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Travel season is upon us, as we in the Northern Hemisphere welcome summer and its promise of being a tourist. And what better way to experience a culture than to dive into its cuisine? I'm sure many of us will be looking for places to eat during our vacations.
That's why today we're bringing you the things people advise you to look out for when picking where to eat. One netizen recently asked: "What are red flags at a restaurant?" And people made many observations, from disaffected-looking staff to dirty premises and formerly alive fruit flies on the windowsills.
What things make you want to leave a restaurant immediately? Let us know in the comments, and don't forget to upvote your favorite submissions below!
Bored Panda reached out to Professional Chef Eugene Wong to know more about red flags in restaurants. Today, Eugene is an online content creator, sharing his expertise and cooking tips with people on TikTok. But for more than 20 years, he was a professional chef, including in Michelin restaurants. Read his recommendations on what to pay attention to when deciding whether a restaurant is worth it below!
More info: The Euge Food | Instagram | TikTok | YouTube | X | Facebook
This post may include affiliate links.
#1
I was 3 weeks in waitressing at a new job about 12 years ago, a local Tex-Mex chain in the south Austin/San Marcos area. I was told to stop throwing out the remaining salsa that tables had left over after they paid out. I was explicitly told to pour the salsa back into the giant tub in the walk-in fridge so it wouldn't be wasted. I never showed up for another shift. That is f*****g disgusting.
The place was called Casa Maria, BTW. Beware if you ever eat there.
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#2
I'm an ex-restaurant manager, and I always look at how happy the staff looks. Do they seem like they like their jobs? You won't get quality food or service if the staff are miserable. It's worth seeking out restaurants that treat their staff well. If they're treated well, they'll treat you well.
Joann Hart 6 months ago
If someone just had some miserable customers, then that could affect the staff.
#3
A sign on the front door threatening health inspectors.
Luis Hernandez Dauajare 6 months ago
America land of the free... And surely home of the brave to venture into these places.
As a person who's worked in professional kitchens for more than 20 years, Eugene Wong has tips for people about what they should worry about when deciding where to eat. He says that the top red flags are often cleanliness and the staff's behavior and appearance.
"Look if the restaurant is busy [and] check if you can catch a glimpse of the kitchen to see if it's clean and if the chefs are maintaining proper hygiene, i.e., clean aprons, clean floors, and clean work stations," Eugene tells Bored Panda.
When it comes to the staff, he advises diners to pay attention to their moods. "Observe if the hostesses and servers seem generally happy and nice versus stressed out. This can be a good indicator of the overall work environment and management."
#4
For me one time it was hearing 4 or 5 waitresses standing in a group, that I could clearly hear, arguing about which one of them was NOT going to take my table. I sat there for 15 minutes, and evidently all of them had won the argument because none of them came. There were like, me and 2 other people in the whole place. I saw why they had no customers in that place. I got up and left.
Rob D 6 months ago (edited)
Generally this is awful. But I remember back in my server days there were two couples that came in together after church every Sunday. We got to the point of audibly arguing in front of them, at the host stand, who would have to take them. After months of bad tipping, meal splitting and arguing for expired coupons the whole staff knew them. So, yeah, if as presented, this is lazy...if this customer was a s****y regular. Oh well.
#5
Uncleaned toilets.
#6
In NYC, C or lower rating or TBD health department rating in the window.
I work service so to me a B is no biggie. Generally not too many horrifying issues to end up with a B. Can just end up with an intense inspector.
No rating means they were inspected and didn't get an A so they are in the period where they can go to court and show they fixed things to get a better grade. So at your own risk. They could be a B trying to get an A. Or a D trying to get something lol
But displaying a C or D takes extra effort to be incompetent.
When you are inspected you are given a chance to rectify the issues. This means nobody fixed what was wrong and were cool with just accepting that and continuing to operate. Things they might be ignoring.
- bug infestations
- rodent droppings
- poorly documented pantry/expiration dates. No when opened dates on opened food/drink
- improper sanitation efforts
- leaks, plumbing issues, etc.
