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New York Post
20 hours ago
- Business
- New York Post
8 signs that you should leave a restaurant, experts say
Not every restaurant outing offers a five-star experience — and diners don't always need to taste the food to know something is off. From management gaps to social media hype, key signs can tip you off early to a disappointing experience, say restaurant insiders. These red flags suggest a restaurant may be struggling with service, quality, or culture, according to experts. Any of these sound familiar when it comes to a restaurant you know? 1. There's no management presence 'Great managers are visible,' Salar Sheik, a restaurant consultant based in Los Angeles, told Fox News Digital. 'They touch tables, support staff, and keep the energy up.' In addition to operational duties like working with vendors and managing inventory, managers should be greeting customers, taking their feedback, and helping out servers as needed, according to Indeed. 'If you can't tell who's in charge, it might be because no one is,' Sheik warned. 7 From management gaps to social media hype, key signs can tip you off early to a disappointing experience, say restaurant insiders. hedgehog94 – 2. It's overloaded with influencers While social media influencers can boost a restaurant's identity and draw people in, experts note they could be getting freebies or special treatment. 'When every post or review is from a hosted experience, I can't trust that,' Candy Hom, an Atlanta-based food critic, tour guide, and chef, told Allrecipes. Their ring lights and food photo shoots can also put a damper on the experiences of other customers. 'If it feels more like a photo shoot than a place to break bread, odds are the experience is built more for the 'gram than the guest,' Sheik said. 7 While social media influencers can boost a restaurant's identity and draw people in, experts note they could be getting freebies or special treatment. Manpeppe – 3. The place is empty A restaurant with low traffic could also have slower food rotation, leading to fewer fresh ingredients, according to insiders. Context matters, Sheik said, but beware of dining rooms that are empty at peak hours. 'Consistently empty restaurants often point to a loss of community trust – whether from poor service, declining quality, or mismanagement,' according to Sheik. 7 A restaurant with low traffic could also have slower food rotation, leading to fewer fresh ingredients, according to insiders. Seventyfour – 4. The staff argues with you The customer might not always be right, but experts say an argumentative staff member could be a sign of poor service standards and a breakdown among the team. 'If they mess something up, they should try to make it up to you,' Hom told Allrecipes. A waiter at a celebrity-owned restaurant once split her table's receipt five ways instead of six – then blamed the fact that he usually serves tables of five, Hom said. 'Even if the food was good, the experience was ruined,' she added. 7 The customer might not always be right, but experts say an argumentative staff member could be a sign of poor service standards and a breakdown among the team. JackF – 5. Employees aren't treated well 'If I hear and read about staffers alleging not-great work environments and management issues over and over again from trusted sources … I take those to heart,' Nadia Chaudhury, an editor at Eater, told Allrecipes. Sheik said there are also signs to watch for while at the restaurant. Start and end your day informed with our newsletters Morning Report and Evening Update: Your source for today's top stories Thanks for signing up! Enter your email address Please provide a valid email address. By clicking above you agree to the Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. Never miss a story. Check out more newsletters 'If you hear managers talking down to staff in front of guests, if your server seems visibly anxious or afraid to make a mistake, or if there's no energy, no personality, no smiles, it often means the culture is toxic or punitive,' he said. 6. It's dirty Sticky menus and lipstick-stained glasses are bad enough, but Sheik pointed to the restrooms as the real test of cleanliness. 7 'If you hear managers talking down to staff in front of guests, if your server seems visibly anxious or afraid to make a mistake, or if there's no energy, no personality, no smiles, it often means the culture is toxic or punitive,' experts warn. JackF – 'If those aren't clean, I guarantee you the kitchen's not being held to a higher standard,' he said. Cleanliness is one of the most controllable elements of running a restaurant, he added. 'If the team can't manage that, they're likely failing at much more complex things, too.' 7. Servers don't know the menu 'If your server has to guess ingredients or check on every question, it signals poor training and a lack of pride in the product,' Sheik said. 7 'If your server has to guess ingredients or check on every question, it signals poor training and a lack of pride in the product,' Salar Sheik, a restaurant consultant based in Los Angeles, said. David Pereiras – Menu knowledge is key to providing guests with accurate allergen information and enhancing their overall experience, according to Toast, a restaurant management system. 8. You're being upsold aggressively If you're being upsold too much, it can be another sign of trouble. 7 If you're being upsold too much, it can be another sign of trouble, according to experts. estradaanton – Servers should be enlightening guests, not harassing them, experts claim. 'Suggestive selling is part of the job,' Sheik said. 'But when it feels like a script or desperation, it often means the restaurant is struggling to hit numbers and pushing sales at the cost of genuine hospitality.'
