'Ants in the salt shaker': 20+ Diners who realized they had to leave a restaurant as quickly as possible

Author image for Remy Millisky
Remy Millisky • Writer and Editor
Nov 20, 2024 3:00 PM EST

These folks have some pretty good reasons that they aren't trusting that random restaurant down the block. 

Have you ever walked out of a restaurant before even eating? It happens from time to time, but there are plenty of red flags that might give a diner pause before ordering their meal. Most times I've left a restaurant before ordering was because the waiter or waitress ignored the table I was at. It's really frustrating to arrive at a restaurant hungry and ready to eat, only to watch the server flit from table to table and never stop at yours. 

However, a lot of the people below have left restaurants for equally valid but much yuckier reasons! One person discovered ants in the salt shaker and fled the restaurant. Another person revealed that they look for strong smells of fish or the stench of a dirty grease trap to cue them into the restaurant's quality. After all, if the restaurant won't change their grease trap, what else are they avoiding? The same line of thinking goes for dirty bathrooms or grimy tables… sometimes it's better to take the L and just try a different location. 

Up next, read about the reason why one petty teenager was "never asked to babysit again" after getting back at the older cousin who kept having her do way too much cleaning. 

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  • 01
    cluic LONDON SHOP
    via Toa Heftiba on Unsplash+

    This image is for illustration only, and the subjects are models; the image does not depict the actual subjects of the story.

