Restroom checklist for restaurants

The Baltimore Sun

What, besides the food, comprises a good "restaurant experience?"

Service and decor are important, of course, but very near the top of my list is the state of the restaurant's bathroom.

First there are sins of omission - management's failure to keep the bathroom clean. But what drive me crazy are sins of commission - the bad decisions that restaurants make that ensure an aggravating restroom experience.

One problem is not stocking enough toilet paper. If a restaurant hasn't invested in a toilet-paper delivery system that includes reserve rolls, and it has not charged its staff with constantly monitoring the supply, then it owes it to the customers to simply store extra rolls in the bathroom itself.

Moving from the toilet to the sink: I wish restaurants would pay more attention to the soap they use. First, of course, there needs to be soap. But I have a personal animus against soaps that are aggressively scented. If every restaurant used Dial or Ivory, I'd be a much happier diner.

Paper towels! First, again, they need to be present. The dispenser needs to work and be hung at a height that doesn't require me to raise my hands above shoulder level; I don't want water dripping down my forearms.

Finally, I don't understand how we can put a man on the moon but not design a mechanism that effectively locks a bathroom-stall door.

Erica Marcus writes for Newsday.

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