by JeffBet | Date of Publishing: 11 November 2024
Opening up a restaurant involves taking many risks. For starters, the owner gambles whether or not it’s a great location for a restaurant, if people will like their food, the amount of competition they’ll receive, and more. In reality, running a successful restaurant is about more than just the taste of the food. With a high failure rate among restaurants within the first year of opening, you’d think only the best restaurants remained, however, that’s not always the case.
Whether it’s poor customer service, disgusting food, or an establishment that looks like a walking health code violation, terrible restaurants can be found all across the country. As an online casino games company, we were curious to find out which low-rated restaurants in America have defied all odds and are still running after five years or more.
To do this, we analyzed Google reviews for over 4,000 restaurants with less than a 4-star rating in the top 50 largest U.S. cities. We focused on restaurants that have been open for at least five years and analyzed the percentage of their low reviews.
Read on to find out which restaurants top the list of the most terrible restaurants in America, in which cities restaurants receive the lowest ratings and more!
If you open up your phone to check “restaurants near me,” chances are you’ll come across a long scrollable list of options. However, beyond just selecting a restaurant by its name and distance, you should also take a look at its reviews to have a better idea of what you can expect.
Whether it’s their unwelcoming service, questionable food, or lack of cleanliness, it doesn’t take long for some restaurants to build a bad reputation, which can lead them to close their doors quickly. However, while some low-rated restaurants close quickly, others can check all the wrong boxes and still remain open for five years or longer.
We analyzed these rare establishments that seem immune to their bad reviews and found that Lucky China 8 Chinese Restaurant in Atlanta, Eat’s Italian in Las Vegas, and 24th St. Pizzeria in San Antonio are the most terrible restaurants in America, with the highest frequency of low-rating reviews and an average overall restaurant rating of 2.3 stars.
Lucky China 8 Chinese Restaurant has an overall rating of 1.7 stars on Google, and its oldest review dates back five years. Over the years, the Chinese restaurant has collected more than its fair share of low reviews, with customers complaining about things such as flies in their food, rude customer service, and poor-tasting food. After a visit to the restaurant, Madison G. shared her warnings for others on Google.
The second restaurant on our most terrible list, Eat’s Italian, is located in the iconic Grand Canal Shoppes at The Venetian Resort. Despite its popular location, the restaurant’s 2.2 overall rating makes it a disappointing stop in a city known for its over-the-top dining options. For over seven years, the restaurant has been receiving reviews with the majority of them being low-star. After receiving a disappointing pasta dish, Steven Mejia, shared his thoughts.
In third is 24th St. Pizzeria, a pizza shop in San Antonio that has been open for at least eight years and has built a low overall rating of 2.1 stars on Google. Pizza is a common dish that people typically take to go or have delivered, so they often don’t realize something is wrong until it’s too late. This was Arnulfo del Toro’s experience after ordering from this Texas establishment.
When we look at the most terrible restaurants in America, we can find similarities in the complaints from visitors. Common topics that are discussed are food quality, service, cleanliness, price, wait times, overall atmosphere, and incorrect orders.
While no restaurant is immune to receiving low reviews, there are certain types of restaurants that receive them most frequently. With the highest average of low reviews, pizza restaurants tend to receive 23% low reviews, Chinese restaurants 22%, and American restaurants 20%.
Certain cities also have restaurants that receive low ratings more frequently than others. After analyzing restaurants in the top 50 major cities, we found that Seattle restaurants receive low ratings most frequently, with an average low-star rating of 23.85%, followed by Las Vegas with 23.44% and Raleigh with 23.34%.
While these cities are home to amazing restaurants, you might accidentally stumble across one of the disappointing ones if you don’t do some quick research online beforehand. Restaurant reviews can help you evaluate whether or not the restaurant’s food and experience are something you’d enjoy.
In Seattle, the Asian restaurant Wok, wins the title of most terrible in the city, with nearly 57% low ratings. Angelic Matthews blames the food quality for the establishments’ underwhelming reputation, writing, “Staff was friendly but . . . . The wait was long, the fried rice was hard, the generals chicken wasn’t actually generals chicken it tasted gross and a bit like mustard and was chewy. The broccoli beef was equally unsatisfactory. If I could give it zero stars for the food quality and quantity, I would. Definitely not worth the price!”
In Las Vegas, Eat’s Italian, which we’ve previously mentioned, stands out as the most terrible in the city with nearly 67% low reviews. Alma C. Metternich shared her distaste for the food, writing, “Worst pasta I had ever had! You could taste all the extra oil they put on the dish, and definitely not worth it.”
In Raleigh, China Pearl holds a 2.3 star rating with 61% low reviews, awarding it the most terrible restaurant in the city title. The Chinese restaurant serves unsatisfactory food, according to reviewer C.LS. who wrote, “The worst Chinese food I have ever had. We threw the whole order in the trash out of concern for spoilage and the foul smell. We ordered wonton soup, roast pork lo mein, sauteed broccoli, mongolian beef, sesame chicken NOT one of those entrees was edible. Will NEVER order from here again. I’m not sure how they are in business. Should be ashamed of themselves.”
In cities all across the U.S. there are great restaurants ranging from higher-end to hometown favorites, however sprinkled in are also restaurants whose doors should probably have closed a long time ago. Thanks to the internet, it’s easier than ever to find the restaurants that aren’t worth your money, and to give you a headstart, we’ve found the most terrible restaurant in each major city.
From Celino’s Pizza in Jacksonville, to Royal India Express in San Diego, the top terrible restaurants on our major city list receive an average of 44.10% low reviews. Although some restaurants on this list hold semi-average ratings on Google, they’re most likely to receive a low-star review than the other long-standing restaurants in their city.
They say never judge a book by its cover, but it’s safe to say that you should probably judge a restaurant by its online reviews. Going out to eat at a new restaurant without checking its reputation online can be quite the gamble. While you may discover a unique hole-in-the-wall restaurant, you risk accidentally eating at one of the worst restaurants in the country.
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Methodology
In October 2024, we analyzed 4,467 restaurants with ratings below 4 stars across the top 50 major cities in the U.S. We focused exclusively on establishments that have received more than 50 reviews and have been operational for at least 5 years. We also excluded major chain restaurants, food trucks, and restaurants inside of an attraction from our analysis.
To determine the percentage of low-star reviews for each restaurant, we compared the number of reviews rated below 4 stars to the total number of reviews. To ensure that we accurately captured reviews reflecting negative sentiment, we utilized the TextBlob Python library for sentiment analysis. Reviews with a sentiment score of 0.4 or higher were excluded from our dataset, allowing us to focus solely on reviews conveying a negative sentiment.
Author: JeffBet
JeffBet is an online gambling company founded in 2022. Its product offerings are online casino, online slots, live dealer games, table games and sports betting. The organisation holds regulatory gambling licenses in the UK and Malta.
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