- illegal layout/operations
- improper daily cleaning
And on and on. I'll pass on those places!
Tiggy Darling 6 months ago
In the UK we have star ratings. I did a food hygiene course and the trainer told us all to avoid anywhere with less than 3 stars out of a possible 5. Anybody with a bit of common sense can get 3 stars or more, but less than that they must be blowing their nose on bacon or something.
When me and my friends are picking a place to eat, the top priority is usually the menu. One, because most of us don't eat meat, and two, we want to know if the restaurant has what we like! Menus can reveal some red flags about restaurants, too. Usually, the rule "less is more" can be applied here.
"When a menu has too many items, it's a red flag for me," Eugene tells us. "Except for Chinese places," he adds. "Restaurants, in my opinion, should specialize in a type of dish or cuisine and have other dishes that complement [this]. A large, unfocused menu can indicate that the restaurant might be trying to do too much, often at the expense of quality."
#7
Too many items on the menu. It's a sign that a restaurant probably uses all frozen food. Nothing against frozen food. It's ideal for some things. Some things, not all things.
#9
Someone said this to me last year, and in every single instance, it has held true.
If the restaurant has any sort of smell that isn't food, don't eat there.
Like a mildew carpet smell, or bathrooms that smell moldy.
Have you ever found yourself in a pretty sketchy place and weren't sure whether the restaurant's food safety standards were up to par? Without having to outright ask your server about it, you can do some subtle checks. "Check the bathrooms," Eugene recommends. "If they are dirty, chances are the rest of the place is, too. Cleanliness in the bathrooms usually reflects the cleanliness standards maintained throughout the restaurant."
#10
As someone who used to be a waiter, I can't stand seeing waiting staff grab clean glasses at the top when handling them.
#11
Dirty floors, tables, or menus. First red flags, and back out the door you should go.
#12
Visible signs of old neglect, that translate into "If they aren't bothering to clean that up, what does that say about the kitchen?"
Added bonus if you bring it up, and they have a rehearsed excuse like it's an in-house feature, and they laugh it off.
I was at this sushi place that had a serious fruit fly problem. As in, you'd sit down, and they'd fly into your wine. The server wouldn't replace the wine, but they'd gladly put an open jar of sugar water, or some such thing, beside you as a more tantalizing distraction to keep the flies off your food and out of your drinks.
"Oh, we hear that all the time. This works.
Eugene also points out that it's important to consider the restaurant's price range. "Gauge all of the above based on the menu prices. I'm generally more forgiving if the menu prices are cheap because I know if the food is cheap, they are trying to save money in other areas," he explains.
#13
Plastic menus that have residue of food splatter on them and smell. Yuck.
DennyS (denzoren) 6 months ago
This is why I like that in Bob's Burgers they're frequently cleaning menus...like, it's a very important step.
#14
Gordon Ramsay and Robert Irvine playing rock paper scissors in the parking lot.
#15
If you walk into a fish restaurant that smells of fish, walk out.
DennyS (denzoren) 6 months ago
I've worked with fish for many years and gosh, the storage standards shops use for fish is sometimes so deplorable.
#16
A distinct 'musty' odor. Usually from carpeting that hasn't been cleaned in a while.
#17
When a menu has blurry, poorly taken photos of the dishes, it's either a really bad restaurant or you're about to have the best meal of your life. No in-between.
#18
Ask where your oysters come from. If the server doesn't know, you don’t want them. This tactic works for most seafood.
Trisec Tebeakesse 6 months ago
If you are more than a day's drive from the coast - that seafood isn't fresh.
#19
Really long menu, and yet the food comes really fast.
DennyS (denzoren) 6 months ago
Long menus in general kinda get me thinking. I've watched too many Kitchen Nightmares lol
#20
When you ask about your food allergy and they can't answer because they don't know what is in their food.
#21
Dirty bathroom. The cleanliness of the bathroom mirrors the cleanliness of the kitchen.
