We cannot stress enough just how important cleanliness is in the food service industry. Without fundamentals in solid hygiene, someone could get seriously ill, your business could get shut down, and all of your employees would be out of a job. However, it seems like not everyone got the message—and common sense isn’t as common as it seems.
Reddit user u/stevesmd asked internet users to share the most disgusting things that they’ve ever witnessed in restaurants, and the responses they got were utterly revolting. We hope you’re not eating anything at the moment, dear Pandas, because you might just lose your appetite. Black mold in the slushie machine is just the tip of the iceberg of ick…
#1
A woman changing her baby’s diaper on one of the tables. Before you throw hate at me, there were changing tables in both bathrooms.
nanspud , William Fortunato Report
Final score: 214points 
Beth H Beth H Community Member • points posts comments upvotes FollowUnfollow 2 weeks ago Report
I had this happen to me during a lunch shift. It was a fine dining restaurant, as well. Not that it would be ok even at McDonald’s. It’s a very old building with tiny bathrooms and no changing tables. However this baby was at least one and could stand so that’s easy peasy. Worst case you go to your car. Never ever at a table.
74 74points reply View More Replies… #2
Working at a restaurant I pulled back the slushie machine because I smelled something off coming from behind. The smell was black mold. I quit on the spot and reported the restaurant to the health authority.
Final score: 208points 
DarkViolet DarkViolet Community Member • points posts comments upvotes FollowUnfollow 2 weeks ago Report
Thank you! We need more conscientious people like you.
70 70points reply View More Replies… #3
The owner was snacking out of the garnish tray for the bartenders. Just snacking on the lemon wedges and sugar sticks meant for the drinks. She was putting her fingers in her mouth and then diving back in for another cherry or orange wedge right there at the bar in front of me and a friend. I looked at her and said, “What you’re doing is f*****g disgusting, those go in people’s drinks and you’re putting your gross fingers in there”. She scoffed and walked away. The bartender came over and thanked me for saying something and explained the staff tells her that all the time, but she doesn’t listen because she’s the owner.
GrimwoldMcTheesbyIV , Lisa Fotios Report
Final score: 185points Wolf Black Wolf Black Community Member • points posts comments upvotes FollowUnfollow 2 weeks ago Report
Being the owner doesn’t justify you being an animal
110 110points reply View More Replies…
Fundamentally, keeping any kitchen clean comes down to two things: managers who prioritize it and employees who care enough to keep things spick and span.
Management needs to find a way to incentivize their staff to take both personal hygiene and the cleanliness of the kitchen and seating area seriously. That comes down to providing workers with fair wages, education, opportunities for career growth, and setting a good example.
#4
In my pest control days. I watched a cook start up a flat top with mouse dropping all over it. He cooked chicken in the s**t and served it up to an unsuspecting customer. I called the dept of health on them. It was appalling.
POWERRL_RANGER , Pixabay Report
Final score: 160points Wolf Black Wolf Black Community Member • points posts comments upvotes FollowUnfollow 2 weeks ago Report
I would’ve stopped him from serving it to them, I wouldn’t have even let them take it
79 79points reply #5
Buddy ordered a burger. Took two bites then tasted something strange. It was a band aid. A used band aid.
Final score: 137points Ace Ace Community Member • points posts comments upvotes FollowUnfollow 2 weeks ago Report
This is why all kitchens and their staff should only ever use the specific blue ones that will show up in whatever food they’re preparing.
67 67points reply View More Replies… #6
Dead cockroach in the salt shaker. I served at the restaurant, and my grandma found it when her and my grandpa came in for lunch. They did not come in for lunch anymore.
