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We have never eaten at an Outback or a Red Lobster before. ( I think I ate at one for a work lunch many years ago, but I know our kids have never eaten at one & my oldest is 10).
We did go to OG last year as someone gave us a gift card for there. Of course, my youngest proclaimed it was the BEST mach & cheese she ever had! Ugh...
I will say, OG does have a great salad dressing, but that's about all I can say for them.( & I know it is loaded w/salt,tc..)
We pretty much avoid chains when we can. There are so many decent local restaurants, we would rather eat at them.
While I'm a bit more picky about the places I eat I do eat out a lot. Cooking isn't always fun for me and I enjoy the variety of things I can get at various ethnic restaurants that I could never really duplicate at home without investing a small fortune in special equipment and ingredients that wouldn't get enough use to make it worth my while.
I did spend a couple days experimenting with some recipes I found online to make the Red Lobster biscuits. They were passable.
I like going out to dinner as well but to me dining out is not going to outback, applebees or olive garden. I can walk to the applebees near me and the last time I had it was 3 years ago and the food was terrible. If I am going out to eat I want to go to a non-chain restaurant or a mom and pop place.
I like going out to dinner as well but to me dining out is not going to outback, applebees or olive garden. I can walk to the applebees near me and the last time I had it was 3 years ago and the food was terrible. If I am going out to eat I want to go to a non-chain restaurant or a mom and pop place.
The non-chain restaurants we visit really appreciate our business, and it shows. They greet us warmly, show us to our favorite table, bring out new dishes for us to sample, ask our opinion on new menu items, and bring us special desserts for special occasions.
The non-chain restaurants we visit really appreciate our business, and it shows. They greet us warmly, show us to our favorite table, bring out new dishes for us to sample, ask our opinion on new menu items, and bring us special desserts for special occasions.
If we go to a restaurant, that's the kind of restaurant we visit too. My favorite of all restaurants was a Thai one with the parents cooking in the back, and the son taking orders. Hard work, little profit.
Chains? Meh. If I wanted to be served by a surly 20-year-old, I would stay at home and make my kids serve dinner.
But Pizza Hut does make the best most authentic pizza. hahaha just try'n to fire ya up textodd!
Ahhhhh *blam* (sound of head exploding)
Quote:
You really bash the OG red sauce. Come to think of it, I don't think I've ever had it. I'm more alfredo, or their version anyway. It is not just parm and butter, thats for sure. But its good enough. hahaha
I've never met any Italian, at least not one whose family came here anytime in the last three generations, who thinks any differently than I do really - thought perhaps I am slightly more vocal But seriously, OG is an abomination ... it is akin to calling Taco Bell mexican food practically ...
Of course, that said, maybe once a year I will go there because I like the salad and love the tea. But if there is a wait I walk out, I order the soup, salad deal and sit in judgment of everyone around me the entire time, lol
Tonite I drove by a Red Lobster restuarant, an Outback steakhouse and a Mexican favorite in my neighborhood, parking lots full! And it was Tuesday nite!
Am I the only one that's continually puzzled as to who goes to these places? Me, who loves to cook, spoiled by my own cooking, who rarely, if ever, goes to these places!
There's times I just want to pull into one of these parking lots and interview some of these "aliens", walk from table to table, with menu in hand:
"You there! What's that you're scarfing down! A chocolate brownie with a scoop of ice cream? Let's see, the menu states $7! Now for $7 that should be yummy enough to make you look like you just climbed out of bed with a porno star! For 2 bucks more, you could have gotten an extra scoop! You don't know a bargain when you see one?"
"What, pray tell, is that conoction lying on your plate? Stroganof? Here, give me that fork! Digga-dig!
All I can find is 6 chunks of beef! $16.95 divided by 6 is slightly over a buck a chunk! They couldn't have made it 8 chunks? And they have the gall to charge you extra for the noodles?"
