Serious Eats - seriouseats.com

I was at a Timmy's, and the door to the back opened, and I caught a glimpse of a girl, with long nails, using no gloves to glaze a coffee cake. She wasn't using a spatula either, so it made it that much worse. I don't think they sell coffee cakes anymore, but my money at Timmy's only goes towards Iced Capps and coffees.

Mine has to be watching one of the servers exit the stall in the ladies room and immediately walk out - without washing her hands! Check please!!!

@beth. Ever think she was just hungry and coudn't afford to buy food? I don't know of any Eastern European customs which involve eating strangers' food scraps. (I guess besides just being needy... but you see that everywhere)

I have to agree with HeartofGlass most of my friends think I'm a snob, but I cannot eat at a buffet! Try watching the patrons some time most dont even bother using the serving tool if they think noone is watching. pure nastiness!

Similiar to your story, onepercent: when I was in college, at the local pizza joint, a bunch of us saw the woman preparing the pizzas (no gloves) scratching at the excema on her arms. It was the only decent place that delivered after midnight, but I couldn't go back there after that.

And, speaking of college and buffets, there was the time that my friend took a closer look at her raw broccoli from the salad bar and saw that it was moving--covered in tiny bugs!

The other day I had a falafel sandwich from a street cart and the tahini tasted like it had an "extra-special" ingredient added... I don't think I'll be eating at carts any time in the near future.

I ate at a restaurant run by Hari Krishnas in Prague. I was surprised to see the male kitchen staff was topless. I really have no idea what it was that I ate but it was good and it was pay what you want so I can't complain.

I was kind of grossed out when a server collected our plates at the end of a meal and scraped all of our leftovers into one big pile at my eye level. Isn't plate scraping supposed to take place in the kitchen?

I saw a rat scurrying around at a downtown burrito joint once. Didn't bother me too much.

And I watched as a whole lamb was brought in the back door of my favorite Greek restaurant, a la "My Big Fat Greek Wedding." That wasn't gross, though, just entertaining.

Nope, it was dead. And ready to become my dinner.

Let's see...

Hair *baked* into my bagel. I had cut the bagel in half and was eating it when my eyes focued on the hair woven into it.

10-15 clustered roaches feeding off an orange juice dispenser.

Oh just yesterday, we were at Taco Bell. My husband wanted to get more food after our pho dinner. Ordering was excruciating. It took 3 minutes of repeating the order 5-6 times until it was correct. The cashier had gloves on, took our order, took the money, scratched her head, and then prepped the food. I didn't say anything because I wasn't going to eat any of that.

Some friends of mine once went to an asian restaurant where they were served a large bowl of white rice. They didn't finish it, and were horrified to watch as the unfinished bowl of rice was taken and scraped back into the serving tray on the buffet line. Gag gag gag.

This is why I read the health code violations online for restaurants I go to...

I was once served onion rings with a long black hair very obviously woven through them. During the same meal I was given an unwrapped, USED straw. It had chocolate milk on it.

I was at a Fridays many years ago and ordered the fajitas. When I took the lid off of the tortillas, a cockroach walked out...

@smile: She was paid well for the area, and the kitchen crew made family meal every night for the staff. Regardless of the reason she was doing it, had the health inspector come in during service, we'd have been fined because of it.

I would have to say the grossest thing we have seen in a restaurant would be the time we were eating dinner at a very nice restaurant on vacation in Florida and the woman at the next table dropped her napkin and bent over to pick it up.........short skirt, NO underwear!!!!!! Needless to say, I was done eating.
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Without a description of the woman (young, old, attractive, ugly) it's difficult to say whether this would have bothered me. On the contrary, I could imagine some scanrious where it might be quite pleasant.

I'm glad I ate my brought-from-home pb sandwich before reading these comments. Urgh...

I would NEVER, EVER scrape a plate in front of guests and I'm pretty sure my boss would throttle me if I did it.

I got a coffee cup with lipstick on it a few weeks ago. I pointed it out to our server who recognized the shade and knew it came from a regular and that it was hard to remove. I can't be sure, but I think all she did was take the mug to the kitchen, wipe off the lipstick and return the filled mug to me. Next time I'll make sure I request a new mug, which is what she should have given me!

It was actually in a bar in Saratoga Springs NY. I think they may have served light food such as sandwiches or pizza but I never went back tyo find out after seeing this:

It was nearly closing time and my lady friend went in to use their restroom. I followed her to wait inside and watched an employee who was mopping the floors sweep the mop straight up off the floor, swab down the table in each booth as he walked past it.... and then straight back down to swab the floor area in between each booth. One mop... one bucket... one very disturbed observer (and I'm not the fussy type).