Restaurant horror stories.

[Perd Hapley]

A stack of about 20 disposable cups toppled to the floor, in front of the register. A customer picked them up and gave them to the guy at the register. My man puts them back on the counter, as if nothing had happened.

[RocketMan]

A stack of about 20 disposable cups toppled to the floor, in front of the register. A customer picked them up and gave them to the guy at the register. My man puts them back on the counter, as if nothing had happened.

Five second rule.  Besides, why should the restaurant pay for something that was obviously your fault?  You were there, so it was your fault. 

[Perd Hapley]

Five second rule.  Besides, why should the restaurant pay for something that was obviously your fault?  You were there, so it was your fault. 

So I'm only responsible for what happens in my immediate physical vicinity? Acceptable.

[wmenorr67]

So I'm only responsible for what happens in my immediate physical vicinity? Acceptable.

No...

[vaskidmark]

Your local health department posts their inspection reports on-line.  It is worth checking - especially on your favorite places.  Is this you? http://stlouis-mo.gov/government/departments/health/environmental-health/food-control/restaurant-ratings-search.cfm   Or are you in the county?  http://www.stlouisco.com/healthandwellness/foodandrestaurants/restaurantinspections

For the rest of you - you may start here http://www.foodsafetynews.com/restaurant-inspections-in-your-area/#.UiJDo8zD-70

Sometimes other resources offer good reading - such as http://hazelwood.patch.com/groups/business-news/p/restaurant-report-mcdonalds-straightens-out-roach-complaint

As for your observed incident - I would have made a fuss and not left until I had talked to the manager about what happened.  Also making a written complaint to said local health department.

After a literally years-long campaign a friend of mine claims to have won the battle over his "favorite" place taking unused single-serve jellies off plartes and tossing them back in the bucket from which they are drawn to be put on plates.  I do not know if the health department finally went and if so if they caught them in the act or they just don't do it while my friend is eating there.  Why he continued to go there as his "favorite" place after becoming aware of the practice is another thing I do not know.

stay safe.

[BlueStarLizzard]

I prefer to remain ignorant of such things and just happily enjoy my food and superior immune system.

[vaskidmark]

I prefer to remain ignorant of such things and just happily enjoy my food and superior immune system.

As a good friend reminds me - "G*d gave you an immune system for a reason.  Use it."

stay safe.

[lee n. field]

A stack of about 20 disposable cups toppled to the floor, in front of the register. A customer picked them up and gave them to the guy at the register. My man puts them back on the counter, as if nothing had happened.

Waitress gives bussboy crap over unconsumed sausage link, picks it up off the plate the customer left behind and throws back in to the pool.

[Cliffh]

Working as a cook at a chain steak restaurant.  Busy time of night, even the manager is behind the counter tossing steaks on the grill.  Dirty bugger dropped one, stepped on it, picked it up and put it on the grill!  I gave him such a look - he told me to shut up and cook.

He fired both my roommate and I later that month 'cause we were working for a living and he just wanted part time kids.  Could have fought it but didn't.

[Levant]

I prefer to remain ignorant of such things and just happily enjoy my food and superior immune system.

That's really the only way.  Unless you are on high-land with bottom-land-like soil so you can grow and process all your own food without runoff then you really do have to just hold your  nose, think about the weather, and eat.  There's no food you can buy at the store or at a restaurant that you can be sure was handled properly from beginning to end - and it probably was not handled properly.

[RoadKingLarry]

So I'm only responsible for what happens in my immediate physical vicinity? Acceptable.

If by "immediate physical vicinity" you mean this quadrant of the known universe then yes.

[dogmush]

I prefer to remain ignorant of such things and just happily enjoy my food and superior immune system.

I'm right there with ya. Just give me my yummies, and don't talk about what happened in thekitchen.

[cassandra and sara's daddy]

Bwahahaha!

Floor spice is nice
damn phone

[brimic]

Ever notice how chinese restaurants are excellent when they first open up, then become disgusting within 2 years of opening?

I was eating some General Tso's from a local chinese restaurant (that had been open about 3 years at the time) and came across a bone in a piece of meat that didn't look like it came from any part of a chicken, the meat on that piece wasn't chicken-esque either. Completely ruined chinese food for me.
Now if the menu said 'general tso's rat' or 'general tso's cat' I might have been fine with it because I would have known what to expect and my little bubble of naive bliss wouldn't have been pricked.

[never_retreat]

There was is a Chinese restaurant near work we "used to" eat at. I was talking with the fire marshal on day and his comment was, I know I'm not the heath inspector but I would not eat there. So in that conversation I found out about another one that the health department and all the town guys go to. Its a little farther away but its dam good.

[HankB]

Ever notice how chinese restaurants are excellent when they first open up, then become disgusting within 2 years of opening?

The parents of a good friend of mine used to run a Chinese carry-out restaurant in Chicago when I lived there - it was good for DECADES (family run business - all the kids worked there) but when the old man retired and sold the business, it declined and eventually closed.

I used to go to a Chinese buffet on the NW side of Austin that was pretty good for a number of years, but then around 5 years ago it began a slow decline . . . about 3 years ago I stopped going entirely. Now the most recent ratings on Yelp include terms like "disgusting" and "gross." It's apparently under new ownership . . . and it shows. When I drive by, even near lunch time, the lot which used to be crowded (including an overflow lot behind the Shell station next door) usually only has a few cars. I expect the place to close before much longer.