Fox News
a day ago
- Entertainment
- Fox News
8 signs that you should leave a restaurant, experts say
Not every restaurant outing offers a five-star experience — and diners don't always need to taste the food to know something is off. From management gaps to social media hype, key signs can tip you off early to a disappointing experience, say restaurant insiders. These red flags suggest a restaurant may be struggling with service, quality or culture, according to experts. Any of these sound familiar when it comes to a restaurant you know? "Great managers are visible," Salar Sheik, a restaurant consultant based in Los Angeles, told Fox News Digital. "They touch tables, support staff and keep the energy up." In addition to operational duties like working with vendors and managing inventory, managers should be greeting customers, taking their feedback and helping out servers as needed, according to Indeed. "If you can't tell who's in charge, it might be because no one is," Sheik warned. While social media influencers can boost a restaurant's identity and draw people in, experts note they could be getting freebies or special treatment. "When every post or review is from a hosted experience, I can't trust that," Candy Hom, an Atlanta-based food critic, tour guide and chef, told Allrecipes. Their ring lights and food photo shoots can also put a damper on the experiences of other customers. "If it feels more like a photo shoot than a place to break bread, odds are the experience is built more for the 'gram than the guest," Sheik said. A restaurant with low traffic could also have slower food rotation, leading to fewer fresh ingredients, according to insiders. Context matters, Sheik said, but beware of dining rooms that are empty at peak hours. "Consistently empty restaurants often point to a loss of community trust – whether from poor service, declining quality or mismanagement," according to Sheik. The customer might not always be right, but experts say an argumentative staff member could be a sign of poor service standards and a breakdown among the team. "If they mess something up, they should try to make it up to you," Hom told Allrecipes. A waiter at a celebrity-owned restaurant once split her table's receipt five ways instead of six – then blamed the fact that he usually serves tables of five, Hom said. "Even if the food was good, the experience was ruined," she added. "If I hear and read about staffers alleging not-great work environments and management issues over and over again from trusted sources … I take those to heart," Nadia Chaudhury, an editor at Eater, told Allrecipes. Sheik said there are also signs to watch for while at the restaurant. "If you hear managers talking down to staff in front of guests, if your server seems visibly anxious or afraid to make a mistake, or if there's no energy, no personality, no smiles, it often means the culture is toxic or punitive," he said. Sticky menus and lipstick-stained glasses are bad enough, but Sheik pointed to the restrooms as the real test of cleanliness. "If those aren't clean, I guarantee you the kitchen's not being held to a higher standard," he said. Cleanliness is one of the most controllable elements of running a restaurant, he added. "If the team can't manage that, they're likely failing at much more complex things, too." "If your server has to guess ingredients or check on every question, it signals poor training and a lack of pride in the product," Sheik said. Menu knowledge is key to providing guests with accurate allergen information and enhancing their overall experience, according to Toast, a restaurant management system. If you're being upsold too much, it can be another sign of trouble. Servers should be enlightening guests, not harassing them, experts claim. "Suggestive selling is part of the job," Sheik said. "But when it feels like a script or desperation, it often means the restaurant is struggling to hit numbers and pushing sales at the cost of genuine hospitality."
Scottish Sun
22-07-2025
- Climate
- Scottish Sun
Make your homemade soup thicker and creamier with very odd ingredient – just chop it up and blend
A CHEF has revealed the incredibly unusual ingredient that will make your soup "creamier", "thicker" and "taste better". With the heavens finally opening this week, and flooding the UK with a barrage of rain, many Brits are likely looking to make some comfort food to make them feel nice and cosy. 2 Soup is great for warming you up after getting caught in a thunderstorm Credit: Getty 2 Your leftover takeaway chips will make your soup thicker and creamier There's nothing better than getting home soaking wet after being caught in a thunderstorm, and tucking in to a nice bowl of soup to warm you up. And chefs from Allrecipes have revealed the unlikely ingredient that will turn your soup into a "luxurious bowl". Unlikely ingredient If you've ever come home from a night out with an order of Mcdonald's and immediately fallen asleep before getting the chance to eat it, you'll know the feeling of waking up next morning unsure what to do with it. Soggy, cold fries famously don't taste great, but they can be blended up and turned into a soup thickener. Potatoes are a great soup thickener, as they release starch as they cook, thickening the broth. How to use leftover chips to thicken soup To use your leftover chips to thicken your soup, simply chop them up into small pieces, add