# disgusting kitchen



## nianton

So I've been working at this restaurant for 9 months. When I first started I was told it was the dishwasher responsibility to clean the floors at the end of the night. After a couple months of working i realized the job want getting done correctly. The dishwasher would sweep, splash some water on the floor and mop.... that's it! I brought this to the attention of both sous chef's and the chef. I told them to order scrub brushes and sqeegee and I would do the floors. This was 6 months ago and still nothing. Seasons over and it's slow so I got with a fellow cook and said "let's clean the floors". I went next door and borrowed a brush and sqeegee from another restaurant. I pulled this out from under the salad station on my first pass. 

 imagine at least 10 piles of trash like this pulled out from under equipment all down the line. It smelt like I was swimming in a dumpster. At least a year worth of trash was pulled out. And the sous and chef act like it's no big deal. I think ill be looking for another job.........


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## berko

get the **** out of there! ive been working in kitchens for about 15 years now. there is a lot of disgusting **** like that going on. got to be careful where to eat...


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## nianton

The sad part is that this place is supposed to be a high class fine dining restaurant and is in a wealthy part of town. This place is a joke and so are the people that run it. The thing is potential employers ask why most places I'm at I'm only there for a year or two, we'll because I run into crap like this. So now I'm collecting evidence to show potential employers and say "this is why I left" this whole town is filled with ignorant wannabe chefs


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## Brucewml

Change job.


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## alterwisser

By no means have I any experience or insight into this industry, but any team I was able to take a peak into a kitchen that was NOT a kitchen designed to be visible to the customer, I saw something disgusting. I know, small sample size, don't crucify me. I am sure there are properly run kitchens out there. But it's funny how most people have the utmost confidence in the food safety at a fine dining restaurant, but insist eating at a McDonald's is food poisoning waiting to happen.

When it comes to food safety, I'll take most McDonald's over fine dining restaurants any day of the week LOL


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## spoiledbroth

... I'd argue from what I've seen this is not representative of even the average brasserie in Canada... if this is common in the states it's sad but I'm doubtful of that even. Yes, time to move on to better things for the op. You're fighting a losing battle by the sound of it


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## nianton

I agree this is not typical of fine dining restaurants, other kitchens I've worked in may have lacked in other areas but a clean kitchen was always a top priority. I think where I'm working at now may have been on top of its game five years ago, not sure what happen


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## _PixelNinja

The restaurants I've worked at would get closed if that level of trash was lying around. At my last gig the whole team would spend an hour after our shift to clean the kitchen, once a week we'd pull everything out and clean behind the kitchen apparatus, inside the fridges etc. and the trash would be cleaned and disinfected twice a week.


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## skewed

nianton-

I am not too surprised by this. I have found it to be fairly common for the cleanup person to get lazy about the floors. To be honest, it does take quite a bit of extra time to be thorough when it comes to getting under everything. 'Somewhat out of sight then somewhat out of mind' type of mentality I would guess. I have always worked with staff to develop routines to deep clean under everything in stages through the week instead of all at once.

What I am appalled at is the lack of guidance of your sous and head chef. You were trying to help them and they turned a blind eye to it. I agree, you should move on to something better. Perhaps when you interview at your next job take a look around the kitchen.

Cheers and good luck!


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## Cashn

Good for you for taking the initiative, what I would give to work with a whole crew that did that. My chef has a saying regarding cleanliness, organization and work ethic "it all starts with picking up the trash"


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## panda

I'd hire you.


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## joshsy81

panda said:


> I'd hire you.



In a minute! Gold star time


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## nianton

_PixelNinja said:


> The restaurants I've worked at would get closed if that level of trash was lying around.


That's what I said. Proper floor cleaning procedure has always been a part of the daily kitchen maintenance in previous jobs, except where outside sources where hired to do kitchen clean up, which was the case at a country club I worked at. Also just want to say thanks to everyone to let me get this off my chest. I was tempted to put this place on blast but I'm just going to move on and leave it behind.


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## nianton

panda said:


> I'd hire you.



I'm in Florida, but on the west coast.


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## _PixelNinja

nianton said:


> That's what I said. Proper floor cleaning procedure has always been a part of the daily kitchen maintenance in previous jobs, except where outside sources where hired to do kitchen clean up, which was the case at a country club I worked at. Also just want to say thanks to everyone to let me get this off my chest. I was tempted to put this place on blast but I'm just going to move on and leave it behind.


I know that feeling, albeit in regards to other factors  when you are the one being more concerned about the work than your team, notably your superiors, then there is in my opinion a problem.

Good luck moving on and I hope you find a place where you feel more at home.


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## waruixd

Sharpie come-up!


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## WildBoar

It looks like an issue of the kitchen culture there that starts at/ near the top. And sadly you pointing it out did not make them snap out of their funk (I am sure they know you are right, but have likely grown comfortable with the way things have become). I am not in the restaurant business, but have seen enough to know that you seem like the type of person most serious chefs would want on their team. For your own sanity and continued development you are definitely making the right decision to move on if they have no desire to improve things.


