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Dirty restaurant bathrooms are a major appetite killer. As Anthony Bourdain writes in Kitchen Confidential, "If the restaurant can't be bothered to replace the puck in the urinal or keep the toilets and floors clean, then just imagine what their refrigeration and work spaces look like."
Bourdain's not alone. Research conducted in the summer of 2011 by Harris Interactive found a solid 79 percent of respondents saying they'd avoid a restaurant after encountering a nasty bathroom. But does the link between a filthy toilet and a dirty prep table even make sense? Hard data is rare. Though health and restaurant inspectors do check for the general appearance of cleanliness in restrooms and dining areas, they save their swabs and scientific gauges for the food-prep areas.
But as Douglas Powell, professor of food safety at Kansas State University, publisher of food safety-focused Barf Blog, and a passionate proponent of proper handwashing (we'll get to that in a moment), says, "There's a yuck factor when you go in and say, 'Eww, this is dirty, what else is?' But there's no proven correlation between having a dirty bathroom and unsafe food. The employees have different sinks to wash their hands in. You don't see those—they're at the back."
Chowhound poster soupkitten makes a good point in a thread titled Freezing Bathrooms=Omen: "Folks who want to point to a smudge on the front window of a restaurant or a smudge on the floor of the men's room as evidence that the *kitchen* of a restaurant or any other business is unsanitary seriously need to realize that most establishments have divisions of labor and that the brunch crew comes in at 6 a.m. to crack eggs, not wash windows and wipe down toilet seats!"
Meanwhile, Powell (politely) pshaw-ed my notion that a dirty bathroom meant that diners should order differently or avoid a restaurant.
"But," he warns, "if you see a cook or a waiter come in and use the bathroom and start to leave without washing up, say something [like], 'Dude, wash your hands!'" Powell also hopes patrons will speak up when bathrooms don't have the tools for proper handwashing. Which are?
• Vigorously flowing water: "Temperature doesn't matter," says Powell, despite the fact that we've all been told that warm water works better. Microbiologically, it doesn't matter.
• Soap: Lather energetically for 10 seconds, not 20 as you may have heard. It's OK with Powell if you want to sing "Happy Birthday" to yourself while you do it, but he'd rather you count than sing kiddie songs.
• Paper towels: The blow-dryers disperse microorganisms into the air and they don't get your hands dry, says Dr. Powell. Paper towels are better. But don't bother using one to hold the bathroom door handle as you go out: The door handle surface isn't a particularly great place for bacteria to grow.
Image source: Flickr member highstrungloner under Creative Commons
If the bathrooms are dirty I would think that other parts of the restaurant are dirty as well. Some people probably end up not washing their hands and then serve food to customers. There is such a great way to help control this, with an invention called the Pure Hold handle. You can check out more about it at http://www.purehold.co.uk. If people forget to wash their hands, then they just open the...+READ
If the bathrooms are dirty I would think that other parts of the restaurant are dirty as well. Some people probably end up not washing their hands and then serve food to customers. There is such a great way to help control this, with an invention called the Pure Hold handle. You can check out more about it at http://www.purehold.co.uk. If people forget to wash their hands, then they just open the bathroom door using the hygiene handle and they would have a gel dispensed in their hands to help kill the bacteria and stop the spread of germs.-COLLAPSE
Yes! If the bathroom is dirty, I think it's reasonable to assume that the restaurant owner and/or general manager are totally able to overlook hygiene/cleanliness as important issues. In fact, if any customer visible area of a restaurant is unclean, I think it's likely that that unseen areas (like the kitchen) are even worse. I'd avoid any such restaurant like the plague!!!
I think it is more a matter of public perception. Would you want to use the bathroom that looks dirty? Despite the fact that you couldn't see germs on an apparently clean toilet anyway. Then again, there are many customers with poor bathroom hygiene and are really the cause of this problem. Do you even want to be the one that has to clean up after the slovenly person that befouls a toilet with...+READ
I think it is more a matter of public perception. Would you want to use the bathroom that looks dirty? Despite the fact that you couldn't see germs on an apparently clean toilet anyway. Then again, there are many customers with poor bathroom hygiene and are really the cause of this problem. Do you even want to be the one that has to clean up after the slovenly person that befouls a toilet with his disgusting habits? As a former restaurant manager it is really a pain in the butt (pun intended) to walk in to the bathroom to see what some idiot has done to the place and not even attempted to clean up. People are gross, and some deserve to be banned from eating establishments.-COLLAPSE
What about places that make their cooks clean the bathroom while on duty? Wearing their chef whites while they do it?
