Eating at restaurants is usually great: you get awesome tasty food that you didn't have to cook for yourself.
Not every restaurant is created equal, though, and everybody has those one or two things that are just total dealbreakers when it comes to dining out.
Redditor jobokar asked:
"What’s a dealbreaker for you at restaurants?"
Nobody Likes A Sticky Table
"If the table is sticky and it gets stickier after they wipe it."
- kissingdistopia
"Was so frustrating at one place I worked at. When the varnish starts to wear off, it gets sticky especially when humid. Losing tabels to it and them not fixing it really sucked."
- Bbols23
Bad Salsa
"if you go to a mexican/tex-mex spot and the chips and salsa are terrible just pack it up and leave, nothing will get better."
- thejamielee
"I just don't know how you mess up salsa. Like if you can't combine tomatoes, onions, cilantro, and lime juice with some peppers you should be out of business.."
- BaaBaaTurtle
"It’s a good metric for restaurants taking shortcuts and not putting a simple from-scratch component together."
- badlilbadlandabad
"There are plenty of good enough premade salsas you can buy. If they don't even do that, it means they don't care."
- -gggggggggg-
I Can't Even Hear Myself Think
"Loud music. I've been in restaurants before where I can't hear myself think, let alone hear people opposite me talk."
- Philcycles84
"On top of this, an over abundance of televisions."
"Sports bars are fine, but there should be some separation between them and restaurants.
- CarrieFisherStevens
Don't Invade My Personal Space
"Tables packed closely together to the point where you might as well just be sitting with the strangers next to you."
- jimcol
"I ate at a restaurant where it was like school cafeteria seating. Multiple parties sat at the same table. Haven’t been back."
- LittleRileyBao
"I got bad news for you. You're going to HATE eating out in Europe and Asia"
- CousinSkeeter89
"I got sat across from a stranger at a 2 seat table once at a busy restaurant in Japan. Definitely one of the more uncomfortable dining experiences I've had."
- SerbianSh*tStain
Pizza In Venice
"I sat at a table with a Japanese woman and her daughter in a pizza restaurant once during Carnevale in Venice. She spoke no English and I only spoke a few words of Japanese. It was one of the most delightfully memorable meals I have ever had and the pizza was to die for! Would I have wanted to share a table with strangers in a U.S. restaurant? Probably not. But it’s different in Italy. That wasn’t the only restaurant on that trip where I sat very close to and conversed with strangers, and it was a great experience."
- Catwoman1948
Odor Is Key
"The smell when you walk in. If you can smell sewage, mold or excessive bleach or ammonia when you walk in over the food, turn around."
- DarthGayAgenda
"Holy sh*t, there are places like this where you live?"
- icelandichorsey
"I've been to places like that in every US state I've eaten in except Utah (but only because I've only been to a single McDonald's there). The excessive bleach smell is especially telling because the only way that happens is if they dump the stuff by the bottle everywhere. The GM at my last job was like that. She believed the smell of bleach meant clean and used a lot on everything."
- DarthGayAgenda
"If a fish restaurant smells like fish, don’t eat there."
- BowwwwBallll
But How Much Does It Cost?!
"No prices on the menu. If I’m going to spend money, I want to know how much I’m going to spend. Just tell me the steak is $40 for f*ck sake."
- indigoassassin
"Yeah what’s up with that? I’m trying to find a nice (er) restaurant for me and my wife’s anniversary. Everything in the 'nice' category doesn’t include prices. I feel like if I call the restaurant to ask, they’ll say something like 'if you have to ask, don’t eat here.'"
"Even if I had a million in the bank, I’m not going to eat somewhere that’s a total wild card."
- mr_blanket
You Staff Are People Too
"Owners being rude to staff in front of guests"
- LittleBlackBird0191
"Though, you’re in for a treat if owners being rude to guests in front of staff"
- Chickenmilk_
"Only if the guests deserve it."
"Managers being rude to entitled a**holes to protect their staff makes me fall in love just a little. Owners being a-holes to guests who have reasonable questions or complaints, less so."
- moratnz
Am I Invisible?
"If they just ignore you for 10 minutes. Even if you are (too) busy at least acknowledge you've seen me and will get to me."
- domin8r
"Or when they take your drink order and then disappear for 35min."
- curmudge
"I once stood at the cash register of a Dennys in Redding for 20+ minutes. We were the only ones standing there. After trying to flag down a staff member I left 30 bucks and took off."
- OCSupertonesStrike
Can They Really Make All Of Those Things Well?
"I’m from UK so maybe not relevant but HUGE menu with loads of variety. If they can just master 5 or 6 dishes they will taste far better that the 50 different options that the kitchen has to offer."
- Stokehall
"Yep, Gordon Ramsay calls this out on his restaurant makeover shows. Except for Chinese, they prepare a few ingredients in a million ways."
- RoboKat70
"I’m with you on this. There’s a little place near me who has at least 50 different things on the menu, maybe more. The food is always overpriced sh*t, most of it tastes like it came from the freezer section of the grocery store because a lot of it probably does at that point."
- mamasamsquanch
"I'm a chef and I can tell you, it definitely is mostly frozen. Depending on how many staff there are, usually Any menu over 20 or so items is a red flag. Ain't nobody got time for all that prep. 15 or less is a good sign."
- CautiousCollection5
Maybe Don't Lie To Your Customers
"We had a chucks roadhouse open up and they sent out “too good to be true” coupons in the mail (4 surf and turf meals for $25). It was just to get people to their tables and ordering, then they say “those aren’t valid, we sent out a retraction” (they didn’t). On top of all that they have an “honest to goodness fee” of 4% on every bill lmao"
- funghi2
"That sounds like a great way for people to never go back there again. After getting swindled like that I would never go back, tell all my friends to never go there and leave a terrible review on google."
- donscron91
While tasty food you don't have to cook is definitely awesome, maybe be careful where you're getting it from.
