SO GROSS!!! (long) - Page 4

Oh, yuck! My family is meeting at a restaurant for lunch this afternoon and now I cannot stomach the thought of eating something there. I love Chinese food and there is a particular restaurant here that was consistently voted Best Buffet. I ate there about once a week because I loved their hot and sour soup. THEN they got caught by the inspectors with all kinds of violations and got the lowest score ever given in this area. Supposedly all is better now, but NO way this gal is going back. Gags me to think about it.

NEVER GO TO A BUFFET unless you see how they handle the trays of food inside the kitchen and outside when they replace the old trays with the new. I've seen too many people dump new hot food straight onto the food that's sitting there in the trays and not replace the old food at all. If they do that in front of customers, what the heck are they doing in the back? I won't go to a buffet at all anyway, because I'm convinced that even if they remove the old tray and replace it with a new one, they're still going into the kitchen and mixing the old food into the new food anyway.

I also love how people say things like "I've never gotten food poisoning and I've always done it this way." Know what? That's what everyone who's going to get food poisoning tomorrow is saying right now!

When I was in college, I was a waitress at a restaurant which was quite popular and well-known for their family style, all-you-can eat turkey dinner. People would wait in line for hours on the weekend to eat there. It was the most disgusting place ever. They recycled all the uneaten food. Any turkey left on the serving platter got dumped back in a bucket in the kitchen. (I don't remember if we were told what it got used for, but I'm pretty sure it went into the soup, which is totally gross). But I saw wait staff go get "bucket meat" out of that bucket, nuke it, and bring it to customers who asked for seconds instead of waiting for in line the chef to carve fresh meat. When people first sat down, we would bring bowls of cole slaw, cranberry sauce, bean salad, butter; trays of celery, carrots and olives; and rolls to the table. We were supposed to dump whatever was left in those bowls back into the tubs in the kitchen to be scooped out and served again. I refused to do it. I have never seen anything so foul. And to think people lined up around the block to eat someone else's table scraps.

Amazingly, I still eat out. I just try not to think about what goes on and I never send food back!

PS -- No, the restaurant is not open anymore

Kristin

Well, after my Health Dept. Post thought I'd do an update. I was making desserts for the fundraiser tomorrow and in walks BOTH young men who have inspected the kitchen for us. There I was with my hair up and back and my gloves ON. The kitchen was kinda in a mess, but, just cluttered from me cooking. No problem.

They just walked in and started talking. They even helped wrap the desserts. Then one of them said "Are these supposed to be served cold?" "Yep! Wanna get your thermometer out and check the temp? 'Cause it's STILL cold!" LOL He just laughed and said No, that wasn't necessary. They each got a brownie before they left! LOL

It always PAYS to do it right ALL THE TIME!

Beth in KY

i worked at a mexican restraunt for 2 yrs, 1 yr in one location and the 2nd year in a new location. I must say they were very clean and when we werent busy we were made to clean walls, floors, counters, or anything tht could get dirty. Anyway the new location was in shopping strip and located next to a chinese buffet place. Heres where it gets gross, the chinese restraunts back door was right by our back (b/c its a strip mall). One day, at least we only saw it one day, they get a box dropped off at their back door from a refridgerated truck. The box sat out there for DAYS before they brought it in (our dumpsters were side by side so we wouldve know if it went in the garbage). We assume it was food that shouldve been kept cold/frozen but it just sat out their until they brought it in. BTW this is Louisiana so in the summer most days are over 90 degrees outside. Another time the whole area was without power for days (Hurrican Katrina) the board of health told everyone to throw out everything that shouldve been kept cold/frozen, yeah they didnt throw out anything! The board of health actualy let restraunts open back up before they checked them because they were so busy, so they had no idea if it was actualy done & in the chinese restraunts case, it wasnt. Perhaps the worst thing about this restruant was the fact that there were roaches all outside their backdoor, everytime they opened it you could see them just kind of pour out, it was awful. Im not sure if they are still in buisness, they probably are. I must say though that all the health board ppl held their functions and always ate at our restraunt b/c from what i understand most of the restraunts in the area were pretty nasty. Happy Eating out everyone!

One of my dad's friends worked as a health inspector for several years, and he said in general, the absolute worst restaurants were the Chinese places, and the best were the Mexican ones. He said there were many times he found spoiled, moldy meat and produce in the fridge and freezers in the Chinese places.

To me, this topic is another testimonial as to why home bakers should be allowed in more areas.

I agree! Home bakers are not allowed in my state. So I can't run a cake business out of my clean kitchen, but have seen things go on in licensed and inspected restaurant kitchens (see my post above) that make my skin crawl!

Kristin

I have worked at 8 or 10 different bakeries, restaurants, and catering establishments. I do not consider myself a "germaphobe", but I do have pretty high standards when it comes to cleanliness in the kitchen. I did have to leave one bakery when the owner's wife retrieved some moldy bread sticks that I had thrown IN THE TRASH. She was too cheap to pay a linen service for clean bar towels or aprons, parchment paper was re-used until to disintegrated, and I was scolded for throwing away food that had been on the floor. Week old baked goods were sold as fresh, and their "scratch" products were all made from mixes. Oh--also--NO paper towels. You just had to wipe on your dirty apron. I really hated it there.
All that being said, I have assembled thousands of fruit tarts and never washed a berry. It turns raspberries to mush.

I wish I hadn't read this post *SIGH* now I'll have to cook dinner at home forevermore. It's amazing that all of this goes on while many states don't allow home bakeries. I would rather eat something from one of my friends' kitchens than a restaurant anyday. I'm betting that many of these restaurant owners keep their home kitchens where they feed their families cleaner. I wonder if they let their families eat at their restaurants. I really wish health inspection rules were stricter.

OK, the OP's story was gross, but how about this. A restaurant featured on the Food Network is in the town where I live. After the show aired, we decided to try it with some friends who were in town and LOVE this type of food. It's not a fancy place at all, but it was packed and the food got RAVE reviews from Bon Appetit magazine, who rated these restaurants for the show. We had a nice breakfast and thought - OK, it's good.

My husband's secretary was there one morning a few months after we were there and she was sitting at the counter with her husband. The woman who owns the restaurant was making homemade tortillas clearly in view of the patrons. She stopped to take a bite of her breakfast taco, licked her fingers, then went right back to making the tortillas WITH THOSE SAME UNWASHED HANDS she had just licked! The secretary and her husband got up and walked out. EW!

Oh how nauseating. I hope you turned them in to the health department.

can someone clue me in to why it is bad for buffets to mix a not quite finished dish with a new dish? the only two reasons i can think of would be temperature or possible contamination...with the temp question, i can understand if it's during a slow time, but when it's busy, the "old dish" has only sat there for a short time and has not had a chance to lose temperature, so i wouldn't have a problem seeing someone mix them.

Woooow, there are some really disgusting stories on here!!! I bake from home (legally) and holy cow! I bet the inspector's love to visit me compared to some places out there!

I have only worked in an ice cream shop & we kept that place so clean, OMG. When I worked there (about 2 years) we always got 100% white glove award. The boss was really good about letting us (we were teenagers) know what should be done. I couldn't take working in a nasty place!

Anyway, to the OP...I'm glad you got reassigned!

A restaurant friend said his health inspector told him the very exact same thing!