them to your broth, and then use a blender to smooth the mixture. Since the fries are already cooked, you don't need to add them until your soup is nearly done. Placing them in the pan just a minute or two before turning off the heat will make sure the soup remains piping hot. If you put the chips in any earlier, the fridge-cold temperature will temper the soup. You can either use a handheld immersion blender to blitz the soup, or transfer it to a blender. M&S shoppers go wild for an 85p hot treat - it's super tasty and will save on your dinner As takeaway chips are often very salty, you might want to add less salt to your soup, so that you aren't overloaded with salty flavour. Other ways to thicken soup If you don't have any leftover chips on hand, there are a multitude of other simple tricks you can use to thicken soup. For example, pureeing it with cannellini beans or lentils is a great budget friendly way to thicken soup. You can also puree vegetables such as squash, sweet potato and carrot. Finally, for a more decadent meal, you can add double cream to make your soup thick and extra tasty. What food do you need for a healthy diet? IF you want to have good health, a good way to start is from your diet. The Eatwell Guide shows that to have a healthy, balanced diet, people should try to: eat at least 5 portions of a variety of fruit and vegetables every day base meals on higher fibre starchy foods like potatoes, bread, rice or pasta have some dairy or dairy alternatives (such as soya drinks) eat some beans, pulses, fish, eggs, meat and other protein choose unsaturated oils and spreads, and eat them in small amounts drink plenty of fluids (at least 6 to 8 glasses a day) Source: NHS
The Sun
22-07-2025
- General
- The Sun
Make your homemade soup thicker and creamier with very odd ingredient – just chop it up and blend
A CHEF has revealed the incredibly unusual ingredient that will make your soup "creamier", "thicker" and "taste better". With the heavens finally opening this week, and flooding the UK with a barrage of rain, many Brits are likely looking to make some comfort food to make them feel nice and cosy. 2 There's nothing better than getting home soaking wet after being caught in a thunderstorm, and tucking in to a nice bowl of soup to warm you up. And chefs from Allrecipes have revealed the unlikely ingredient that will turn your soup into a "luxurious bowl". Unlikely ingredient If you've ever come home from a night out with an order of Mcdonald's and immediately fallen asleep before getting the chance to eat it, you'll know the feeling of waking up next morning unsure what to do with it. Soggy, cold fries famously don't taste great, but they can be blended up and turned into a soup thickener. Potatoes are a great soup thickener, as they release starch as they cook, thickening the broth. How to use leftover chips to thicken soup To use your leftover chips to thicken your soup, simply chop them up into small pieces, add them to your broth, and then use a blender to smooth the mixture. Since the fries are already cooked, you don't need to add them until your soup is nearly done. Placing them in the pan just a minute or two before turning off the heat will make sure the soup remains piping hot. If you put the chips in any earlier, the fridge-cold temperature will temper the soup. You can either use a handheld immersion blender to blitz the soup, or transfer it to a blender. M&S shoppers go wild for an 85p hot treat - it's super tasty and will save on your dinner As takeaway chips are often very salty, you might want to add less salt to your soup, so that you aren't overloaded with salty flavour. Other ways to thicken soup If you don't have any leftover chips on hand, there are a multitude of other simple tricks you can use to thicken soup. For example, pureeing it with cannellini beans or lentils is a great budget friendly way to thicken soup. You can also puree vegetables such as squash, sweet potato and carrot. Finally, for a more decadent meal, you can add double cream to make your soup thick and extra tasty.
Yahoo
21-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
I Asked 5 Chefs for the Best Frozen Fries, and Their Favorite Is a McDonald's Copycat
This winner is "the real deal." As much as we agree with Allrecipes member Joanna Guido, who believes Chef John's French Fries are "by far the best french fries I have ever made, and easier than you think," we're not too proud to admit that we always keep a bag of frozen fries in stock. Often, about once per week, they fly in to save the day when we're crunched for time and are in need of a quick side dish or snack. Turns out, we're in great company. After connecting with chefs from coast to coast, we realized that they occasionally outsource the prep work, too. Food blogger and cookbook author MacKenzie Smith admits, "I totally eat them straight from my child's abandoned plate like a raccoon over a campsite trash can." (It's not our proudest moment, but same, MacKenzie. Same.) Just because we farm out the scrubbing, slicing, and frying doesn't mean that we're willing to sacrifice on quality, though. When we're adding frozen fries to the menu, we want the best money can buy—and we think you deserve the finest fries, too. To help determine which brand is worth your buck, we asked popular chefs to dish about their favorites…and how to make them taste just as good as homemade or restaurant