America’s Dirtiest Restaurants Revealed: Is Your State Among the Worst Ranked?

Your state can be a haven for restaurant health risks, from hair getting into food to rat infestations.

This is evident from an analysis of Tripadvisor reviews New Jersey tops the list with the highest number of negative reviews, mainly due to uncleanliness, hair in food and pests.

A notable omission from the top 10 list that may surprise many was New Jersey’s eastern neighbor, New York City, known for its staggering rat problem.

Florida and California rank second and third dirtiest, based on the number of negative reviews that include the words “dirty restaurant.”

One of the most negatively reviewed restaurants on Yelp is Colony Cafe at the Colony Hotel in Miami Beach. Diners have described seeing rats on the floor and tables and finding hair in their food

New Jersey is home to an estimated 16,000 restaurants, the tenth highest number in the country.

Yet, according to Tripadvisor, it leads the way when it comes to reviews using the term ‘dirty restaurant’, with 320,520 reviews.

According to the analysis, it is also home to the hairiest foods. More than 1,800 reviews mentioned ‘hair in food’.

A customer at Colony Cafe took the photo and uploaded it to Yelp

Second on the list is Florida, with 4,560 “dirty restaurant” reviews.

Nearly 1,700 reviews say diners found hair in their food. And 636 reviews mentioned rats and cockroaches in restaurants somewhere.

One of the worst rated restaurants in the state is the Colony Cafe in Miami.

One review on Yelp is from the perspective of a rat who lives in the restaurant, saying, “The cockroaches here are really mean and ugly… One human even took pictures of me.

“I’m constantly hanging from the ceiling and it’s really annoying when you’re trying to get your beauty sleep.”

While New Jersey and Florida topped the list for reviews mentioning “dirty restaurants” and “hair in the food,” diners in the West were more likely to spot pests while they ate.

California had the third highest number of reviews, including “dirty restaurant.” While rats and cockroaches may not have been on menus, they were mentioned in more than 960 online reviews for restaurants in the state.

Even luxury companies are not exempt from the pest problem. The Sky Terrace at the swanky W Hotel in Hollywood was infested with rats.

Staff there encountered mice and rats running through the hotel basement on multiple occasions, leaving feces, urine and bite marks around stored food and flour.

Arizona comes in at number four with 1,759 reviews, including “dirty restaurant,” 639 reviews, “hair in food,” and 443 reviews, including “rats and cockroaches.” A somewhat unexpected addition to the list: Arizona has far fewer restaurants than the top three states on the list and a much smaller population.

Arizona’s Family, a news channel in the state, is rounding up some of Maricopa County’s worst restaurant offenders to inform its readers which eateries don’t pass the smell test.

In February AZFamilie reported that investigators at RnR Restaurant in Scottsdale found rodent feces in food and food storage areas. That same week, investigators found that several other restaurants in the area were not properly sanitizing cookware or cooking meat completely.

Texas comes in at number five with 1,068 reviews of ‘dirty restaurant’, 471 reviews of ‘hair in food’ and 232 reviews of ‘rats and cockroaches’.

Louisiana comes in at number six with 951 reviews, including the term “dirty restaurant,” as well as 412 “hair in food” reviews and 399 “rats and cockroaches” reviews.

Last summer, inspectors attended more than two dozen Restaurants in New Orleans found cockroaches, flies, dirty equipment, spoiled food or other serious violations.

At number seven is Alabama, with 918 reviews, including “dirty restaurant,” 404 “hair in food” reviews and 141 “rats and cockroaches” reviews.

Eighth place goes to Maryland with 884 reviews of ‘dirty restaurant’, 436 reviews of ‘hair in food’ and 201 reviews of ‘rats and cockroaches’.

Number nine goes to Nevada’s 881 “dirty restaurant” reviews, 579 “hair in food” reviews and 414 “rats and cockroaches” reviews.

The list is completed by Georgia, with 856 reviews of ‘dirty restaurants’, 375 reviews of ‘hair in food’ and 216 reviews including ‘rats and cockroaches’.

The analysis did not identify specific restaurants, nor did it estimate how many were part of a chain, such as Olive Garden or Chili’s, or how many were mom-and-pop businesses.

But research into the phenomenon of dirty dining has shown that this is the case at non-chain restaurants consistently more inspection violations than restaurant chains, regardless of how often they are inspected.

This could be because of the different types of food chain restaurants and non-chain sales. Chain restaurants, especially fast food restaurants, typically serve food that is less perishable and requires less preparation than non-chain restaurants, which translates to fewer foodborne illnesses and fewer inspection violations.

Non-chain restaurants use more raw ingredients to make their food, opening the door to more poisoning risk. Restaurant chains also tend to have more standardized food preparation protocols than non-chains.