If You Find This In Your Food At A Restaurant, Send It Back Immediately

Sometimes it feels like you're being rude when you send food back, to the point where some professional chefs like Bobby Flay never send food back at a restaurant, on principle. Still, you're not being rude by refusing to eat food which hasn't been prepared properly, or spotting a dirty dish; there are absolutely red flags that should immediately spur you to send your dish back if you spot them. We spoke to Izzy Kharasch, hospitality expert and president of Hospitality Works restaurant consulting, about common types of foreign objects you should specifically be on the lookout for.

Of all the unwelcome visitors you might find in a restaurant meal, Kharasch said, "Bugs, hair, and staples are the most common." Wood splinters and pieces of plastic are also frequent, unwelcome sights in a contaminated meal. According to Kharasch, there are lots of different ways that these items can carelessly slip into your food: "The bugs can come in with the food and unfortunately may not be detected until the guest finds it. Hair can slip in from a chef not wearing a hat, and staples can slip through when a box is opened." In any case, don't just remove the object and eat your meal. Send it back to the kitchen for a replacement, or consider another restaurant in severe cases, and make sure the restaurant knows why.

Among bugs, flies are a common insect which end up in restaurant kitchens — the old "waiter, there's a fly in my soup" joke didn't spring up from nowhere — and they can contaminate your food with more germs than cockroaches. Either can be a sign of a local infestation. Finding a strand of hair is less urgent and isn't necessarily a condemnation of the restaurant's sanitation, but since lots of people touch your food in a restaurant kitchen, a strand of hair means somebody in the back wasn't paying close enough attention. You may never know how common this type of incident might be at a specific restaurant, but if you send your dish back, you help the staff identify any recurring problems.

Izzy Kharasch also suggested you keep an eye out for certain foreign objects which can be harder to spot than an obvious black fly or dark hair: "Things like pieces of gloves, pen caps or film wrap. Anything that is transparent or that is the same color as the food." We also encourage you to stay civil when sending your food back, because chances are, your server is not the one responsible for the metaphorical (or literal) fly in your soup.