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## nianton

Looks like ill be getting out of their sooner than expected. Got an interview tomorrow at a country club. I dont mind the club life


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## kizam

What the hell is going on with the health inspector? It seems he/she should have caught a wiff of what is going on there (no pun intended). Also, it seems like people generally don't know how to mop at all. It seems self explanatory, but it does involve a bit of technique and attention to detail. Where I work it's like pulling teeth to get people to do a quality wet mop. Everyone just wants to slap the mop around on the floor for about 5 minutes and bam they're done.


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## mise_en_place

I used to work in an Indian place and you wouldn't believe the **** the health inspector never saw.


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## Marek07

alterwisser said:


> By no means have I any experience or insight into this industry, but any team I was able to take a peak into a kitchen that was NOT a kitchen designed to be visible to the customer, I saw something disgusting. I know, small sample size, don't crucify me. I am sure there are properly run kitchens out there. But it's funny how most people have the utmost confidence in the food safety at a fine dining restaurant, but insist eating at a McDonald's is food poisoning waiting to happen.
> 
> When it comes to food safety, I'll take most McDonald's over fine dining restaurants any day of the week LOL



A late response...

My son works at McDonalds (or Maccas as we call it down here) and while I think they maintain very good food standards, one practice caught my attention. This was across a few of their stores, always very late at night/early morning after the Friday/Saturday peak busy periods. The floors I saw in the prep areas were incredibly filthy and slippery - strewn with lettuce and many other food scraps. Nothing like the muck that @nianton swept out but pretty bad. Staff were walking over it and it looked like an accident waiting to happen. Wouldn't be surprised if there were a few slips every weekend.

I know it was just after very hectic service times, but surprised they didn't sweep it up regularly - not just for their own safety but also because it's a bad image for customers to see. Sorta hurts the brand...


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## CutFingers

Looks good, at least you don't have little mice


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## nianton

I understand things being a mess after a busy night, especially after doing 800 covers. But that was just one of sevarl piles of trash pulled out from under coolers on a night we had 12 reservations. No mice but the recipie books have roach colonies


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## RalphXhoff

Oops..!! I can't imagine how you work there


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## Bacon king tone

Thats unacceptable no matter what level of food it is


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## TEWNCfarms

nianton said:


> So I've been working at this restaurant for 9 months. When I first started I was told it was the dishwasher responsibility to clean the floors at the end of the night. After a couple months of working i realized the job want getting done correctly. The dishwasher would sweep, splash some water on the floor and mop.... that's it! I brought this to the attention of both sous chef's and the chef. I told them to order scrub brushes and sqeegee and I would do the floors. This was 6 months ago and still nothing. Seasons over and it's slow so I got with a fellow cook and said "let's clean the floors". I went next door and borrowed a brush and sqeegee from another restaurant. I pulled this out from under the salad station on my first pass.
> 
> imagine at least 10 piles of trash like this pulled out from under equipment all down the line. It smelt like I was swimming in a dumpster. At least a year worth of trash was pulled out. And the sous and chef act like it's no big deal. I think ill be looking for another job.........



Ha dude you should check out where I work! The health inspector comes in and tells them they Need this and that done and they dont even listen to her! And she comes back and tears us a new one, 84.5 right now! All because the owner is so cheap he wont pay to have simple **** fixed! I mean to this day there is still Only 1 sink and the coffee maker that has hot water! Hes gonna keep ****** around and theyre going to shut him down. And when we are slow and we have time and people to clean **** his bull dyke ***** who is his DOO will come back and scream at people to leave, Im like you are stupid they are cleaning up what Needs to be cleaned and why we have a bad score! Its Insane!!! Like I got the friers to sparkle, by taking a scraper and scraping off literally Yearssss if built of grease, there was an area on the floor that was 3 Inches of Grease!!!! A guy walked in a few weeks ago and literally Walked our within 30 minutes because it was so dirty and too many roaches!


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## Kippington

It's amazing how much time and effort goes into keeping things clean. Something like a third of our working time and half of cooking school is spent on hygiene.

One very small restaurant I worked at, one woman would use the large baking trays to roast meat, half fill them with water to "soak", then leave them in the cold oven to keep them out of the way. They would be in there for _days_ growing a small forest of meat-fed molds and fungi. I called her out on it, washed the trays for her then watched her do it again...

She joked about me being too clean and organized. I had to leave.

The good news is most chefs I've worked with have good hygiene practices. Unfortunately many owners are clueless about food safety, one boss came through after we had closed up and turned off all the fridges for the night to defrost - in summer. Yep.


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## slickmamba

being able to cook clean is a damn good characteristic.


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## willic

We just opened a brand new restaurant in completely remolded kitchen, it's amazing how quickly a few slack clean up people can destroy a clean and new kitchen!


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## Dave Martell

I guess it's a good thing that I can't afford to eat out.


