5 things to look for when eating out in Chicago

Most people walk into a restaurant and look at the menu. We're going to suggest looking at five other things first. None of them require any special knowledge — just paying attention for about 30 seconds.

1. The bathroom

Yes, the bathroom. It's the easiest signal in any restaurant. If the bathroom is clean, well-stocked with soap and paper towels, and doesn't smell — the kitchen probably gets the same level of attention. If the bathroom is gross, the kitchen has the same management.

This isn't perfect (some places clean the bathroom way more than the kitchen), but as a baseline it's surprisingly accurate. The bathroom is the easiest part of the building for staff to maintain. If they're not maintaining it, something else is off.

2. The temperature near the kitchen door

Ever notice that some restaurants feel weirdly cool by the kitchen and others feel warm? That's a hint about how their refrigeration is working. Walk-in coolers, prep coolers, and reach-ins should keep cold air contained. If you're standing 10 feet from the kitchen and it feels like a sauna, the line is probably struggling to hold cold food at temperature — one of the top reasons restaurants get cited.

3. Staff handling food and money interchangeably

Watch the counter for a minute. If the same person taking your card is also handling bread, garnishes, or anything ready-to-eat without changing gloves or washing hands — that's a violation in progress. Cash and card readers are notoriously dirty. Hands that touch them shouldn't touch food without a wash in between.

4. The trash situation

Look at the trash receptacles in the dining area. Are they overflowing? Are flies hovering around them? Inside, near the kitchen, you might see prep trash bins. They should be lidded and not visibly overflowing. Trash management is one of those things that goes downhill fast when a kitchen is understaffed, and pest activity follows.

5. The vibe of the staff

This is the soft one but it's real. Stressed, frantic staff means the kitchen is probably skipping steps. Calm, focused staff means the systems are working. Inspectors will tell you the same thing: the difference between a Pass and a Fail is often whether the team has time to do things right.

A few quick non-things

A few things that *don't* tell you much:

• **Decor.** A beautiful dining room means nothing about the kitchen. Some of the cleanest kitchens we've seen are in dives.
• **Crowd size.** A packed restaurant doesn't mean it's clean — it means people like the food.
• **Old building.** Old buildings can have spotless kitchens. New buildings can have terrible ones.

The free tool

Of course, you can also just check the inspection history on our site before you go. Search the restaurant, look at the last 2–3 inspections, and you'll have a much better picture than any 30-second observation can give you.

But if you didn't think to check ahead of time, the five things above will get you most of the way there.