You sit down, open the menu, and suddenly feel like everything looks good. The specials board is calling your name. The bread basket has already landed on your table. The truffle fries are right there, looking extremely fancy and overpriced in equal measure. Here's the thing though: professional chefs eat out too, and when they do, their eyes move very differently across that same menu.
No one knows what dishes you should avoid better than seasoned chefs, and they all have foods they steer clear of, no matter what, even at the fanciest of restaurants. Their reasons can be about freshness, value, food safety, or just plain common sense. Some of their choices might genuinely surprise you. Let's dive in.
1. The Bread Basket
It arrives warm, smells incredible, and almost nobody refuses it. That's exactly the problem. The bread basket is one of those things that always looks better than it is. You arrive at the restaurant starving, and suddenly that incredible-looking basket makes its way to your table. You dig in, unable to resist. Unfortunately, that bread may have just been on your neighbor's table.
According to Food Network's chef survey, it's not uncommon for uneaten bread to make its way to multiple tables. Think about that the next time you reach for a roll before the meal even starts. Three chefs admitted that uneaten, but possibly handled, bread removed from one table may make its way to a new table at their restaurants. Hard pass from most culinary pros.
2. The Daily Soup Special
Ordering the "Soup of the Day" is code in the hospitality industry for "the back of the house is trying to get rid of its walk-in inventory from the weekend before vendor deliveries come in for the following week," said chef Michael DeLone of Nunzio in Collingswood, New Jersey. That's a blunt way to put it, but it's honest.
As Chef Jon Davis, head chef at City Grocery in Oxford, Mississippi, put it: "The one thing I do not order at restaurants is the soup du jour. Was it really made today? How long has it been in the steam well? Did the prep cook cool it down properly? It's a crap shoot I'm not willing to take." The soup of the day is also one of the menu items you'll never see Gordon Ramsay ordering at a restaurant, with the celebrity chef citing similar reasons.
3. Eggs Benedict and Hollandaise
When Chef Clifton Dickerson of the Auguste Escoffier School of Culinary Arts admitted that he never orders eggs Benedict when dining out, it came as no surprise. Many chefs have spoken out against the ills of hollandaise sauce. Dickerson clarified: "Don't get me wrong, I love a good Benedict, but hollandaise sauce is temperamental, especially during a busy brunch rush. If it's not made to order or held just right, you can end up with a broken sauce or something that's been sitting too long."
Sauces like hollandaise are also among the unhealthiest menu items at some restaurants, not only due to the excess calories they add, but also because they come with a genuine health risk. If hollandaise is left at the incorrect temperature, the raw egg yolks contained within can go bad, potentially resulting in salmonella-related food poisoning. Honestly, that's enough for most chefs to close the menu on that section entirely.
4. The House Salad
A salad sounds like the safe, responsible choice. Chefs mostly disagree. According to Chef Suhum Jang, co-owner and managing partner of Hortus NYC, the house salad is an item he personally avoids ordering. He explained: "I've seen restaurants repurpose leftover scraps from other dishes as salad ingredients, which is off-putting. Additionally, the base greens aren't always fresh, and heavy dressings are often used to mask this lack of quality."
Many chefs agree that salads are overpriced. One chef noted: "Rarely am I ever impressed with restaurant salads, and often leave thinking, 'I paid $15 for this; I could have made it in two seconds for much less than that.'" It's hard to argue with that math. The Caesar salad especially takes a beating from culinary insiders who say the markup versus the actual cost of ingredients is almost insulting.
5. Chicken Dishes
Chicken is one of the most popular proteins in the world, but inside a restaurant kitchen, it's apparently also one of the most mishandled. Chefs tend to avoid ordering chicken when dining out. Chef Ryan Ososky of The Church Key in West Hollywood said: "I will order almost anything when I go out, but never chicken because it tends to be overcooked at most restaurants." Many restaurants end up overcooking their chicken in an effort to make sure it is fully cooked.
Chef Luke Shaffer also said he never orders chicken breast when dining out. His reasoning is that the odds aren't in your favor, as it may just come out "sawdust dry." Plus, most restaurants have something far more interesting to offer, so you can save the bland, boring, non-indulgent chicken breast for when you're at home. According to Food Network's website, chefs avoid ordering chicken in restaurants for many reasons, including overinflated price and lack of originality.
6. The Daily Specials Board
That little chalkboard of rotating specials near the entrance looks exciting. It feels exclusive. Chefs, however, are deeply skeptical. Executive chef Alberto Morreale of Farmer's Bottega in San Diego says: "When I go out to eat at other restaurants, I never order the specials. Some restaurants put together their specials for the day based on what's about to expire or what they're trying to get rid of faster."
Perhaps most surprising is the idea that chef's recommendations are always about flavor and experience. Sometimes, chefs recommend dishes to move inventory or highlight items with higher profit margins. There's a thin line between a "creative special" and an attempt to use up three-day-old produce. Many professionals claim they avoid specials that never seem to disappear from the board. If a "special" has been on the board for four days running, take the hint.