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## lemeneid

As a chef if you think thats bad, it's worse when you're a landlord. I had leased out my shop to a Chinese hotpot restaurant. This tenant had ZERO care for hygiene and cleanliness. When their lease was up and had to move out, they cleared up everything except the false plywood columns they constructed during their renovation for power sockets. I pried open one electrical socket and out comes a whole swarm of baby cockroaches flying out, its like those movies where you have an alien invasion. When I tried unloading a whole can of bug spray into that outlet, more of them started swarming out and it was a never ending battle. Lesson learned, I'm never renting out to any restaurant ever.


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## robzilla

I just noticed this thread. Lucky you. As I noted in my intro way back when, I spent 9 years in the Chicago area deli biz.

The first place I worked had a late shift of healthy rats (not to mention legions of roaches). They'd start their shift at about 10 minutes prior to closing (8 PM). Cleanup, as it was, was very, very quick here. Had one puppy scoot between my legs one dark night. I still get chills. The wall hanger rack for drying the 5 lb. salamis was positioned directly above the bread slicing machine. The rats could stand on their hind legs and eat the last 2-3 inches of the salamis. Of course, just cut off the stump and serve!

One Sunday afternoon, we had a sick (poisoned) specimen crawling around on the shelves up front behind the crackers and mustard display. We managed to distract the couple of customers for a few minutes while we corralled it to the rear, where our psychotic porter took the garden hoe (don't ask) and bearing down with all his strength (ex-boxer wit

Every night, we made sure to leave a 2" deep stainless half pan on the counter right by the front door so that whoever was opening was able to grab the pan and drop it on the floor in order to let the "night shift" know that they could go home and kick back. This shop was also home to thousands of brown roaches, who also had their own agenda. 

My next position was in downtown Chicago was a very busy shop that HAD NO WASHROOMS. The owners (quite blatantly) bribed the inspector with cash and product. This enabled them to stay open despite the myriad violations. As a matter of fact, they probably would have scored less than 2 out of 100. Mice and roaches were rampant. I was both thankful and confused that there were no rats, as there were, and still are a magnificent supply in that area. The mice ate through the dwner cheaped out and re-purposed some used wood-walled bar backs), and every morning the pre-slice guy would open up the cryovac-sealed 8 lb. roast beef or the brisket or turkey or salami, trim away the area that had been gnawed upon, and slice up the rest for the day's fare. Remember the old butter pats and cardboard squares topped with waxed paper, that were lined up on end, three or four rows of 100 per box? Well, we'd come in in the morning and have to brush the mouse droppings off of them before use.

Oh, and the part about no washrooms? In the basement, two feet from the door of the five and a half-foot high walk-in storage (really) was a 12" solid brass sewer cover which was left open tilted on a 30-degree angle to allow for male urinary functions. The day's produce delivery would be stacked within eighteen inches of this sewer. Woman (luckily for them) had to leave the restaurant for all bodily functions.

They would store the egg cases (gross cartons) on the floor of the kitchen. One day, someone most have punctured the bottom edge of the lowest case with a two-wheeler, because a couple of mornings later, the rotten egg smell at 6AM was amazing, only to be topped by the discovery of the actual egg problem which was a mass of crawling white maggots. I tell ya, it's good to have a coal shovel in your restaurant. Because in addition to using it to cart out that mess, later the same morning they carried out the dead mouser (yes, they had a f---ing cat living in the place—oh, didn't I mention the "spraying" problem?) which was found dead in the basement at 10AM, swollen to twice its normal size.

That was my last day (I lasted over two years.)

Don't get me started on the knives.


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## ecchef

In my 36 years of being in professional kitchens, this is THE most disgusting story I’ve ever heard.


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## robzilla

ecchef said:


> In my 36 years of being in professional kitchens, this is THE most disgusting story I’ve ever heard.


I left out that this was 1975–1979. So may it recede into your mind's recesses, as it has in mine.


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## bsfsu

nianton said:


> So I've been working at this restaurant for 9 months. When I first started I was told it was the dishwasher responsibility to clean the floors at the end of the night. After a couple months of working i realized the job want getting done correctly. The dishwasher would sweep, splash some water on the floor and mop.... that's it! I brought this to the attention of both sous chef's and the chef. I told them to order scrub brushes and sqeegee and I would do the floors. This was 6 months ago and still nothing. Seasons over and it's slow so I got with a fellow cook and said "let's clean the floors". I went next door and borrowed a brush and sqeegee from another restaurant. I pulled this out from under the salad station on my first pass.
> 
> imagine at least 10 piles of trash like this pulled out from under equipment all down the line. It smelt like I was swimming in a dumpster. At least a year worth of trash was pulled out. And the sous and chef act like it's no big deal. I think ill be looking for another job.........


If they can't keep a kitchen clean they're not worth working for.


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## Bolt Thrower

^ agreed 100%.

I see anything like that in a kitchen and I quit the day I see it. No one that runs their house like that is worth giving a notice to.


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