Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
I used to love to go out to eat at the various locally owned non chain restaurants in my hometown. When I travel, which is often, I tried to find the local restaurants listed in the Mobil or AAA Guide. I wanted to support local establishments and try to eat at something that was different than I can get at home.
In recent years, though, I have been burned by the many local non chain restaurants that I have gone to all over America. Many of them have gone down hill as they have cut staff and food quality to compete with the popular chain restaurants next to the Mall or off the Interstate.
Do I think the food at the chain restaurant next to the Interstate is really good, NO! But it is fine and in many cases much better than the fading local spot downtown that has seen better days. What do you think?
I love mom & pop shops! There is a local, family-owned restaurant here called the Apple Pan & for being a tiny little place, man their food rocks!
It's nice to support these people, anyways. Their signature breakfast potatoes are awesome, I now mock them at home....sorry Mark, but I'm a darn good cook too & it didn't take me long to figure them out
I think mom and pop are better but I sure would like to find some like they show on Diners, Drive-ins and Dives! Restaurant work is hard, labor intensive and no detachment for the owners but when we find a good one we support it.
Their signature breakfast potatoes are awesome, I now mock them at home....sorry Mark, but I'm a darn good cook too & it didn't take me long to figure them out
So are you going to share these signature potatoes so the rest of us can see how rocking they are?
I do my best to avoid chains and patronize the local restaurants, because the food is better, because I don't want them to disappear, and because I don't want to die of boredom from eating the exact same food in Austin that I could get in Dallas that I could get in Phoenix that I could get in Atlanta that I could get . . . well, you get the picture.
Sort of like going to Greece and eating at McDonald's. What's the point?
Chains are cutting costs as well, but it worse ways. Would mom and pop re-serve you food or stretch a spoiled spinach dip with some fresh just so you can't taste the "funk"?
I used to love to go out to eat at the various locally owned non chain restaurants in my hometown. When I travel, which is often, I tried to find the local restaurants listed in the Mobil or AAA Guide. I wanted to support local establishments and try to eat at something that was different than I can get at home.
In recent years, though, I have been burned by the many local non chain restaurants that I have gone to all over America. Many of them have gone down hill as they have cut staff and food quality to compete with the popular chain restaurants next to the Mall or off the Interstate.
Do I think the food at the chain restaurant next to the Interstate is really good, NO! But it is fine and in many cases much better than the fading local spot downtown that has seen better days. What do you think?
You make some interesting points, and I have certainly eaten at some local spots that I'd never return to.
However, I have to wonder how much of that is due to the restaurant itself and how much to the local economy. In some communities, factory closings and layoffs are hitting so hard that a significant proportion of the former restaurant clientele can no longer afford to eat out. As tight a profit margin as most of those places keep, losing even 10% of their business can mean the difference between staying afloat and going under, so cutting corners and economizing is a logical conclusion for the restaurant owner as well as for his/her patrons. Thinking back to the most memorably marginal local restaurants I've patronized, all were in regions that were struggling economically.
At least at this point in our lives, we're lucky enough to live in a community that is still doing reasonably well, all things considered, and I don't think it's any coincidence that all of the local restaurants we patronize (and there are a lot of them) are of excellent quality.
Chains suck for the most part....frozen re-heated mass produced food. No thanks. The Olive Garden has to be the worst...how they pass that off as Italian food is beyond me....yet people still eat there, and my area is loaded with locally-owned Italian restaurants that are both cheaper and better. About the only thing worth going to Olive Garden is the soup, salad, and breadsticks. Their pasta, especially the sauce, sucks. But I guess not everywhere is like NE PA, where Italians make up a significant part of the population, and good Italian food is plentiful.
Chain wing places have got to be the worst. We just got a Quaker Steak and Lube in my area, and it is overpriced and overrated. Another thing that NE PA has is good wings....mostly in small corner bars. Almost any corner bar in Scranton makes better wings than Quaker Steak and Lube....and for a much better price.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
