Healthy eating when out to eat

Ok so this weekend I ate out a lot more than usual and I take pride in my knowledge of knowing if something is good or bad by looking at the description.
Let me start by saying that picking a salad is most likely not always the healthiest choice on the menu. If you don't believe me go look at the nutrition info for Applebees. They have a salad with 1110 and 66g of fat!! I couldn't believe it!! Every salad on the menu had at least 820 calories. I choose the sizzling chili lime chicken which is delicious! My only complaint about the meal is they don't offer brown rice as a substitution :/ I also had a caesar side salad with the dressing on the side and took leftovers home from my meal to eat later :) My meal was off of the 550 calories or less menu. Applebees also has a weight watchers menu and I recommend ordering off of one of these two menus when eating there.
In some cases restaurants might not have nutritional info online **ps I always look up the nutritional info before ordering** when this happens to me I usually get some form of chicken.. But BEWARE of anything that is "smothered" or "fried" and anything covered in cheese. I usually get a chicken sandwich with no bread.. Last week I got one that came with lettuce and pickles (and onions and tomatoes which I opted against) and I got veggies on the side- make sure to ask for veggies with no butter.. Mine were swimming in it :/ I have also gotten one with cooked mushrooms and onions yumm!
On Sunday we went to my favorite Mexican restaurant and it is so hard to resist their chips and salsa! So I didn't, but I made sure not to eat to many! I had a taco salad with no cheese and no sour cream. When eating at Mexican try to avoid the chimichangas and enchiladas which are usually fried and very high in fat.
The most important thing is to do your homework on what they have and take a minute to look at your options.. When in doubt don't get a salad! Go for the grilled chicken with a side salad with a light italian of vinaigrette dressing on the side instead :)