molly_203 , praveen pandian Report
Final score: 118points 
The CareTaker The CareTaker Community Member • points posts comments upvotes FollowUnfollow 2 weeks ago Report
back when the mall near us had a Luby’s in it, my grandma would take me, my sis, my lil bro, and my mom out to eat there, The bread rolls there were sooooo good! and we always got roast beef, but the last time we went there {this is the reason it was the last time} We were all eating, It was a very fancy-looking place, and my lil bro at the time {6 yr} was leaning his arm on the table, he complained that it felt itchy, and i looked at it, on it was a HUGE Cockroache, it was crawling all over, i screamed {i have a mass fear of them thanks to childhood trauma) it crawled into his food, we called the waiter, who dug it out of his mashed potatoes, and smashed it under his cup, then he left, my grandma was very mad, my mom tried to calm lil bro and my sister was trying to calm me down, and my grandma {a lil old chubby lady in wheelchair} got the waiter, tells him how wrong it was for him to not replace the food, and We were not coming back again if that’s how they deal with stuff
37 37points reply View More Replies…
For example, everyone will be far more willing to scrub surfaces if they’ve seen their managers get their hands dirty. Similarly, those who take pride in their career and genuinely care about their customers will also keep a tidy station.
On the flip side, a member of staff who is underpaid, burned out, demotivated, and constantly has to deal with rude customers and toxic managers might not give a damn about cleanliness standards. For them, not cleaning might even be a way of rebelling against the system. Unfortunately, it’s not just the business that suffers—the customers do, too.
#7
Not in a restaurant, butva food court.
I was having lunch with a friend and I thought I had stepped on her foot, so I playfully pressed harder but she didn’t respond.
A woman sitting on a table next to us screamed that there was a rat squirming under my shoe.
atot806 , wikipedia.org Report
Final score: 117points 
Justin Smith Justin Smith Community Member • points posts comments upvotes FollowUnfollow 2 weeks ago Report
Anyone else feel bad for the rat?
49 49points reply View More Replies… #8
Was hired on at a place. My first shift I saw the dessert and shake station was a mess… I started to clean up, I opened lowboy and saw what I thought was someone had dumped like a 5lb bag of oreo crumbles.
Was not oreos.. Was a mound of mold. I think I was the first person to open the lowboy in a minute.
I walked up to owner who was in the dining room and threw my apron at him and said loudly ” you don’t pay me enough to kill kids.. your being reported, this place needs shut down.” And told a Lady with a milkshake to not drink it. And left.
Yea that was f****n horrific.
Final score: 105points Wolf Black Wolf Black Community Member • points posts comments upvotes FollowUnfollow 2 weeks ago Report
A hero
41 41points reply #9
I used to work at an Italian restaurant where there was a used tampon sitting around in the back of the kitchen. Of course, no one wanted to touch it so it sat there for the entire time I worked there. They never cleaned the back of the kitchen
Mighty_Meatball , Karolina Grabowska Report
Final score: 99points 
The Doom Song The Doom Song Community Member • points posts comments upvotes FollowUnfollow 2 weeks ago Report
This is so gross on so many levels
55 55points reply View More Replies…
Good standards start at the ground level. Members of staff ought to get in the habit of practicing good hand hygiene before handling food or after using the restroom. Nobody wants to deal with a server who sneezes into their hands and then hands them the menus. Nor would anyone trust a waiter who walks out of the bathroom without even having turned on the tap.
Meanwhile, the kitchen staff must have a system in place for storing food, preparing it, and cleaning the premises. Some food items like raw meat and seafood spoil very quickly, so they cannot be left out in the open for God knows how long. Raw food items also have to be kept separately from cooked ones in order to prevent cross-contamination.
#10
I used to make deliveries to a bunch of places in downtown urban locations…several Jamaican bakeries. All but one were immaculately clean. The other one…oh my gods, so gross. There was always a guy in back chopping chicken into pieces and throwing them into a 5-gal home depot bucket that always had flies buzzing around and landing. Sometimes pieces would fall on the floor and they’d just pick them up and throw them in the bucket. Blood and viscera on almost all surfaces. A REALLY scary basement with goats hanging on hooks, also with flies on them. I would throw up in my mouth almost every time. Needless to say, I’d never eat the free food they’d offer.
labowskichris , Julia Fiander Report
Final score: 95points 
PlatinumThe8-BitCat PlatinumThe8-BitCat Community Member • points posts comments upvotes FollowUnfollow 2 weeks ago Report
This doesn’t sound like a restaurant it sounds like where a murderer would live
55 55points reply View More Replies… #11
Condensation above a buffet turning brown and dripping back down on the food.
