Most people love food, especially good food, and that is why we often find ourselves going out to spoil ourselves at a restaurant and ordering our favorite meals, spending time with our friends and family. However, it’s not always a pleasant event. Sometimes the experience doesn’t meet our expectations and is quite disappointing, and when you’re paying quite a hefty sum for an experience, you want it to be the best it can be.
There are many things we look out for when we go to a restaurant – the prices, the food options, and how nice the staff is. People online gathered together in this online thread to share some red flags that immediately show them a restaurant is not up to par and they should leave immediately. From dirty floors to a huge menu, these ideas might help you spot a place that just isn’t worth spending your money on.
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Kids running wild. Apart from the inconvenience of the other diners it’s dangerous when staff are walking round with hot food. Edit. I was pleasantly surprised to see so many up votes. I thought I was posting something controversial. People sometimes get triggered when someone mentions badly behaved kids and think your just some bitter child hater. But actually I love kids. I just don’t want to eat in their playground.
We managed to get an interview with the online user that asked the question, and they gave some amazing insights: “So, when I posed the question, I wasn’t looking for generic issues with restaurants like bad food, bad service, not clean – which a lot of the responses ended up being. I was more interested in problems people had with intentional choices restaurants have made which make the experience poor.
Like, for instance, there’s a restaurant near me that’s a casual place where you order from a counter, but they keep their soft drink machine behind the counter. So anytime you need a refill, you have to go up and flag someone down to get it for you, and if they’re busy it can take a while.
Or, another problem is when their ordering system is more complicated than it needs to be. For example, at another restaurant, you first talk to someone up front and order things from the menu, but then you take a tray and go down a serving line and can pick other things. Then at the end, you pay a cashier, a different person from who you placed the order with.”
Dirty menus. If they can’t be bothered to wipe the menu then what else are they not cleaning? Edit: I see excuses like ‘there’s not enough time’, ‘it’s not a priority’, ‘the last thing we’re going to do is clean the menus’. There’s always an excuse not to do something. Like I asked, what else are they not cleaning?
“A good restaurant doesn’t have to be really fancy nor super casual, it just needs to be easy to intuitively understand how things work there, even for first-timers. Any place that thinks they’ve come up with a ‘new concept in dining’ I’m not likely to return to.
The problems I’ve encountered are far more common with new restaurants. Established restaurants usually have worked out that kind of issue long ago or they wouldn’t still be around.”
No prices on the menu. If I’m going to spend money, I want to know how much I’m going to spend. Just tell me the steak is $40 for f*** sake.
Loud music. I’ve been in restaurants before where I can’t hear myself think, let alone hear people opposite me talk. Edit: comments were irritating me, so I amended
“As someone with an anxiety disorder, I think restaurant owners need to think about how people like me experience their system. If I’m required to ask a lot of questions or to be asked a lot of questions, or it’s a lot of trouble to simply place an order or to understand their menu, I will end up returning to one of my usual comfortable spots instead.”
We also talked with Dr. Joan Salge Blake, a nutrition professor at Boston University and the host of the nutrition and health podcast, SpotOn! She answered some important questions about restaurants and the food industry. Firstly, we asked what a dealbreaker is for Dr. Joan Salge Blake at a restaurant: “A dealbreaker is when I can’t find any veggies on the menu. I love when someone else grills, stir fries, roasts, bakes, or purees veggies. Don’t they always taste better when someone else makes them for you?”
I’m from UK so maybe not relevant but HUGE menu with loads of variety. If they can just master 5 or 6 dishes they will taste far better that the 50 different options that the kitchen has to offer.
The professor also shared what makes a restaurant good: “The waitstaff is friendly, the menu is varied so that I can get fish or meat, depending upon my mood, and there are tons of veggies available. I love to start the meal with a veggie-based soup. You had me at minestrone or veggie bean soup.” She also shared some common mistakes restaurants make: “Limited menu options with typical menu choices. Yes! I am done with French fries.” Dr. Joan Salge Blake also mentioned that one of the most important things a restaurant can do is make sure to provide something for all the customers – meat eaters, vegetarians, vegans, etc.
If they just ignore you for 10 minutes. Even if you are (too) busy at least acknowledge you’ve seen me and will get to me.
Not a deal breaker but more of a huge pet peeve, and please…if you are a waiter/waitress please please please listen to me: If you are going to take my whole tables order by memory, and write none of it down, You sure as s**t better get it right. If that’s a problem, just write it down… literally no one cares, and I actually prefer it when I see this done.
If the table is sticky and it gets stickier after they wipe it.
Tables packed closely together to the point where you might as well just be sitting with the strangers next to you.
No hand soap in the restroom. Unless staff have their own restroom no one’s washing hands after doing their business into urinal or toilet.
Paying and tipping on a handheld electronic device while the waiter stares me down. One guy actually “instructed” me to press the 25% tip option as if it’s a required step of the transaction. Infuriatingly rude. I waited tables and bartended for over 8 years and it was always considered a huge no-no to stand over someone while they tipped, totaled, and signed the slip.
A sign on the door that says “NoBoDy WaNtS To WoRk AnYmOrE!” (I’ve never texted like that before – what a pain in the a*s! 😏)
Not having hours and menu posted on the website or Facebook or somewhere. As someone with some food sensitivities I am not wasting my time showing up and getting seated just to discover I can’t eat/don’t like any of the food.
The smell when you walk in. If you can smell sewage, mold or excessive bleach or ammonia when you walk in over the food, turn around.
Being seated next to other diners *in an otherwise empty restaurant **if it’s not a shared dining experience like a BBQ
if you go to a mexican/tex-mex spot and the chips and salsa are terrible just pack it up and leave, nothing will get better.
When they keep the lights so low that you literally can’t see the menu. I’ve been in three places like this, and the food is always bad. The place is dark for a reason.
Taking forever to get the check grinds my gears. I’m less likely to return if I had to wait a long time to leave. I don’t want to be held hostage after my meal.
Automatic 10% ‘Service Charge’ added to your bill. Just increase your prices. Service Charge should always be discretionary.
Hidden fees or changing prices regularly. I’ll go once, but if that happens, I won’t return.
I’m not entirely sure what the word is, but promoters who stand outside the restaurant and try to get you to eat there.
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