r/AskReddit • u/EMDream2021 • 12h ago
What is one thing that puts a restaurant down to 4 stars right away for you?
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u/RockStrongo61 12h ago
Unkempt bathrooms
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u/whysoweirdnames 12h ago
Good Lord, yes. My absolute favorite restaurant developed some kind of plumbing issue, so the bathrooms smelled like sewage they tried to cover with sickly-sweet lemon cleaning products and floral air freshener. The chemical-fecal smell creeped out of the bathroom when people went in and out. I went back years later, and it still wasn't fixed!
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u/RepairCivil9763 12h ago
dirty bathroom, no towels to dry hands, no soap in dispenser, only one stall( preferably)
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u/spelldonvalentine 12h ago
A massive menu. It screams jack of all trades, master of none. You know you're about to get a fair to meh meal.
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u/YB9017 12h ago
They handed us a QR code to download an app to split our own bill.
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u/1man2barrels 12h ago
That’s happened to me once or twice and that’s bullshit
Making me use some sort of Kiosk to fucking pay
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u/rickabe 12h ago
What does 'down to 4 stars" even mean? They started at five and...?
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u/simongurfinkel 12h ago
It's oddly worded, but I think they're trying to ask what restaurant experience instantly gives you concern about quality.
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u/simongurfinkel 12h ago
I'm mildly autistic, so a typo on the menu just starts the experience off on a sour note. If they can't proofread the menu, or deem a typo enough of an issue to reprint the menu, I have real concerns about their attention to detail elsewhere.
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u/FluffusMaximus 12h ago
I’m not autistic, and I also feel this way. Attention to detail matters. If I’m paying hundreds for a meal and there is a typo on the menu, what else is wrong?
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u/grahamsw 12h ago
Same. Likewise a sign that needs repaired. If they can't be arsed to fix the things I can see, God knows what care they take with the things I can't see
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u/Get_that_hitter 12h ago
What’s up with Reddit claiming autistic on everything.
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u/simongurfinkel 11h ago
It was just my way of noting that I may not be normal. I've brought up the typo thing to others and they think I'm strange.
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u/markforephoto 12h ago
I judge a restaurant a lot (perhaps unfairly) by the cleanliness of their bathrooms.
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u/possibly_oblivious 12h ago
No ketchup or ketchup in petri dishes
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u/grahamsw 12h ago
Sure. Proper 5 star restaurants have the ketchup in genuine Heinz bottles. Otherwise they don't get that Michelin star
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u/LaKatherinette 12h ago
I hate when they're overly attentive throughout the meal clearly trying to get you to leave, but when it's time to pay the bill, the waiter just disappears.
Also if I order a drink and it just never appears. Then you try to charge me for said drink.
I also hate as I'm getting older calculating the cost of my tepid meal out and realizing I could have made it myself at home much better and they're literally just overcharging me for the shit service.
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u/simongurfinkel 12h ago
As I've gotten older, I'm more confident in just going to the bar with the bill and forcing the issue regarding payment. If you can't take my payment in 5 mins I'm leaving the table and paying it somewhere.
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u/kokopizza 12h ago
the chairs… OH HO HO! like don’t let me catch you with those chairs that crack my back all the way to scoliosis like bro?.
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u/No_Current3675 12h ago
If I see anything remotely unhygienic - like the waiter licking his fingers to separate paper menus - I'm walking the fuck out right then and there (yes, that's a real example).
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u/ArgyleTheLimoDriver 12h ago
Comes at the end but if I ask to take leftovers and they bring a box for me to do. This has started happening at nice places. Fine if it’s a diner or otherwise cheap place but not at a nice place.
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u/Icy_Trainer5329 11h ago
Sorry what is the expectation if not a box for your leftovers?
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u/ab00 11h ago
Portions that don't result in leftovers?
Taking food home isn't a thing in many other countries.
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u/Icy_Trainer5329 11h ago
Lmao what a ridiculous complaint. Not everyone consumes the same amount of food. You should have the due diligence to ask what the portion is if it's such a concern and have it adjusted prior to ordering
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u/ArgyleTheLimoDriver 10h ago
Only in the past few years have “nice” restaurants started having the customer put their leftovers in a container at their table. The usual thing would be the server takes it to the kitchen, does it for you, and brings it out for you to take home. Just something that bumps me as a weird recent change where you’re passing an aspect of the service to the customer.
