5 Things Food-Lovers Do When Ordering Room Service

Room service can be a beautiful thing. You, a robe, a king-size bed, and your favorite breakfast — what could be bad? Well, the food, for starters. Cold toast? Soggy salads? No thanks. Even five-star hotels often get room service wrong! (Think about what floor you’re staying on and how far away from the elevator your room is.)

But don’t worry — there are strategies to ensure your food tastes as good as those hotel sheets feel. Here are our top five tips for ordering room service.

While you may have toast every morning for breakfast at home, when you think about what makes it so delicious you’ll realize that it’s best right out of the toaster. And with room service, that’s just not going to happen.

Follow this tip: If you’re craving carbs, a better bet is to order the croissant or another pastry.

This may seem obvious, but ordering dishes that have odoriferous things like fish, blue cheese, or onions from room service is a bad idea. The smell will soon permeate your room and stick around for quite some time. Seafood in general should be avoided — how fresh is that shrimp cocktail likely to be?

The club sandwich is almost guaranteed to be on every room service menu — it’s a classic! It’s also generally a good bet because it’s pretty hard to screw up. Also, club sandwiches are great and when was the last time you ate one?

Whatever a hotel can get away with plating in advance, they will. So, how do you guarantee your dish will be made fresh? Customize it. Ask for extra mayo on that club sandwich or no tomatoes in your garden salad. If they give you a hard time, don’t order it — that’s a sure sign the dish has already been made.

A limp, soggy salad is up there as one of the world’s saddest foods. If you’re dying for a Caesar salad, request the dressing on the side. Some hotels already do this — bonus points! — but not all.

What’s your best advice for ordering room service? Share with us in the comments!