Go ahead and select 86 of these places from your travel menu.
Even the most savvy jetsetters can caught in a tourist trap restaurants during the holidays — but experts say it doesn’t have to be that way.
Six key signs will tell you if an eatery is going to pass the proverbial smell test, culinary experts reveal huffpo,
Here are six tips to avoid scams – and eat well elsewhere instead.
more sales
If an owner or employee is trying to bring in customers on the roadside like a businessman desperate to close a deal, you’re looking at a tourist trap, Ocon warned. Kizilbayir, Chef de Cuisine at The Ritz-Carlton Amelia Island.
Jared Hucks, chef-owner of The Alden in Atlanta, agrees and said that fake beaneries — usually in tourist areas — are often clear signs that they’re not the real deal.
“I avoid any place But ‘Off the beaten path’ posted in front of restaurants with menus in multiple languages,” he told The Huffington Post.
bigger doesn’t mean better
Executive pastry chef Claudia Martínez told the outlet that she keeps a side-eye open for supersized slop joints in very touristy areas. In particular, keep an eye out for “large-scale, 200-plus-seat operations, usually in cities.”
“I want to make sure my money is being spent on people who work hard to present their local cuisine – not on mass-market corporations or tourist traps that buy already-made food. Are.”
A Cheesecake Factory Style Menu
According to promotion pro Taryn Sher, the sheer volume of offerings that cater to almost every culinary style is another big caveat.
He told the Huffington Post to focus on “generic, anywhere, USA” offerings such as burgers rather than more imaginative, locally driven menu items.
Sher speculates that dollar bills on the wall are another no-no.
half baked dessert menu
Experts advise that it may be in your best interest to flip through the menu backwards before sitting down.
Martínez emphasized that “the classic cheesecake, the molten lava cake, the key lime pie…these are not usually made in house.” Ice cream is also a sign that your after dinner enjoyment is being outsourced.
“If there are sweets with pictures on display or on the menu, or there is external signage of sweets, especially in a restaurant that seats more than 200 people, it usually means they are supplied by commercial bakers, ” she told the outlet.
gift shops
According to Kizilbayir, if you are greeted for the first time at the Hard Rock Café with merchandise rather than a host or hostess, chances are your actual meal is not the main event. He also warned Beware the Instagram Crowd Too.
“People love taking pictures and restaurants are showcasing more merchandise than they should be selling, which is good food,” he told Huff Post.
it’s very crowded here
Kizilbayir said huge crowds don’t promise a restaurant’s greatness. Instead, it is often a sign that manipulation is at play.
“It’s the circle of life: Tourists come to the city. They show historical places, museums, gardens. They start feeling hungry. Then, the tour guide takes the bus full of tourists to a place that looks attractive,” he said.
“Tourists leave these places with bad food in their stomachs, but the tour guides get a cut of the profits. “It’s an easy turn.”
Kizilbayir said it is ridiculous how so many places sell their souls to satisfy the masses.
“You can’t serve good quality food to so many people at the same time, so as a restaurant owner, you have to cut back,” he said.
“You make the food or drink look ‘showy’. You bring out sweets with glowing candles, play loud ‘popular music’, have servers dress up in weird costumes or hats and sing.’