  • 02
    What is something that is an automatic " I am not eating here, we need to leave." At a restaurant?
    via u/TeachBS
  • 03
    Bastyra2016 No soap in the bathroom- and no hint that it just ran out. Like there is no dispenser on the wall and no empty container on the sink.
    via u/Bastyra2016
  • 04
    n3u7r1n0 I went to a diner near me recently I had never heard of. There was no one eating at the tables inside. The woman who was at the front entrance walked away into the kitchen when I walked in the door. Then a dude came out of the kitchen and stood in her place and refused to acknowledge me. Then a girl
    via u/n3u7r1n0
  • 05
    came up and said something to him and he said I know I know just calm down it's ok. Then she scurried off into the kitchen. I asked the guy if I could see a menu and he said "she'll be right back". I left. I don't know what was going in there but I will never eat anything from there.
    via u/n3u7r1n0
  • 06
    JessCeceSchmi... Someone handling the food while wearing gloves but then using their gloved hands to handle money, open doors, touch their face, etc. Or worse, someone handling food with bare hands while there are open wounds or bandaids. I've seen it. Immediate nope for me
    via u/JessCeceSchmidtNick
  • 07
    The smell of a dirty grease trap. After you've worked in a kitchen for a while you recognize it instantly. It's an awful smell and if a place isn't getting it regularly serviced the rest of the operation is probably terrible too.
    via u/BakedMitten
  • 08
    I was going to pub trivia at a place I had worked at years earlier. As soon as I walked in I smelled the smell and it was strong. I ended up calling the trap cleaning service and setting up an appointment for them without telling the manager
    via u/BakedMitten
  • 09
    Masedawg1 Besides being filthy or having ride service, one thing that will basically make me immediately turn around and leave is blaringly loud music and strange lighting. I just want to eat my meal in peace or be able to have a nice conversation with someone.
    via u/Masedawg1
  • 10
    FistFullOfRavioli Lots of flies buzzing around the tables and the kitchen
    via u/FistFullOfRavioli
  • 11
    Worlds_worst... Cook walks out of the bathroom with an apron on.
    via u/Worlds_worst_ginge
  • 12
    SailorVenus23 Gordon Ramsey is filming inside
    via u/SailorVenus23
  • 13
    Taboc741 Walked into a restaurant and i smelled sewage. They said a sewage back-up had occurred and was being fixed by a plumber. I left anyways because the place was running like it was normal. No windows open or fans running to try and flush the smell. Ya it was warm outside but seriously I'd rather sweat than smell sh while eating.
    via u/Taboc741
  • 14
    South_Chocolat... It's mostly empty and the staff act surprised and confused about your presence. It's a hint that selling food isn't their main business.
    via u/South_Chocolate986
  • 15
    zakkil It's a bit specific but if I'm looking to eat at a bbq joint and I don't smell it well before I walk in I know it's not gonna be good. Ideally I should be able to smell it from like a block away. Anytime I've ignored that instinct and gone in anyway the food ended up being bland and dry as h_l.
    via u/zakkil
  • 16
    pahamack My brother told me this story. He saw a black cord like thing sticking out of a wall. Thought it was a wire or something.... Then it started to move. Apparently it was a mouse tail. That's not the worst part.
    via u/pahamack
  • 17
    He tells a waiter. Waiter grabs a spoon, one that is obviously something guests would be given to eat with, and attacks the tail with it. Him and his entire group just left.
    via u/pahamack
  • 18
    Accidental_Taco I got 2 from the same Dunkin Donuts! A worker sneezed into his gloved hands and gave them a half- hearted wipe on his pant legs. Immediately after, a customer came in to get donuts and I saw the man fill the order without changing. his gloves. I went off and
    via u/Accidental_Taco
  • 19
    left. Later on, I went to leave a review explaining this and saw that I'm not the only one to point out their disgusting ways. Someone else posted a picture of a worker with his shoes off and dirty socked feet up on a table. Sitting right next to a window for the public to see.
    via u/Accidental_Taco
  • 20
    degenerate-t... My wife is Arabic and one time we are at a kebab shop and her demeanor changed and when I asked why she explained that she heard one kitchen staff ask the other;
    via u/degenerate-t**licker
  • 21
    A: "What are you doing?" B: "I'm throwing this old meat away?" A: "No no no mix it with the fresh. These stupid westerners can't tell anyway.
    via u/degenerate-t**licker
  • 22
    Human-Bit-1427 When the workers look at you like you ruined their good time and now they gotta work.
    via u/Human-Bit-1427
  • 23
    zero11235 No Prices on the menu.
    via u/zero11235
  • 24
    BellaBlissxx If the restaurant smells bad or has dirty tables, I'm out.
    via u/BellaBlissxx
  • 25
    papsmearfesti... Flies when it's 20 below outside. Where are they breeding?
    via u/papsmearfestival
  • 26
    hautestew I didn't even have to go into the restaurant...I was at my local bar and the head cook from the restaurant across the street started coming in after his shifts pretty regularly. Just an overall sloven dude with the grossest habits, body odor, funky skin growths, unkept fingernails and similar demeanor.
    via u/hautestew
  • 27
    None of the other regulars, including myself will ever go back there.
    via u/hautestew
  • 28
    Super_Ground9... Ants in the salt shaker.
    via u/Super_Ground9690
  • 29
    M TL;DR: When cooks don't wash their hands. Went to a restaurant the other day and then to the bathroom shortly after being seated. While standing at the urinal I saw a cook come out of the stall after dropping a deuce and head straight out the door without washing his hands.
    via u/MikeOKurias
  • 30
    That's how people get trichinosis and I don't want to end up like RFKjr with worms in my brain.
    via u/MikeOKurias
  • 31
    DadsRGR8 Wife and I walked into a diner once and were seated. Waitress came over and handed us our menus. Her make up was so caked on that bits of it were falling on our table. She then showed us the salad bar
    via u/DadsRGR8
  • 32
    which was a card table set up next to the front door, not iced or anything with bowls of potato salad and macaroni salad with saran wrap over them. We got up and left.
    via u/DadsRGR8
  • 33
    LucyVialli Multiple babies/toddlers roaring loud enough to wake the de d.
    via u/LucyVialli
  • 34
    Lugbor Having to look up a menu on your phone, music loud enough that you can't have. a conversation, general lack of hygiene standards. I've walked out of restaurants for all three of those before.
    via u/Lugbor
  • 35
    the_original_Re... Haven't seen squabbling servers on the list yet. That happened to four of us at a recently opened seafood-themed place that we vaguely knew the owner of and wanted to support as new restaurants were a pretty big thing in our small city. Normally we would have waited a couple months for the dust to settle
    via u/the_original_Retro
  • 36
    and the place to figure itself out, but we went in their second week. House manager greeted and seated us and then disappeared. It was a little before standard lunch hour and mid-week and nobody else was there. About 5 minutes of nothing later, we heard the distant yelling start from the kitchen area. After about a minute of
    via u/the_original_Retro
  • 37
    that, a female server charged through the doors. and grabbed menus and brought them over, muttering. Her opening words were "Sorry if you heard that. That b in there, what can you do?"
    via u/the_original_Retro
  • 38
    We glanced at each other, asked for a few minutes before ordering drinks, and when she went back in the kitchen, left. Somehow the restaurant still managed to survive and is still there to this day, but if the excellent show The Bear didn't remind us of that experience.
    via u/the_original_Retro
  • 39
    TeachBS OP If I go into a restaurant and sit for more than15 minutes before someone comes to my table, I leave. If a roach scurries across the table, I am out. I go to the restroom immediately if no haven't been there before. The cleanliness of the restroom reflects the restaurant's cleanliness standards. Gross bathrooms? I am out...
    via u/TeachBS
  • 40
    Wooshsplash Compulsory service charge.
    via u/Wooshsplash
  • 41
    sweetsarahanne Honestly a sushi place that reeks of fish. Made that mistake once, it was not comfortable afterwards.
    via u/sweetsarahanne
  • 42
    Coriandercilant... Fabuloso. I dunno why but tons of restaurants have started using fabuloso. You can't even smell the food.
    via u/Coriandercilantroyo
  • 43
    Mechaborys Local tex-mex place here. Had a staff that were not as careful as they should have been. Found a birds-nest of curly hair in our salad. Our waiter was bald and the only cooks I could see had long hair held back by hats. We did not eat the salad because we spotted it before that but we did get up and leave.
    via u/Mechaborys
  • 44
    cthulhus_spawn It's full of screaming children running around. There's a strict dress code. It smells bad. ... My friend took me to a Mexican restaurant where the raw meat was all just on the counter unrefrigerated. The
    via u/cthulhus_spawn
  • 45
    same salsa bowl was on the table all day on between customers so you were eating leftovers. When I said I didn't want to eat there she got mad and said the food was great and I was stuck- up.
    via u/cthulhus_spawn
  • 46
    screwylouidooey This was a sort of on purpose version of that. I stayed with a friends family years ago and his dad told us we were going to visit some restaurants in the city. He said not to order anything at the first restaurant but to look at the menu and then get up and leave.
    via u/screwylouidooey
  • 47
    Second restaurant had the same exact menu. Half the prices. Both restaurants ordered from the same supplier.
    via u/screwylouidooey
  • 48
    Rotten PeachSm... Aside from the obvious dirt/bugs/grime/rats/etc, a complete lack of staff definitely does it for me. Why are you trying to run on (for example) just three people when there's nine jobs that need doing? I can't trust a place like that.
    via u/RottenPeachSmell

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