1. Pasta
While noodles or ramen might be fine when ordered as takeout (since they often come with seperate sauce or broth), Chef Ariane Resnick told Insider readers to avoid ordering anything with a heavy sauce, as it might not come with the texture it would if you ate it fresh and right away.
"Heavily sauced noodles or noodle soups are a bad idea for delivery. Flour noodles will continue to absorb the liquid in the dish. Once refrigerated, [they] may break down into mush," said Resnick. (No thanks!)
2. Fried Food (like Mozzarella Sticks or Onion Rings)
Fried food can get soggy much faster than you might realize, and especially if it's coming from a restaurant that is miles away. "Fried items will be soggy on arrival [...] and can only re-crisp so much in the oven. Also, once refrigerated, they will crisp up less when reheated," said Resnick.
The other drawback of getting fried foods delivered is that if they aren't eaten right away, they really can't be saved for later, as Chef Viramontes pointed out to Insider: "Fried food is rendered pretty much inedible after a few hours so if you don't finish it, you'll likely end up putting it in the trash."
3. Salad
Alhough chopping up vegetables and preparing your own salad at home can feel like a chore, Chef Sean Huggard, owner of Blue Island Oyster Bar and Seafood in Denver, Colorado, told Insider that this is one dish you should avoid getting delivered.
"Salad is my least favorite delivery food. It usually has dressing on the side so the salad doesn't get soggy. But for some reason, when you mix it at home, it's just never as good as at a restaurant," said Huggard.
breaded-chicken-takeout
4. Breaded Food (like Chicken Tenders)
Nothing is better than crispy, chicken tenders, but as chefs said to Insider, sometimes the ones you get delivered might be soggier than expected and have less of a crunch.
"Breaded foods do not hold their heat well, so [they] will likely be cold by the time you get them home," said Viramontes. "If the food is packaged in the wrong container, it will get really soggy and no longer be crispy." This, similarly to fried food, is probably best to eat on-site of where you ordered them or to prepare them at home to avoid the extra, undesired sogginess!