(and that’s just nasty about the mini condoms! imagine the surprise some people got when they bit into their burgers? ugh!!!)

We used those refillable ketchup bottles. When they got low we put in more ketchup. When they got low again we put in more ketchup. Who knows how long that process had repeated itself but I’m suspecting years because we got a new manager who apparently had seen this before. She went out and emptied the ketchup bottles. In the bottom of every single one of them was some sort of mutant fungus that once was ketchup. I never knew til then that ketchup could mold but this certainly had and had gone well beyond that. Needless to say I’m always wary now of using the refillable type of ketchup / mustard bottles when out.

Another night from the same place. There was this grill that was used in the cooking process and I mananged to slice every finger on both hands. I was bleeding from every finger and the manager gave me some gel and some funky bandaids that could only be best described as mini condoms to slide over my fingers. Apparently there was concern that normal bandaids would come off. So back to work I go with every finger covered in a mini condoms. And I’m making the food, not dealing with money or taking orders mind you. We get busy and the orders come flying and I’m back there whipping out food as fast as I possibly can. My mind is totally focused on getting that food made, getting those burgers grilled, and getting it out. So I don’t notice til the rush is over that six of my mini condoms are gone and I’m oozing gel and blood onto things. Amazingly we had no complaints about the food.

Later on I worked in another restaurant. You hear about those horror stories about what the cooks will do to your food if your a jerk to the waitress or complain about the food. Its all true.

He said he also loved them, but could no longer eat them, as he kept seeing the staff who made them come in with dirt under their nails…yet by the time they finished kneading the dough, gee whiz, nails all clean, now!

He said that for the most part, if you were able to see what happens in the kitchens of these places, you’d NEVER eat out.

Knowing that, I still eat out regularly, but I try to avoid those places that consistently have critical violations, or seem dirty, or give me any other excuse. I don’t always read the reviews but they are interesting.

Schlotzky’s Deli had six violations, three related to not keeping food cold enough, one related to not date-labeling sliced meats, and for slime in their ice machine. ewwww! They also had excessive buildup of lint and dirt/greese on ceiling tiles and vents.

I also like the Hong Kong, but they got 9 violations this time! 4 critical (though one was for a toothpick in an employee’s mouth?!?!), a non-critical violation was “evidence of mice (turds) in the back room”, yuck!

Sol Rio, another favorite restaurant of mine (I love the Mexican food), had several violations that indicate they are not taking safety seriously (no trained food safety manager on duty, fridge not keeping food cold enough, cooked food not date-marked, uncleanable cutting boards, no chlorine test strips in the house, kitchen floors excessively dirty). I think I might skip that next time.

Los Albertos had a cook cracking eggs with bare hands then handling burrito without changing gloves! Isn’t that the place with the really awesome and cheap breakfast burritos? Dairy Queen also had excessive flies. Starlite skating rink (that place is still open?!?) had a sink wrapped in duct tape and a garbage bag, definitely not a great sign of their standards.

Then there were numerous places that had violations, but no details provided. I am wondering if the PR is editing those themselves for space, and why they would choose some to edit and not others?

We see lots of cases where food is not being kept cold enough, and my old boss said when you see those violations it is a sign that the owner is trying to be cheap and pinch pennies despite risking customer safety.

Another big problems seems to be moldy ice containers, I don’t think there’s a way for consumers to check that though. Maybe it’s best to get our drinks without ice in restaurants?

I have to admit, that one made my chuckle a bit… Servers, for instance, make about 3.50/hour plus tips. Around here tips could be 5.00 on a hundred dollar total. Sometimes servers have to pay money to serve a table because they are required to tip a small percentage to the supporting workers (bussers, bar, etc). So that means on that table they got… a whopping $2.00. I can’t imagine any restaurant saying to such employees: Go pay for a medical exam to let us know if you are healthy.

There are no technological or bandwidth reasons at least, there may be bureaucratic red tape reasons.

And much of the reason they don’t have the skills is just a snippet of their life in general and carries over to everything including their personal hygiene. Again, I’m not talking about all of them. But I work in a job where I get to see lots of the dregs of society - the addicts, the semi homeless, etc. And you would be amazed at how many of them work in the food industry. Which is why I’ve been very heistant to eat at both The Olive Garden and Ruby River since I know who some of the employees are. I turned around and left the Olive Garden a few weeks ago when I recognized the greeter from my job as being a hardcore meth addict who lives in squalor.

Our family loves to cook together. We also take one night of the week to go through our cookbooks and pick out a new recipe. Our kids actually love eating their vegatables and by trying different recipes and alternate ways to cook them it’s made it so much easier to introduce new foods to them. Plus kids love to help you cook. They have a blast and they learn to eat healthy at the same time, which are good habits they’ll keep for the rest of their lives.
Plus it adds more quality “family time” in the evenings. Instead of the wife in the kitchen while I’m on the couch watching tv and the kids are running around playing, we’re all in there having fun and spending time together. Granted there have been times when it’s taken longer to clean up afterwards then the shopping, cooking & eating combined. But’s its well worth it. Plus it tastes so much better when you actually know what you’re eating and who handled your food.
Aside from our personal preference, these inspection reports make all the difference in the world and they certainly influence which restaraunts we do eat at when we eat out.
Good post Joe!