There’s a strange gap between what most people order at a restaurant and what the people who actually work in professional kitchens choose for themselves. It’s almost like knowing how the magic trick works. Once you understand what happens behind those kitchen doors, your relationship with certain menu items changes completely.
Culinary insiders – chefs, food critics, professional cooks – navigate restaurant menus differently than the average diner. They know which dishes are genuinely worth the price, and which ones are theater dressed up as food. Some of their answers are surprising, even counterintuitive. Let’s dive in.
1. Eggs Benedict: The Brunch Classic That Hides a Dirty Secret
It looks gorgeous on the plate. That perfectly poached egg, the glossy golden sauce, the artfully stacked Canadian bacon. Eggs Benedict might be the most photogenic brunch item alive. But here’s the thing – professional chefs quietly sidestep this one almost every time.
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, since many chefs have spoken out against the ills of hollandaise sauce. The concern isn’t really about taste. It’s about safety and consistency under pressure.
Hollandaise sauce is particularly notorious for causing food poisoning, as the egg yolks in the sauce are not fully cooked before serving and the sauce is not kept at a temperature high enough to kill any bacteria. That rich, lukewarm holding temperature is practically a welcome mat for bacteria.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention warns that some restaurants use raw or unpasteurized eggs, which can lead to Salmonella infection. This condition may cause a fever, diarrhea, vomiting, and stomach pain, especially in seniors, infants, and people with weak immune systems. Its symptoms kick in within 12 to 72 hours after contracting the bacteria and can last up to one week. That’s a steep price to pay for brunch.
2. The Well-Done Steak: When You’re Paying Premium for Less
Ordering a steak well-done at a fine dining restaurant is one of the most quietly controversial things you can do at a dinner table. You won’t be thrown out. Nobody will shout at you. Still, something happens in the kitchen that most diners never realize.
Many steak lovers and chefs alike believe that ordering a steak well done is a complete waste of meat. In fact, Anthony Bourdain once claimed that well-done orders get the worst cuts of steak, because most chefs don’t want to waste a good cut on a steak that is cooked for what they believe is far too long. Those who order the dish with expectations of seeing absolutely no pink may not be getting their money’s worth.
Unlike ground beef or brisket that can handle extra high heat for long periods of time and still deliver the desired texture, cuts of steak are designed to be carefully and minimally grilled for the best mouthfeel. Your knife should easily glide when cutting into a steak, and taking a bite should feel soft and buttery, requiring little effort to chew. When a steak is cooked for too long, it becomes tough and almost rubbery, making it difficult to cut into, bite, and chew.
Honestly, it’s like buying a high-performance sports car and then driving it exclusively in first gear. You’re paying for something extraordinary and systematically removing everything that makes it worth the price tag.
3. The Plain Chicken Breast: The Menu’s Most Predictable Disappointment
Chicken breast is safe. It’s familiar. It’s on almost every restaurant menu from casual bistros to upscale dining rooms. That’s precisely why culinary insiders avoid it. Safety, in food terms, is often another word for mediocre.
Chef Luke Shaffer also said he never orders chicken breast when dining out. His reasoning is that the odds aren’t in your favor when ordering chicken at a restaurant, as it may just come out “sawdust dry.” There’s practically no margin for error with chicken breast, and busy kitchens rarely give it the individual attention it needs.
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. Chef Susan Yurish of the Auguste Escoffier School of Culinary Arts concurred, saying you can probably find a more interesting protein on the menu. The advice from multiple chefs? Go for the thigh instead. More fat, more flavor, far more forgiving under heat.
Chef Justin Robinson, from Food Network’s “Iron Chef Showdown” and Fox’s “MasterChef,” put it plainly: “It’s one of those proteins that’s often overcooked and under-seasoned unless handled with intention. If I’m dining out, I want to try something I can’t easily recreate at home – or at least something that brings a new perspective.” That’s a standard worth holding.
