t EVER order the nacho sludge.

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#59

“Everyone Will Hate You”: 35 Restaurant Workers Reveal Dirty Secrets You Might Not Want To Know No matter how clean it looks. It's not. Even a place that passes an inspection is disgusting.

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Snowhoepandapro
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10 months ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Not all the time I take pride in how clean my kitchens are, pull out a fridge and you will see! lol

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#60

When you send your utensil back because it’s not clean enough we just run it under water for like 2 seconds. No soap or anything, just water.

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Crystal Kelley
Crystal Kelley
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10 months ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I didn't. I got them a different set. Why would anyone do this? That would take longer.

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#61

I worked at a Pub and every so often someone comes to clean out the grease traps. The guy was cool and talkative cause some processes took longer and he just had to wait till it was done. He worked at many many places. I asked him. “What’s the worst place you have to clean?” He said without even thinking. “Swiss Chalet, it can take up a whole day”.

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Lee F.
Lee F.
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10 months ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Waaahhhh Chalet is my comfort food. Only reason I started eating again after losing my late partner. I choose to ignore this because I don't only eat this anymore.

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#62

“Everyone Will Hate You”: 35 Restaurant Workers Reveal Dirty Secrets You Might Not Want To Know 9 times out of 10 McDonald’s has roaches in their McCafe machines.

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#63

Everything is overpriced, all you're paying for is convenience and decorations.

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Michael Fernandez
Michael Fernandez
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10 months ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I don’t understand how this is a secret. Restaurants are defined as places where they prepare food for money.

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#64

Been in so many different kitchens and seen a lot of yuck, but I used to service a prominent pie place and they stored the pie filling in trash cans. Not dedicated cans or drums for food, but clearly used for garbage trash cans.

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#65

The more fiddly and expensive your food, the more hands have touched it (probably gloveless) and the more likely the chefs dropped sweat in it.

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Momo Skarsgård
Momo Skarsgård
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10 months ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

This is also stupid, it has nothing to do with how fancy the meal is. Ugh the idiocy on this one is strong.

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#66

If you order a "water and a - -" and then do not drink the water, you are being judged, and you're automatically one of the most annoying people in the place.

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Crystal Kelley
Crystal Kelley
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10 months ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I automatically brought a glass of water to my guests that order alcohol. I want my people to be hydrated. I would even joke about that with the ones that you know you can joke with.

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