# Which foods will you \*NOT\* eat in a restaurant? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [November 28, 2001, 3:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-foods-will-you-not-eat-in-a-restaurant/95644 "2001-11-28T03:17:58Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![jane\_says](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/47e85d/32.png) [@jane\_says](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jane_says)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2001, 3:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-foods-will-you-not-eat-in-a-restaurant/95644/1 "2001-11-28T03:17:58Z")
The thought of eating some foods not prepared at either my home or my mom’s disgusts me. Tuna salad (or tuna of any kind, for that matter), meatloaf (Ugh! **Gravy** on meatloaf! Every hillbilly knows ketchup is the only suitable topping for meatloaf), oatmeal and pork chops are a few that come to mind. I know I’m not alone here! What grosses you out if you didn’t prepare it yourself? ---
**Author:** ![CrankyAsAnOldMan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crankyasanoldman/32/11670_2.png) [@CrankyAsAnOldMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CrankyAsAnOldMan)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2001, 3:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-foods-will-you-not-eat-in-a-restaurant/95644/2 "2001-11-28T03:23:05Z")
Eggs. I like mine scrambled HARD. That’s well-done, not at all wet or squiggee or anything even remotely damp or underdone. There are only a few restaurants where I know the waitstaff well enough to spell this out without pissing anyone off. So usually, I avoid them. ---
**Author:** ![Green\_Eyed\_Stranger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/919ad9/32.png) [@Green\_Eyed\_Stranger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Green_Eyed_Stranger)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2001, 3:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-foods-will-you-not-eat-in-a-restaurant/95644/3 "2001-11-28T03:31:50Z")
Actually I’m a little backward. If I get a hamburger in a restaurant, I slather it in ketchup. I mean I get an extra container just to dip my hamburger in. However, if I make a hamburger at home, I put mayonaise on it (Miracle Whip at the risk of starting a Great Debate), with no ketchup near it. I can’t stand the thought of putting ketchup on it, and likewise I couldn’t imagine putting mayo on a hamburger in restaurant. This is probably one of my more minor food weirdnesses, maybe some day I’ll devote a thread to them. GES ---
**Author:** ![Hemlock](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/c5a1d2/32.png) [@Hemlock](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hemlock)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2001, 3:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-foods-will-you-not-eat-in-a-restaurant/95644/4 "2001-11-28T03:44:23Z")
If you can get scrambled eggs, hamburgers, meatloaf and ketchup in it, it’s not a “restaurant”. Call it a diner, a fastfood joint, a canteen or whatever:). In a real **restaurant** , I tend to avoid pasta dishes on value-for-money grounds. The mark-up on pasta is huge. ---
**Author:** ![Diogenes](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e47c2d/32.png) [@Diogenes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diogenes)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2001, 3:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-foods-will-you-not-eat-in-a-restaurant/95644/5 "2001-11-28T03:46:01Z")
I try to avoid mayonnaise when I eat at a restaurant. Not a big fan of buffets of salad bars, either, but if that’s all there is (like if I’m staying at a hotel in Vegas and trying to eat on the cheap) I’ll eat from the trough. ---
**Author:** ![Violet](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/ebca7d/32.png) [@Violet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Violet)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2001, 3:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-foods-will-you-not-eat-in-a-restaurant/95644/6 "2001-11-28T03:48:36Z")
Spaghetti. Unless I’m in Europe. ---
**Author:** ![Bedrosian\_Bixby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ecae2f/32.png) [@Bedrosian\_Bixby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bedrosian_Bixby)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2001, 3:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-foods-will-you-not-eat-in-a-restaurant/95644/7 "2001-11-28T03:48:47Z")
Ribs. I just don’t feel comfortable bathing myself in BBQ sauce, when I go out. ---
**Author:** ![Daowajan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/3bc359/32.png) [@Daowajan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Daowajan)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2001, 3:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-foods-will-you-not-eat-in-a-restaurant/95644/8 "2001-11-28T03:51:06Z")
Anything “stuffed” with anything else. Who knows what that stuffing originally was? ---
