Choosing a safe restaurant

To choose a safe restaurant abroad, combine three kinds of evidence: an official hygiene rating if the place has one, what you can see yourself (hot, freshly cooked food, and raw food kept apart from cooked food), and recent online reviews that do not mention people getting sick.

No single sign can prove a restaurant is safe. But a place that passes all three checks is a much better bet than one chosen on star ratings or photos alone. Once you sit down, ordering fully cooked dishes and safe drinks lowers your risk further.

Check for an official hygiene rating

Some countries and cities inspect restaurants and publish the results. If your destination has a system like this, it is the most reliable information you can get. Here are some examples:

Where	What you will see	How it works
England, Wales, Northern Ireland	A rating from 0 to 5	5 means hygiene standards are very good; 0 means urgent improvement is necessary. Display is required in Wales and Northern Ireland and optional in England. Search at ratings.food.gov.uk.
Scotland	Pass or Improvement Required	Listed on the same Food Standards Agency search site.
New York City	Letter grade A, B, or C	A is 0 to 13 inspection points, B is 14 to 27, and C is 28 or more. The card must be posted where passersby can easily see it.
France	Alim’confiance results	Four levels, from “very satisfactory” to “urgent correction needed,” published by the French government.
Singapore	Grade A, B, or C	Since January 2026, grades reflect each establishment’s food safety track record from inspections. Scan the QR code on the food license to see the grade.

Keep two limits in mind. First, a rating shows what inspectors found on the day of the inspection. Second, the UK Food Standards Agency points out that a hygiene rating is not a guide to food quality. A missing rating does not mean a restaurant is unsafe; many destinations simply do not publish restaurant-by-restaurant results.

Signs you can check yourself

Inspectors look at how food is handled, how clean the premises are, and how well hygiene is managed. You can look for some of the same things from your table:

• Hot food is served steaming hot, and cold food is cold. The CDC warns that germs grow quickly between 40°F and 140°F (about 4°C to 60°C), so lukewarm food is a bad sign.
• Raw and cooked food are kept apart. “Separate raw and cooked” is one of WHO’s Five Keys to Safer Food. In an open kitchen, raw meat should not share boards, trays, or tongs with cooked food.
• Food is not left uncovered. Dishes on a counter or buffet should be covered or kept hot or cold, and protected from flies.
• Surfaces, plates, and cutlery look clean, and staff who handle food keep their hands clean. “Keep clean” is another of WHO’s five keys.
• Staff can answer questions. A restaurant that can clearly explain how a dish is made, or what allergens it contains, is paying attention to its food. Our guide to eating out abroad with a food allergy lists the questions to ask.

These signs are useful but imperfect, because you usually cannot see inside the kitchen.

How to read online reviews for food-safety signals

Reviews can contain real warnings. In a pilot project, the New York City health department screened about 294,000 restaurant reviews for words such as “sick,” “vomit,” “diarrhea,” and “food poisoning.” It identified three outbreaks that had not been reported, and only 3% of the recent illness reports it found in reviews had also been reported to the city.

To use reviews well:

• Sort by newest. A problem from several years ago tells you less than one from the last few months.
• Search the reviews, if the site allows it, for words like “sick,” “food poisoning,” “vomiting,” “diarrhea,” “undercooked,” and “hygiene.” Try the local language too.
• Look for patterns. Several separate reports over a few weeks are more worrying than one angry review.
• Look for details. A report that names the dish and the timing is more useful than a vague complaint.
• Remember the timing. The NHS says food poisoning symptoms usually start a few hours to a few days after eating, and sometimes weeks later. One person’s illness may have come from an earlier meal.
• Do not rely on stars. A high average rating mostly tells you people liked the food and service.

How safeat can help

In the places it covers, safeat shows restaurants where our review found no food-safety concern (food poisoning, unsafe food, an allergen issue, or a hygiene concern) in the last 12 months. Restaurants with recent concerns are simply not shown. It is a quick first filter, not an inspection or a guarantee, so the checks on this page still apply.

Order smarter once you sit down

Even in a good restaurant, your order makes a difference, especially where hygiene or water quality is uncertain:

• Choose dishes that are fully cooked and served hot.
• Be careful with raw or undercooked meat, seafood, and eggs, and with salads or fresh sauces made from raw produce.
• Peel fruit yourself rather than eating it pre-cut.
• Order sealed bottled drinks or hot drinks, and skip ice if the tap water may be unsafe.

The same principles apply to street stalls; our guide on whether street food is safe explains how to choose a stall.

When to walk away

Leave or order something else if you notice:

• Food that should be hot arriving lukewarm.
• Raw meat, or its juices, near food that is ready to eat.
• Flies on uncovered food.
• Staff who cannot answer basic questions about ingredients or allergens.

If you do get sick after a meal, focus on fluids first. Our guide to food poisoning while traveling explains what to do and when to see a doctor.