Are you afraid to eat/dine-in on restaurants?
By raijin
@raijin (10345)
Philippines
September 23, 2007 12:28am CST
I've been thinking about this everytime I see people complain on restaurants' sanitary handling of foods, I've worked on some of them that I did comparisson of one over the other.
As I also worked on foodchains, but I don't have any experience of co-workers serving foods that shouldn't be served. We always follow strict rules in implementing food sanitation and proper handling. We always make sure that the food we serve is clean and safe for consumption, discard foods which have taken too much time on food-warmers. We always do these to maintain the quality of the foods, to avoid contamination and validity.
But when the time I worked on some fine dining restaurants (some, not all), I've seen some co-workers who serves and prepares food imporperly. There was even a time when, a colleague of mine ate the left-overs of one of our costumers. Which I feel is very disgusting and unhygienic, since he might catch some diseases in those foods. I find him sort of desperate, that I decided to quit the job to avoid being one of those victims of his malpractices.
But I certainly feel that this depends on the restaurants you used to dine out in your place, for me, dining out in fastfood chains is still the safest.
Just like the old saying goes, "what you don't see won't kill you."
5 people like this
12 responses
@secretbear (19448)
• Philippines
24 Sep 07
hmm... I don't usually eat in a fine dining restaurants because they seem so formal and "sosyal". ^__^;; but whenever I do, and that's very seldom, I dont really worry about their cleanliness and sanitation or if they are implementing HACCP because most that I have gone too seemed clean. ^__^;; and the management seemed strict on their sanitation policies. but I guess, what you don't see wnt really bother or hurt you so I prefer not to know about it, it would really be disgusting if they are eating my leftovers unless I really gave it to them directly. LOL
2 people like this
@raijin (10345)
• Philippines
24 Sep 07
Yes that is very true, it really depends on what you're used to. That's what I usually do also, as long as I see the premises clean and the server's are tidy, then I'm good to go.
As for the left-over, you'll never know if they'll serve you one so be careful!LoL
2 people like this
@secretbear (19448)
• Philippines
24 Sep 07
eeee. why did you have to tell me that raijin! that is so disgusting.
1 person likes this
@wotfpatty (2065)
• United States
23 Sep 07
Recently, a highly respected high class restaurant was shut down for 30 days because of a load of violations including rotten chicken and cleaning fluid right next to the vegetables. Ugh.
My son works in a restaurant and says they do everything by the book. He watches pretty closely and he says that the board of health spot checks and they are very strict about the rules. I do know this because I read all the violations in the newspaper.
If I feel a restaurant is not clean or I sense that they are sloppy, I won't eat there. I did go to one place and things were not good. Spots and food pieces on the plates, the food looked sick and undercooked, and I saw the cook who had nothing containing his long hair and no gloves. I left.
In general, I am not super worried about the places I go. I usually stay away from seafood though because you can get really sick if that is bad. I eat as safely as I can and hope for the best.
Once my family went to a Chinese buffet and we all got terribly sick. No idea what caused it but I don't go to ANY buffets now.
2 people like this
@raijin (10345)
• Philippines
23 Sep 07
Hehehe! I think it's because some of those foods served to you, you're not used to eating at. I also have that same experience back then but I don't worry if I seen the seafoods freshly caught or still alive before cooking, I'm good to go for it!;)
We always wear hairnets, keep ourselves clean (shaven, presentable) when working on kitchens or serving foods. That is the best habit I got used into and I am still doing it, on work or cooking here at home.
2 people like this
@wotfpatty (2065)
• United States
23 Sep 07
No, that Chinese Buffet almost killed us! I think it was the food out for way too long. Yeck.
My son says that everyone has very short hair and no facial hair who cooks at his place and precautions are taken to keep everything clean.
My mother was a waitress way back and there were no rules and things were disgusting. The stories she told me, Ewwww!
1 person likes this
@sreejithsreenivas (10200)
• India
11 Oct 07
Hai raijin I am not afraid of eating from restaurants.But i always check the sanitation and quality of food.I visit only those resturant which is clean and comfortable.
