Everyone’s heard those pleasant restaurant stories – from exemplary dishes to sparkling clean venues. A great experience at a spic-and-span restaurant can be enough to make you a loyal customer. Take a look at these 10 ways to make sure the restaurant you enjoy frequenting is clean and safe. You won’t even need to sneak into the kitchen to figure it out!
1. What’s the establishment’s hygiene rating?
If an establishment has a good hygiene rating, they’re going to be more than happy to display it. You’ll find it in the form of a certificate in the window or somewhere up on a wall or even on the website. You don’t even need to dig for such information; local law requires that restaurants be checked for hygiene periodically.
2. Check out customer reviews
These days, it’s pretty easy to find out what other people think of your favourite restaurant. Websites like Trip Advisor and even Google+ are great for finding recent local reviews, and it’s a chance to look out for negative reviews too. Chances are if someone thinks they got food poisoning from a venue, they’ll be writing about it.
3. Looking for the smaller details
When you go into a restaurant, pub, or bar, check under the table and around the chair. If there are no stained patches, crumbs, or dirt, then all you have to do is to relax, and enjoy the place!
4. Take a peek at the washroom facilities
This is an easy test – make sure the establishment has liquid antibacterial soap. If there are bars of soap, check if they’re clean. Restaurants that put hygiene and cleanliness on high priority always make sure they have plenty of antibacterial soap and paper towels.
5. Look closely at your server
Unobtrusively, take a look at your waiter or waitress hands. Are they clean? Did they trim their fingernails? In most cases, food servers and handlers are required to wash and disinfect their hands often. Also, check to see if they touch their hair a lot too. Long hair should be tied up in a bun or tucked in a cap.
6. Order a drink
While it’s not immediately obvious, bartenders also handle food. A well-equipped restaurant or anywhere else has a bar– so go and have a look at what the bartender’s up to. Like waiters and food handlers, bartenders often wash and disinfect their hands before handling food and glasses. If they’re complying with hygiene standards, it’s a good chance the chefs are too.
7. Take a walk past the kitchen
You don’t have to actually go into the kitchen to get a feel for whether or not it’s safe. Take a walk past and have a good sniff – the only thing you should smell is food cooking.
8. Literally feel the menus
This is another useful indicator as to whether or not a restaurant cares and takes note of smaller details. Feel the menus – they should be smooth and clean. Remember that many people handle them, and restaurant staff should have them wiped or replaced if they feel greasy, sticky, or dirty.
9. Inspect your glass and cutlery
The same goes for the cutlery and crockery. Are the utensils shiny enough to check your make up in? In general, there shouldn’t be any grease or dirt on the cutlery, glassware, and dishes. Choose a restaurant or party venue in Newcastle where only the freshest looking glasses and cutlery are set out.
10. Listen to your instincts
Have you ever read a story in the paper about a restaurant being reviewed and praised? Listen to your instincts when you’re out – if you feel like a place in clean and safe, listen to those instincts and go inside to enjoy a great meal.
Kendall Everett
Feeling the menus for cleanliness is a great suggestion. This is a good way to verify that the restaurant is clean before you order your food. If your menu does feel sticky, asking for a replacement will help them to know it's time to clean the menus.
Max Sayer
Personally, I don't know too much about restaurant cleaning and I wanted to look up some information. I really appreciated how this article talked about looking for the smaller details like stained patches, crumbs, or dirt. I think that it's really important for these to be clean so that I can enjoy the place.