**Author:** ![bugman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e47c2d/32.png) [@bugman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bugman)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2001, 3:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-foods-will-you-not-eat-in-a-restaurant/95644/9 "2001-11-28T03:54:45Z")
I will not eat anything held together with mayo ie: tuna, chicken, egg, macaroni or turkey salads. the list goes on forever. I will however eat cole slaw but I am not really sure that cole slaw is made with mayo. When I am at home I will eat all of these things though. ---
**Author:** ![Sylkyn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/da6949/32.png) [@Sylkyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sylkyn)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2001, 3:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-foods-will-you-not-eat-in-a-restaurant/95644/10 "2001-11-28T03:56:30Z")
Spaghetti. Restaurant spaghetti makes me physically ill. I can be sick for free. Plus I despise those fat-assed noodles (pasta, for the redneck impaired) they use. Gag. Fried shrimp. Yeah, right. They have a quarter inch shrimp hidden in forty-seven layers of breading. Um…think I’ll pass. Steak of any kind at any place other than a steakhouse. (i.e. Logan’s Roadhouse, Longhorns, etc.). Typically they are a disgrace to all steak fanatics the world over. ---
**Author:** ![techchick68](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ea5d25/32.png) [@techchick68](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/techchick68)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2001, 4:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-foods-will-you-not-eat-in-a-restaurant/95644/11 "2001-11-28T04:29:24Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by SilkyThreat \* > **Spaghetti. Restaurant spaghetti makes me physically ill. I can be sick for free. Plus I despise those fat-assed noodles (pasta, for the redneck impaired) they use. Gag.** Oh you would LOVE Roman Villa here in C Springs. They are an Italian family owned restaurant. Yes, they are true Italians. The mom (probably about 85 now) is the matriarch of the place. There are pictures of us and other kids going back 30+ years in a little dinky place. Their noodles are home made, every day. Their sauce is to die for. OH MAN, they put any chain Italian restaurant to shame. Big shame. Oh and their salad dressing, I can almost taste it, so damn good. UGH, I need to go there now but it’s too late. Oh, and their pizza, I can eat their pizza and not feel like I ate sponges. As for me, I tend to not go to restaurants much anyway. I have become a food snob, for the most part, and enjoy my cooking too much to have someone screw it up. I tend to avoid chicken dishes, even though I don’t much like chicken I prefer to know that it was cooked and cooked through. I will do a burger or a steak but not chicken in a restaurant. (fixed coding. – Uke) [Edited by Ukulele Ike on 11-28-2001 at 06:54 AM] ---
**Author:** ![Arden\_Ranger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b487fb/32.png) [@Arden\_Ranger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arden_Ranger)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2001, 4:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-foods-will-you-not-eat-in-a-restaurant/95644/12 "2001-11-28T04:38:24Z")
Spaghetti, lasagna, pork chops, turkey & dressing or catfish. Must be mine, my Mom’s, or I do without. ---
**Author:** ![OpalCat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/8edcca/32.png) [@OpalCat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OpalCat)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2001, 4:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-foods-will-you-not-eat-in-a-restaurant/95644/13 "2001-11-28T04:41:18Z")
I’m gonna be a little more specific than the OP is asking about… I won’t eat spaghetti at a restaurant that doesn’t have pasta as a major part of their menu. For example, Pizza Hut. They serve spaghetti. I used to work at Pizza Hut and I know a few things about it. Like that they cook the spaghetti once a week and put the portions in sandwich bags in the walk-in refrigerator. By the end of the week when it’s time to make more, the old ones are slimy and smell like mildew. Being a vegetarian, I’d ask for pizza sauce if I _were_ going to have the spaghetti, but for those who like meat sauce… well at least at our restaurant, the sauce was always added to, never totally replaced. Each day they’d chuck a few meatballs into it, also… one time one of the waitresses fished out a meatball and it disintigrated when it got to the top because it had been soaking in the sauce for so long. Eeeeew. I’m hesistant to eat soup at a restaurant, since it’s most likely pretty old. I do eat it sometimes though. Some salad bar items … sorry, but “things” get mixed together and people are gross. I remember someone at my high school spitting in the salad dressing once (my hs had a salad bar)… and I’ve seen way too many chunks of potato salad floating in the pudding, etc … ---