1 person likes this
@cefaz_21 (2596)
• Philippines
24 Sep 07
Honestly,those news with regards to sanitation of certain restaurants affect me in a way, the fast food chain who served coffee with something in it..i don't remember exactly what but it's gross..I don't go to that fastfood cahin anymore,although they explained that it is really the first time..
I still think those good and expensive resaturants and food chains too follows health rules and I really am not afraid to eat at those places.
1 person likes this
@raijin (10345)
• Philippines
24 Sep 07
Yes, but not all. It could be on that particular branch only, that's why we become more cautious and aware of these things to not happen again on us. If there's a news about a particular restaurant, diner or fastfood that somehow can be degrading to their reputation, I try to measure things u first before going there.
1 person likes this
@jeanniemay (1798)
• Philippines
13 Oct 07
Yes, I agree. What you don't see won't kill you. The nature of my job makes me dine out almost everyday. I don't have much time to prepare home. I see it more convenient and safe. I think we really have to treat the food servers well in any place we dine for us to not experience such inconveniences of being treated harshly without our knowledge of it. Sometimes, being rude will just make others think a way to get even. We don't even get a prize for being rude, so why pursue it.
Let's eat healthy! Spread the love!
@stormdragon (49)
• United States
23 Sep 07
Eating from those places doesn't really bother me unless the place is noticeably discusting like roaches crowling around on the walls and tables. I don't eat anywhere like that. If the place is clean though, and the staff are friendly, then I usually think it's an ok place to eat at. I don't like eating at places with unfriendly staff, because you never know what they could be doiing in the kitchen...
2 people like this
@Perry2007 (2229)
• Philippines
2 Oct 07
LOL.. the saying won't hurt. I like to dine out, Just hope the restourants I dine ain are hygenic as they apear out.
@aaidjs (1149)
• Croatia (Hrvatska)
11 Oct 07
Hi There!!I am not afraid to eat in restaurants but I never do,maybe I eat in restaurants few time a year!I am at home full time,I have a huge family and I am cooking for all day long!!!I will like to be invited in restaurants more often because i prefer to eat food that someone else cooked!!Why be afraid of restaurants food?Enjoy it when you can!!!Regards Silvana
@jcj_111776 (3216)
• Philippines
23 Sep 07
Hi raijin. I'm not that afraid to eat in restaurants especially if I'm sure that it sticks to the guidelines. Like what some have already said, as long as it looks clean, judging from the interior of the restaurant,it's ok. But what I'm really worried about are the food servers. Why? My brother had been a food server for a respective hotel restaurant. And he had seen for himself how some employees can get very, very disgusting with the prepared food.
He always told me not to argue with a food server, EVER! I've worked in restaurants, too and I've personally handled food preparation. And I've always been very careful. But that's not the case for every food servers apparently.
My brother said that if a food server had an argument, a mild one or not, with a customer, there are times that they get their revenge with the food to be served to that customer. And one can think of every disgusting thing that can be done to the food.
@raijin (10345)
• Philippines
24 Sep 07
It sure is, but I don't see much of that during my watch. Maybe because I haven't had any colleaguers like that, or we haven't meet each other yet!LoL
I'm lucky that I'm not that much into fine dining or five star restos, because I know that the worst foods and servers comes from that very place..
1 person likes this
@jcj_111776 (3216)
• Philippines
24 Sep 07
If that's the case, we only have to call Mike Enriquez and he'll do the rest!lol I sure wish he'll include in his show what really happens in the kitchen area of the restaurants. We can never really be sure of what we're going to get from the food that we order. We'll never know what "special extra magic ingredients" that were put in there. Hmmmm... now that you've posted this discussion, I may have to think 4x if we're going to eat out. lol
1 person likes this
@laurika (4532)
• United States
2 Oct 07
I am not really afarid eat in restaurant.It have to be clean to me and the most the time we would go somewhere where the owner is our friend, so I know what they are serving to us.Of course there can be all the time some troubles, but I better don't think about it.