MountainHipie , Naim Benjelloun Report
Final score: 90points Libstak Libstak Community Member • points posts comments upvotes FollowUnfollow 2 weeks ago (edited) Report
I went to a charcoal chicken place one time. They had a tray of grave in their full view buffet or whatever you call it. The gravy had a dry film framing half of it, beneath was a couple of centimetres below the film a bunch of congealed looking gravy. The server scooped under the dry film and plopped some thick viscous c**p over some chicken and chips for a customer. I nearly barfed, it’s been years and I know the place is under new management but I can’t pass by it without feeling sick inside.
19 19points reply View More Replies… #12
Former Souz chef in university for a seafood and Chophouse. We butchered, but not live animals (so technically cut meat and entrails). We were a really upscale and on the level place. However, our owners also owned a local brewery and restaurant.
Our old fish went to them. Our old everything went for them. They made sausages from old meat and used beer barley and hops. People loved them. Couldn’t get enough, watching those people lick their fingers clean was an event.
However the worst part was shoveling entrails and carcasses into bags for trash. Not on garbage night. In bear season. Next morning about 100lbs of pig, chicken, fish heads and scales, along with a copious amount of blood and s**t was all over the driveway, the roadside, and had been dragged up and down the road, to the neighbours, our back of house…..
We all, including our $75/hr chef are all in dishwasher black rubber boots and aprons and gloves, masks on, goggles and bandanas, scrubbing the walkway. We looked like a biohazard team cleaning a mass murder scene. So yes, the cops were called and we had a great time explaining everything (they knew it was animal, not human. No one else did tho). This was dead-end of summer, around 95° out. I still smell it sometimes when passing chicken farms and PTSD is real.
Superbly_Humble , Markus Spiske Report
Final score: 77points 
Zedrapazia Zedrapazia Community Member • points posts comments upvotes 2 weeks ago Report
Not wasting meat is a good thing, but this is a bit ewwwwwww
13 13points reply View More Replies…
Kitchen staff ought to sanitize their work surfaces, tools, and cutting boards frequently. Learning to clean up after yourself as you cook is a very useful habit. In the meantime, management has to do frequent inspections of the kitchen and ensure that certain parts of the premises are thoroughly cleaned every day, week, or month.
For instance, you want to mop the floors, storage areas, and walk-in fridges every single day, while also cleaning the food prep areas and sinks. You should also not forget to clean the beverage machines, microwaves, grills, toasters, coffee makers, and other appliances every day, too. Things like floor drains, mats, ovens, and deep fryers can be manually cleaned weekly. Once a month, the staff should focus on the walls, ceilings, vent hoods, grease traps, and the area behind the hotline.
#13
I guess Starbucks counts as a restaurant, so a couple Christmases ago, I stopped in for some coffee after getting a couple gifts. I immediately see multiple baristas petting a dog I assumed to be their manager’s, but they went back to handling the food and drink without washing their hands, so I walked back out.
ScorpionX-123 , Jean Alves Report
Final score: 76points Beth H Beth H Community Member • points posts comments upvotes FollowUnfollow 2 weeks ago Report
I work at a restaurant that has a large patio. Dogs are welcome. But, I never pet them as I don’t want my tables seeing me do so and wonder if I wash my hands.
42 42points reply View More Replies… #14
I worked a single night as a dish rat in a $60 plate restaurant back in the 90s. It was Halloween, so the waitstaff was wearing costumes.
This one really thin girl, dressed up in a Playboy bunny costume, finished nearly all the food off the plates coming back. She ate everything with her hands, including chocolate mousse. I was shocked and she noticed me staring. Burned into my mind is her turning to me, with a fingerfull of mousse and saying “You want to try?”
Not really that gross compared to some of these other ones, but it was my first and only time seeing behind the scenes in a restaurant so it made an impression. Poor waitress was probably starving.
AdWonderful5920 , Pixabay Report
Final score: 76points 
SadieCat17 (she/her) SadieCat17 (she/her) Community Member • points posts comments upvotes FollowUnfollow 2 weeks ago Report
Eating disorder? I understand the feeling. The food “doesn’t count” if it’s just a few leftover scraps 🙁
37 37points reply View More Replies… #15
I helped a friend re tile a kitchen in a restaurant on Granville Island in Vancouver. A pretty nice place. When we were up to the top of the wall and looked into the ceiling space there was about half an inch of rat feces. This was about ten years ago.
