10 More Dirty Restaurant Tricks

11-15-2009 @2:59AM james said... i worked in two mcdonalds for like about 1 year combined and whenever someone would drop a chicken or any kind of meat they would pick it up and clean it and put it back!
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11-15-2009 @3:03AM dalia said... I am proud to say I work fora company that holds extremely high standards of service which all of us comply with. But I am sure that there are many places that sadly servers and cooks can be nasty... Their defense? Rude guests, cheap tippers, inconsiderate people. Dishes that keep getting sent back for many reasons.. I believe if you are a good server you listen well to what your guest needs/wants and the rest will go right as expected.
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11-15-2009 @3:10AM Tina said... As hard as it is to read and believe some of these things, I must honestly say a lot of it is TRUE, I worked in restaurants of all kinds. Mom & Pop types, to top of the line places that have waiting lists for reservations. I have seen it all, and YES it is done. It makes me sick to think about some of the things I saw, and I refused to serve. About well known breakfast places like IHOP, Denny's, Cracker Barrel, and others of the same type, I can assure you things happen you would never want to know. These places that serve breakfasts any time of the day so not use fresh eggs for everything. Most things except a fried egg, poaches egg, or eggs over easy, where you see a real egg, use a frozen mix like "egg beaters." It's used for scrambled eggs, omelets, pancakes, waffles, etc. Boxed cartons are taken out as used in batters. Stale breads are next days French Toast soaked in this mixture. Pieces of sausage, bacon, & ham left on plates ARE diced and mixed in your omelets. Sausage and bacon pieces are also used in their famous gravy, which is a dry powder mixed with water. Not a home made gravy made from scratch. What was the worse of all, is old, bad tasting, or broken items, is what was served to children on child's plates. I would never eat breakfast at a restaurant I didn't see prepared before my own eyes. But these are mostly diners with grills that aren't cleaned from a grease build up for weeks at a time. I would never take my grandchildren to the places I have worked. As much as they love pancakes and IHOP with all the flavored syrups and toppings, is what these places use to cover bad tasting old mixes they refuse to toss after expired dates, or what is left at the end of the day. My grown children know what I have seen and they choose to eat at home. By the way, the filling of catsup, mustard, salt and pepper, bottles was a nightly duty of mine. Bottle to bottle the contents drained together. We were required to use cloth towels given each shift, and never napkins or paper towels. Pure filth by the end of a shift!
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11-15-2009 @3:49AM RTinsuranceGal said... I have 2 things to say here:

For starters, I'm sure that not every establishment is guilty of these atrocities, but to some of those who say "why do something to piss off the customer thereby not getting repeat business or reducing your tip": Most of these things occur in the "back", therefore not effecting the business or tips because it was not seen by the customer(s). I believe that there are plenty of people/businesses with the mindset of, "What they don't know won't hurt."

