Celebrity chef Robert Irvine shares the biggest red flag he looks for when dining at any restaurant

• Robert Irvine is a Food Network star and celebrity chef.

• While at the South Beach Wine and Food Festival, he spoke with Insider about dining out.

• Irvine told Insider that the first thing he notices in a restaurant is whether the bathroom is clean.

Celebrity chef Robert Irvine has been helping struggling restaurants turn around for years on his Food Network show, “Restaurant: Impossible.” So it’s no surprise that when he goes out to eat, there are always certain things he looks for to tell him if it’s a place worth eating.

In an interview with Insider surrounding his appearance at the South Beach Wine and Food Festival, Irvine shared the #1 marker he pays attention to that isn’t even directly related to food: bathrooms.

“Well, the first thing I look for is, are the bathrooms clean?” he said. Irvine said that was his main red flag “because if the bathrooms are clean, the kitchen is clean, everything else is clean.”

He told Insider that bathrooms are a great indicator of how the rest of the establishment is maintained and cared for. And if it’s dirty toilets, it could mean that less than stellar standards of cleanliness are set for the restaurant as a whole.

“We look for signs that are right for us,” Irvine said, explaining that since he keeps his bathrooms, kitchen and the rest of his own home clean, it’s an easy thing for him to look elsewhere. “So that’s what I look for when I go to a restaurant.”

The Food Network star and military philanthropist said he also tries to observe servers to see if they are happy at work.

But no matter what cuisine, type of eating establishment, or location on the map you visit, the chef says the biggest favor you can do yourself if you’re wondering if you should eat somewhere is to go to the toilet. First of all.

Read the original Insider article