A+ for Olive Garden

[idiotekniQues]

Originally posted by: Special K

Originally posted by: rh71

Originally posted by: Mwilding
Too bad their food is inedible.

what kind of gourmet meals do you usually have? Inedible is ridiculously stretching it.

Elmer's Glue = their Alfredo sauce? Wow, did some manager there spit in your eye and smack your kid? Outlandish exaggerations.

Do you actually like any chains or are you just one of those people?

That's one thing I've noticed on ATOT - *all* chain restaurants get bashed into oblivion. Maybe the quality of food varies significantly from one particular location to the next, or maybe it's just because a disproportionate number of posters on here live in places like NYC that have a huge selection of expensive/non-chain restaurants.

I guess if your average dinner is a $100 meal at some fancy restaurant, then places like Olive Garden probably do seem pretty bad by comparison.

that is some stereotype there you have that non-chain places have to be expensive around here. food does not have to be expensive to be good in the ny metro area. 100 bucks for 2? sure that is easy to find but it is not the rule of thumb AT ALL.

my gf and i we dont make a ton of money so we find and enjoy small simple ethnic joints.

i live in jersey close to the city and we seek out and find tons fo cool ethnic joints that are reasonable. ive went on missions for japanese joints with ramen. huge bowls of authentic totally well prepared ramen with lots of stuff for 9 and change. with some shrimp dumplings for me and my girl 30 bucks. have tried the ramen at 4 different places so far and the price range for each is the same.

have found great lil thai joints where we both eat for 40 bucks in the village, found that a month ago. a korean place to try bibimbap, 30 something bucks for the two of us - that was just the other week.

you just gotta look. some chains are ok but i think when they try to get so big a lot of them, not all, lose too much in translation of that something that got them popular when they were small.

here in jersey city there is a spanish place, a lil cute cafe in an average part of JC. prices are insanely cheap but the food is good home cookin. a perfect cuban sandwich is 4 bucks. dinner has lots of latino dishes and u can easily haev a bangin meal for two for between 20 and 30 bucks.

there are good lil joints all over the place where you can have a good meal at a respectable price. and some chains do it too. outback is one that i think is pretty consistently good for most things for example. macaroni grill also.

but olive garden. man that is just tv dinner quality crap.

 

[xSauronx]

Originally posted by: idiotekniQues

Originally posted by: Special K

Originally posted by: rh71

Originally posted by: Mwilding
Too bad their food is inedible.

what kind of gourmet meals do you usually have? Inedible is ridiculously stretching it.

Elmer's Glue = their Alfredo sauce? Wow, did some manager there spit in your eye and smack your kid? Outlandish exaggerations.

Do you actually like any chains or are you just one of those people?

That's one thing I've noticed on ATOT - *all* chain restaurants get bashed into oblivion. Maybe the quality of food varies significantly from one particular location to the next, or maybe it's just because a disproportionate number of posters on here live in places like NYC that have a huge selection of expensive/non-chain restaurants.

I guess if your average dinner is a $100 meal at some fancy restaurant, then places like Olive Garden probably do seem pretty bad by comparison.

that is some stereotype there you have that non-chain places have to be expensive around here. food does not have to be expensive to be good in the ny metro area. 100 bucks for 2? sure that is easy to find but it is not the rule of thumb AT ALL.

my gf and i we dont make a ton of money so we find and enjoy small simple ethnic joints.

i live in jersey close to the city and we seek out and find tons fo cool ethnic joints that are reasonable. ive went on missions for japanese joints with ramen. huge bowls of authentic totally well prepared ramen with lots of stuff for 9 and change. with some shrimp dumplings for me and my girl 30 bucks. have tried the ramen at 4 different places so far and the price range for each is the same.

have found great lil thai joints where we both eat for 40 bucks in the village, found that a month ago. a korean place to try bibimbap, 30 something bucks for the two of us - that was just the other week.

you just gotta look. some chains are ok but i think when they try to get so big a lot of them, not all, lose too much in translation of that something that got them popular when they were small.

here in jersey city there is a spanish place, a lil cute cafe in an average part of JC. prices are insanely cheap but the food is good home cookin. a perfect cuban sandwich is 4 bucks. dinner has lots of latino dishes and u can easily haev a bangin meal for two for between 20 and 30 bucks.

there are good lil joints all over the place where you can have a good meal at a respectable price. and some chains do it too. outback is one that i think is pretty consistently good for most things for example. macaroni grill also.

but olive garden. man that is just tv dinner quality crap.

the thing i dislike about most chains is that the food quality is mediocre for the price. i dislike outback, olive garden, and most other places because i can easily make a much better meal (nevermind the price difference).

local joints often have better food, at equal or lesser prices. look around and try some local places people, if you dont, youre missing out. im not saying i never go to chains, but if i do its smaller, cheaper ones, fast food or pizza or something if im in a hurry. otherwise local places are hard to beat (and so is a home-cooked meal).