What are your biggest turnoffs in a restaurant? Dirty bathrooms? A server with poor personal hygiene? A waiter who looks like he just rolled out of bed?
How about the stench of bus tubs stacked with dirty dishes or a dining room reeking of mothballs?
Fastcasual.com reported last week
that a survey conducted by Harris Interactive reveals the top
three restaurant customer turnoffs: dirty dishes, unpleasant odors,
and dirty restrooms.
The telephone survey -- which Harris Interactive conducted for the Cintas Corporation last month -- asked over a thousand adults what experiences would cause them never to eat at a particular restaurant again. Most at issue seems to be various matters of cleanliness:
1. Unclean dishware (86 percent)
2. Unpleasant odors (85 percent)
3. Dirty restrooms (75 percent)
4. Unclean tables (74 percent)
5. Poor service (74 percent)
6. Dirty floors (69 percent)
7. Poor staff appearance (65 percent)
8. Dirty glass and windows (51 percent)
The survey confirms that most Americans share my theory -- I've been shouting it for years --
that unkempt bathrooms reflect the state of the
kitchen. You show me a restaurant owner who doesn't care enough about
his customers to keep the bathrooms spotless, and I'll present you with
someone who cares less about the state of the kitchen. That's a lot more horrifying than a food-flecked plate or a glass with lipstick on it.
Then again, those things are pretty horrible, too.
But what about things that didn't make the list? Here, in no particular order, are some other good reasons to avoid returning to a restaurant:
Showing 1-3 of 3
