[Closed] Do you judge a restaurant/pub on their toilets?

Absolutely! If they can't take care of the toilet - what state is the kitchen in?

Yep , wouldn't eat somewhere with dirty toilets

As some who has had significant bladder issues for some time it certainly plays quite a big part for me. If there are too few/disgusting toilets somewhere then I'm unlikely to return (On the too few front I've found some places will allow use of staff toilets if pre-warned, they get bonus points!).

So what happens if you don't have to pay a visit while you're at the establishment? Could you rate it as excellent based on the food but then rerank it when you find the bogs from trainspotting on your next visit?

Though as a yoot we'd rank pubs on the 3 Bs - beer, bogs and barmaids.

I can think of a few places where the beer is very very good but you're inclined to sit there lock-jawed and cross-legged rather than go into the bog where you know your throat and eyes will be assaulted by concentrated uric acid and you vow never to put your feet on the bed again. Difficult one that.
What about all those establishments with the odor of rotting rodent? Is it good that they're (presumably) dead? Is it bad that they have them? Does a clean smelling establishment mean they haven't yet got on top of their problem? If you want a real-life Olympic challenge to the senses, try Manchester's The Cask.

Yip.

Please note that the inverse applies to music venues, the grimmer the bogs, the more likely it is to go off when the band arrives.

If you're in one of those places with the indestructable steel bogs with screwed down wooden edges its pretty much a guarantee that it's going to get proper lively later.

It is surprising that some places that have clearly put a lot of effort into the look and feel of the bar/restaurant area can fail so miserably with the bogs. It’s not like you don’t know your punters are going to go in there and you’ll be judged by them or that it is especially hard to sort. I wonder sometimes if this happens most with smaller places where the owner/manager does everything but is new to the business, loves the idea of the front of house element of the job but cleaning loos is a bit beneath them.

If I'm going to be having food and I'm in any way unsure about the place, then I nip for a quick recce of the bogs. After all, this is one of the bits you get to see - if a restaurant can't even be bothered to keep this bit clean, what state is the kitchen in?

If it is a 'drinkers' pub and the beer doesn't smell or taste bad, then I'm less bothered and may well even adopt a cross-legged policy if things are too shocking.

It depends.

if we're talking a replica of "The worst toilet in Leith" scene in trainspotting, then yeah, it's scummy and I wouldn't go back. If we're talking about you've gone in to a loo after some-ones sprinkled all over the floor 'cause he's pissed and he's mostly missed the pan, but successfully hit the floor, and that's not been cleaned up, but the toilet's obviously otherwise looked after, then no.

Life's rarely black or white

It's certainly a factor for me.

Slightly OT. Some of the grimmest shitters I've ever encountered were in Dublin.

We went to The Ivy in Cheltenham on Boxing Day. The food was OK, nothing to write home about, but the bogs were the nicest I've been in.

likewise schools.

Nope, as I don't eat or drink in the shitter.

The best place I've eaten in had disgusting toilets. We always go there when wer'e in Goa.

Or does India not count?

Similarly Iv'e been to places where the toilets are luxurious & the food's shite.

not just restaurants and pubs. My local Waitrose toilets have been a disgrace fro years, keep meaning to complain.

I went for a curry recently.
Did my thing, turned around to wash my hands, and there's a 25kg bag of rice underneath the sink and some other bits stored.

I definitively judge on toilets. Nothing worse than going into a filthy toilet, and then the staff coming in to use them too (and not washing with soap when they leave).

I thought it was a law that Indian Restaurants have to have to dodgy toilets.

Tiles by Stevie Wonder with a sink held on to the wall with nails. Both taps loosely attached and a hand drier that sparks. All slightly dirty as though every surface has been mopped.

You can have rubbish toilets that are clean and nice ones which are filthy.

It’s a tricky topic.

Surely the state of the toilets is as much due to the clientele as the staff?

I definitively judge on toilets. Nothing worse than going into a filthy toilet, and then the staff coming in to use them too (and not washing with soap when they leave).

Keep away from Goa then! (sorry but It's the best I've got regarding bad toilets) 1st time I went to the bog in The Viva Goa in Candolim I wasn't sure which room was which, IE kitchen/bog.

https://flic.kr/p/Jzd6yQ

The food is to die for fantastic.

Pub no restaurant yes. Some of my favourite pubs are very old, quirky places and drunk people tend to destroy a toilet pretty quickly. A nice restaurant on the other hand should be able to manage to keep there loos and their customers in line.

Well I wouldn't check out the crapper before going in for a meal but might make a mental note about how clean they were if I had to use them while dining there..
If I was just there for a drink ..couldn't give a shit ( so to speak )..
More of a concern would be the state of the kitchen if I was dining there ..and I've seen some right horror stories while working in contract cleaning for a fairly brief period ..

It matters a lot to me. I even gave a TA review to a canal-side pub in Skipton, which had stinking toilets, so bad that you couldn't even sit near the bog door. Lo and behold, next time I went in they had completely refurbed the bogs and put in urinal mats so either they read my review or others had complained as well.

Sidenote.- MaccyD's toilets ( at least south of Watford ) are always clean and well maintained,
as are Tesco's . The Tesco ones are always bigger but have been clean and tidy whenever I have had to use them.
I would avoid a restaurant with manky toilets though. unneccessary in the UK, although the french do their best to make toilets as disgusting as humanly possible

Although a dirty toilet is a bit off putting you have to remember that normally the people who keep the toilets clean are not the people with responsibility for the kitchen hygiene .

I think I've worked out the exception to my rule. In the past 24 hours I've visited two lovely pubs (for SWers - The Crown in Churchill and The New Inn in Blagdon) - both had fairly ropy WCs but because they were outside it seemed to matter a lot less.

Yes to the original question.

I would avoid a restaurant with manky toilets though. unneccessary in the UK, although the french do their best to make toilets as disgusting as humanly possible

We don't.

The Piccadilly Tap in Manc stank so much we had to leave - and that didn't even involve going to the bogs! Couldn't even sit in the bar without gagging

wallop - the crown used to be a lot worse!

when Tim died (real shame) i remember they fitted proper light bulbs and then realised the place needed a bit of a clean every now and then but its not the lightbulbs that maketh the pub. always rammed, always someone you know and serves a great pint. you might get your microbiome diversified a bit while you are there too 😉

Well exactly - my mum always said “you’ve got to eat a bit of shit before you die” 😄 (That and “well, I’ve had worse things in my mouth”).

MaccyD’s toilets ( at least south of Watford ) are always clean and well maintained,

That's cos there's nowt in there, all their shite is strewn all over the countryside.

I shit you not.