Chefs Share "Red Flags" We Need To Watch Out For In Restaurants

chefs have read it what are some red flags people should look out for when they go out to eat sick wait staff if restaurant owners encourage their wait staff to work while sick or don't help to find a replacement you can count on getting sick too for my nick people great pending doesn't mean that the restaurant is awaiting judgment on their health inspection it means that they failed and are given a grace period to fix their wrongs actual former chef here these comments saying don't eat whatever food on a day of week because it's leftovers this is called utilization specials are just that things that we'd rather sell than throw out those of us who actually know what we're doing carefully cool down and store things so they have as much menu life as possible only an idiot would throw away perfectly good saleable food if it didn't sell on the first night i was employed by a national pest control service and the sales people told me if the dining room is dirty or gross do yourself a favor and walk out cause their kitchen is gonna be much dirtier there are also roaches at expensive restaurants the same as there are at cheaper places it's the restaurants that don't clean kitchens properly that attract pests and have continual problems i went to an ihop and there were ants crawling on the walls so i told the waitress about it and she said what again she could have covered that up in a better way i was really hungry so i just moved to another table but those pancakes were so nasty i still love ihop but i just won't go to yena you ligature or graveyard one next time that's a fancy that if you're gluten free for whatever reason please don't photo from scratch italian restaurant please there's literally nothing we can do to get that tea out of anywhere thanks to the flower it permeates the air late to this one but as an ex-waiter i can't stand seeing waiting staff grabbing clean glasses at the top when handling them former health inspector here if there's a self-serve soda machine go ahead and take a napkin around the inside of the sprite clear soda available nozzle if your napkin comes out pink brown or orange skip the soda a sprite nozzle should come out clear if it's pink or orange then it's slime mold it's actually a bacteria but that's what we called it if it's brown it's likely cola but if the cola nozzle was put on the sprite dispenser and is still brown you know the nozzles aren't being cleaned properly also go ahead and look closely at the ice shoot i see green algae in those a lot edit i knew someone would teach me something today the slime mold is a protist not a bacteria still not quite a mold closer to a fungi almost microbiology is rad everyone edit edit or a bacteria called s mass essence neato edit three baby rod torrella a yeast this is likely what all my subway commenters are seeing subway still bakes its own bread right dot not a chef but ex restaurant manager how happy is the staff do they seem like they like their jobs if the staff are miserable you are not going to get quality food or service it's worth seeking out restaurants that treat their staff well if they're treated well they'll treat you well if there's a funky smell that's even slightly or stronger you're in like the restaurant probably has a rodent problem best to leave former barista and assistant manager here if the restaurant has a coffee machine visible take a look at the steamer if it's covered in white means they don't clean after frothing the milk most likely they don't run steam after heating up the milk meaning that there is residual milk inside the nozzle of the steamer which gets burnt and generates bacteria don't order coffee in there also most likely the cloth used to clean the steamer from time to time is disgusting and used for more than just wiping the milk out of it a restaurant with a good philosophy about health and safety cleans the coffee machine every night overworked staff does it sound like it could be two or more restaurants example sushi and pizza at the same place they can't do either well how dare you insult ken taco hut robins too many menu choices dirty restrooms if your meat or pasta for example has dry spots as if it was left out to dry for a good time the kitchen is not properly covering storing their prep correctly the walk-in is most likely not taken care of edit for clarity on let's say chicken it's still raw someone leaves it out it forms a skin looking almost like jerky chewy an orangish yellow color that spot won't go away because someone has cooked it same kind of thing with pasta but the pasta is always pre-cooked waiting for you there is no reason for your sensitive products to be left uncovered for that long ask where your oysters come from if they don't know you don't want them works for most seafood excuse me but can you tell me where your clams come from um the the ocean you might have to be a chef to recognize this but my red flag is going into a busy restaurant and noticing none of the tables have food or not many customers are yet eating this usually means the kitchen is going down in flames one time i noticed this and could see some food slowly stacking up in the window but no orders coming out i mentioned it to the server and he replied i wouldn't suggest ordering food he brought our drink check and we left he was tipped well for his honesty not a chef but pest control so i'm in and out of multiple restaurants all day and i can tell you this 95 of quick serve fried chicken places are vomit inducing particularly one based with an old guy as its