You’re sitting at a nice restaurant, excited to try something new. The server approaches your table with a warm smile and launches into a list of daily specials. They sound tempting, right? Maybe even exclusive. Here’s the thing: many professional chefs who work in restaurants wouldn’t order most of those specials if they were dining out themselves. They know too much about what happens behind the kitchen doors.
Let’s be real, the daily special has this mysterious allure that makes it feel like you’re getting something unique. Sometimes it truly is a chef’s creative masterpiece, showcasing seasonal ingredients that arrived fresh that morning. Other times, though? Not so much. The reality can be a bit less glamorous than you’d hope.
The Daily Special Itself
Executive chef Alberto Morreale of Farmer’s Bottega in San Diego admits he never orders the specials when dining at other restaurants, and he’s not alone. The reason? 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. Gordon Ramsay himself has said that “Specials are there to disappear throughout the evening”.
Chefs who eat out almost never order the specials because they’re often used to move inventory that’s either unpopular or approaching its use-by date. Some restaurants use “specials” to get rid of old ingredients before they go bad. The trick is understanding that not every restaurant operates this way, particularly high-end establishments where specials might genuinely showcase premium ingredients. Still, if you see a restaurant listing ten different specials on one evening? That’s often a red flag that something’s off.
Soup of the Day
The innocent-looking soup of the day might be one of the most avoided items on any menu by chefs. Gordon Ramsay himself won’t order soup of the day at a restaurant, citing similar reasons to other chefs. Why the skepticism? Soup du Jour is often a way for restaurants to use up leftover ingredients that would otherwise perish or expire, as food not sold is called waste and it cuts into profits.
Soups of the day allow a restaurant to use up whatever food they have leftover. Gordon Ramsay recommends asking your waiter what the soup du jour was yesterday, as their answer can clue you into how fresh that soup special really is. If the specials were items like roast chicken and veg, and now the soup of the day is a chicken vegetable soup, that’s a big red flag that the kitchen is using older, leftover ingredients. Honestly, when you think about it, soup is the perfect vehicle to hide ingredients that are on their last leg.
Monday Seafood Specials
Anthony Bourdain famously advised in his book Kitchen Confidential to “never order the seafood special on a Monday” because most fish markets don’t deliver on weekends. Any seafood dishes offered on Monday won’t be as fresh as they should be. This has become one of the most well-known pieces of insider restaurant advice, and for good reason.
The “don’t eat fish on Monday” debate continues to rage on between freshness loving chefs. If the waiter is trying to push fish specials on a Monday, it should be a red flag. I know it sounds crazy, but think about the logistics. Fishmongers are closed on Sundays in most places, so any Monday fish special is likely sitting around since Friday or Saturday. That’s not exactly the fresh catch you’re imagining.
Fish Specials with Bacon
You might think bacon makes everything better. Chefs disagree when it comes to seafood. Executive chef Eric Duchene warns to avoid “fish specials” with bacon because bacon is used to cover up the smell of old fish. That’s a pretty disturbing thought when you really let it sink in.
When restaurants add overly strong flavors like bacon to seafood, it raises questions about what they’re trying to mask. Fresh fish doesn’t need to hide behind smoky, salty pork. It should taste like the ocean, clean and bright. Duchene also notes that raw fish should not be ordered on Sunday nights, because restaurants don’t receive deliveries on Sundays. The pattern here is clear: timing matters, and so does unnecessary flavor camouflage.
Chicken Breast Dishes
Executive chef Ryan Ososky of The Church Key in West Hollywood confides that he will order almost anything when he goes out, but never chicken because it tends to be overcooked at most restaurants. According to the Food Network’s website, chefs avoid ordering chicken in restaurants for many reasons, including overinflated price and lack of originality.
Chef Luke Shaffer notes that the odds aren’t in your favor when ordering chicken at a restaurant, as it may just come out “sawdust dry”. Chef Justin Robinson from Food Network’s “Iron Chef Showdown” and Fox’s “MasterChef” summed it up: “It’s one of those proteins that’s often overcooked and under-seasoned unless handled with intention”. Chicken breast is unforgiving. It dries out fast, and most kitchens don’t give it the attention it needs during a busy dinner rush.
Eggs Benedict and Hollandaise Sauce
Chef Clifton Dickerson of the Auguste Escoffier School of Culinary Arts admitted that he never orders eggs Benedict when dining out, which came as no surprise. Many chefs have spoken out against hollandaise sauce, including Anthony Bourdain. The reason? Dickerson clarified that hollandaise sauce is temperamental, especially during a busy brunch rush, and 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.
Bacteria love hollandaise, and Bourdain pointed out that nobody he knew ever made hollandaise to order during brunch service. It sits there under heat lamps, becoming a breeding ground for potential foodborne illness. Brunch itself has a sketchy reputation among chefs, with Bourdain calling it “an open invitation to the cost-conscious chef, a dumping ground for the odd bits left over from Friday and Saturday nights”.
House Salad and Generic Vegetable Plates
Chef Kayson Chong, Los Angeles-based executive chef of The Venue, tends to stay away from the House Salad when dining out. He prefers to have something special that a chef created with seasonal products and interesting combinations, wanting to experience new and exciting things to eat rather than something he can find easily anywhere.
Chef Suhum Jang, co-owner and managing partner of Hortus NYC, personally avoids ordering house salads, noting he’s seen restaurants repurpose leftover scraps from other dishes as salad ingredients, and the base greens aren’t always fresh, with heavy dressings often used to mask this lack of quality. Salads should be simple, fresh, and vibrant. When a restaurant can’t get that right, it speaks volumes about the rest of their kitchen standards.
Overly Cheap Specials
When specials are priced lower than regular menu prices, restaurants sometimes do this in hopes that more people will be enticed to order the special, therefore allowing them to get rid of leftover or older ingredients quicker. Chef Hemant Bhagwani, chef and owner of the upcoming Goa New York, warns that when the day special is priced lower, the diner needs to recognize this as a red flag.
Watch out for special prices that are noticeably lower than the main menu, as well as overly insistent servers trying to get you to order a special. If something seems too good to be true, it usually is. Restaurants aren’t charities. When they’re offering something at a bargain price, there’s typically a financial motivation behind it, and that motivation often involves moving inventory that won’t last much longer.
Long Lists of Specials
Gordon Ramsay’s disdain for the daily special was evident when he said, “When they list ten specials? That’s not special”. Chef Hemant Bhagwani explains that when it is a large menu, the restaurant tends to store a larger quantity of ingredients, and because of this, specials may be made up of older ingredients that weren’t used up in time, and an overloaded menu with different dishes shows the kitchen carries an excess inventory which leads to stale ingredients.
Think about it logically. If a kitchen is truly creating something special and unique each day, they’re probably going to focus on one or two dishes, not a dozen. Be especially careful if the restaurant already offers loads of dishes, like those diners with menus thick enough to serve as a booster seat. Too many options usually means frozen ingredients and a kitchen that’s spread way too thin to deliver quality across the board.
