3-word phrase you should never trust if you see it in a restaurant

Finding somewhere to eat can be a bit of a minefield, and whilst you can sometimes find a hidden gem of a restaurant, you can also end up with some real duds.

You might see somewhere hyped up on TikTok and assume it's the real deal, only to learn that hard way that looks can be deceiving.

You could try trawl endlessly through online reviews to try and gauge the general consensus, only to arrive somewhere and find it's under new management.

But if there's one person who should know where to find good food, it would be travel writer and TV star Rick Steves, who has done a fair bit of dining out in his time.

It may be tricky to fully protect yourself from a disappointing meal, but Steves believes there's one major red flag you can look out for.

Rick Steves has got some solid restaurant advice for us (Slaven Vlasic/Contributor/Getty Images)

During a talk shared to his YouTube channel earlier this year, the restaurant guru warned: "If you're a smart eater, you don't go to the most crowded, touristic, high-rent square, and look for a restaurant that says in big English letters 'no frozen food', with a pre-printed menu in three languages that has lots of courses and stays the same all year long.

"Everything is wrong about that, okay?"

Let's face it, assuring us there's 'no frozen food' feels oddly defensive, and isn't the sell people might think it is. Shouldn't it be a given?!

Steves advised that 'no local would ever eat' at a joint like that, instead sharing his top tips for where he would go.

He explained: "I like to go three blocks away, find a little no-name place on a low-rent location, thriving with an enthusiastic local clientele, and I look for a small, handwritten, one-language menu."

Looking for where locals are dining is a solid tip (Heritage Images/Contributor/Getty Images)

His advice has solid logic behind it, as he added: "It's a small menu because they are interested in serving food profitably but at a good price, it is handwritten because it's shaped by what's fresh in the market this week, and it's one language because they're targeting locals rather than tourists."

Heading where the locals go is pretty sound advice, and one that many others tend to follow, including celebrated Anthony Bourdain. In 2011 he told National Geographic: "We spend a lot of time looking for local bloggers who have been documenting street food or indigenous specialties around the city or town for a while. There's always somebody and they are often very, very good."