Is it really safe to eat in a restaurant that has peanut shells on the floor?

I am more worried that the peanut shells are from rats or mice munching their way through the restaurant and leaving a messy trail behind. Yikes. Lol.

Thanks Shinyshoes. you have brought up another point. do the peanut shells invite rats into the restaurants?

@john65pennington How funny that you should ask this today. My Mother and her husband were in town over the weekend and we were discussing where to eat tonight. Someone mentioned Texas Road house and I said that they threw the peanut shells on the floor and it was advertised in the commercials that way. I also said that the fact that people can act like total slobs was not a factor that would make me inclined to eat there. We went to O’Charlie’s.
I don’t know about bacteria in the nuts, I like peanuts but I eat the shells along with the nut. I also think that there must be an ok from the Health Department or they’d be shut down. It just seems like a place where I’d be more apt to run into people with whom I’d prefer not to share space, so I avoid it entirely.
In addition, I don’t fancy the idea of losing my footing because Bubba threw his shells on the floor.

Trillian. brillant minds must think alike. another good point you make is the safety factor of spent peanut shells on the floor. i wonder how many accidents the shells have caused and if its really worth the money for the restaurants to have peanut shells on the floor. i may be wrong, but i believe peanut shells on the floor has to be a health code violation. OCharlies was a much better choice.

A friend of mine took my husband and myself to Texas Road House for dinner. I heard the same thing. I wasn’t sure how clean it was but I can say this much. The floor was actually cleaner than most public floors. I assume they must give it a good clean. There were a few shells but I didn’t see people acting like slobs throwing food about. The food was actually quite good. The atmosphere was fun and lay back. Lots of room. People weren’t all sandwich in.
I’ve gone to some really nice restaurants that i had to send the utensils back to be cleaned or even the plates. And the food was only edible but not good, and you felt like the people next to you where breathing down your neck and the staff was rude. So I’ll take my chances with the texas road house any day.
Health department would’ve closed them down if it were a health hazard. In any restaurant anywhere there will always be food that fell to the floor so I don’t see the difference.

I’d imagine the only reason why it would be unsafe, is if you were allergic to peanuts. I don’t think I’d bring any young kids to a Logan’s Steakhouse, they’d be tempted to pick up the peanuts and put them in their mouths.

I can’t imagine it being a problem, it’s not like I touch my shoes while I’m eating anyways. And like Trillian said, if it were a health code violation, I’m sure they’d be shut down.

I you ever have any question about the health/safety of a restaurant, ask the manager or call the health code agency in your area.

At Logan’s Steak house, they routinely sweep the peanut shells and scatter more fresh shells in their place. The shells are guaranteed clean and fresh, and there is absolutely zero health issue. However, this may not be true of every restaurant, so exercise caution.

One good way to gauge the cleanliness of a restaurant is to go into their restrooms and see how well they’re kept clean.

If a place is lackadaisical about restroom cleanliness, it doesn’t bode well for kitchen cleanliness.

Of course it’s not an iron-clad guarantee one way or the other, and the food could still be terrible tasting (even if clean) but at least it’s a starting point for evaluating a place you’ve never been to before.

I used to work at Roadhouse Grill and Logan’s Roadhouse as a server:

1. All Roadhouse’s (belonging to the original company) have now shut down.
2. At one point, they did not allow customers to throw peanuts on the floor, b/c they were sued from someone who “slipped” on a peanut. (Honestly. Working there, I think peanuts created more traction, so I think it’s a scam)

3. This one is kind of aimed toward @YARNLADY when I worked at Logan’s we NEVER scattered fresh peanut shells on the floor. That was not a policy, nor were employees inclined to do it, b/c at the end of every night we (the servers) were mandated to sweep the floors spotless.

4. Those two steakhouses were two of the CLEANEST places I’ve ever worked. I never once saw a rodent. And, b/c there were peanuts on the floor, managers were on us to make sure they were immaculate at the end of the night. So I would wager to say that the floors were actually cleaner than other floors that didn’t have as close attention payed to them on a daily basis.

Also, the “barrels” that were around the restaurant were not actually filled with peanuts. Only about the top ⅓ was. So they were refreshed every morning with fresh nuts.

My girlfriend just added that she thinks the peanuts that caused people to be sick were not actually infected, but would get salmonella from the factories during the process that created peanut butter.

I used to love a little bar in in the village in NYC that also was just filled with peanut shells. It was just so fun, and until this minute I never ever even considered that it was anything but okay.

@mrrich724 It never occurred to me that all those shells on the floors at Logan’s Roadhouse were put there by customers, I assumed they were from the staff.

I wouldn’t eat at a restaurant where there is any kind of food on the floor.

There’s a segment on one of our local news programs called “Dirty Dining”, that exposes health code violations, vermin infestations, and the like in local restaurants. I think Roadhouse, Texas Roadhouse, and the like have appeared more often than Chinese buffets.

@Seek_Kolinahr But you wouldn’t eat there would you?

I went once, and I wasn’t impressed with the food. I think the place is more for people who want cheap beer and a place to throw peanuts on the floor. Kinda like how no one actually goes to Hooters for the food.

@Seek_Kolinahr GA Not a place you would want to take kids. Didn’t Tiger Woods like Hooters?

Don’t know, couldn’t care less.

Mrrich724. great answer. your answer is directly from a past employee with firsthand knowledge. i did not realize they kept the floors that clean at Logans Road House. i have had many meals at Logans and never a problem. yes, i threw some peanut shells on the floor, but i never “got down and dirty” by drinking the beer. thanks.

Beware you don’t get trodden on by the elephant in residence.

You’re welcome. I have to admit, I’ve been there as a guest too, and it was kinda fun throwing the shells on the floor.

@john65pennington Yes, that’s a possibility. The worst unsanitary encounter I’ve ever had in a restaurant happened last year at an eatery in Laguna Beach, California. Yes, classy Laguna Beach! I was putting some hot sauce onto a plate of noodles that I was eating, and didn’t notice a dead cockroach at the bottom of the jar of hot sauce. I spooned a big dollop of hot sauce onto my noodles and was about to dig in, when I saw the dead cockroach sinking into my noodles!! Yuck!!! The cockroach must have been in the sauce for a long time, as it had acquired the same color as the hot sauce (dark red), and was camoflaged. Luckily I spotted it in time!!

OOOO…... M. G.