Eating out is one of life’s genuine pleasures. The atmosphere, the service, the idea that someone else is doing the cooking. But here’s a truth the restaurant industry doesn’t exactly advertise: not everything on that menu is worth your time or money. Some dishes are overpriced, some are safety hazards in disguise, and some are just deeply, quietly disappointing.
Dining out costs more than ever right now. The Consumer Price Index shows that prices at restaurants, casual dining, and fast-food establishments are up by nearly four percent over recent months. That means every choice you make at the table matters more than it used to. So before you open that menu and go on autopilot, let’s talk about the nine foods that consistently fail to deliver. You might be surprised by a few of them.
1. The “Daily Special” – A Cunning Way to Clear the Walk-In
It sounds exciting. The server leans in, lowers their voice, and describes today’s special like it’s a secret gift just for you. Except, honestly, it often isn’t.
Executive chef Alberto Morreale of Farmer’s Bottega in San Diego says he never orders the specials when dining out at other restaurants. He explains that some restaurants put together their specials based on what’s about to expire or what they’re trying to get rid of faster. Think of it less as culinary inspiration and more like a kitchen clearance sale.
Gordon Ramsay is very clear about avoiding soup for exactly the same reason – it can be a clever way for chefs to use up old ingredients, and restaurants have a tendency to serve their soup of the day several days in a row, resulting in an expensive dish that’s neither special nor fresh. The same logic applies to many so-called specials.
2. Well-Done Steak – Paying a Premium for the Worst Cut
Here’s something that may genuinely shock you. Ordering a well-done steak is not just a matter of taste preference. There’s an actual industry practice behind it that most diners have no idea about.
According to a famous article by Anthony Bourdain, chefs have a long-standing tradition called “save for well-done.” Meat that would otherwise be thrown out is saved specifically for customers who order their steak well-done. Overcooking can disguise toughness, bad smells, and otherwise unsavory elements – and it saves restaurants money by not throwing out undesirable cuts.
Cooking steak until well-done also dries out the meat entirely, ruining its tender and juicy flavor. The natural juices escape the beef during prolonged heating, and the fibers become unpleasantly chewy and tough. Many chefs consider well-done steak to be a waste of good meat. If you insist on a steak, ordering medium is the smartest compromise.
3. Eggs Benedict – A Beautiful Dish That Hides a Nasty Risk
Eggs Benedict is one of those brunch classics that looks divine in photos. In reality, it’s one of the most technically demanding dishes a restaurant kitchen has to execute – and under the pressure of a busy brunch service, things go wrong.
Chef Clifton Dickerson of the Auguste Escoffier School of Culinary Arts openly admits he never orders Eggs Benedict when dining out. He notes that hollandaise sauce is temperamental, especially during a busy brunch rush, and that if it’s not made to order or held at the correct temperature, you can end up with a broken sauce or something that’s been sitting out too long.
Eggs Benedict can also pose unique health hazards that other brunch dishes may not. If hollandaise is left to sit at room temperature, it can quickly become a host for bacteria and potentially cause food poisoning. That’s a gamble that no brunch should be worth taking.
4. Plain Chicken – Overcooked, Overpriced, and Just a Bit Boring
Let’s be real. Chicken is the safe choice. It’s the thing you order when you can’t decide. It’s familiar, it’s neutral, and very often, it’s a mistake.
Chefs tend to avoid ordering plain chicken when dining out because it tends to be overcooked at most restaurants. Executive chef Ryan Ososky of The Church Key in West Hollywood admits he will order almost anything when going out, but never chicken. According to the Food Network, chefs avoid ordering chicken in restaurants for multiple reasons, including overinflated price and lack of originality.
Other chefs find that chicken is frequently overcooked in restaurants, which can lead to it becoming tough, chewy, and simply not worth the money you’re spending on it. It’s the one item that almost every chef agrees is a wasted opportunity at the table. Order something that genuinely excites the kitchen.
5. Restaurant Salads – The Freshness Illusion
Salads feel virtuous. Healthy, light, clean. What could go wrong with a bowl of vegetables? It turns out, quite a bit.