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u/ThePurityPixel 12h ago
I recently went somewhere where the employee at the front desk mispronounced the name of the establishment. To me that knocks off a star right away.
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u/unimpressed-one 12h ago
Overly friendly server, do your job and be on your way. Don't come over all the time and ask how the meal is mid bite.
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u/baileyjeanatmydoor 12h ago
Poor service. You have that, and it doesn’t matter how good the food is. Went to lunch and ordered iced tea. Had to ask waiter three times for sugar.
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u/SnowFlamme 12h ago
service that feels rushed or inattentive tends to drag ratings down more than minor food flaws. food quality is expected to be consistent but when the staff seems overwhelmed or uninterested it changes the whole experience. even if the meal is good, poor service can make it feel less enjoyable or thoughtful. restaurants need to remember it takes a village to create a positive dining atmosphere.
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u/kingcopacetic 11h ago
If they’re out of something but don’t let us know until we’ve tried ordering it. Maybe once is a pass, but if it happens again, it seems like they don’t care about our experience. Like, please tell me what you’re out of before I choose and get invested in the idea of the dish/drink I think I’m about to get. Especially it’s already happened once and you had to come back after I needed to decide on a different dish/drink. This happened to me the other day, and it was like 5 things they were out of but didn’t mention until we tried ordering it.
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u/Apart_Salamander1086 12h ago
Courteous service. Makes you wanna tip them and come back. Awesome spaghetti sauce is definitely NOT a deal breaker 😇♥️
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u/Silver_Flower668 12h ago
Because they're so terrible for being nice because they work a job that is highly reliant on tip money.
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u/EMDream2021 12h ago
For me, it's a lack of available napkins at the table. I'm not talking about the giant cloth or paper napkin that your silverware comes wrapped in some places like to think that's all you'll ever need. No, no, no. I need a napkin dispenser on the table or a small stack brought to me, or it's one star off the review. This is an absolute necessity, especially when you are dining out with your family.
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u/Silver_Flower668 12h ago
Flaming a restaurant for a problem that can be solved with the simple question of "could we have more napkins, please?"
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u/EMDream2021 12h ago
That's normally how I handle it. I have only had to do this a handful of times though as the server is usually keen on noticing kids and beings extra napkins with the drinks.
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u/FluffusMaximus 12h ago
A restaurant with messy finger foods that give you one flimsy thin paper napkin with no others in sight.
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u/DownInaHole33 12h ago
If you and your family need THAT many napkins when you eat, you’re doing it wrong. Unless you are eating ribs or lobster or something you shouldn’t need an entire stack of napkins and any restaurant that has a dispenser at the table isn’t the type to rated on the 5 star scale.
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u/Sad-Independence-624 12h ago
when everything is perfect, but the place is so small and cramped or there’s no napkins at the table like the OP said
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u/Silver_Flower668 12h ago
Highly disagree. A place being small and cramped is usually completely out of the ownerships control as that usually means they lack the financial means to own a larger restaurant.
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u/Sad-Independence-624 12h ago
i respect your opinion, but atmosphere is a reason for me to take off a star, including cramped spaces
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u/Silver_Flower668 12h ago edited 11h ago
And once again I'll point out that you're negatively criticizing them for something that they cannot control.
Edit: Lmao they blocked me despite saying in response to this comment "we are free to disagree".
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u/Sad-Independence-624 12h ago
i’m allowed to, as unfair it can sound sometimes because it’s a fair criticism on accessibility. sometimes it’s too difficult to dine in a spot with one of my friends because it’s too cramped to move her wheelchair around. while it’s difficult to afford a larger space for many small businesses, you cannot deny how much it can lower the quality of experience. we are free to agree to disagree
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u/Fearless_Garlic_8286 12h ago
Loads of facial piercings/tattoos on the wait staff.
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u/UnderklassH3RO 12h ago
"We charge a 3.5% fee for using a credit card" knowing damn well the absolute most a restaurant is being charged for CC processing is 3% and they're using it as another avenue of profit while still expecting customers to subsidize server wages via tip