Foods You Should Never Order at Restaurants, According to Chefs

These dishes may seem delicious at first, but you might never order them again after hearing a chef’s opinion.

Chefs train for years to be able to recognize high quality ingredients and expert food preparations, so it’s no surprise that they would be able to spot a dish that isn’t up to par in an instant.

Eggs Benedict

Eggs Benedict may be your go-to Sunday brunch order, but chefs hate to prepare it. Sunday brunch chefs often utilize the odds and ends left over from weekend dinner menus and hollandaise sauce is no exception.

The late chef and TV personality Anthony Bourdain once said, “Bacteria love hollandaise. And nobody I know has ever made hollandaise to order.”

Chicken Parmesan

This Italian staple isn’t a chef favorite and in reality, isn’t even truly an Italian dish. Restauration chef Phil Pretty spoke strongly about his aversion to the dish, “I would never, ever order chicken parmesan.

It’s always frozen before cooked and tastes like a gross version of chicken nuggets.”

Bread Basket

The free bread that restaurants leave on the table is usually there for one purpose: to keep you happy until your main course arrives. Unfortunately, it may be one of the biggest accumulators of bacteria in the restaurant.

Chefs avoid the bread basket entirely because that bread may have been at someone else’s table before yours, and someone else’s table before that!

Fish on Mondays

Ordering fish is always a gamble, so it’s helpful to know where it comes from and when it was caught.

For example, in some areas in the United States, fish markets are closed over the weekend, so there’s a good chance that fish served on Monday isn’t very fresh.