Restaurants

[God's lonely asperger]

I go to restaurants frequently. Mostly because my family likes to go to them on weekends. I don't go to fast food due to health and quality being both low, along with price not being worth it to me, so I stick to local ones.
My city barely has any non-fast food or favelaslop restaurants, so I've been mostly going to this one local Italian one these last around 2 years. I've seen the quality go down immensely over time, be it because of the economy or owner changes. A few weeks ago I went there super late with my family (10 PM) because of work stuff. It was quite an experience.

-Filled to the brim with people
-As we drove by it we heard music
-Some black guy with wacky hair loudly singing Brazilian black people music (the live music there used to be just some guy with a guitar singing Wonderwall or whatever)
-Black woman dancing in front of the stage
-2 black car guards each with 2 fake dollar store cigars in hand
-Immediately blows the cigar when the car window is opened to see if the noise is too much
-Car proceeds to smell for the rest of the day like it came out of a reggae show
-Leave ASAP

It is now as Italian as I imagine the Italian colony in Ethiopia was. It's so bad now it's not even funny. The pizza there was probably the best I've eaten in a long, long time. Sad to see it go to that point.

This is without talking about the food itself or other incidents before the last straw. If I listed everything I'd be here forever.

 

[Nordwand]

I go to restaurants frequently. Mostly because my family likes to go to them on weekends. I don't go to fast food due to health and quality being both low, along with price not being worth it to me, so I stick to local ones.
My city barely has any non-fast food or favelaslop restaurants, so I've been mostly going to this one local Italian one these last around 2 years. I've seen the quality go down immensely over time, be it because of the economy or owner changes. A few weeks ago I went there super late with my family (10 PM) because of work stuff. It was quite an experience.

-Filled to the brim with people
-As we drove by it we heard music
-Some black guy with wacky hair loudly singing Brazilian black people music (the live music there used to be just some guy with a guitar singing Wonderwall or whatever)
-Black woman dancing in front of the stage
-2 black car guards each with 2 fake dollar store cigars in hand
-Immediately blows the cigar when the car window is opened to see if the noise is too much
-Car proceeds to smell for the rest of the day like it came out of a reggae show
-Leave ASAP

It is now as Italian as I imagine the Italian colony in Ethiopia was. It's so bad now it's not even funny. The pizza there was probably the best I've eaten in a long, long time. Sad to see it go to that point.

This is without talking about the food itself or other incidents before the last straw. If I listed everything I'd be here forever.

Really going off topic, but this was Libya under the Italians:

 

[Douglas Quaid]

My mom loves going to overpriced restaurants. She recently visited and we went 4 nights in a row. Not only are these places incredibly overpriced, but the service is usually mediocre at best (while expecting a big tip), and the quality doesn't warrant such high prices. The cheapest place ended up being the best.

I couldn't wait to get back to making my own dinners. I even went to the restaurant supply store and bought steaks in bulk. It came out to about $4/pound, so now I can have steak almost every night in the peace and quiet of my home.

I rarely eat out and don't miss it. You save a ton of money making your own food, and it's usually much healthier. I cringe whenever big city people brag about all their restaurant choices.

 

[magoo]

Yesterday I ate a steak at a high end restaurant it felt like I had eaten nothing.

When at home sometimes I buy a T-bone steak and cook it. It’s incredibly tasty. Recipe is simple. 10mnts in a fried pan with olive oil. 10-15mmts in the oven. More 10-15 mnts in a pan with butter, thyme and garlic (we never have thyme). It beats food on most high end restaurant.
I think when your in France and if you can eat good tratidional French cuisine. it’s worth it. I’ve discovered a chain of restaurants called Bouillon. You pay 15€ to eat amazing French traditional food. Locals dislike it. But for me if you would make me chose between eating in ritz or bouillon. I would eat bouillon. All the way.

 

[God's lonely asperger]

My mom loves going to overpriced restaurants. She recently visited and we went 4 nights in a row. Not only are these places incredibly overpriced, but the service is usually mediocre at best (while expecting a big tip), and the quality doesn't warrant such high prices. The cheapest place ended up being the best.