mascot a green flag is an open kitchen where you can see everything getting cooked not a chef but worked at a kfc for a while so here's a kfc specific thing there are two towel colors for cleaning use at kfc franchises at least in american ones no idea about others there are yellow towels which are intended for surfaces that cooked foods will touch and blue towels which are only to be used in raw chicken areas this is to prevent cross contamination cooked chicken never touches raw chicken areas and cooked in raw areas are never cleaned with the same towels the thing to look out for raw chicken areas are usually not visible from the front counter at least in most locations i've seen if you see a blue towel don't eat there now this isn't a hard and fast rule i would recommend asking the cashier about it if you see anything suspicious when i went to europe a kfc location in amsterdam had blue towels and cleaning solution on top of all the trash cans in the lobby they weren't for raw chicken they just had a different cleaning procedure there not a chef but my best friend is and he says a large menu chances are a lot of things on a menu means that they are frozen also it's difficult to train people to be good at making 40 different things so the quality is going to suffer edit yes some places like chinese restaurants that are different combinations of about 30 fresh ingredients are an exception i've heard that if you actually smell fish at a sushi restaurant it's in your and your insides best interest to hightail it out of there sushi is another one for when in doubt there's no doubt if you ever order something with crab always ask what kind of crab is it even though it might sound like a snobby question it will reveal whether it's scanned or not my favorite answer when i went out one time was what are you talking about clearly indicating it was not fresh or you know accept canned because i live a thousand miles from the ocean rats in the restaurant cooking food positive story 20 years ago before good mexican food was available outside the southwest i had a business trip to california i walked into a restaurant under an overpass near oxnard the fellow behind the counter saw that i was anglo and called over his shoulder into the kitchen a 10 year old or so kid comes out and asks me what do i want to order and translates for his dad best mexican food ever if the head chef is crying and not wearing any clothes it's probably best to move on high turnover usually means poor management and that means unhappy employees unhappy employees means that they don't give a shitty about you or your food i worked at a pizza hut and was on my third grams i worked there for a year at that point and was the longest working employee the gm wasn't the best person but he could manage the store we didn't like him for a number of reasons racist misogynist slept with an employee while his wife worked there etc comma but he managed the store well and the turnover wasn't that high well he got fired a couple months later and his assistants took over everyone liked her and wanted her to have the position but she sucked at management so much that we started to not like harry was so bad i left before it got too bad but checked in recently and they had 13 people out of 20 quit or put in for two or so weeks management plays a big part in turnover not totally them as a person but how they run the store so bad management equals bad food this entire thread is basically kitchen nightmares by gordon ramsay very binge-worthy but the uk version is so much better than the u.s one i have worked for many restaurants and been to many others if the place has low lightning unless it's intentional roughly no customer activity floors aren't clean place smells bad booth seats move drinks that taste funny not a drug joke this is a sign that they don't clean their soda fountains or turns and low quality customer service are all signs that you should look out for if you're going to eat if a restaurant is poorly maintained the food might not be of good quality either not a chef but a who will do a jeff king menu probably means you're eating out the freezer read anthony bourdain's book he runs down a bunch brunch is just using up leftovers from the rush of the weekend generally worse quality food smaller menu is better mondays and thursdays are typical new inventory days eat these days for freshest food only order shellfish from a shellfish restaurant know what a restaurant does well and order that there were a lot read his book weird the microwave from applebee's hasn't chimed in on this thread edit wow thanks for the gold my first time ever if the place is surrounded by cops and ambulances you should go elsewhere don't complain to the remaining employees about the weight and demand a free ice cream in addition to a super large diverse menu being a huge red flag that you're getting frozen meals run through the microwave watch for no substitutions if the place makes its own food they can sub virtually anything for anything else while they may try to play it up as our food is perfect and we refuse to change it on moral grounds it's almost always a sign of this was made two months ago and all we do is reheat it i wasn't a chef just a humble stock boy but i can say this good amount of hot food isn't truly kosher halal and a lot of seemingly vegan food isn't nine times out of ten it's a result of ignorance a skillet that made sausage during the breakfast shift might not have been washed before being used to blackened chicken or saute vegetables for lunch simple mistakes that can be attributed to