Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
Luckily for us, most of us do not see what the food prep and cooking areas look like. I think if we did we might not eat there. They still are supposed to have inspections and I also wonder how some of these pass. I remember seeing something on the news about a NY fast food restaurant that someone happened to look in the window at night and there were rats running all over the place, so they recorded it. Well if they inspect very good they are bound to see rat droppings. I think they are turning their heads, or not inspecting and saying they are, or are just doing a brief look around at these restaurants and then passing them. The last episode of Restaurant Impossible was the worse! I never saw such a disgusting place, it was bad! Well that place passed inspection, don't ask me how though.
Probably people who would eat at a dirty restaurant are equally dirty at home, so they feel comfortable there. They would rarely contract food poisoning because they have built up an immunity to the dirt, same as home!
A few weeks ago we decided to give a local Mexican restaurant a try. We were so disgusted by the visable areas, we could only imagine what the areas in the back looked like. I used the bathroom and was disgusted! We simply left--the filth was too much for me to handle!
For one thing, it means they get little if any business, and you stop and think, WHY?.
ok, i didnt really make that assumption from the fact that they keep the kitchen area spotless. im not really sure if thats a fair assumption. but id agree that id be nervous about a place that gets very little business.
sometimes i see these delis in shopping centers that appear to do no business. i feel like if i ordered some potato salad or something of that nature there it could be a week old.
Probably people who would eat at a dirty restaurant are equally dirty at home, so they feel comfortable there. They would rarely contract food poisoning because they have built up an immunity to the dirt, same as home!
A few weeks ago we decided to give a local Mexican restaurant a try. We were so disgusted by the visable areas, we could only imagine what the areas in the back looked like. I used the bathroom and was disgusted! We simply left--the filth was too much for me to handle!
BIG assumption on your part (and pretty judgmental, too).
As I said, I've had some of the best meals of my life at what some people would call "dives" - and never gotten sick from it once. My feeling is, hey, if they're afraid to go in because of fear of "cooties" (or people who aren't just like them, for that matter), more for me!
As for immunity, yes, there is a well-known theory, the hygiene hypothesis, that has received some support recently from the fact that studies have shown that children raised in extremely clean homes have twice the incidence of childhood illness and allergies as children raised on farms where, as one researcher said, "You don't want to know what we found on their sheets when we looked at them with a microscope." Apparently you do need exposure to germs when your immune system is developing in order for it to develop properly, so keeping things too clean to "protect" your child does just the opposite.
Last edited by TexasHorseLady; 04-06-2012 at 08:59 AM..
Reason: typo - wrong "too"
We frequent a place at the beach that is pretty scary looking. I think they have dust in the bar that goes back to the 60's. However, their kitchen must be impeccable, because they always get 100% on the Health Inspection report.
On the other hand, there's a fancy place in town which always gets C's or U's, and someone I know who has seen the kitchen said he would never eat there. You can't always tell a book by its cover.
Cleanliness of the kitchen is the last thing that would deter me from patronizing a restaurant. If the meal pleases me at a good price, I go back. If not, I don't.
I wasn't sure where to put this thread, so if the moderators want to move it go ahead.
My question is how do some restaurants manage to stay open despite having a disgusting cooking/ prep area? I used to work in a local chain restaurant when I was in high school. We did our best to keep every thing clean, and despite our best efforts the health inspector would still find something. Now recently I went to a little ma and pa type gyro place with the grill in the eating area, and just a quick glance I saw grease everywhere, I don't think any thing had been cleaned in years, trash everywhere. The storage area, leading to the bathroom, was covered in grease and grime...well you get the idea. I just wonder how these guys are passing any kind of health inspections?
I know what you mean, we had a little hamburger place in Lewisville tx that everyone said was great. Before we moved I decided to give it a try and OMG, it was filthy..I am sure the health dept much have come down on them from time to time, but they were still there last I heard. I am not tlalking a little dirt by the way. I could care less about things being 100%sanitary. If I did I would not be able to live in my house, but what I am talking about was just plain gross.
Nita
Have you ever watched the show Restaurant: Impossible on the Food Network? Robert Irvine goes in, discovers all that's wrong in the kitchen, on the menu, with the service, with the cooking, with the decor, etc... and, with $10K, fixes everything.
The part where he, inevitably, shows them how filthy the kitchen is and they clean up makes me so sick. It's just vile. It makes you wish that he'd fix EVERY restaurant but it also makes you realize that it's just a matter of time before it goes back to filthy.
[i] was thinking the same thing. There have been a couple restaurants on the program that just didn't seem possible, so I don't know the answer.
Iguess the health dept can't inspect every restaurant and yet, the fire dept comes along to our church recently and found some of the most minor infractions. At least it wasn't the health dept and they were easy problems to fix.
[i] was thinking the same thing. There have been a couple restaurants on the program that just didn't seem possible, so I don't know the answer.
I guess the health dept can't inspect every restaurant and yet, the fire dept comes along to our church recently and found some of the most minor infractions. At least it wasn't the health dept and they were easy problems to fix.
I have seen the same thing locally. Filthy local Mexican restaurants and other food service operations seem to get a pass. However, if a church decides to prepare a meal that extends beyond their congregation, the health department is out there harassing the folks - even if there is a sanitarian ON PREMISES.
Of course, in this state (IL), it is more who you know (and how much you are going to pay them for a good inspection).
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
