It's great to have your favorite restaurants' food delivered to your door with just a few smartphone clicks and swipes. 

But what if the place you thought was the best kept secret in the neighborhood was actually, just secretly, not even a restaurant?

Yes, when you order from Seamless or Grubhub, you may be getting food from a mystery 'ghost kitchen.'

When NBC 4 New York's I-Team went looking for the location of a laundry list of Seamless and Grubhub restaurants, they found nothing but empty properties and "caterers." 

And this occurred for several restaurants listed on the popular apps that have since been uncovered as fake restaurants acting as one of many fronts for an actual kitchen somewhere that pulls in orders from all over the place. 

The main danger is this: as restaurant consultant Michelle Jones told the I-Team, "Consumers need to be able to trace back where their food comes from in the event they get sick, hopefully they don't."

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The reason why it's dangerous is because these mystery kitchens aren't registered with the Department of Health and aren't graded. It could be something as crazy as someone operating out of his or her apartment. 

But shouldn't the meal-ordering apps be responsible for ensuring that the "businesses" they list are actually real? Furthermore, shouldn't they be responsible for ensuring the customer can see the cleanliness score of the restaurant, like Yelp? 

Jones elaborated, "They are not liable to the Department of Health anywhere in the country so they're only required to do their business and pay their taxes." 

Though ethically she agrees Seamless and Grubhub have an ethical responsibility to be transparent. And shouldn't that be a no brainer? 

Maybe from now on, only order from restaurants you've actually been to, right?

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[via NBC New York]

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