**Author:** ![donkeyoatey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e47c2d/32.png) [@donkeyoatey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/donkeyoatey)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2001, 4:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-foods-will-you-not-eat-in-a-restaurant/95644/14 "2001-11-28T04:41:19Z")
I would never consider eating [prunes wrapped in bacon and served on toast](http://town.hall.org/food/prune.jpg) in a restaurant. ---
**Author:** ![Sylkyn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/da6949/32.png) [@Sylkyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sylkyn)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2001, 4:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-foods-will-you-not-eat-in-a-restaurant/95644/15 "2001-11-28T04:46:55Z")
**Techchick** , that does sound like a place I’d enjoy. I probably should have stated I hate spaghetti in a NON-Italian restaurant. There are a few here (dishes, not the building) I can really sink my jowls into. And the one you mentioned made me vipe. The same holds true for lasagna. If it is not in an Authentic Italian Restaurant, don’t even put that nasty crap on the menu. Stouffer’s is cheaper in the grocery store. And not frozen in the middle when I heat it up. I actually know of a place that does serve Stouffer’s lasagna for an entree’. At $14.95 a pop. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Kentzel-Griffin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ccd318/32.png) [@John\_Kentzel-Griffin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Kentzel-Griffin)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2001, 6:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-foods-will-you-not-eat-in-a-restaurant/95644/16 "2001-11-28T06:44:52Z")
I read the OP and I couldn’t think of anything that I would not eat. But when I read the **SilkyThreat** ’s post, I gotta say that I would never order Stouffer’s lasagna for an entree’ at $14.95 a pop. :eek: ---
**Author:** ![Pergau](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/7c8e57/32.png) [@Pergau](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pergau)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2001, 1:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-foods-will-you-not-eat-in-a-restaurant/95644/17 "2001-11-28T13:26:45Z")
The mints that they have at the till, the icky dirty urine (and worse) splattered mints. ---
**Author:** ![Dragwyr](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dragwyr/32/2855_2.png) [@Dragwyr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dragwyr)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2001, 2:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-foods-will-you-not-eat-in-a-restaurant/95644/18 "2001-11-28T14:23:32Z")
I will **NEVER** eat a prepared salad at a Big Boy’s restaurant (FYI, Big Boys is a lot like a Shoney’s). Having worked at a Big Boys, I’ve seen what happens with the salads the servers prepare. The proper way to prepare a salad was to use the tongs to place the lettuce, peppers, tomatoes and crutons on the plate. But when it was really busy, they would all use their hands. Plus the lettuce would start turning brown and nobody would get new lettuce, so they would drown it in dressing. Gross! ---
**Author:** ![GrizzRich](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/7ba0ec/32.png) [@GrizzRich](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GrizzRich)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2001, 3:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-foods-will-you-not-eat-in-a-restaurant/95644/19 "2001-11-28T15:14:31Z")
Ice cream, sherbet, frozen yogurt or any other cold milk-based dessert. Frankly, I’d MUCH rather have a heaping bowl of my favorite brand after I get home. Pasta dishes of any sort, unless it’s at Generous Georges Positive Pizza and Pasta Place in the suburbs of DC. (oh man, I hope they’re still in business!) ---
**Author:** ![grimpixie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/ecb155/32.png) [@grimpixie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/grimpixie)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2001, 3:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-foods-will-you-not-eat-in-a-restaurant/95644/20 "2001-11-28T15:21:38Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by donkeyoatey \* > \*\*I would never consider eating [prunes wrapped in bacon and served on toast](http://town.hall.org/food/prune.jpg) in a restaurant. \*\* “Devils on horseback” - delicious!!! For me - any seafood on the ferry back from France… :vomiting smiley: Gp [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-foods-will-you-not-eat-in-a-restaurant/95644.md?page=2)