It's all fun and games watching Gordon Ramsay descend on a failing restaurant and lift the lid off a container of something that has been in the kitchen since a previous administration. It is theatre. It is cathartic. But Kitchen Nightmares is not always on. And restaurants, unfortunately, are. Which means that at some point, in some dining room, there will be red flags Gordon can't save you from.
The question is whether you can spot it yourself. Because not all dodgy restaurants announce themselves with a health code violation notice on the door. Some of them are considerably more subtle about it. These red flags were compiled from seasoned diners and people who learned the hard way, so that you do not have to. Consider this your crash course in dining with your eyes open.