4. Fettuccine Alfredo: Overpriced Butter and Pasta, Nothing More
Let’s be real. Fettuccine Alfredo is one of the most beloved comfort dishes in America. It’s also one of the most egregiously overpriced items on any menu, relative to what you’re actually getting. Culinary insiders have strong feelings about this one.
Whether it’s chicken Alfredo or just straight-up fettuccine Alfredo, you might want to avoid this Italian-American staple next time you’re craving some carbs. According to Chef Susan Yurish, there are so many other ways to elevate pasta, and Alfredo sauce isn’t going to do it for you.
The sauce is butter, pasta water, and Parmesan. That’s essentially it. The simplicity isn’t the problem – simple can be brilliant. The problem is that most restaurants charge handsomely for a dish that costs almost nothing to produce and requires very little technical skill. When you compare it to the genuinely labor-intensive dishes a restaurant kitchen can produce, Alfredo starts to look like a lazy menu filler.
Think of it this way: if you walked into a car dealership and they sold you a base model at luxury pricing, you’d feel cheated. Ordering Alfredo at a high-end restaurant is a little like that.
5. The House Salad: A Waste of a Meal
There’s almost nothing more universal on a restaurant menu than the house salad. It exists everywhere. It offends no one. It also excites no one, which is exactly why people who understand food genuinely avoid it.
Kayson Chong, Los Angeles-based executive chef of The Venue, says he tends to stay away from the house salad when dining out. “I prefer to have something special that a chef created with seasonal products and interesting combinations,” he explains. “I like experiencing new and exciting things to eat when I go to other restaurants, not something I can find easily anywhere.”
Vegetable dishes can be extraordinary culinary feats – or ordinary, ho-hum, and uninventive. Given the cacophony of colors, textures, and flavors that vegetables have to offer, you’d think they’d be the stars of many restaurant menus, but not so, say chefs in the know. The house salad is the menu’s equivalent of a placeholder. It’s there to check a box, not to delight you.
Ordering a house salad at a restaurant is, at best, an act of extreme dietary caution. At worst, it’s a missed opportunity to try something genuinely interesting that someone in that kitchen is actually proud of.
6. The Daily Specials: When “Fresh” Means “Expiring”
Servers push specials with infectious enthusiasm. “Today we have a wonderful pan-seared salmon with a citrus beurre blanc…” It sounds exciting, spontaneous, like the chef woke up inspired. But experienced insiders know to ask a different question entirely.
Executive chef and owner Alberto Morreale of Farmer’s Bottega in San Diego says he never orders the specials when going out to eat at other restaurants. “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,” he explains. That’s a surprisingly candid confession from someone who works in the industry.
Have you ever noticed how restaurant servers push the special of the day? Their reasons may be more economic than culinary. The “special” label adds a layer of perceived prestige that the dish may not actually deserve. It creates urgency – “only available today!” – which conveniently bypasses your usual scrutiny.
Rather than automatically going for the special, Morreale recommends asking what arrived fresh that day, or what’s made with local ingredients. That’s a much more useful question to ask your server than simply taking the bait of a chalkboard pitch.
7. Truffle Everything: The Most Overused Luxury in Modern Dining
Truffle fries. Truffle mac and cheese. Truffle risotto. Truffle butter. At some point in the last decade, “truffle” became the word restaurants learned to sprinkle onto menus the same way they sprinkle the synthetic flavoring onto dishes. And that’s exactly the problem.
One award-winning chef shared, “Anytime you see ‘Truffled’ as a descriptive item on a menu, like fries, mac and cheese, potatoes etc., but there’s no actual truffles in or on the dish, it’s a red flag. They are just drizzling synthetically scented ‘truffle’ oil on the dish.” Real truffles are extraordinarily expensive. Synthetic truffle oil is not.
