Restaurant Cleanliness

[CrazyHomemaker]

I haven't seen this one before, but another thread got me thinking.

Is it just in South Carolina that the kitchens of restaurants are gross?!

I'm not just talking about fast food restaurants. I am speaking about nice, sit-down, pay big bucks restaurants.

Did you ever take a peek into the kitchen when a server came out to deliver food or restock a buffet? Have you ever looked at the empty glasses brought to your table and noticed lipstick marks and greasy finger prints? What goes on back there?

If you're a member of the 'no eating out' club, this will help you to stick to your goals!

I'm curious to see from all of you if you have the same kind of yucky kitchens in your areas of the world.

Take care...take very good care!

[Ali Lee]

I have always heard--before eating, check out the restroom. If it's clean, the kitchen will probably be clean. If not-leave. And I have done that....

[Dixie]

Is it just in South Carolina that the kitchens of restaurants are gross?!

Yes, I think so. If you cross over the state line into GA, the restaurants are squeaky clean. j/k

Seriously though, it would sicken me to drink from a glass with lipstick stains. Have you called the health dept?

[Josephhgoins]

um....BF is taking me to Myrtle Beach this weekend as a late Valetine's day present. THANKS!

LOL!

[Neeley]

I was a manager of a LoneStar Steakhouse for a few years. As far as lipstick on glasses goes, his is how all dishes were cleaned for our district of the company:

*Dirty glasses are placed in glass racks; silverware in a dishpan filled with hot, soapy waster, plates stacked on the shelf.
*Once a glass rack is full it is run through the DMO machine where it is cleaned in what is basically a restaurant quality dishwasher at temps set by the health department.
*Silverware is placed in a flat rack, sprayed off and run through the DMO.
*Plates are racked up, sprayed and sent through.
*At no time were dishes scrubbed with a rag or hand washed.
*Silverware is polished with a clean rag before being wrapped in napkins.
It is the server's responsibility to look at the glass before making the drink. If it did not come clean in the DMO, then they were to put it back into DMO area to be re-cleaned.

Bathrooms were suppose to be checked every hour for cleanliness and supplies.

The back prep area, grill area, saute' area, salad prep and drink area were a clean as you go kind of thing. However, on a busy night, doing 500-1500 dinners in five hours things do get messy. I am sure if you looked in out kitchen around 8:00-9:00 on a busy night, you would think we were slobs. We had an open meat case in the entry of our kitchen for our guests to choose their steaks from or to watch the cooks prepare their meats. What we did in the kitchen was no secret. You could see our entire kitchen from the meat case so hiding our mess was not an option. It was all out there for the world to see. It would normally take a minimum of fifteen servers, seven kitchen workers, one bartender and two hostess over an hour to get things completely cleaned and reorganized after a Friday or Saturday night.

I learned to pay attention to not only the health department score, but what items were marked low on the report. If meats were stored above veggies, at wrong temps or DMO water temps were too low, those were signs for me to stay away. Things like a drinking glass in the prep area or a stopped up floor drain were not as big of an issue to me.

[savvy_sniper]

I used to work for a pest control company and the horror stories I heard about restaurant kitchens would make you sick to your stomach. AND those were the restaurants that regular pest control service. Imagine the ones that don't!

[stinkbug]

This is why I don't like to eat out....I am really weird about cleanliness and other people touching my food. Also....I won't eat food someone has prepared unless I have been to their house, seen their kitchen.

[CrazyHomemaker]

um....BF is taking me to Myrtle Beach this weekend as a late Valetine's day present. THANKS!

LOL!

Sorry to make your day. I was just thinking while I was posting something else.

This is not to say ALL SC restaurants are yucky. Just the ones I've peeked into. I've worked in some so-so restaurants in PA and cleanliness was a must. It was always painful when the health inspector came in. But, they gave a good rating to the kitchens.

[imagine]

I'm curious can you see the fast food kitchens in your area?

Here most fast food restaurants are built where you can see the kitchen where they are cooking your food. I peek into those all the time. The are clean and sparkly.

The sit down places that you pay big bucks for at a bit harder to see as they are behind closed doors so you sometimes can get a peek on one if someone is coming out. From what I have seen they look fine but you can't see much from the peeking the swinging door. KWIM?

Another I'm curious question.

Do they post names of restaurants that receive health violations? Here it is local newspaper information. And it almost always means a dead end in to the restaurant's business.

I saw on that received a violation. The violation was an employee touch a dirty dish and then a clean one without washing their hands in between.

[Ramona]

I have always heard--before eating, check out the restroom. If it's clean, the kitchen will probably be clean. If not-leave. And I have done that....

Great tip. When I break my "no eating out" pledge, I'll do as you say.
Makes a lot of sense to me.

[lisaflex]

i was a high end server for a number of years. i only worked in nonchain establishments. the ones i worked in were spotless and super clean. i think it just depends on the mgmnt, the workers morale and alot of other things.

and, yes, lipstick stains, etc are just nasty and scieve me out. yuck!

[mndtrp]

I cooked in a few different establishments before landing my current career. As lisaflex said, I thin it has a lot to do with management and employee morale, as well as staffing numbers. I was by myself much of the time, so things could get pretty chaotic during the rushes. Once the cooking aspect slowed down, I would do the cleaning, and it would look like a nice kitchen again.

[shoiji]

Well I have been eating out more in NYC. No places that are really expensive. But I have to say one place is really clean and so much cleaner than the other places I have eaten at.