The danger of poisoning exists not only in eateries, but also in expensive establishments. We tell you what signs indicate that a visit to a restaurant is likely to end in nausea and stomach pain.
1. No visitors
Never eat at an unfamiliar establishment where there are only waiters besides you. As a rule, tables are empty for a reason: at best, the food here is not tasty, which is also not very pleasant, at worst, more than one person has already gotten food poisoning here before you and told their friends about it, and they further down the chain. Result: an empty room. Don’t tempt fate and look for a crowded place with happy, smiling guests. Even if you have to wait a little for a free table. By the way, this is a sure sign of at least a good reputation of the establishment.
2. Questionable cleanliness around
The simplest advice: always pay attention to the cleanliness of the surroundings and especially to the condition of the dishes. Firstly, it is unpleasant to eat in an uncleaned restaurant, secondly, it is unhygienic. Thirdly: if the guest room is not clean, it is scary to imagine what is happening in the kitchen, hidden from the eyes of visitors. Advice from experienced restaurateurs: choose establishments with an open kitchen. In this format, employees are deprived of the opportunity to neglect the rules of cooking, and guests control the process from start to finish.
3. Unpleasant smell
The golden rule of public catering: the smell in the establishment, be it a cafeteria in a research institute or a Michelin restaurant, should be exceptionally pleasant and appetizing. As restaurateur Nelly Losikova rightly noted in a conversation with Life, “smell is always an integral part of taste, and with the exception of a couple of exotic fruits, usually what smells good will taste great.” In addition, even a hint of a not very pleasant aroma in a restaurant will spoil your appetite.
4. An unusual (bordering on strange) combination of products in one dish
Gourmet experiments are good in places specially created for this: restaurants from the Michelin guide. There you can really be pleasantly surprised, because they know all the subtleties. In all other places, a combination of the incompatible can turn into an upset stomach for your stomach. So restaurants without a hint of a Michelin star, where this is practiced, are better left without attention.
5. Unsolicited recommendations from waiters on choosing a dish
Every establishment has ingredients that are about to expire from time to time. If you want lasagna and you are still offered chicken Kiev, most likely they are doing it for a reason. This means that these chicken Kievs are what the customers need to “sell” first before they go bad. If you encounter such a situation, get up from the table and move to another restaurant.
6. Covert and overt rudeness of waiters
Situation. You ordered spaghetti bolognese, and they brought you an incomprehensible and unappetizing mess, in which you can’t tell either meat or pasta. You politely ask the waiter if everything is ok with the dish. And you explain what exactly confuses you. In response, they tell you that you don’t understand anything about food, but everything is super with the spaghetti. There is only one piece of advice: leave and never come back. A restaurant where rudeness flourishes usually has a lot of other shortcomings, of which the inability to communicate with customers is the most harmless