Final score: 67points PlatinumThe8-BitCat PlatinumThe8-BitCat Community Member • points posts comments upvotes FollowUnfollow 2 weeks ago Report
It might just be me but the rat in this picture is ADORABLE
59 59points reply View More Replies… #16
We had a guy that would come into our aunts cafe and he would empty his colostomy bag under the booth he was at instead of using the restroom. After a few times of doing this she finally told him to not come back.
Federal-Echo2599 , NataKor5 Report
Final score: 66points Beth H Beth H Community Member • points posts comments upvotes FollowUnfollow 2 weeks ago Report
I was bartending and a guest’s colostomy bag opened up and spilled all over the floor. Bar none, the worst thing I’ve had happen working in restaurants. He barely apologized, didn’t even attempt to clean anything up, and left a mediocre tip. And had the audacity to continue to come in.
43 43points reply View More Replies… #17
Party of 10. White table cloth restaurant. Party leaves. When we approached to clear the table, they had used the corner of one table cloth to wipe their babies s****y a*s.
Final score: 65points The Doom Song The Doom Song Community Member • points posts comments upvotes FollowUnfollow 2 weeks ago Report
What the f**k is wrong with people
56 56points reply View More Replies… #18
Cutting raw and cooked chicken on the same cutting board at the same time. The kitchen is open and you can see what’s going on from the dining area. Everything comes pre packaged, they don’t have anything fresh. Haven’t eaten there ever since
Final score: 65points The Doom Song The Doom Song Community Member • points posts comments upvotes FollowUnfollow 2 weeks ago Report
Have we learnt nothing from kitchen nightmares about basic food safety?
28 28points reply #19
Watched a kid take a spoonful of cookie dough and eat it then put the spoon back in the container. This was one of those build your own frozen yogurt places with 100 different toppings.
moparguy_alec , Ivan Samkov Report
Final score: 61points Wolf Black Wolf Black Community Member • points posts comments upvotes FollowUnfollow 2 weeks ago Report
And NO ONE ELSE saw it????
24 24points reply View More Replies… #20
A napkin run across a floor. It was really a rat that somehow had a napkin draped over it but it was surreal and super funny to watch. We’d joke about eating at the place that held napkin races any time no one could come up with a place to eat then usually someone would be like “Naww, let’s just hit up _________”.
Sleestak714 , Robert Geiger Report
Final score: 60points Wolf Black Wolf Black Community Member • points posts comments upvotes FollowUnfollow 2 weeks ago Report
😂😂😂at least they made something positive out of it!
20 20points reply #21
Truly amazing food in Nola. Cockroaches running on the wall (it’s the French quarter, everyone has roaches). I need to go the bathroom, it’s a closet in the outdoor courtyard. Where apparently the kitchen is as well.
GrumpyDietitian , tataquax Report
Final score: 56points Wolf Black Wolf Black Community Member • points posts comments upvotes FollowUnfollow 2 weeks ago Report
Everything about this spells “NOPE”
29 29points reply #22
As a waiter: watching the “chef”/owner scooping spaghetti out of the steam table with bare hands and plopping it on a plate. We didn’t call the resort “Shithole” (Chateau) [name redacted] for nothing.
Edit: Same place. Fermented ketchup exploding onto guests (refillable glass bottles stored in a hot kitchen that were topped off and not emptied, washed, and refilled fresh). Oh, the 80s were a magical time for food health and safety…
Final score: 55points 
SoshiDragon13 SoshiDragon13 Community Member • points posts comments upvotes FollowUnfollow 2 weeks ago Report
Exploding ketchup? wow
9 9points reply #23
Actual human s**t roll out of someone’s pants leg. They didn’t seem to notice or mind.
schplanko , Polina Zimmerman Report
Final score: 54points The Doom Song The Doom Song Community Member • points posts comments upvotes FollowUnfollow 2 weeks ago Report
Um…. I wish I could say I’ve never seen that but sadly I have and I was the one who cleaned it up coz every one else refused.