Food safety experts warn that salads, sprouts, and deli meats pose serious foodborne illness risks despite their healthy reputation. Leafy greens now cause more outbreaks than hamburgers. That’s not a minor footnote. That’s a dramatic reversal of what most people assume about food safety.
Lettuce and other leafy greens now cause far more outbreaks than hamburgers, largely because they’re grown near cattle operations, can be contaminated by irrigation water, and are eaten raw with no cooking steps to kill pathogens. On top of the health concern, salads are often highly overpriced for what they are, leading you to pay more for way less. A wilted Caesar for fifteen dollars is no one’s idea of a good time.
6. Bargain Sushi – The Most Expensive Cheap Meal You’ll Ever Eat
There’s something irresistible about discounted sushi. A deal on a menu that usually burns a hole in your wallet. Resist it. Seriously.
Modern sushi is famously made with high-quality and fairly expensive seafood. It’s also crafted with premium preparation methods that often require extensive training, skill, and specialty supplies. The moment a restaurant starts cutting corners on those elements, the entire dish falls apart – sometimes in ways that are genuinely dangerous.
Many remember 2024’s viral sushi moment at a sushi bar in Seattle, when TikTok creator Keith Lee filmed himself eating one of the rolls, only for users to spot a worm in the raw fish. The price range of the spot was listed between ten and twenty dollars – perhaps a reminder that low prices really are a red flag when it comes to sushi. Some bargains are not worth the gamble.
7. Mac and Cheese – Comfort Food That Rarely Comforts
Mac and cheese occupies a strange place on restaurant menus. It’s comfort food dressed up as a side dish, and at chain restaurants in particular, it’s often not what it pretends to be.
While many higher-end and independent establishments make mac and cheese from scratch using fresh pasta and real cheese, fast food joints and popular restaurant chains do not. What’s dished up at these spots is a pre-made product that’s microwaved and transformed into a gloopy, gelatinous mess. Unless you know it’s fresh, it’s worth avoiding the mac and cheese option to avoid serious disappointment.
Chef Yulissa Acosta, chef de cuisine at Hearth ’61 in Paradise Valley, Arizona, says she will not order mac and cheese of any sort while eating out. While undeniably delicious, she says it distracts from other dishes the restaurant may have to offer, and the richness from the amount of cream, cheese, and butter used is simply too much. There’s a whole menu of things more worth your money.
8. Truffle Anything – The Great Aroma Deception
Truffle fries. Truffle pasta. Truffle butter. It’s everywhere, and it almost always costs more. Here’s what restaurants are unlikely to tell you when they describe that “truffle” dish in hushed, reverent tones.
Anthony Bourdain famously called truffle oil “industrial waste” and “dreadful” in a 2016 interview with First We Feast. He followed up by pointing out that truffle oil doesn’t contain any real truffles – and studies show the item doesn’t even contain a natural truffle aroma in its ingredients. What you’re paying a premium for is a synthetic compound designed to mimic the real thing.
Another menu buzzword that’s usually subpar in its quality is truffles, and some chefs say it’s usually a red flag. Think about it this way: if a plate of fries suddenly costs three times as much because of a drizzle of flavored oil, that’s not a luxury upgrade. That’s a markup dressed in fancy clothing.
9. The Plant-Based Burger – A Trend That’s Losing Its Shine
For a few years, the plant-based burger felt like the future of dining out. Restaurants rushed to add it to menus. Chefs championed it. Diners ordered it out of curiosity, health consciousness, or both. The numbers, though, tell a different story now.
According to SPINS data analyzed by the Good Food Institute, U.S. 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 about 1.2 billion dollars in 2024, with unit sales falling an even steeper eleven percent.
Sales of refrigerated plant-based burgers, which were driving significant growth in the category just a few years ago, continued their steep decline, dropping about a quarter year over year. Chefs who once championed these dishes are now rethinking their menu space. The plant-based burger isn’t dead, but its dominance as a restaurant centerpiece clearly is. At restaurants that don’t specialize in plant-based cooking, the execution often lags far behind the idea.