fries. Our Panel of Fry-Rating Chefs George Duran, a celebrity chef in New York City Dina Deleasa Gonsar, the Whippany, New Jersey-based recipe developer behind Dish It Girl and the author of "At the Kitchen Sink" Mary Payne Moran, chef and owner of The Silver Lake Kitchen cooking school in Los Angeles and the author of "The Vita Gang Mysteries: Who Stole Vita D?" MacKenzie Schultz, a sous chef at Harbinger in Des Moines, Iowa MacKenzie Smith, a New Smyrna Beach, Florida-based food blogger and author of "Grilled Cheese Social" Qualities of the Best Frozen Fries For all the chefs we spoke to, they're seeking a fry that's similar to what you can get from a fast food restaurant. "If they snap when you bite 'em but are still puffy inside, we're in," mom of two MacKenzie says. The culinary pros agree that the best frozen fries check these boxes: Real potato flavor. When it comes to frozen fries, celebrity chef George Duran looks for spuds that can impersonate from-scratch spuds. "I want them to taste like I didn't just pull them out of the freezer. In fact, I look for real potato flavor with a crispy exterior that doesn't require hours of work to achieve perfection." Crispy exterior. Speaking of that surface area, it was the most important feature for our chefs. "I seek out frozen fries that I know I can get crispy no matter what," says sous chef MacKenzie Schultz. "Some frozen fries are battered or actually designed to be super crispy every time. I always splurge on those because most of the time, they are worth the extra buck or two." Thick-cut fries can be far more finicky than thinner ones, the chefs agree, so they reach for fries that are the sweet spot between steak and shoestring. "The fries must crisp up nicely in the air fryer or oven," MacKenzie Smith adds. "Let's be real, ain't nobody got time to bust out a deep fryer on a Tuesday!" A short ingredient list. One easy-to-check factor that's a sign the potato flavor can really shine: a compact ingredient list. Recipe developer Dina Deleasa Gonsar avoids unnecessary additives and looks for a recipe that includes potatoes, salt and oil, and ideally, little or nothing else. Or, as chef and cooking school owner Mary Payne Moran explains, "Fries should not be overly sweet or loaded with a fake flavor." Structural integrity. Since a big part of the fry-enjoyment formula involves dunking or smothering (We're looking at you, poutine!), George says the cooked fries must be able to "hold up to dips without disintegrating like a soap opera villain. If they turn to mush, it's a hard pass." The Best Frozen Fries, According to Chefs It was a remarkably close competition, but winning by a drop of ketchup, the best frozen fries are Alexia. They look and taste like potato sticks you'd make yourself, "not a mashup of processed boiled potato starch," George says. "These are the real deal," he adds. His family is particularly fond of Alexia's Organic Yukon Select Fries With a Touch of Sea Salt, which are just thick enough with a crispy exterior and a tender, fluffy interior. Mary and Dina agree. George tells Allrecipes that they are pan-fried before seasoning. "So they don't need a seasoning to get crispy," he says. "Just pop them in the convection oven or air fryer and you're golden. Literally." Dina adores the fact that you can rely on the package directions for the oven or air fryer, which "consistently yield a crispy texture," she confirms. "And the seasonings they use are usually quite good." Mary chimes in to compare these to those fresh-cut In-N-Out fries, since they're so unfussy and potato-forward. George thinks Alexia fries are akin to what McDonald's fries used to be. "Back in the 1980s, McDonald's fries felt like they came from actual potatoes," he reminisces. "One bite and you knew you had reached fried potato heaven. Since the '90s, McDonald's fries have changed into these engineered starchy spears that seem to have lost some of their spud glory. However, Alexia Yukon Fries are here to save the day." Honorable Mention Coming in a close second with two votes to Alexia's three, the runner-up in our best frozen fries competition is Ore-Ida Extra Crispy Fast Food Fries. MacKenzie Smith deems them the "gold standard" in her house. "They're basically the Michelin star of toddler-approved food," she says, because her kiddos think they taste like McDonald's. MacKenzie Schultz agrees, calling Ore-Ida a solid "McDonald's fry dupe!" The "Extra Crispy" billing isn't a fib, MacKenzie Schultz verifies. They follow through on the promise of "having the luxury of having fast food fries in the freezer," according to the sous chef. "And who wouldn't want that?!" If you follow the label directions (especially the air fryer method—chefs' favorite way to prep frozen fries), MacKenzie Smith says the fries "crisp up fast, don't require babysitting, and have a nice neutral flavor base. She adds, "They're perfect for loading up with flaky salt for me and my hubby and going easy for the kiddos. Everyone wins." How to Upgrade Frozen Fries While these fries are fabulous as-is, if you'd like to take them to "chef's kiss" territory, the pros suggest: Transform them into Parmesan garlic truffle fries. Dip them into sriracha aioli. Load them up with melted mozzarella and gravy. Pair them with homemade ranch. Fry them in beef tallow or another flavorful fat. Read the original article on ALLRECIPES Solve the daily Crossword