There is another Italian restaurant in my home town. Family business. My father worked for them at one point. Point is, we went there a lot and quite liked the food there.

I moved out from my home town during quarantine, but visited it at one point this year. When I went there, it was absolutely destroyed after quarantine, not to mention the ridiculous pricing. My father hates complaining about food, but he said it was literally microwave pizza, and I eventually agreed.
300 favela coins (~60 dollars) on 4 medium pizzas (we had guests) and a few self-service foods from the table. Mind you, this is one of the cheapest cost of living cities in the country.

Later went to a rodizio one (all you can eat) in the same city, and that was 50 reais (10 dollars) for all you can eat amount of pizza slices, including beer or coke. Didn't overeat, if you're wondering.

I rarely eat out and don't miss it. You save a ton of money making your own food, and it's usually much healthier. I cringe whenever big city people brag about all their restaurant choices.

It's cheap enough here to where you don't feel bad if you plan on having guests and don't want to cook for everyone, or want some food while tired after wageslaving. Can't say for big cities in America. If you gain in euro/dollar, and spend it in the currency here, you have the infinite money glitch in real life. You can probably feed all of the Congo with 10 euros spent on restaurants here.

 

[Maddox]

Other than the fact that all of these places use seed oil and charge inflated prices, I also hate the fact that they subject me to the most horrible music on the planet.

There are very few chain restaurants that don't play Top 40 crap these days. Buca Du Beppa is maybe the lone exception where you can go in and hear something from Sinatra or other older music that was once popular.

And on top of that, the music in most of these places is so loud, it competes with whoever I'm dining with and talking to. Music used to be something heard in the background. Now it's out front and in your face. Why these places think diners want that is a big mystery to me.

 

[Rainy]

Gentlemen,

Buy a bbq.

If you eat out at least go for something you're not gonna cook at home. Like good Mexican.

Don't pay someone 5X cost to make you a steak or pasta.

Also consider the fact the COVID lockdowns hammered restaurants. They are sourcing the lowest and cheapest quality food possible to create survivable margins. Restuarant food is far unhealthier than cooking something in vegetable oil.

 

[Blade Runner]

Don't pay someone 5X cost to make you a steak or pasta.

Also consider the fact the COVID lockdowns hammered restaurants. They are sourcing the lowest and cheapest quality food possible to create survivable margins. Restuarant food is far unhealthier than cooking something in vegetable oil.

Exactly.

Restaurants are getting crushed. I don't think we'll see the return to the food and drink bonanza we saw over the last 15 years, once we enter the destruction of 2024-25, until it all resets.

 

[SCW]

I have worked in restaurants. After seeing how things work behind the scenes, knowing how the sausage is made so to speak, one feels less compelled to eat out.

Food and cooking really isn't that complicated. Much of it is carbs, protein, vegetables, and fats flavored with salt. herbs and spices.

Spaghetti Bolognese = pasta, beef, tomato, olive oil, herbs
Aglio e olio (lit. Garlic and oil) = pasta, olive oil, garlic, parsley, chilli, salt
Cacio e pepe (lit. "cheese and pepper") = pasta, cheese, pepper, butter, salt
Pizza = flour, tomato, meat, cheese, herbs
Steak = meat, oil (my choice is ghee), salt, pepper, garlic
Mexican = Corn, beef, tomoto, beans, chilli, avocado

This is not to downplay the importance of good food and cooking, just calling it as it is. Skill and technique are super important to bring out the best results from the ingredients. I'll never understand why a ramen shop, needing hours to prepare broth, toppings, sometimes making noodles from scratch, is cheaper and gets less respect than a steakhouse, where they just slap a piece of meat onto a griddle. Learn the right skills, save your money and make your steak at home.

Despite paying ridiculous markups for food, food service workers continue to be very low paid compared to everybody else, especially if you're in a big city. In the end you understand that most of your money is going to the (((managers))), (((owners))), (((landlords))). And the people who regularly go out fine dining are a combination of ignorant, overpaid, and just enjoying the feeling of being "served" by someone they perceive as lower than them.