Freia expressed my feelings very well. If a filthy bathroom doesn't gross out the employees, I have two wonder what else doesn't gross them out.
ARE YOU SERIOUS... "But don't bother using one to hold the bathroom door handle as you go out: The door handle surface isn't a particularly great place for bacteria to grow." HAH LIKE I GOING TO TAKE YOUR WORD FOR IT.. I'LL STICK TO USING A PAPER TOWEL TO EXIT THE RESTROOM...
Unfortunately, some of the best Chinese restaurants that I have been to in NYC -Manhattan Chinatown, have the most disgusting bathrooms. I do not know why this is. However, they are to be used only in extreme emergencies. I imagine that the reality is that these "chefs" live in pretty intense squalor, maybe 400-500 to an apartment and personal hygiene and personal space have no meaning to them. I...+READ
Unfortunately, some of the best Chinese restaurants that I have been to in NYC -Manhattan Chinatown, have the most disgusting bathrooms. I do not know why this is. However, they are to be used only in extreme emergencies. I imagine that the reality is that these "chefs" live in pretty intense squalor, maybe 400-500 to an apartment and personal hygiene and personal space have no meaning to them. I can only hope that they wash their hands and keep their genitals away from the bok-choy.-COLLAPSE
Sushihunter: Asians squat to use the toilet; it may disgust you, but it says absolutely nothing about food hygiene.
Hmm, I can appreciate Doug's gentle reminder but in an urban setting it can be an invitation to MYOB, ...or worse. And don not assume the staff will use "their" sink in the back to clean up. If their parents, or culture, did not imbue them with the need to wash, fuhgedabout it!
i went to panera in scarsdale ny..wanted to use the bathroom before ordering; the toilets were disgusting and one of the managers came in and used her non gloved hand to push the garbage down and walked out behind the counter....i complained to another manager, walked out and am NEVER going there again!
Dirty bathrooms indication of the lack of respect for customers by the ownership and / or management. Where I live, a local TV station reports the restaurants cited for dirty kitchens and more often than not they also have dirty restrooms. Isn't that a surprise?!?!
I"m totally turned off by a dirty bathroom and agree that it speaks to the attention to detail a owner/manager gives to the business. My parents were restaurant owners and cleanliness everywhere was important.
Other than that the worse turn off for me was sitting by the back window at a particular restaurant and watching someone from the kitchen staff go out the back door and urinate on a bush...+READ
I"m totally turned off by a dirty bathroom and agree that it speaks to the attention to detail a owner/manager gives to the business. My parents were restaurant owners and cleanliness everywhere was important.
Other than that the worse turn off for me was sitting by the back window at a particular restaurant and watching someone from the kitchen staff go out the back door and urinate on a bush that was right outside the door. Well they obviously didn't have to clean a bathroom but do you think he washed his hands. ewwwww-COLLAPSE
I think its the degree of dirtiness...a paper towel or two on the floor is different from an overflowing toilet IMHO.
I think cleanliness of a bathroom may not indicate a clean prep kitchen BUT a very dirty and poorly maintained bathroom speaks to the attention to detail that the owner/manager gives to the business in general. If there isn't staff directed and supervised to ensure patron comfort...+READ
I think its the degree of dirtiness...a paper towel or two on the floor is different from an overflowing toilet IMHO.
I think cleanliness of a bathroom may not indicate a clean prep kitchen BUT a very dirty and poorly maintained bathroom speaks to the attention to detail that the owner/manager gives to the business in general. If there isn't staff directed and supervised to ensure patron comfort in a washroom, is it unreasonable to believe that other details are slipping by the wayside? If the appropriate staff isn't aware enough to make sure the toilets flush, how do I know that kitchen staff is aware enough to use separate chopping boards for raw chicken and raw vegetable preparation?-COLLAPSE
I was once in a Won Ton Soup house in Richmond, BC. I had already been into the washroom and used it. It was fairly clean - no problem that I could see. My table faced the hallway where the washroom was located and I had seen one of the cooks go in and come out. The only person to do so. I went back in and found two greasy footprints on the toilet seat where he had squated to do his business! I...+READ
I was once in a Won Ton Soup house in Richmond, BC. I had already been into the washroom and used it. It was fairly clean - no problem that I could see. My table faced the hallway where the washroom was located and I had seen one of the cooks go in and come out. The only person to do so. I went back in and found two greasy footprints on the toilet seat where he had squated to do his business! I informed the manager immediately and they had someone go in and clean it.
How disgusting! And this is the guy who is preparing my food!-COLLAPSE