Besides your taste in food, what are some reasons you might pass by a restaurant? Or leave without ordering after you’ve gone in?
I will pass by places with valet parking. To me, it shrieks ‘pricey and pretentious’. The concept might make more sense in places where the parking is further away, I suppose, but all the restaurants here that I’ve seen offering it had a lot right there. The furthest space was like thirty yards away. Come on! Even in heels it isn’t that hard to walk a hundred feet. Besides, I don’t want any strangers in my car. My car is part of my bubble of private space. I keep stuff in there. Books, deposit slips, random debris. Why would I want to let some stranger in to poke around?
On the other end of the spectrum, I will walk out of a place if it is dirty. If the tables are unwiped, the floor unswept, etc. I always figure if they let it get that bad in front, the kitchen is likely worse.
I’ll walk out if it’s dirty, too. I quit going to one restaurant because of two reasons…the ladies’ room was always dirty, and I saw someone using a broom to sweep off a table. Yuck.
I’ll also walk out if the music is hiphop, rap, or certain kinds of country. Or if the music is so loud that I’ll know I’ll wind up with a headache before the meal is over. I eat in restaurants for the enjoyable atmosphere, not to get aggravated.
I’m always a bit wary of a restaurant that’s empty even though it’s a busy night and all of the other surrounding restaurants are full.
I’ve left cafés/restaurants several times without ordering because of the volume of the music. If we’re straining to have a simple “what are you going to order” conversation because of the noise, and the proprietor won’t turn down the volume, then it’s best just to up and leave immediately.
This is something that would make me leave. It’s normal for a restaurant to be slow on, say, Tuesday. But if it’s Friday night and the place is dead, there 's probably a good reason for that.
Since Mr. Neville and I keep kosher, we always check the menu before going into a restaurant. If it doesn’t have at least a couple of dishes we can have (no meat, poultry, shellfish, or some kinds of fish, most notably catfish) and that sound good to us, we move on.
I learned that one the hard way, in Sydney in fact… I found out the next day that there was a reason why that one restaurant was empty while the others around it were busy…
Oh, and we’d also stay away if we asked the waiter/waitress if a certain dish had meat or something like chicken stock in it, and they didn’t seem to understand why we would care, or didn’t seem willing to find out for us. It’s a good sign when they say something like, “There are eggs in it, is that OK?”
If I knew it was one of those places where the chef throws a snit-fit if you ask him to modify your order in any way (modifications like hold the mayo, not major changes), I’d stay away from there.
If I knew it was a place that served tiny portions (which it labelled as entrees, not as “small plates” or something like that) and was expensive, I’d stay away. Especially if they served the tiny portions of food on huge plates, and most especially if they drizzled sauce around on the empty areas of the plate- I think that’s utterly ridiculous. I think of it kind of like the OP thinks of valet parking.
If a restaurant had a dress code other than “no shirt, no shoes, no service”, we wouldn’t go there. California business casual is about as dressed up as we get unless we’re interviewing for a job or going to a funeral or something.
If it’s an ethnic restaurant in a community with people of that ethnicity, but none of them are eating there.
UK-y spelling in the US (“Ye Olde…”)
If it smells heavily of Lysol or Pine Sol, or of smell whatever they’re covering.
If the other diners look Unsafe for Queer Ladies.
If it’s smoky.
If the floor or menu is unusually sticky.
Mrs. Shoshana does not eat at places with “Family” in their name (who knew?)
She adds:
If the name of the restaurant is stencilled on the window.
If there’s been a recent shooting there.
If surly diners sit outside and glare at you.
I’m learning all kinds of things here!
I hate eating in restaurants with bright florescent lighting. Sometimes I have to do it because there’s nowhere else to go, but I really hate being under bright lights. I hate bright lights in general and I really prefer having warm lighting around me whenever possible.
Loud blasting radio music? Not eating there.
I try to avoid places where there will be screaming babies. So family-type chain restaurants are usually out. A screaming baby sounds, to me, like a beast. Yes, someday I will have to deal with one up close and personal, but until then I don’t really like eating around them.
If it’s an ethnic restaurant in a community with people of that ethnicity, but none of them are eating there.
If it smells heavily of Lysol or Pine Sol, or of whatever smell they’re covering.
If the other diners look Unsafe for Queer Ladies.
If it’s smoky.
If the floor or menu is unusually sticky.
Mrs. Shoshana does not eat at places with “Family” in their name (who knew?)
She adds:
If the specials are stencilled on the window.
If there’s been a recent shooting there.
If surly diners sit outside and glare at you.
Words like “gourmet” mispelled.
UK-y spelling in the US (“Ye Olde…”)
I’ll typically avoid anyplace with nothing but old people (I imagine extremely bland and boring food), or lots of families with small kids. Maybe it’s just because I live in a touristy mecca, but I also get really annoyed when I’m at a “decent” restaurant and a little dressed up for the occasion, and there are a bunch of tourists sitting around in sweaty wifebeater shirts and flip-flops after a day of theme-parkin’ it, with their little kids running around the place and crashing into people’s tables and knocking over servers, and the parents don’t lift a finger to put a stop to it.
