To not want to eat food from restaurants, cafés or take always that have less than a five star hygiene rating?

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Since it's become compulsory to display the hygiene ratings in windows I've found myself becoming more and more choosy about where I eat. I have relatives who work in the catering industry and run a pretty successful business, they have five stars. According to them it's not hard to get the perfect rating, most of it's basic common sense, anyone falling short is just being lax and sloppy.

I used to eat fairly regularly at pub place near my home, it's a very busy chain place but it's only got a 4 star hygiene rating and I'm avoiding it now. I can't understand how they fell short when my local backstreet takeaway has managed to get 5 stars? Despite having the signs displayed everywhere the pub is always packed with families. I don't get it?

I'm not particularly anal about food, but I do want to eat somewhere in the knowledge that the food has been prepared to a high standard of hygiene.

Since I watched kitchen nightmares and it made me feel sick I am too quite choosy about where I eat. I would probably eat in restaurant with a 4 star though.

How about eating where the "locals" eat instead?

That web link is brilliant. Have just looked up DH's favourite restaurant. It's gone steadily downhill for years and I think it's minging. It has 1 star, so we won't be going back there again.
Interestingly Claridges has a 3 and Gordon Ramsay Plane Food at Heathrow Airport has a 2!!!

I did not know about this ratings malarkey.

Is this an English thing?

The bit that I dislike most is the washing up regime .At best industrial washers just boiling the food onto cutlery. At worse washed up by hand.Hence the need to polish ( if you're lucky) with hopefully a cleanish tea towel. Unfortunately the kitchen porters are the lowest paid and we know what that leads too.

I have low standards. I will eat anywhere. I am never sick.

I work with kids and our kitchen has 5, but if you dont fully complete your daily paperwork you can get no higher than 3, you also get points knocked off for location of your sink, bathroom etc.
we had to have all our kitchen replaced a few years ago to meet the standards.
Its exactly the same level of hygiene as before, just in a slightly different layout.
Its not all about the food

I understand that you can't get full rating if you haven't got certain fittings in your kitchen such as stainless steel splash thingys on the wall so I do understand that - I wouldn't want to eat at anything less than a 3 star really though - pref 4 or 5.

I think a lot of places you can get a general feel anyway. If someone asked me out for a meal I wouldn't think to run and look at it's rating though to be honest.

The place I work recently went from 5 to 3 due to paperwork issues (firelogs I think, yes, I know they are important but 2 off??). We have a rigorous cleaning schedule and have been 5 since we opened in 2005. It is that easy to lose stars so I think YABU. Sorry.

I agree with What - it's all about the paperwork. I go somewhere I like the food and service .

How many of us would pass the 5 star rating in our own kitchen I know I wouldn't.

Isn't a bit like assuming anyone who has a CRB (or whatever it is called these days) is not likely to commit a crime - a certificate is only as good as the day on which it is awarded?

My work shows a five star sticker. We were last expected over four years ago. At lot has changed in that time.

When I was a barista we "lost" a star by having coffee on the work surfaces. All coffee was ground per cup and unless we had someone following us round whilst making each drink it wasn't going to got swept up immediately.
However the kitchen the food products were made on had five stars, and the products were brought over each morning.
Sometimes the stars thing can be misleading.

I've never seen anyone display anything lower than a 5

My kitchen would probably get minus 5, it doesn't make anyone ill

The kitchen I work in recently got a 5 rating and I was amazed. I think standards have dropped. Although the kitchen isn't disgusting, it certainly doesn't warrant a 5. Don't think all kitchens with a 5* are sparkling, they are not.

years ago my huuby and i used to go to a local pizza place .and if it had anystars i would have been surprised .but god it made the best pizza anywhere .this was pre children .so i was probably not fussy them days ..it might be 9am but i am starting to fantasize about those pizza,s .

What would a 1 rating indicate? I was astonished to find out that our favourite restaurant down the road had a 1 rating - it's a fairly classy-looking place. We didn't stop eating there because DP likes it so much, so I'm glad to see that it's been upgraded to 4* in the last few months.

Prefer a 5 but will visit Chinese etc on a 4 thinking it paperwork and language problems. No way go below that.

Some places dont put the ratings on the door in which case we dont go in. We had food poisoning which made us ill for 2 weeks. It makes you more wary.

Great website.

Just looked up my local area and one of the places with 5 star rating is an animal sanctuary that doesn't serve food to humans only animals.

Wonder how the inspectors figured that one

Broadly, 0 or 1 stars would indicate little or no paperwork nor awareness of its importance, little or no confidence in the management of the food business and poor or inadequate premises construction and/or maintenance.

gemini the lower stars will indicate that the Inspector issued advisories- either for practice to improve, or changes to be made.

It's very subjective - I've always had 5*s at home and in my businesses yet don't have splash backs, stainless steel, etc etc. I do have extensive paperwork that relates specifically to my premises though, proving that my methods are safe, despite not having all the flashy extras.

The thing is, somewhere with a 5 star rating can just as easily give you food poisoning - it's only as good as its suppliers.

I wonder how many of us would actually get a 5 star rating for our kitchens? I certainly wouldn't, and I've never given my family food poisoning.

I'll eat in a four star, but nothing below. I see some of the worst local food hygiene inspection reports as part of my job and it makes grim reading. Some of the highlights that I remember include: an open sewer in a kitchen; a deep fried cockroaches found in someone's takeaway chicken; mouse droppings mixed in with a jar of spices; a bucket of chips with mould on the top IN USE in a fish and chip shop. Boak!

The thing is, somewhere with a 5 star rating can just as easily give you food poisoning - it's only as good as its suppliers.

Very true - but EHO will question/check that a restaurant sources it's stock from "safe" suppliers and look for evidence that stock deliveries are recorded (for instance, are the chilled goods still cold enough) and checked.
I know of cafés who have been given advisories for not knowing if their cake suppliers are registered with EH or not, and hotel restaurants which were slated for sourcing eggs from their own chickens rather than a tested flock.

I go by the look of the place, appearance of the staff and the loos. As others have said, it may well be a paperwork issue. My local Indian takeaway was 1 star, but the food was excellent and I was never ill.

You could always ask to view the kitchen before booking or eating there, most places would be very obliging, the ones that won't avoid.