As more restaurants tend toward the trend of building visible kitchens where food is prepared in full view of diners, if you can’t see the kitchen, you can still get a lot of valuable insight into how sanitary the conditions are where your food is being prepped by looking all around you. Here are some tips to help you avoid a wasted evening out (or worse, a sick night in afterward!).
It Starts Before You Arrive
When you’re planning an evening out, especially when it’s a special treat and not a quick weeknight family dinner on the way home from your last child’s lesson or practice, it’s worth checking out where you’re going ahead of time. With so many dining review sites available such as Yelp, it’s easy to weed out potentially bad experiences before they happen. Keep in mind, though, that just because a restaurant has a bad Yelp review (especially if you’ve heard good things about it), doesn't mean you’ll have a bad experience yourself. According to the White House Office of Consumer Affairs, a dissatisfied customer will tell nine to 15 people, on average, about their experience, and a happy customer, even one who has had their issue resolved, will tell only between four and six.
First Impressions Are Probably Right
According to Howard Cannon, CEO of Restaurant Expert Witness, your first insight into the kitchen starts with the parking lot or outdoor space around a restaurant. According to an interview with SafeBee.com, he notes that diners should be observant of the space around the dining establishment for their first impressions. Overflowing garbage bins, filth or litter around the outdoor space, or an exterior in disarray may be an indication that the kitchen is in the same level of disrepair and that your food may not be prepared in the safest possible way. “More often than not,” he states, “If those spaces are filthy, the place where your food is being prepped is filthy, too.”
Even if the restaurant is clean and the surrounding areas are tidy, if you’re looking for a memorable dining experience, your first impression upon entering is probably going to be indicative of your treatment during the meal. If you aren’t greeted or if the host or hostess is rude, it may be time to turn and head out the door. Chef Tim Love told CNBC that not being greeted is one of three warning signs for him that a restaurant is no good, along with a bad smell upon entering and dirty kitchen or dirty floor.
Scope Out the Ladies' Room
Or men’s room. Restaurants that have high standards for cleanliness will make sure that bathrooms are cleaned and maintained properly without skipping steps or days, and addressing messes as they arise. If you find that there are filthy stalls, full garbage bins, dirty sink areas or sink areas that are pooled with sudsy water and look like they haven’t been cleaned, it may be a sign of what things look like out of view of the customer.
Your Server Will Make (Or Break) Your Night Out
Your server is your main point of interaction with the business you’re patronizing, and he or she has the ability to make the most delicious meal seem unpalatable or make an average-at-best meal seem truly enjoyable. You’ll likely be able to tell within the first few minutes into which camp your server falls. According to ChefTalk.com, your server should approach your table within about two minutes of you being seated, even if it’s just to acknowledge your presence on a busy night or during a dinner rush. Further, your server should have a decent knowledge of the menu or be willing to get you answers to questions you have about ingredients or preparation and ideally will be able to recommend a favorite or popular dish or two without suggesting the most expensive entree on the menu (unless it’s the chef’s specialty or the restaurant’s signature dish).
The server should be friendly, upbeat and courteous, although you may want to forgive a server who seems off of his or her game. Remember, they are people with their own personal lives who may be having a difficult day or facing a problem of which you’re unaware. If you notice that a server makes multiple visits to other tables but ignores yours, or if the server leaves you waiting for drinks or bread refills, it’s a sign of a bad restaurant.
What You See Is (Probably) What You’ll Get
A chef or restaurant owner will likely uphold the same standards in the front of the house (FOH), the dining area and reception/waiting room, as he does in the back of the house (BOH), out of sight of paying customers. If your server’s uniform or apron is dirty, or they appear unkempt, that’s not a good sign. Even more of an indication of cleanliness is the state of the dining room. Check the floors for filth or trash; watch how table tops are being cleaned (even using a spray cleaner won’t cut it if the bus person is using a dirty rag covered in old food); and take note of the state of your silverware, glasses, menu and the seating area in general. If what you can see is filthy, chances are what you can’t see is just as bad -- or worse.
A Novel Length Menu Is a Recipe for Disaster
A good chef should have confidence in his cuisine and confidence that the choices he has made will satisfy his customers. A restaurant that has too many options (unless it’s a diner) is probably trying to be too many things to too many people. They may succeed in being above average at all, but likely not truly successful at any because they are spreading themselves too thin. According to Chow.com, a menu that approaches (or exceeds) five pages in length is a red flag that your meal isn’t going to dazzle you the way it should.