human error and shift changes one time out of ten it's a result of necessity in space two meets might share a trade due to a lack of space this is more a result of the menu dictating the kitchen instead of vice versa if you live by strict voluntary dietary restrictions dine kosher restaurants halal restaurants and vegan restaurants will always beat one restaurant with kosher halal vegan options not a chef and more a green flag if you're eating ethnic food and all the customers are of the ethnicity in question then the food is probably going to be freaking awesome green flag there is this one restaurant in town where the local food inspection board goes for lunch meetings i once saw a cook eating in the food court outside his restaurant he picked up the hem of his apron and blew his nose on it i would say that was a red flag the mcdonald's ice cream machine is never broken the employees just say that because they don't feel like making mcaries every five seconds for everyone who comes in or it's just being cleaned sauce my friend worked at mcdonald's ex-husband was chef we always left if he saw workers not wearing non-slip shoes not a chef but according to wheel of time and other fantasy novels i've read a skinny innkeeper is a bad sign make sure you are eating someplace where the chef likes her own food enough to be b fat not a chef but i install post systems all over and i've found that the setup in the outside service area typically matches the kitchen i e if you look around and everything is disorganized dirty etc that's probably what the kitchen looks like look for loose wires under the counter if you can see it and the service stations how's a piece of tea system help as a former kitchen employee big red flag is seeing a ton of high school guys in the kitchen i disagree the younger kids i've worked with have been way more hard working and invested in the job because it's usually their first job it's the 60 plus year olds who couldn't care less about cleaning or quality if the menu is 20 pages long leave i'm a culinary specialist in military and cooked in restaurant even before military red flags chicken is a red flag cross contamination is always happening with that and nobody can cook it right and i'm betting they don't use thermometers 165 meatloaf is another one even as an army we have up meatloaf and i know how much of a pain it is to even making it man people give military food chefs so much grief but at the end of the day it's a hard job with high stakes cooking for hundreds is its own unique logistical hell and if you fck up it's a whole division down with the poops props for doing a hard job i would say be nice to your server bartender and listen to their advice i've been bartending at my current restaurant for six years and while i love the place there are things i won't eat my chef is allergic to seafood but we live in a seasonal costal tourist town so seafood is a must for guests that are nice respectful i will gently steer them away from seafood dishes if you're a dick have a do buddy not a chef but i do work in a restaurant dishwashing and doing prep avoid ordering fish that a server is pushing when the specific fish itself isn't one of the specials that's because there's a good chance that the fish is about to expire and they're trying to get it used up just pop your head in the kitchen if you aren't blasted with 120 db of yelling you're in the wrong place if it's within an hour of the establishment closing don't order anything that requires the use of the kitchen don't be the first table don't be the last table in fact never be the last table we've all been here for hours in a hot smokey kitchen without breaks and you'd like entrees and mains five minutes before closing dude your meal isn't getting looked after it's getting fired as quickly as possible if you're interested in the special have it monday that's waste that's getting reheated skip if it's midweek if you want a burger go to a burger bar if you want toppers go somewhere spanish etc etc don't turn up at an italian place and ask for french dressing gordon ramsay enters the chat dirty menus if you can't keep them clean nothing else is going to be clean if the plate is hot in the food if there is sauce looks like it has a film texture to it it has been microwaved does the sign out front say applebee's hot food should be hot and cold food should be cold also look for food handlers and notice their hands if they look like they are greasy and not using gloves that's a big red flag for me i'm chef if the dining room that you can see is dirty the kitchen you can't see likely is as well specials are typically food they are trying to get rid of sometimes this stuff has been in the freezer for months other times it might be on the borderline of expiring i've worked as a server in five busy tysons corner virginia restaurants and personally i never want to eat out ever a slow restaurant is serving old or bad food and a busy restaurant does not clean anything well enough when people are not being paid a living wage don't trust them with your life the ease and convenience of going out to eat comes with so much more than just a high price number two dollars an hour employee or 16 hours a day employee will care as much about your health and well-being as you do at minimum wage i care a lot about my guests welfare and serve good food it's overpriced though and the only reason people buy is cause they want to hang out after golfing used to work out chick-fil-a can't say with only mild exaggeration that the kitchen staff will gladly die for you most days i would go home