One executive chef points directly at the obsession with truffle mushrooms, especially when synthetic truffle oil is being used, noting that “it overpowers dishes, lacks nuance and often masks what could have been great ingredients.” The irony is thick – an ingredient supposed to elevate a dish ends up burying whatever was underneath it.
Many culinary insiders lament the “liberal use of luxury” – caviar, truffles, uni and Wagyu layered onto everything from burgers to omakase bites – arguing that such gilding buries flavor and cheapens what should feel special. When everything is luxurious, nothing is.
8. Cooked Fish at Non-Specialist Restaurants: A High-Risk Gamble
Fish is one of the most technically demanding proteins a kitchen deals with. The window between perfectly cooked and ruined is narrow – sometimes a matter of seconds. Most restaurant kitchens, especially busy, high-volume ones, are not set up to give fish the attention it demands.
Chefs spoke out against cooked fish when asked what they avoid. Chef Chaz Lindsay, owner and executive chef of Pulito Osteria and Rowan’s in Jackson, Mississippi, said: “I generally avoid cooked fish unless the restaurant is known for it. Properly cooking fish is an art form – one of the most difficult skills to master, in my opinion. More often than not, I find it underwhelming.”
Chef Megan Keno of FOX’s “Next Level Chef” always sees words like “farm-raised fish” as a big red flag, specifically pointing toward tilapia as a no-go. She’s very mindful of sustainable, wild-caught fish practices. Farm-raised fish, particularly tilapia, often lack the flavor complexity of wild-caught alternatives and are frequently fed processed diets that affect their taste and nutritional profile.
Think of it this way: would you go to a French pastry shop for their pizza? Probably not. The same logic applies here. Order fish at restaurants where fish is the star, not an afterthought wedged between the chicken and the pasta.
9. Plant-Based Meat Burgers: The Hype Has Officially Fizzled
Not long ago, the plant-based burger was arguably the most hyped item in the entire restaurant industry. It felt like a genuine revolution. Menus everywhere scrambled to feature Impossible and Beyond products as centerpieces. Fast-forward to 2025, and the reality looks very different.
According to SPINS data analyzed by the Good Food Institute, US retail sales of most plant-based categories were down in 2024 against a backdrop of rising sales for conventional meat. Sales of plant-based meat and seafood specifically dropped roughly seven percent to $1.2 billion in 2024, with unit sales falling an even steeper eleven percent. The decline wasn’t a blip.
What dazzles diners one year can quietly fade into irrelevance the next, and chefs across the country are watching it happen in real time. According to a Menu Matters survey of consumers, the overriding need for 2025 was simply “just give me something new.” The plant-based burger no longer feels new. It feels like a compromise.
Insiders now increasingly see the plant-based patty as a category that promised more than it delivered – highly processed, often loaded with sodium, and struggling to genuinely satisfy the people it was designed to convert. What started as a culinary revolution quietly became a menu footnote.
10. The Elaborate Long Tasting Menu: Ambition Over Experience
For many diners, a multi-course tasting menu represents the pinnacle of fine dining. Twelve courses, three hours, a story told through food. It sounds extraordinary. It can also, in the wrong context, feel like a culinary endurance test with a very large bill at the end.
The multi-course, three-hour tasting menu was once the ultimate expression of fine dining ambition. Chefs designed them as culinary journeys, and certain diners happily cleared an entire evening for the experience. That appetite has cooled considerably.
Tasting menus traditionally require three-hour commitments, but modern diners want chef-driven experiences in one-hour windows. According to the US Consumer Price Index, food away from home rose about six percent from January 2024 to September 2025, driven by rising labor, rent, and ingredient costs. That kind of inflation puts the lengthy, expensive tasting menu under particular pressure.
In 2023 there were 749,000 restaurants in the United States, and the quality of food remains the most crucial reason diners choose one restaurant over another – about two-thirds of them, according to TouchBistro’s 2024 Diner Trends Report. Increasingly, quality means an honest, focused, well-executed dish rather than a theatrical parade of tiny portions spread across an entire evening.