Which leads me to my final point. It's also referred to as the "hospitality" industry. Providing hospitality means making the guest feel welcome, appreciated and special. Instead, i just feel like another source of income where they try to upsell me $10 for mineral water, $20 for a $2 bowl of fries, $30 for cocktails, and $50 for a glass of wine, where it probably cost them less than that much to purchase the bottle.

If more people ate out less and cooked at home, less money would be going to these (((businesses))), more would shut down, property prices would fall, and there would be a little less unnecessary human suffering in the world.

 

[magoo]

Basque region is great for food. There’s a street in logrono called Calle Laurel. If you follow the guide of each place speciality. You really taste above par food. Foie gras, patatas bravas, etc. Every region of Basque Country has a speciality product. Mushrooms, Foie Gras, etc.

Logrono is a good base to check wineries and do some wine tasting. City itself has nothing special besides the Franco Spanish winery which is within walking distance from the city

SAN Sebastian is the city with more Michelin stars per area.

Wanted to visit a Txoko but didn’t manage.

You can have holidays just on tapas in the basque region. You can’t do it in other Spanish regions.

Meals should have a name. Now it’s only descriptions. Meals used to have a name.

 

[Maddox]

Which leads me to my final point. It's also referred to as the "hospitality" industry. Providing hospitality means making the guest feel welcome, appreciated and special. Instead, i just feel like another source of income where they try to upsell me $10 for mineral water, $20 for a $2 bowl of fries, $30 for cocktails, and $50 for a glass of wine, where it probably cost them less than that much to purchase the bottle.

The upselling annoys me too. Here in the US, I feel like most restaurants constantly try to do this. If I order mineral water at the bar, the bartender will almost always ask me if I'd like food with that. When I say no, they almost look offended; like they'd rather have someone else sit in that seat because that person will order an appetizer and tip them more for their meal.

But this doesn't make sense to me. Maybe I order my drink, tip $1, and leave 30 minutes later. Now that seat is free and another guy comes along and orders a beer. He stays for 30 minutes, tips $1, and then leaves. That's $2 in tips for 1 hour.

In the second scenario, another guy buys a drink plus an app that costs $10. He'll most likely be there for an hour since he's gotta wait at least 15 minutes for the food to arrive and then eat it along with finishing his drink. And in that hour, he's only tipped $3. So in that scenario, the bartender only gets an extra dollar.

Do these bartenders really believe that an extra $1 tip from the customer who ordered food is going to be the deciding factor on whether they make rent or not for that month? I can understand why greedy owners would want you to buy food, but for the bartender, it doesn't make much difference at all.

 

[Hannibal]

Gentlemen,

Buy a bbq.

If you eat out at least go for something you're not gonna cook at home. Like good Mexican.

Don't pay someone 5X cost to make you a steak or pasta.

Also consider the fact the COVID lockdowns hammered restaurants. They are sourcing the lowest and cheapest quality food possible to create survivable margins. Restuarant food is far unhealthier than cooking something in vegetable oil.

I will add to this.

If you dont want to learn how to smoke meat or use charcoal, buy a pellet grill. It's 90% as good and it is 10% of the effort. As easy as throwing food in the oven. Big bags of the hardwood pellet mix are like 18 bucks and they last a long time.

I use a Zgrill because they are simple, durable, and inexpensive. Traeger was the big name for a few years but their quality control went to the dogs after they outsourced manufacturing.

 

[Cooper]

Gentlemen,

Buy a bbq.

If you eat out at least go for something you're not gonna cook at home. Like good Mexican.

Don't pay someone 5X cost to make you a steak or pasta.

Also consider the fact the COVID lockdowns hammered restaurants. They are sourcing the lowest and cheapest quality food possible to create survivable margins. Restuarant food is far unhealthier than cooking something in vegetable oil.

It's even worse, for deep fried items, because they don't change their oil very often, maybe once every 5 to 10 days. After day 2, the oil becomes oxidized and will be much worse than fresh vegetable oil.