blistered and only slightly less broke but quite happy if you can smell the fry 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 nifty tip if you have to go to the bathroom soon after you eat you have low level food poisoning now think of the last place you ate that didn't happen that's a good restaurant sadly they are truly few or far between that's how gordon ramsay made so many episodes of kitchen nightmares my two biggest red flags are anything with a really large menu if you have that many items chances are you don't do any of it great any big space that's empty during a rush period honestly i know you shouldn't always group think it not a chef but i worked at a fast food joint for three months in high school and let me tell you if the restaurant is dirty and everything within it looks like tea the food sucks too i work at a restaurant and it's f king disgusting i don't even know where to begin one time the owner picked the nub of a carrot out of the garbage and told me to use it for soup i didn't i watched the head chef handle raw fish pork chicken shrimp all of it wipe his hands on his apron and start handling knives and vegetables one time our former head chef shoved a hot dog down his throat shorted back up called it the hot dog trick then served it to a child our former sews chef used to have sex with the dishwasher in the bathroom not was his hands the soap dispenser in the staff washroom was always empty only the kitchen dispenser had soap and go back to cooking customers food all of this and our restaurant is considered the best and classiest restaurant in town with a google maps rating of four three stars and over 200 reviews i don't mean to ruin anyone's experience but sometimes there are no red flags large and diverse menus they can't do your stake rare the toilets are gross they use reusable wooden chopsticks rather than metal or disposable they're situated in a tourist heavy area not a chef but if there is a red flag in your food if you can't see their health inspection score posted out in the open it's probably not very good i'm not sure how it is for other states but some googling around and you can view most restaurant scores online for free not necessarily a red flag but a warning a clean dining hall don't necessarily mean a clean kitchen an unclean dining hall though is an almost guarantee of a dirty kitchen just think how gross they're willing to let the parts you don't see get if you're seeing a mess in the customer service area if the bathroom's dirty chances are the kitchen is too my dad would always walk in and ask to see the menu and then ask to use a bathroom before deciding on whether or not we would actually eat there going to the bathroom often means a walk through or near the kitchen which gives you a bit of a window into the cleanliness and in the bathrooms themselves can tell you a lot about the overall standards of the place i think he turned down at least two out of three places on average one if you order a burger sandwich with beef and they don't ask how you'd like it cooked probably means it's pre-heated two as for desserts if some say homemade and some don't avoid the non-homemade it's probably been in the freezer for a week three if the staff doesn't know the menu well it's because they don't eat the food which can be a bad sign also if you ask the staff what's good and they say everything is good that means nothing is good if everything is good they have a favorite one doesn't apply everywhere you go it's illegal to serve ground beef below a certain temperature in canada and that temp comes in well above the threshold for medium rare it actually really weighs me out going to the states and being asked how i want my burgers done if your food comes to you really fast it most likely means it's pre-made and not fresh like faster than it should take to cook a salad in a minute or two is okay but with hot chicken and that same time is a bad sign if you can order a bacon and egg breakfast and be eating in under two minutes it's pre-made had this happened before to me not true about bacon and egg breakfast worked in a breakfast restaurant and was expected to have three four minute ticket times eggs cook fast and the bacon is constantly being cooked in large quantities i think getting you bacon and eggs in two minutes is realistic [Music] i know i'm the six five thousand fish answer but honestly i've been in the food industry for years and i don't know any so many people i know that have worked in the food industry say they would never eat at their own place it's gross etc etc etc i honestly feel at times that i'm the only person who cooks in a proper kitchen lol we use fresh product cook it properly to certified appropriate levels i've cooked in retail store delis mto deli is in convenient stores and now i work as for a contract company for in-house cafeterias i clean the oils regularly rotated stock etc so i'm just as interested sort of in this thread i wouldn't even know what to look for in a red flag gordon ramsay i ate at one of his restaurants in london the most non-fancy one and the least expensive one they were extremely correct in everything i saw one onion ring drop from a plate onto the counter and immediately the whole thing was tossed out and remade because you can't serve that to a customer and the old ones will be cold out too long apparently if the music wasn't so obnoxiously loud it would have been a great dining [Music] experience [Music] you

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Id: I9x9wrI2rt8

Length: 27min 2sec (1622 seconds)

Published: Sat Nov 28 2020