Secondly, I have witnessed an incident of my own, although it pales in comparison to a lot of what I've read. Several years ago, my mother and I were dining in a local deli. We happened to be seated right across the aisle of the kitchen door. We saw a waitress come out with a bowl of soup, dropping the spoon on the floor. She then picked it up, put it back on the plate that the bowl of soup was on, and continued on her way. My mother (who waited tables part time for some extra cash for a few years when I was in elementary school and NEVER tolerated people's food and utensils being messed with) proceeded to call the waitress out on this right there in the dining room, telling her, "Don't you dare serve someone with that spoon you just dropped on the floor!" Only then did she return to the kitchen (I wonder if she even bothered to switch the spoon...). The lady whose soup it was turned around to see what was going on and couldn't thank us enough. Having had her back to where the waitress was coming from, she would have unknowingly eaten from this contaminated utensil. On the way out, we informed a manager of the incident and never returned, having eaten there often. If that was done where people could see, I can't even begin to imagine what went on behind closed doors...
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11-15-2009 @3:15AM Jennifer said... oh, they do it alright......they are just smart enough to not let you catch them!
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11-15-2009 @3:16AM Barb said... What bothers me is that people who see these things don't report it. I'm not sure what the purpose of these stories is other than for shock value. If you see this and don't report it you're just as guilty. Also, I think there's got to be something wrong with anyone who would engage in these practices. Lets all be paranoid. Think about what other people do at buffets, and what people who prepare food at pot lucks do.
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11-15-2009 @3:19AM Bbellingham said... At the KFC in a smallish (population 30k) town in WA state anytime we would tell the manager the chicken smelled "off" or "rotten" she would start screaming at us and demand we cook it anyways. Changing the grease once every 2 weeks wasn't all that bad though, I hear most places do it left often, or buy used grease from another restaurant.
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11-15-2009 @3:27AM susan said... My little story is'nt so much gross, as it is deceitful. Sometimes the entire prime rib roast would be overcooked, and none of it would be rare. My boss would slice off a steak nearest to the center, put it on the plate, and circle it with his hands and squeeze it real hard. The blood would be squeezed out and puddle on the top, so it looked like it was rare.
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11-15-2009 @3:30AM Melissa said... I've heard of a few stories. In Springfield MA there was a chinese take out restaurant that was shut down when the board of health discovered the remains of deat cats in the dumpster. Another restaurant was shut down for having rats in their kitchen. Yet another notorious incident was at a Burger King on State Street (these incidents all happened in Springfield MA) where an employee was caught jerking off in a hamburger. In Boston MA a bunch of people kept going to the ER or their doctor's w/sores in their mouths and feeling sick. Their stories were similar in that they'd all eaten from the same restaurant. Authorities became suspicious and went to the restaurant and purchased an order of food on various occasions and tested each batch they would order. After a lengthy investigation they discovered that all of the batches contained semen from the same person and the semen was infected with an STD. It was a chinese restaurant. The moral of this? Yes, these incidents were gross, disgusting and completely barf inducing. Does it happen everywhere or set a standard for most other restaurants? No. They were isolated incidents, and I suspect the same is the case for the stories shared in this blog. If all else fails, cook a meal at home. It's cheaper and probably more fun.
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11-15-2009 @3:35AM Jon said... I currently work at a restaurant as a waiter. The most disgusting thing I can think of that occurs daily is using dirty silverware. Once your dirty silverware is taken by your busboy from your table it is taken to the dish station where hundreds of dirty forks, spoons, and knives are placed in a dirty watered bin then rinsed and run through the dishwasher. Problem is that many of the knives, forks, and spoons are still dirty and they are placed into a bin where waiters take the silverware to roll them. Many of the silverware lies in what is a supposed to be a clean bin but is definately not. One can find chicken bones, used straws, and left over food in what is supposed to be a clean bin for just washed and cleaned silverware. It is completely disgusting when you can see waiters and waitresses using this dirty silver for rollups that are soon to be used by guests.
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11-15-2009 @3:54AM F.U.all said... I now know to lay a knarly honker in anything that I leave on my plate so if someone "in the back" wants to get a small taste" they get a mouthful of some of my lung cheese.LOL . Take that M.F.'rs
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11-15-2009 @3:53AM RTinsuranceGal said... For those of you who say that it's our fault for eating out in the first place... that we're lazy and just don't want to cook... Who the hell do you think you are?!? I work hard, and while I actually love to cook (I'm also very good at it) and do it often, sometimes I just don't feel like it. Maybe I'm tired, or have a craving for something special, or it's a special occasion, or just feel like going out that evening. How dare you!

Furthermore, there is NEVER any excuse to mess with and contaminate someone's food! However, I will give a free pass to the lady who was 8 months pregnant and tripped by those punk kids. They're lucky that's all they got.