#22
When you go in and most of the guests have dirty plates on their tables and are looking around for a server. Add in empty tables still piled with plates and you know they are incredibly short staffed. Time to bail out.
#23
Does a restaurant sound like it could be two or more restaurants? For example, if they're serving sushi and pizza at the same place, they can't do either well.
#24
All the staff standing around just staring off into space because corporate told them it looks unprofessional to just relax
When people are constantly kept uptight and not given a chance to relax they f**k up and mess things up. If your greeter already looks so low-key frustrated that they look like they want to explode into an anxiety attack at every second I can only imagine the mistakes the chef in the back is making being kept under the same pressure.
#25
Service/worker compensation charge snuck onto the bill that you have to opt out of.
#27
Massive towers of food and/or those extreme bloody mary's with an entire burger stuck to the glass designed for people to post on Instagram. The quality is never going to be good, and it probably means the restaurant relies on people coming for the spectacle rather than the quality.
Mr. Jones 6 months ago
You're making a huge assumption about all restaurants. One of the very best Bloody Mary's I ever had and strong too, came with shrimp, olives, celery and hot peppers on a skewer. I gave most of the garnishes to my husband, but it was a damn good Bloody Mary. And I am just so over people posting their opinions on here as if they are facts.
#28
Incoherent menu. Cuisines that don't often have ingredients in common, which means some ingredients may sit longer.
#29
I was once somewhere with a friend, and she ordered a meatloaf. They said they were out of it. No big deal. She orders something else, and 5 minutes later, they come back and said "Hey, we found some meatloaf, do you want that instead?"
We excused ourselves and left.
I get it, maybe there was just some miscommunication or something, but they way she said "We found *some* meatloaf".... it scared us both.
AngelWingsYT 6 months ago (edited)
Im hoping thats just bad wording. Though been there. Someone wanted some Cheese Curds but we thought we were out. I double checked n found a box prepped just buried in the wrong freezer so i told the customer we did find some. They were happy to order and we were happy we srill had some left to last us until stock
#30
When you step up to the greeters podium and see a roach run across it.
#31
The restaurant doesn't seem to exist.
Don't assume that because it is on a delivery service website that it is a real restaurant. Lots of ghost kitchen restaurants. That food may be coming from an illegal kitchen.
Recently had to inform my friend that her favorite sushi place isn't real. Ooof.
Order directly from the restaurant when you can.
#32
As a foreigner myself, it’s ethnic restaurants that have zero ethnic people eating there.
It’s a huge green flag to me when I go to an Indian, Chinese, middle eastern, etc restaurant and the clientele are all of that particular region, and a red flag when they are not like Lapis aka the worst Afghan restaurant I went to in Washington DC.
Mr. Jones 6 months ago
So I shouldn't eat at our local Japanese restaurant because we don't have a large population of Japanese people here to frequent the Japanese owned and operated business? That's ridiculous. My Mexican friends don't eat at our authentic Mexican restaurant because it's the food they eat at home.
#33
If you're looking at the menu outside, and an employee/manager comes out to usher you into the restaurant.
I've only had that happen once, but it was clear pretty quickly why they were so desperate for my business.
#34
There's a soap dispenser attached to the wall that is perpetually empty, so they put a regular disposable soap dispenser on the counter.
I'm sure there's good reasons, but it screams lazy to me.
#35
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.
LooseSeal's $10 Banana 6 months ago
Almost all of the great seafood I've eaten has been at restaurants with views of the water the fish came from.
#37
A big one for me is if there is only one demographic there, only old folks being the kiss of death for a eatery.
If I see blue collar and white collar types in the same place I know it is probably pretty good quality.
What do you think ?
Randy Sanders 6 months ago
As with anything, there are exceptions. I drove long haul for years, and some of the best food comes from hole in the wall places.
Randy Sanders 6 months ago
As with anything, there are exceptions. I drove long haul for years, and some of the best food comes from hole in the wall places.
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