7. Risotto
Risotto sounds like a love language on paper. Creamy, rich, sophisticated. I think it's one of the most cruelly misrepresented dishes on restaurant menus, and chefs will back me up on this. Executive chef Brian Motyka of Longman and Eagle in Chicago put it plainly: "For me personally, the number one main dish I never order at a restaurant is any sort of risotto."
Cooking risotto is time-consuming and requires almost constant stirring. It basically requires one chef standing at a pot, stirring for quite a long period, and most good restaurants with busy high-octane kitchens simply can't afford to have a chef make just one dish. For this reason, it is very rare to find risotto done properly, and chances are it will disappoint. Reheated risotto, by the way, is a deeply sad plate of food. You've been warned.
8. Anything with "Truffle" in the Name
Truffle fries. Truffle butter. Truffle everything. It's everywhere, and most chefs think it's a red flag. Pastry chef Saura Kline of Local Jones in Denver's Halcyon Hotel advises: "Never order anything that has the word 'truffle' in it." Unless you're at a high-class fine-dining restaurant, this usually means truffle oil, which is very rarely made with actual truffles. It tends to be used aggressively and will immediately increase the price of any dish you're eating, regardless of its actual quality.
Truffle oil is artificially engineered. Manufacturers rely on a chemical to create the funky, umami bite because real truffles are incredibly expensive. In conclusion, guests are paying a premium for a product that's more about the illusion of luxury than actual quality. That's essentially paying restaurant prices for lab-created flavor. Worth thinking about before you upgrade those fries.
9. Overpriced Basic Pasta Dishes
A plate of spaghetti aglio e olio at a restaurant can cost upward of $20. Chefs shake their heads at this. Many restaurants have pasta dishes on the menu to offer variety, but some chefs don't always think pasta is worth the price. Chef Nina Swasdikiati, the owner of Ping Pong Thai in Las Vegas, notes: "Pasta dishes with a basic pasta and sauce are surprisingly expensive for a dish that is inexpensive to cook." She prefers seeking out more intriguing and complex pasta dishes with unique ingredients and flavors.
When dining out, most chefs avoid pasta and chicken dishes because they're the "most overpriced" and the "least interesting" options on the menu. It's not that pasta is bad. It's that you're paying full restaurant markup for something that costs almost nothing to produce. Think of it this way: a box of dried pasta costs less than a dollar. That $22 "house pasta" better have a remarkable story behind it.
10. The Charcuterie Board
Gorgeous on Instagram. Deeply underwhelming in reality, if you ask most professional chefs. Chef Olivia Roszkowski, an instructor at the Institute of Culinary Education, isn't convinced the charcuterie board starter deserves your time. She explains: "I usually avoid ordering dishes that don't require too much skill or time to make and that are essentially just assembled by the kitchen."
Building a presentable charcuterie plate couldn't be easier. Most restaurants probably aren't crafting the mortadella or cheddar themselves. They're shopping at places like Trader Joe's or Costco and dumping the contents on an oak platter, which partly explains their appeal for entertaining at home on a budget, but not necessarily the steep price of having staff do it in a restaurant. You're essentially paying serious restaurant prices for a grocery run someone else made.
11. Frozen Appetizers Like Mozzarella Sticks
Here's the thing: mozzarella sticks are delicious. Nobody is debating that. The issue is what most restaurants are actually serving you. Mozzarella sticks are one of those appetizers that's way easier to buy frozen than make from scratch, so most restaurants do just that. Not only does this mean that they're not fresh, but it also means that you're paying a lot of money for something that costs the restaurant very little.
One major misconception is that everything on a restaurant menu is prepared fresh and to the same standard. In reality, some dishes are bought pre-made, frozen, or pre-cooked to save time and reduce costs, particularly appetizers and side dishes. Mozzarella sticks fall squarely into this trap. You're essentially paying someone to microwave a bag from a commercial food distributor and hand it to you on a plate with a ramekin of marinara. Skip it.
12. Raw Oysters at the Wrong Venue
Oysters at a proper coastal seafood spot? Potentially wonderful. Oysters at an inland chain restaurant on a Sunday night? Chefs won't go near them. Before ordering, the advice is simple: know where they came from and when they arrived at the restaurant. Cordon Bleu-trained chef Mark Nichols told Reader's Digest bluntly: "If handled and stored incorrectly, raw oysters can kill you." That's not hyperbole. That's food safety.
Eric Duchene, executive chef of the JW Marriott Scottsdale Camelback Inn Resort and Spa, also notes that raw fish should not be ordered on Sunday nights, because "restaurants don't receive deliveries on Sunday, so you will not get the freshest products when you order on Sunday night." The same logic applies to oysters. Chefs also point out that all-you-can-eat sushi at a rock-bottom price and mixed seafood platters in landlocked towns without a clear supply route are clear items to avoid. Freshness is everything with shellfish, and the signs of a bad oyster source are usually right there in front of you if you know where to look.
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