"Ah! You're having the $15.95 Shrimp special! And from this perspective, I'm counting 6 shrimp, that's a buck a shrimp! Unless there's some buried underneath that overcooked rice there! And I see the Waiter didn't take your soup bowl away, looks clam chowder to me! You didn't! You did? Another $4.95 for the chowder! Salad was extra? And you're going to have the Baked Alaska for $9.95? And your husband is having the $10.95 Cherries Jubilee?"
"You there, sitting by yourself! Oh, I see! Your husband is a smoker, and while waiting for the BBQ ribs, he put on his parka jacket and out into that cold blustery wind he goes for a smoke, because you're too lazy to make those ribs at home where he could smoke at the dining room table!"
Even though I'm puzzled by these "aliens", I treasure each and every one of them, as they provide much-needed employment and tax revenue! But still, I remain puzzled by it all!
Well, let me see if I can spell it out for you.
I don't eat at chains, unless there simply is no better option. But I kind of take the point of your entire post to not be about chain restaurants per se, but rather about the general laziness and spendthrift nature of restaurant goers in general.
We eat out with the family 2-3 times a month. Why?
Because we both have incredibly busy professional lives. And when we're not working, we either forcefeeding homework assignments to our three children or going to one of their zillion activities. If you haven't considered that, I'm guessing you're not a working parent. Many is the day when my working day begins at five a.m. and I'm not done until 6 p.m., while my wife drags in the door around 6:00, 7:00, or 7:30 at night.
Mind you, I do the cooking. I cook just about every night. But there are times when I just don't feel like it. Because it's not just the cooking. It's the preparation and the cleaning up, too. It's about the dashes to the grocery store when you run out of something. It's about making sure you make something that all the kids are going to eat (And, lest you think I coddle them, my standard line is, "Well you don't have to eat it, but that's dinner"). So by the time I've put together dinner, served it, eaten with my family, and acted as the overseer making sure my kids have cleaned the kitchen, I have at least a couple of hours of my day invested. Shoehorn that between everything else going on in our lives, and sometimes a 30-60 minute stopover at the local restaurant is indeed the better option.
Hope that helps. Sometimes it's not about the food. Sometimes it's just about eating a decent meal with the family or even having a peaceful and uninterrupted moment with your significant other without having to do a lot of work. And sometimes it's worth the extra money to have that.
I find it interesting how many lament the cost of eating healthier food, so opt out for cheap unhealthy food instead. Has anyone factored the long term healthcare costs into the equation?
LOL, you need to get out more. Most of us came from somewhere else; a huge chunk of us came from Europe. Or Asia or Africa (certainly wouldn't want to pass over the good cuisine from those continents).
No my dear fellow CD'r I'm talking about large neighborhoods of ethnicity.
For example my uncle in law lives in the Italian district in South Philly.
I'm not talking population in an area resulting in a common theme like Minnesota being Norse in ancestry or West Virginia having strong Scotts-Irish roots but block after block after block of Italian's and those of Italian ancestry then Chinatown then the Russian section, etc.
We have these areas in which to choose from in which to find incredible authentic ethnic cuisine.
This is what I'm speaking about. Not sections of the country that just happen to have ancestry as a commonality at one time in history resulting in a scattered population of said ethnicity.
If going to Brooklyn for some Italian then on to China town to have some authentic Chinese food isn't getting out in your book I don't know what would be.
If we go to a restaurant, that's the kind of restaurant we visit too. My favorite of all restaurants was a Thai one with the parents cooking in the back, and the son taking orders. Hard work, little profit.
Chains? Meh. If I wanted to be served by a surly 20-year-old, I would stay at home and make my kids serve dinner.
Our favorite place is a small Thai restaurant, run by a couple who escaped and came over and started the restaurant to support their family. The couple is always so cheerful and warmly thank each customer for coming in.
After we had dined there several times they told us part of their escape story, and the unbelievably cruel things that happened to their families. We now understand why they are always cheerful, appreciative and hard-working.
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But seriously, OG is an abomination ... it is akin to calling Taco Bell mexican food practically ... 
