'It smells like fish': 25 Restaurant red flags diners should watch out for

Remy Millisky • Writer and Editor

May 13, 2023 11:00 AM EDT

You shouldn't judge a book by it's cover, but these folks have some surefire ways to tell if a restaurant is quality or not.

I actually have a true story about this that you can totally judge me for. One time, I was in Harlem, volunteering to paint homes in an area I had never been before. I had to get lunch somewhere, so I stopped in a corner store and bought a BLT. I hung out in the store, and as the person behind the counter handed me the sandwich, I saw a cockroach crawling inside the glass container where the lunch meats were kept. My soul left my body momentarily (I'm very afraid of cockroaches).

Me and the cook made eye contact, but being socially awkward and conflict averse, I just paid for my sandwich and left. I debated whether I should eat this sandwich or not, but I figured New York has millions of roaches and rodents, both seen and unseen, and I was so hungry after painting walls for several hours. It was actually one of the best BLTs I've ever had. But I did eat it with the uneasy feeling that there were probably so many more roaches at that place that just hadn't made themselves known.

Anyway, you can totally judge a restaurant by lots of these standards below, but you really just have to try the food a few times to know if positives outweigh the negatives. And most of these are very helpful — in general, you really shouldn't eat anywhere that you can see bugs, or where the floor is dirty, or where the menus have stock photos instead of actual pictures of the meals.

Check out these restaurant red flags below, then check out this entitled parent who forgot to bring entertainment for her kid while on a flight.