From my experience accidentally ordering from some of these places, the answer seems to be “you don’t.” I’m not opposed to the idea of ghost kitchens in theory

From my experience accidentally ordering from some of these places, the answer seems to be “you don’t.” I’m not opposed to the idea of ghost kitchens in theory, but in practice, the food is almost always mediocre and the costs are designed around being able to profit alongside the fee-laden third-party delivery service model. That means optimizing your food and labor costs and spamming a million different types of restaurants so you can try to attract a wide swath of customers. For the end user, it means paying a ridiculous premium (especially once all the delivery fees, city-specific fees (at least with Uber Eats in Seattle), handling fees, driver tip) to get poor-quality food that definitely tastes like it went from freezer to flash fryer, delivered — and usually delivered lukewarm at best. No thanks. Restaurants are already suffering right now and I’m sympathetic to actual kitchens who are trying to traverse a pandemic while also being fleeced by external delivery companies (it is unrealistic for most non-pizza restaurants outside of a densely populated area like New York City to employ their own drivers/bike delivery folks), particularly since I don’t cook — but as a consumer, I avoid all ghost kitchens at all costs. If I’m going to pay too much for delivery, I want it to at least be real food.