Having read the "restaurants to avoid" thread, I started thinking about some more general recommendations to help me avoid bad restaurants when I travel. Some rules of thumb I have lived by lately include:

- Avoid any restaurant with “Taco” in the name
- Avoid any restaurant that gives too many points on the Rewards Network (iDine) program, there is a reason they are paying you to eat there
- Avoid any restaurant that has a charismatic guy at the front door trying to lure in tourists & other suckers
- Avoid any restaurant that has a faux ethnic theme

Any generalized suggestions that you have noticed? Specifically, I am looking for characteristics of places that so obviously represent poor quality or overpriced food that I do not even have to walk in the door of the place to figure that out.