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An award-winning food critic has revealed the best tips to help you choose where to enjoy a pleasurable dining experience, with some tricks you can implement before you even enter the restaurant.
Tom Sietsema, who won an award for his series ‘America’s 10 Best Food Cities’ in 2015 from the James Beard Foundation, has revealed the most efficient way to recognize a delicious place to eat.
In his last Washington PostIn the first article, the seasoned diner revealed his foolproof methods for evaluating restaurants before requesting a table, including…
1. License plates and type of vehicle in the parking lot…
Food critic Tom Sietsema says the most surefire way to tell if a restaurant is serving good food is to check the cars parked right outside the door.
Sietsema says the most surefire way to tell if a restaurant serves good food is to check the cars parked right outside the door.
If most of them have state license plates, it means the restaurant is popular with locals, usually a sign that it is a good one.
On the contrary, if you see a lot of buses outside, it could be a sign that the restaurant is a tourist trap whose standards will be lower.
He also said that a mix of expensive and cheaper cars further suggests that the establishment is a good one, if both the rich and the less rich line up to eat there.
2. Menu size
If a restaurant doesn’t have parking, Sietsema suggests checking to see if they have large menus displayed outside.
According to the critic, any place with menus containing lots of typos, exclamation points or stating that a dish is “cooked to perfection” can be dangerous to eat at.
He also advises against restaurants whose food options span the four corners of the globe, suggesting that a smaller, more focused menu is often indicative of better food.
According to the critic, any place with menus containing lots of typos, exclamation points or stating that a dish is “cooked to perfection” can be dangerous to eat at.
3. The aroma of the restaurant
If a restaurant passes the parking and menu check, Sietsema advises diners to try to smell the air in the place.
He said a steakhouse should smell like meat, an Italian restaurant should have the smell of garlic in the air, and a Korean restaurant should have a hint of chili in its atmosphere.
Sietsema warns that a complete absence of odor – or worse, the smell of bleach – can be a warning that the restaurant is not worth visiting.
“A foul smell, or sometimes worse, a spray of bleach or ammonia from cleaning products, should send you back to the curb,” he suggested.
4. First impressions
Do you call to reserve a table and are greeted by a rude employee? Chances are you’ll get terrible service in person, too.
However, she cautioned that this advice is more likely than calling a restaurant at a busy time to result in an interaction with a harried staff member.
Sietsema also noted that if the website does not list prices on its website or promotes holidays that have already passed, it suggests some botched work.
5. Happy waiters and a busy kitchen
Sietsema also noted that if the website does not list prices or continues to post its holiday specials into another season, the restaurant is “asleep.”
If when you enter the restaurant you see a group of happy waiters and a kitchen full of people, it can be a good sign.
As Sietsema explains: ‘Within a venue, look for waiters who seem happy (proud to work there) and some buzz (diners willing to wait for a table).
‘You want to see a busy counter with a lot of customer turnover.’
6. How old are online reviews?
Last but not least, one of the most important things to consider is the cleanliness of the restaurant, particularly its countertops, floors and the chef’s clothing.
As you search online for reviews of new places, check when they were posted.
According to Sietsema, reviews from just a year ago count as accurate descriptions, as “restaurants are like live theatre, with the possibility of changing casts and scripts.”
7. Cleaning
Last but not least, one of the most important things to consider is the cleanliness of the restaurant, particularly its countertops, floors and the chef’s clothing.
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