The Menu Red Flag That Should Send You Running From The Restaurant

More than perhaps anything else, foodies are always trying to avoid going to bad restaurants. While chefs may be prone to reminiscing about bad restaurants, consumers are far less forgiving, and for good reason. As food lovers, we are sometimes willing to eat at competent but unspectacular spots because they offer a lower price or have ideal hours. However, the difference between an alright restaurant and a bad restaurant — similar to the difference between good diners and great ones — is a big one. One of the best ways to identify if a restaurant is truly not worth going to is by looking at the length of its menu.

Although it's not a foolproof method, an excessively long menu can indicate a lower quality of the items on it. This is especially a red flag if the restaurant's menu spans several different cultures or food types. After all, a jack of all trades is a master of none.

Beyond merely having the potential of being low-quality taste-wise, you may also need to worry about the freshness of the food at an establishment with an endless menu. Having to maintain all the ingredients needed for a large menu likely means sacrificing those ingredients' freshness, especially for menu items that are unique or ordered less often by customers.

One way to increase your chances of getting a good meal from a restaurant with an oversized menu is to identify the type of food they specialize in. If you find yourself noticing that all the people around you are getting burgers and nobody is ordering the seafood tacos, it'd be smart to fit in with the crowd and go for a burger or hot dog. Because these types of restaurants have a tendency toward produce that isn't all that fresh, ordering frozen items like mozzarella sticks is one way to ensure you get exactly what you're looking for since those items have a longer shelf life.