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We have about stopped eating anyplace where wait staff brings the food to your table. I have been at a table of 5 women and we were all called "guys." We have left a tip and later found there was already a tip added to the charge before we saw it. In other words, we paid to be served twice and it wasn't a group; just the two of us.
One waitress was so busy trying to make us feel sorry for her so we would leave a larger tip, I am sure, that she forgot to bring us all the food ordered. We haven't been back. I like to eat in peace without someone trying to take me for an easy mark. That place gives a free dessert on Wednesday's but made a big deal about adding the cost to the bill and suggesting we give a larger tip because they gave a free dessert. Too bad they didn't subtract a counseling charge and the food we didn't get from the bill. I don't like encounters so it ruins my meal to have to demand what I paid for so we just don't go back to the place.
I have found the food is just as good and sometimes better at fast food places and trash cans are usually readily available and usually drink machines too. When we are traveling we can be back on the road in about half the time.
I am pleased to be able to report that I have never, in my life, eaten at a restaurant that specializes in selling 'chicken wings'.
I recall, back in the 1960s, of "Colonel" Sanders of KFC fame, claiming that the 'wing' was the tastiest part of the chicken. The reason he made that claim was because if you ordered a 'bucket' of 'dark meat', say 15 pieces, you would be lucky if 6 pieces were NOT a wing. He loves to stuff those buckets with wings, being the cheapest part of a chicken.
It was a sham. It still is. Whenever I bake a chicken I toss the wings. Little meat, lots of bone and skin.
As for the topic: I agree with the poster, a fellow boomer, whom noted that when we were young eating out was a 'very occasional' treat, usually for special occasions. Of course, back in the 60s one did not have all of these 'casual' food restaurants like Applebee's, Denny's, and what have you. Seems like such places exploded in popularity in the 1980s.
On the bold - you are missing out.
There was a place in Marietta, GA (metro Atlanta) called "Marietta Wings" that made the best dam spicy/lemon pepper wings I have ever tasted in my life. It was a restaurant run by some Brazillian immigrants. Made me aware that Brazillians know how to cook some wings lol.
There was also JR Crickets, which was an Atlanta wing chain. Atlanta has a lot of wing joints. If you ever visit, you should get some.
Here in Ohio, we have Frickers, which is a chain that specializes in wings as well. They are similar to Hooters but you don't have half naked waitresses and their food isn't as expensive.
I think that was sort of a 90's thing back in the day they were like the first chain to be sort of kind of considered nice.
A lot of Italian restaurants are terrible they're just relying on their family name from back in the 50's. Grandma's old secret sauce isn't always so special just no one ever had the heart to tell her. So places like Olive Garden were a draw for some people.
The changing of the restaurant scene is tied in with how suburbs and so on evolved and grew over the past 30 years.
I agree. These chains seemed to be held in much higher esteem in the '90s and into the early 2000s. By the late 2000s, preferences started shifting away from them and towards locally owned, quality establishments. However, there are a lot of places in this country where chains like Olive Garden and Applebee's are the only thing in town other than fast food staples and family restaurants which just aren't very good and only survive on nostalgia. In those kinds of places, the "eat local" craze has yet to take hold.
Some chains straight up need to die. It's their time.
I agree. Tastes change and trends come and go. I think chains like Applebee's, Ruby Tuesday, Red Robin, TGI Friday's, etc are on their last legs. Meanwhile, today's chains are ones that you don't generally find outside of major metro areas. I am thinking of chains like Ruth's Chris, McCormick & Schmick's, Pappadeaux, etc. You won't find those lining the interstate in every small town in the country.
One thing to consider though that in a lot of small towns, they don't have a very good bar scene and places like TGI Friday's serve as "going to the bar."
While this is an interesting and worthwhile thread, I'm curious as to why it's posted in the "Politics and Other Controversies" forum and not the food forum.
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