Here are 10 food places you don’t want to dine or shop in. STAY AWAY!
10. Pusateri’s Toronto, ON:
I will never buy anything from this restaurant. They charge an arm and a leg for their food and the food isn’t even up to high class standards. I’d rather go to McEwans than this shithole.
The Pusateri’s location on Avenue Road, one of Toronto’s original high-end grocery stores, was shut down due to public health violations in 2011. The closure was due to poor sanitation and pest infestation. Employees could then be seen removing trays of gourmet chocolate chip cookies and luxury chocolates before vigorously scrubbing shelves and countertops.
Sorry, I don’t believe in redemption!
9. Palace Korean Bar & Grill Bellevue, Washington:
Dining at this Korean restaurant, best known for its all-you-can-eat menu, comes across as an exercise in masochism. Took about 20 minutes for us to be seated after being ignored by the hostess. Then, there was absolutely no service at all! We had to flag him down every time we wanted something and the server acted as if we were bothering him. The place wasn’t even crowded! … When we asked for something, they guy would just look at us and walk away. I ended up getting food poisoned by some of their meet. Many Yelpers who went to this restaurant share the same sentiments.
8. Santorini Toronto, ON:
I fell in love with this restaurant the moment that my company had its Christmas Party there. I also got engaged at the restaurant in 2012. Over the years, I’ve seen their quality of service go down. The last time I went, to celebrate my brother in law’s 20th birthday party, they mixed up the orders. My dad ordered a Rack of Lamb. The plate he received was a Sirloin Steak. When he notified the waiter, the waiter brought him a dish he accidentally gave to another customer. Only problem, that customer already started slicing the meat.
7. Brick Pizzeria Brooklyn, NY:
There is evidence of mice or live mice present in facility’s food and/or non-food areas. Appropriately scaled metal stem-type thermometer or thermocouple not provided or used to evaluate temperatures of potentially hazardous foods during cooking, cooling, reheating and holding. Someone needs to call the Health Inspector on them. The experience was nothing less than atrocious.
6. Uno Chicago Grill Classic Deep Dish Individual Pizza Chicago, Illinois:
The problem with deep dish pizza (which Uno’s knows a thing or two about, since they invented it back in 1943) is not just the extra empty calories and carbs from the crust, it’s that the thick doughy base provides the structural integrity to house extra heaps of cheese, sauce, and greasy toppings. The result is an individual pizza with more calories than you should eat in a day and more sodium than you would find in 27 small bags of Lays Potato Chips. Oh, did we mention it has nearly 3 days’ worth of saturated fat, too? The key to success at Uno’s lies in their flatbread pizza.
5. Kenny’s Gourmet Markham, ON, Canada:
This ain’t any ordinary gourmet Chinese restaurant you’ll go to. In fact, if you get out of there alive, I’ll call it your lucky day. I once asked for a can of Coke to drink while I waited for my food. 20 minutes later, no drinks and no food. When I asked what had happened – she told me that the person handling the drinks was too busy. How hard is it to get a can from the fridge and serve it to a customer? We finally got the food – 40 minutes later. There were a couple of extra ingredients in there that you wouldn’t necessarily want to find or eat. There was a piece of glass stuck to one of the noodles. We were halfway done when we found it. When I told the waitress, she told me she’ll just not charge for the dish. I ended up calling Health Inspection on them and they were fined $1,500.
4. Bistro Med, Washington, D.C.
Multiple Yelp reviews describe horribly botched delivery orders from this Chinatown pizza and sandwich restaurant, which also inexplicably has a Turkish food menu section. “This pizza is the product of using bad flour, bad salt, bad cheese, bad sauce, bad toppings, and probably bad water,” wrote one Yelp reviewer. “My boyfriend and I had our credit card numbers stolen from [here],” wrote another. And as for cleanliness? With 56 violations, it was the dirtiest restaurant in the city last year, with no soap and live cockroaches.
3. Kissena Dominican Diner, Kew Gardens, Queens, N.Y.
Where to begin with this place? The food is crap! I took a bite into the chicken and felt something scratch the roof of my mouth. I took the piece out of my mouth and realized it was a staple. Another reviewer was threatening a lawsuit because he ended up in a hospital and received a tetanus vaccine and 3 medications Another reviews was quoted as saying: “The meat seemed to have been boiled till it was a horrible stringy tasteless mash and what should be crispy skin was like a piece of rubber WTH”. In 2012 it was ranked one of the dirtiest restaurants in New York by Business Insider, which cited “live mice” and “inadequate personal cleanliness.”
2. Spring Rolls Toronto, ON:
I hosted a birthday part the Spring Rolls at Yonge and Eglinton in Toronto, ON. We made reservations for 7:30. Unfortunately, the hostess that booked my reservation put 7:00 p.m. When we arrived at 7:30, the restaurant informed us that we were late and that 6 of our seats were given up to other customers. I was furious, but had no other choice and improvise. When we started squeezing in people into an already crowded table, the manager told us that it was a fire hazard and we should not do that. The terrible night was only beginning. We ordered food at about 8pm. At 9:30, the food was still not out, including the Miso Soups. We asked the server – why the delay-to which she answered “they’re backed up at the kitchen”. Worst birthday – thank you Spring Rolls!
1. Amy’s Baking Company Scottsdale, AZ:
Amy’s Baking Company is owned by Amy and Samy Bouzaglo and operates out of Scottsdale, Arizona. It was featured in the 16th episode of the sixth season of Kitchen Nightmares, starring Celebrity Chef Gordon Ramsay. The restaurant was opened in 2006. About two years before the episode’s airing, bloggers began writing negative reviews of the restaurant’s food. Amy claimed the reviews were “lies” and stated that they cost the restaurant a “tremendous amount of business”. Staff members explained that Amy does not see the problems with the food that many customers see, and that Samy lashes out at any customer who expresses dissatisfaction. After a heated argument and Amy reacting defensively every time, refusing to accept criticism, and blaming others (including Ramsay) for “disrupting” her, Ramsay concludes that this restaurant cannot be helped. After Amy made her intentions clear to withdraw from filming the show, Ramsay left the restaurant for the first time ever without being able to help its owners.
The episode was viewed by approximately 3.34 million people on the day it aired. It earned a 1.2 rating/5 share in the 18-49 demographic, meaning it was seen by 1.2% of all 18-49 year olds, and 5% of all 18-49 year olds watching television at the time of the broadcast. The episode met with praise from reviewers, with one critic writing, “The episode is nothing short of amazing.” After the show aired, the restaurant became a momentary tourist attraction. The restaurant received extensive negative feedback on their official Facebook page. When the owners Amy and Samy responded by excoriating people who posted negative comments, it provoked more of the same, not only on Facebook, but also on Yelp and Reddit. These people need to be shut down immediately!