Anthony Bourdain Changed His Mind About This Classic Dining Tip

Throughout his career, Anthony Bourdain shared many opinions about what made a restaurant or meal great. Some of his advice was based on experience, some on preference and opinion, and some even changed over time. Bourdain himself would probably have been first to admit that he grew and learned and realized that some of his past beliefs no longer held true. One quirky example of this relates to restaurant bathrooms.

"I used to say a dirty bathroom was a sign you should not be eating in a restaurant," Bourdain said in a 2018 interview with Time. "I've learned the opposite is true." For many people, that could be a make or break issue; the last thing you want is to go to the bathroom and discover an atrocious mess. That's really going to throw you off your meal. Bourdain did not hold onto this conclusion later in life, however. This was part of his process of growth and learning based on experience, like when he changed his position on ordering fish on Mondays.

"Some of the best food experiences I've ever had are places they really don't give a s**t about [keeping their bathrooms clean]. They know their food is good and that's enough," Bourdain explained. In so many words, you can forgive a restaurant its faults as long as the main draw — the food — makes it worthwhile. After all, you showed up for dinner, not to use the bathroom. Bourdain tended to focus more on cooking lessons than cleanliness.

It was in Anthony Bourdain's book "Kitchen Confidential" where he first expressed distaste for an unclean restaurant. "I won't eat in restaurants with filthy bathrooms. This isn't a hard call," he wrote. A 2021 Cintas survey showed that 74% of Americans would have negative feelings about a business if it had a dirty bathroom. It's still considered a restaurant red flag by many, so Bourdain was hardly alone in that sentiment.

Bourdain's shifting opinion and acceptance of a restaurant that might have had a dirty bathroom was not without precedent, either. Douglas Powell, professor of food safety at Kansas State University, told Chow that "there's no proven correlation between having a dirty bathroom and unsafe food."

Generally speaking, a chef is not the person cleaning a toilet in a restaurant. There are different employees tasked with cleaning, especially in casual and fine dining establishments, and those are not the cooks. The cleanliness of the kitchen is a totally different ballgame. The cleanliness of the bathroom often speaks more to a restaurant's clientele than employees. If it has been a busy day or the restaurant is understaffed, the mess may have completely escaped their notice by the time you get in there.

If you're concerned about the entire experience at a restaurant, then definitely pay attention to the bathrooms. If you're concerned only about the food, check out reviews and see what people have said. If a place is well established and reviews across multiple sites are positive, you can probably be a little forgiving when the housekeeping falls short. It's what Anthony Bourdain would have done.