[Brad Johnson]

Given the piss-poor sanitation many people practice in their own homes, I don't put a lot of stock in most of what I hear about "bad" restaurants.  My ex MIL dutifully wiped down every surface in her kitchen with a funky, smelly dishtowel that stayed damp 24/7.  Most of the time you could smell it when you walked into the kitchen.  But let her find the smallest smudge on her restaurant silverware and you'd have though someone was trying to feed her month old roadkill with a side of Plague.

Lord forbid someone walks into a local Chinese buffet and picks up something that isn't instantly recognizable as a hamburger or a slice of pizza.  Jeez weez.. If Chinese restaurants were as deadly to non-farm critters as the rantings and ravings would have you believe, there would be no need for local animal shelters because there wouldn't be any dogs or cats left. 

Brad

[brimic]

Lord forbid someone walks into a local Chinese buffet and picks up something that isn't instantly recognizable as a hamburger or a slice of pizza.  Jeez weez.. If Chinese restaurants were as deadly to non-farm critters as the rantings and ravings would have you believe, there would be no need for local animal shelters because there wouldn't be any dogs or cats left.

Come down off your high horse.
Some of us can actually tell 'good' food from 'bad' food.

[Triphammer]

I've worked commercial refrigeration repair for 30 of the last fifty years. Commercial reach in boxes, walk in coolers & freezers. You REALLY don't want to know.

 

I had put some examples here but decided they were too much.

[Brad Johnson]

Come down off your high horse.
Some of us can actually tell 'good' food from 'bad' food.

It has nothing to do with "good" or "bad" food, it has to do with a pervasive and prevailing myth of "Chinese restaurants use (insert favorite pet species here) in their food".  It is an epic logic fail on multiple levels which no amount of reason, objectivity, or fact seems to deter.  The only remaining option is to ridicule the ridiculous.

Also, food being "good" or "bad" is purely subjective unless you are speaking in the context of food safety.  Unfortunately people tend to equate their personal perception of the food as directly correlating to the food's health risk when all it really means is they don't personally like it.

Brad

[BobR]

I've worked commercial refrigeration repair for 30 of the last fifty years. Commercial reach in boxes, walk in coolers & freezers. You REALLY don't want to know.

 

I had put some examples here but decided they were too much.

There was an episode of Restaurant Impossible, where they rebuild a failing restaurant, on the Food Network a while back where they lifted the metal floor of the walk in and the floor had rotted away underneath. The level of slime and mold that was under there had to have been growing for years!

bob

[Lee]

When I was much younger, I worked in several restaurants and I worked briefly for Orkin pest control.
I try not to over think it. Cups hitting the floor are very low on my list of concerns.

[Jim147]

I've worked commercial refrigeration repair for 30 of the last fifty years. Commercial reach in boxes, walk in coolers & freezers. You REALLY don't want to know.

 

I had put some examples here but decided they were too much.

And some people think the ice from the machine is clean. 

jim

[eyebrows]

Many years ago I drove a trash truck. There was a small strip mall on the route with dumpsters behind it. There were cats everywhere back there.
Then a Chinese buffet opened in the strip mall, and within a year you could not find a single cat. I have no idea if maybe something legit happened but the cats all disappeared and we always joked about it. never ate lunch there.

Much more recently I found myself called to a Mexican owned Italian restaurant, yeaa. This place is sketchy from the get go, but I go back to the kitchen and find that the overhead door w a broken cable is being used as nothing more than a wall behind the stoves.
I help them drag the stoves away from the door so I can access he door and we found a pile of food, about 9-12" tall the whole lenght  of where the stoves sat. DISGUSTING!
Not to mention the tracks for this door extended out over the food prep area and were filled with black dust/gunk. DISGUSTING!
I won't even order a drink from this place, let alone food.

And finally, the wife and I were at a DQ and the guys gives us our order. We go to a table and get ketchup/napkins ready and stuff then sit down to discover he gave the wrong order to us. We had this food in our possession, out of the clerks line of sight, for a significant time.
He had no problems correcting the order but I watched him put the food he originally gave us back in the queue.
I dont go there anymore.

Basically, I see enough of random peoples homes to know that a great many people are horrible slobs and they have no problem with that. I assume that there is a very strong possibility these people are slobs in their workplace as well.
In order that I don't starve I'm willing to assume a restaurant is clean, unless there are severe tells that it is not clean. But the first time I witness something that I wouldn't do/allow in my own house is the last time I go there.

[lupinus]

And finally, the wife and I were at a DQ and the guys gives us our order. We go to a table and get ketchup/napkins ready and stuff then sit down to discover he gave the wrong order to us. We had this food in our possession, out of the clerks line of sight, for a significant time.
He had no problems correcting the order but I watched him put the food he originally gave us back in the queue.
I dont go there anymore.

Had similar happen at a local Zaxbys (chicken fingers, wings, fries, etc.) drive thru.

Car in front of me is rather ratty and full of people who are continually randomly...itching themselves. I don't want to speculate why.

He hands them a bag and they spend at least three minutes poking prodding and looking in the bag, looks like opening containers, etc. They finally get drive thru guys attention and hand him the bag back. I get to the window and am handed the same bag that the flea circus just poked and prodded in for a few minutes. He was a bit miffed when I told him not only no, but hell no.