29 29points reply View More Replies… #24
Worms in a fish.
Worst part, it was my father’s restaurant. The guy who was in charge of grilling fishes only worked there for a month and he actually cooked fishes that were too old and badly refrigerated… he saw the worms and still cooked them.
He was promptly fired XD
GussDeBlod , S**tImDelicious Report
Final score: 53points John Murphy John Murphy Community Member • points posts comments upvotes FollowUnfollow 2 weeks ago Report
all fish has worms – ok not all, the majority of fish has worms. I live in Alaska where we literally scoop them out of a 40 degree river the amount of worms would make your stomach turn but 99% of the worms you see in fish are not capable of affecting humans and any sort of heat kills them
27 27points reply View More Replies… #25
Steakhouse I was a server at had the tall tray holders you could put several trays of food on. This one happened to be all steaks.
As it was being rolled by a kitchen employee from fridge to grill area it toppled over spilling steaks out all over the floor.
Said employee pulled the steaks from the ground and proceeded to put them back on the tray to cook. Looked at me and said “the grill will kill whatever is on them anyway.”
Godspeed Logan’s Roadhouse. Your brief stay in my town humbled us all.
Final score: 52points 
Headless Horseman Headless Horseman Community Member • points posts comments upvotes FollowUnfollow 2 weeks ago (edited) Report
NOPE. I had dried blood stuck to my fingernail bed, because the fingernail had fallen off 5 minutes before leaving to work and I did my best to scrub it clean. It was my first shift as a “pizza artist” and I asked for a pair of gloves before making pizzas. The OWNER told me it doesn’t matter “the oven will kill off any bacteria.” That’s when I realized I wasn’t even asked to wash my hands before touching the food. I left right then, but not before being yelled at about how I won’t get another job with that attitude, and wrote my experience in a google review to warn others. The owner tried to make me delete it if I just came back to work 😂. Now I run my own local in-home bakery!
44 44points reply View More Replies… #26
One time a family of cockroaches fell from the ceiling right into my plate of food
soapyrubberduck , [deleted] Report
Final score: 51points Wolf Black Wolf Black Community Member • points posts comments upvotes FollowUnfollow 2 weeks ago Report
A whole FAMILY????
17 17points reply View More Replies… #27
A single person bathroom with a backed up toilet full of diarrhea. Management didn’t seem to care
Alltheprettydresses , Tim Mossholder Report
Final score: 49points The Doom Song The Doom Song Community Member • points posts comments upvotes FollowUnfollow 2 weeks ago Report
Gross
17 17points reply View More Replies… #28
Not me, but I’m friends with a health inspector. He told me that one time he saw a mummified mouse hanging from a drop ceiling in the kitchen. He immediately shut down the kitchen and ceased operations until cleanliness was improved. He won’t tell me which restaurant tho.
Final score: 47points 
Alethea Fletcher Alethea Fletcher Community Member • points posts comments upvotes FollowUnfollow 2 weeks ago Report
Just ask him out for dinner…any restaurant he wouldn’t like to go to is one to be suspicious of.
19 19points reply #29
One of the cooks pissed in the cooler. He was almost blind drunk, and just dropped trou and started pissing.
ericbsmith42 , Erik Mclean Report
Final score: 46points Wolf Black Wolf Black Community Member • points posts comments upvotes FollowUnfollow 2 weeks ago Report
Throw the whole cooler out
20 20points reply View More Replies… #30
I was working as a server at a steakhouse. Think something like… about as nice as an Outback. Not that nice, but the servers are wearing ties.
Big party comes in, maybe 8-12 people. They sat down and we’re taking drink orders. One lady asked for 2 to-go boxes full of ice. Strange request, but okay.
We bring them drinks and her 2 to-go boxes full of ice. Come back to the table a few minutes later and the boxes were nowhere to be seen. Until my coworker pointed them out.
She had taken her shoes and socks off and had her bare feet in the boxes of ice. At the table. In the middle of a full dining room.
Final score: 42points 
Brian Droste Brian Droste Community Member • points posts comments upvotes FollowUnfollow 2 weeks ago Report
I would like to know her situation before I judge her.
39 39points reply View More Replies…