Also, I wish the people that post comments about the goings on of certain establishments -particularly chains that most of us are likely to patronize- would actually give us the names of these places. If what you're saying is bad, then I'd like to know to avoid it/them. Same for the positive comments-- I'd like to know where I can go to eat, confident and comfortable that my food is fresh and prepared in a sanitary environment. Thanks to those who did provide that information, as well as those who really do take care in handling/preparing/serving food.
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11-15-2009 @3:55AM Average Joe said... HERE'S THE STRAIGHT DOPE FROM THE HORSES MOUTH!
First, Kudos to Dave, he's the closest thing to an educated and honest restaurant guy in the bunch.
I had been in the industry as a restaurateur for 25 yrs, save a disabilitating motorcycle accident I still would be. I worked fast food as a boy of 15 and up to 4 Star places as well as the finest hotels and everywhere in between. The posters you read who tell you they worked at McDonalds and then 5 Star restaurants are full of it. These are people that have no idea what consitutes a star rating and think because there were cloth napkins they worked 5 star. So here's the closest thing you'll get to an honest answer from someone who's done it all...
I've washed dishes and bussed to managed for a decade (bartender for 13), my sis owned 3 joints so yeah, I speak from ACTUAL full spectrum experience.
Half of what you read here are a few pathetic losers, most people in the service industry are good, honest folks and work very hard to please you. They want you to tip well, so it doesn't jive that they're going to take every shortcut possible, they want regulars to come back, you pay our bills and often become our friends. Are the horror stories true? Of course some are, push anyone far enough in any field and retribution will happen, but I PROMISE you we aren't spitting in your food if you send a dish back raw, we're ranting at the cook for making us look stupid and affecting our tip. Are we going out of our way to serve you substandard fare? NO! The money doesn't come out of our pockets, usually, not even our boss, it's some corporations P&L. Some places use bad practices, but eat there a time or two and you'll know. I know one famous chain that has 10 microwave ovens on their line, TEN! Rhymes with Shmapplebees. Some places that used to be awesome switched from all fresh to pre-produced bagged food to cut cost. Sad. The economy hurts all businesses but it kills restaurants that operate on a very slim profit margin. Many of us got into the biz as an easy way to make money and stayed because we like it better than being in a cubicle. I once made $60k a year bartending and that was in the 80's! I didn't even finish high school, you don't think I took pride in my job? See my follow-up
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11-15-2009 @3:57AM The dude said... You people are cynical idiot's to think that no owner runs a good business. There are plenty of us that can tell when a waitress brings decaff coffee, I am a big coffee drinker, you think you are so sharp, I know after a couple of sips if cofffe is decaf or not, I drink it all hours in my job, and I know immediately if I don't get my caffeine. There are plenty of damn good restaurant's that wouldn't allow the crap you forty year veterans in the restaurant business claim happens all the time. I hate chain restaurants and avoid them like the plague they are, not all of us are ignorant, you call BBoss a liar, well thankfully there are plenty just like him, I have never had sausage or bacon gravy, I have never eaten at a restaurant that had bread stuffing on the menu, I wouldn't eat in a dive that has any of this crap on the menu. If I get sick after a meal I call the health department and give them the retaurant's name. We are not all drunken stupid slob's that eat at dive diners and chain's, and their are plenty of quality places that realize the way to a successfull business is to treat people fairly, serve them good food, have staff that are expected to give a customer good service, and they get good tip's in return, and they use the freshest local produce, meat and fish because they know a satisfied and happy customer that is treated well and served the fine food they expect for the prices , will return to their establishement and pass the word to friend's and family if the dining experience is a good one. Scum that pull the crap you wait staff claim won't be in business long. It also helped that I was a Captain on the Fire Department in the city I lived in and we are required to inspect every business in our district once a year for fire hazards, protection systems, alarm systems, over crowding, ect.. These inspections are done when the establishment is open and always include the kitchen, word gets around about what we see and hear, and we are always looking at the sanitary conditions which if warranted, we pass on to the local health inspector's. You aren't as clever as you think, I always use the restroom before being seated, if the john is dirty, we leave and will never come back because if that's bad I know the kitchen is worse, and so is the staff.
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11-15-2009 @4:03AM fknhippie said... The most disgusting thing i have heard of from a restaurant came from a friend of mine here in savannah his boss EXPECTS him to take meat that has fallen on the floor (cooked or uncooked) and throw it back up on the grill or if its uncooked rinse it off and cook it anyway. I don't care if heat kills germs or not that has to be the most disgusting thing i have heard of and i refuse to eat at his restaurant or any other in this place
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11-15-2009 @4:08AM Corey said... After eating at a chinese buffet in Inglewood, Ca. I witnessed the waiter clean of the tables and dump the silverware in a dirty water bucket filled with scraps of food and paper. I have not eaten in there since, however, when I do eat out I bring my own plastic fork, spoon, and knife. My family thinks that I am crazy. I tell them they are crazy if they think that they are eating off of clean silverware when we dine out. YUCK!!!!!!!!!
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11-15-2009 @4:08AM edgerll said... This it a ture story, I use to work at a place, where they would re used the butter, and margine for the makng of the pizza dough.

or at the other place had the left over beef, was made in to the soups, and or the taco's,

The vegges of the saled bar was the left over to the fridays pizza night.

The double boilers with the water was used to make the instante potatoes, anything that required water.

To this day i never go out to eat. after what i have seen in my youth as working jobs. i belive these are all ture stories.
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11-22-2009 @9:06PM Abby said... I consider that just plain dirty!
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