Hitting your favorite bar for drinks and snacks sounds like a perfect night out. But not all bar foods are created equal! Some choices can lead to messy fingers, bad breath, or even upset stomachs when paired with alcohol.
I asked a food safety and bar cuisine expert which items we should skip on our next night out.
1. Spicy Wings
Sauce-covered fingers and face don’t mix well with socializing. The hot spices can also intensify alcohol’s effects, making you feel the buzz faster than expected.
Plus, those tangy sauces leave lasting smells on your hands that soap in bar bathrooms rarely removes completely.
2. Loaded Nachos
Ever tried eating massive nacho plates while holding a drink? Nightmare! The toppings slide off, cheese cools and hardens quickly, and you’re left with sad, bare chips at the bottom.
Sharing means double-dipping concerns, especially in today’s health-conscious world.
3. Garlic Fries
Nobody wants dragon breath during a social night. Garlic lingers on your breath for hours, making close conversations awkward.
The strong smell transfers to your fingers too. Even worse, alcohol actually enhances garlic’s potent effects.
4. Seafood Platters
Raw seafood and alcohol create a risky combination for your stomach. Bars often can’t maintain the proper temperature for safe seafood storage throughout busy nights.
The fishy smell clings to your hands and breath. And nothing ruins a night faster than questionable shellfish from a place primarily focused on pouring drinks.
5. Complicated Burgers
Those towering, multi-layered monstrosities look amazing in photos but create dining disasters. The sky-high stack inevitably collapses mid-bite, sending toppings everywhere.
Trying to maintain composure while sauce drips down your arms isn’t the sophisticated bar experience most people aim for!
6. Sticky Ribs
Gnawing on bones while trying to look dignified? Nearly impossible! The sticky sauce coats fingers, faces, and somehow always finds its way onto clothes.
Most bars offer flimsy napkins that disintegrate against rib sauce. You’ll be making bathroom trips constantly just to wash your hands.
7. Overstuffed Tacos
The first bite sends fillings cascading everywhere. Trying to catch falling taco contents while holding your drink requires circus-level coordination.
Soft shells get soggy within minutes. Hard shells shatter dramatically, turning your lap into a sad pile of taco shrapnel that bartenders silently judge.
8. Spinach Dip
Green specks between teeth aren’t the look anyone’s going for on a night out. The stringy cheese creates those embarrassing food strings from mouth to plate.
Creamy dips sit at dangerous temperatures on bar tables. By the time you’re halfway through your second drink, that dip has become a bacterial playground.
9. Sloppy Joes
The name says it all – they’re designed to be messy! Loose meat tumbles from the bun with each bite, creating an avalanche of food.
The sauce inevitably drips onto clothing. Dark bars hide stains until you step into bathroom lighting and discover the horror of what’s happened to your outfit.
10. Soup
Hunching over a hot bowl in a crowded bar while balancing on a barstool? Recipe for disaster! The steam fogs glasses and makes your face sweat unattractively.
Slurping noises compete with background music. Plus, spills are nearly guaranteed when someone bumps your elbow in tight bar spaces.
11. Onion Rings
One bite pulls the entire onion out, leaving you with an empty fried shell. The stringy onion dangles from your mouth while you frantically try to bite it off.
The greasy coating leaves shiny fingerprints on glasses and phones. And like garlic, onion breath persists stubbornly through multiple drinks.
12. Egg Dishes
Runny yolks create unpredictable messes when you’re balancing on bar stools. The sulfur smell from eggs mixes terribly with beer and cocktails.
Eggs spoil quickly at room temperature. Bars aren’t restaurants – their kitchens often lack the proper storage and temperature controls for egg safety.
13. Fondue
Melted cheese cools quickly, becoming a gluey, stringy mess within minutes. The long forks are dangerous in crowded spaces where people move unpredictably.
Cheese or chocolate splatters create permanent stains. And communal dipping with strangers? That’s a health concern even in non-pandemic times.
14. Overly Sauced Pasta
Twirling long noodles requires concentration and both hands – impossible when you’re also holding a drink. Sauce splatters create tiny dots on clothing that you won’t notice until it’s too late.
The garlic and herb aromas overpower your drink’s flavors, wasting that craft cocktail you paid $15 for.
15. Corn On The Cob
Nothing says “attractive” like corn kernels stuck in teeth! The awkward gnawing motion feels self-conscious in social settings.
Butter drips everywhere – hands, chin, clothing. And those little corn holders? They become dangerous projectiles when dropped on busy bar floors.
16. Super Spicy Anything
Alcohol amplifies spice sensations, making that “medium” heat suddenly feel volcanic. Sweating profusely while gasping for water isn’t the cool bar vibe most people aim for.
Capsaicin oil from peppers sticks to fingers, creating painful surprises when you touch your eyes or nose later.
17. Shared Popcorn
Everyone’s hands dive repeatedly into one container – a germ paradise. The kernels get stuck in teeth, creating awkward picking moments.
Butter and salt transfer to fingers, leaving greasy prints on everything. And those unpopped kernels? Dental disasters waiting to happen when you bite down unexpectedly.
18. Bone-In Chicken
Trying to look elegant while stripping meat off bones? Good luck! The greasy fingers problem makes holding drinks nearly impossible without creating gross glass smudges.
Disposing of bones becomes an awkward treasure hunt for small trash bins. Most bars don’t provide sufficient napkins for this level of mess.
19. Heavily Scented Cheeses
Strong cheese aromas compete with drink flavors and linger on breath. That carefully crafted cocktail tastes very different after a bite of blue cheese!
Cheese plates warm quickly at room temperature. What starts as perfectly aged can become uncomfortably ripe after sitting out during a long conversation.