This story has been updated since it was originally published on 9/7/2017
Getting settled at a restaurant can be a mad rush sometimes. It’s easy to just blurt out a drink order without thinking when your waiter doesn’t give you much time to decide. Some drinks are definitely better (and healthier) choices for you, but you may be skipping over them time and time again. As it turns out, your one go-to drink order may also be doing you serious harm.
You worry about your food being freshly prepared, but do you ever think about how your drinks are prepared? Is your water bottled or from the tap? How about that frozen margarita; when was the last time the blender was cleaned? There are definitely a lot of things to consider when ordering your drink at a restaurant. But there’s one drink you should never order while you’re out to eat, according to a waiter—and health experts. To get down to the bottom of things, we spoke to Nutritionist John Frigo, RD who told us why you should think twice before drinking soda from a soda fountain.
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Fountain Soda
If you really think about it, it's no surprise that fountain soda can cause health issues. I mean, do you really know exactly where the fizzy mixture is coming from—or what's exactly in it? One former New York server warned against ordering this type of drink, and the reason is pretty nasty.
Writer Rob Gunther shared his experience working at a New York City restaurant in an article he wrote for Thought Catalog. Gunther says that even he would reach for a quick soda at work until his co-workers started questioning him. The reason? Many soda machines have poorly cleaned pipes and often leak sticky soda syrup. The worst part of it all, that sticky syrup often attracts bugs. Yeah, no thanks, I'm going to skip that soda order next time.
It isn't just waiters who warn against fountain soda, though. Frigo says there are several reasons you should avoid this beverage at all costs when you're at a restaurant. "Anyone who’s ever ordered a drink or mixed drink at a bar or restaurant has probably noticed that the stuff that comes out of a soda fountain isn’t the same as what you’re getting in a can," he notes.
If your Diet Coke tastes a little funky, there may be a reason why, and it's pretty gross. Just like Gunther said, Frigo explains that the soda machines at restaurants are rarely well-maintained, which can cause some seriously frightening contamination. "Most restaurants don’t clean their soda machines so in a majority of restaurants the soda machines contain mold," he says. Yikes!
But it doesn't stop there. "Many restaurants also put bleach or other cleaners down the lines to clean or unclog them, and I could imagine many don’t properly rinse them, so you may also be drinking bleach or other cleaners." Uh-oh—we don't want that stuff anywhere near our drinks. Of course, there's also the issue of the bugs that like to hang around the fountains. Count us out!
Honestly, your best beverage bet at restaurants is sticking to drinks that are bottled. That goes for soda, beer, and even water. You never really know what may be lingering and swirling around in your drink when you're not the one preparing it. At the end of the day, though, Frigo says you should especially avoid beverages from a soda fountain. "You really shouldn’t be drinking soda to begin with, its basically tasty poison water as is, but soda out of a soda fountain also carries the risk of consuming bacteria, bugs and cleaning chemicals," he concludes.