 

[SCW]

Food and cooking really isn't that complicated. Much of it is carbs, protein, vegetables, and fats flavored with salt. herbs and spices.

An addition that came to me: Sauces. Simple application of sauces can elevate your cooking to new levels.

Soy sauce, oyster sauce, fish sauce, mustards, etc... great for marinades, or for simply adding flavour.

Another category is Acids: lemon/lime juice, balsamic vinegar, apple cider vinegar... indespensible if you need to reduce saltiness, cut through fat and add vibrancy to any dish.

 

[Batman]

Restaurants are purely a social thing for me. I heavily avoid them, including fast food, delivery, pickup, whatever.

The overwhelming majority of restaurant food in the US is low quality processed garbage from Sysco (or similar) that is grossly overpriced. I also despise tipping culture, which is the owners faults, so it's even harder to want to support them. Some local businesses may have higher quality food made from scratch with real ingredients but they are few and far between.

I'm tired of people always telling me "oh you need to go to X and Y and Z it's amazing!" i'm sure it is, i'm not a picky eater and I've never had a meal at a restaurant I did not like. But I'm not going to go for the food, the price alone is enough to dissuade me.

I only go about 3-5x a year if I can't think of anything else to do with people I'm spending time with.

 

[Christos_NIKA]

Restaurants are purely a social thing for me. I heavily avoid them, including fast food, delivery, pickup, whatever.

The overwhelming majority of restaurant food in the US is low quality processed garbage from Sysco (or similar) that is grossly overpriced. I also despise tipping culture, which is the owners faults, so it's even harder to want to support them. Some local businesses may have higher quality food made from scratch with real ingredients but they are few and far between.

I'm tired of people always telling me "oh you need to go to X and Y and Z it's amazing!" i'm sure it is, i'm not a picky eater and I've never had a meal at a restaurant I did not like. But I'm not going to go for the food, the price alone is enough to dissuade me.

I only go about 3-5x a year if I can't think of anything else to do with people I'm spending time with.

Tipping culture in America is a horrible experience and makes me never want to go to a sit-down restaurant when I am there. Good video here, but I can't figure out why a girl this young gets botox injections. "Vanity of vanities; all is vanity."

 

[Vas Incrementum]

Tipping in America is a pain. As a rule I leave 10%, but that's considered mean in the US. I remember tipping a dollar, which was over 10% for breakfast in a Brooklyn diner and the waitress curling her lip up at me. And that's me being generous.

 

[thinkreadwritecode]

Wife and I went to a Peruvian restaurant the other day. The food we got was very good and tasty, especially when sampling their dips with the rotisserie chicken we got. The fried plantains were a delight and something I'd otherwise never get to eat. A lot of chicken places and bbq is good down here and nowadays I always opt for a sit-down place over fast-food or a franchise. We cook 99% of our meals so eating out is a luxury and feels special when you don't do it often. When we do go out we try to find places we've never been that could be hole-in-the-walls or make some specialty I'd never make at home.

When I was younger and I'd eat restaurant food all the time, like 3+ times a week I had a lot more frequent digestive issues. Nowadays I have few digestive problems because I mostly eat at home and try to avoid as much goyslop as I can.

 

[Australia Sucks]

I also want to add why is it so common for restaurants in the Anglo-sphere to over salt their foods and oversweeten their desserts? This can happen even in some evidence restaurants. It just makes the food taste less balanced and less tasty.

 

[Thomas More]

I also want to add why is it so common for restaurants in the Anglo-sphere to over salt their foods and oversweeten their desserts? This can happen even in some evidence restaurants. It just makes the food taste less balanced and less tasty.

The food is engineered to be addictive.

This sounds like a broad, general statement, but it's not. What I mean is that the restaurants hire food scientists to develop recipes, and then they do A/B testing to refine recipes until they receive the highest ratings. Basically, the food is engineered to be like crack cocaine!

Just think of those soft, warm, yeasty, delicious rolls they bring out, with the delicious creamy whipped butter. That is all engineered to be like crack! It's obvious if you've ever had any exposure to engineering and marketing.