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All of you chain restaurant haters have no idea!

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GeekDrew said:
I'm in the middle of nowhere, Ohio (more than an hour from Columbus). I endorse your support of chains over mom & pops. My position reverses itself whenever I'm in a large city. But not out here.
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You live in Loveland? :biggrin:
 
poofyhairguy said:
I feel consistent in my attitude. Yes I won't eat at 90% of the fast food chains. I also won't live in 90% of America.

If I had to live in one of those places I wouldn't go out to eat. Unless you are in such a shitty place that they don't have a Whole Foods cooking is always an option.
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closest whole foods is like 5 hours away, or in a different country
 
Isn't MN known for the scandinavian population? Tons of rustic food, meat and potatoes etc. Meat and potatoes is all a man needs. You have no excuse.
 
Red Squirrel said:
One thing I find hilarious is that no matter what chain or store or product you mention on a forum there will always be people "why did you eat there" or "why did you get that" "nn sucks"

Then they'll suggest some obscure place or product that most people probably never even heard of let alone is available.
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I always lean towards good food but there's a time and place for chains. 3am coming back from the club drunk makes Taco Bell sound godly.
 
HTFOff said:
Isn't MN known for the scandinavian population? Tons of rustic food, meat and potatoes etc. Meat and potatoes is all a man needs. You have no excuse.
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Dawson's Creek. My first serious GF moved up to Dawson prior to it being a TV show.
 
chains have their place. Some, of course, are absolutely wretched and really should never be patronized by any human. e.g. KFC and McD. ...an argument could be made for Taco Bell.
 
purbeast0 said:
thankfully i'm not like 99.99% of the internet and don't have to pick "one or the other" with everything in the entire universe. i can actually enjoy both of them for what they are worth. i don't have to pick one and shit on the other like 99.99% of everyone else does.
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0.01%er here!

get a rope!
 
Chains offer consistency and predictability. Sometimes people really want to know what they are getting into, especially when travelling. Chains fill this need. Once restaurants figured this out, chains took off.

Of course, nowadays you've got yelp, so it's much less of a crap shoot trying out a mom & pop shop.
 
Train said:
Chains offer consistency and predictability. Sometimes people really want to know what they are getting into, especially when travelling. Chains fill this need. Once restaurants figured this out, chains took off.

Of course, nowadays you've got yelp, so it's much less of a crap shoot trying out a mom & pop shop.
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exactly. It definitely adds a bit of sterility to the world, but that is why the prototypical shopping center and it's expected ~12 possible franchises are so ubiquitous across the country.

Wherever you travel to, if you need something, you know exactly where to get it.
 
Ns1 said:
1) not sure if srs

http://www.chipotle.com/en-us/menu/ingredients_statement/ingredients_statement.aspx

2) Ever watch "kitchen nightmares" and take a look at some of these mom & pop places?
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That ingredients statement is a recent addition to Chipotle's website and a step in the right direction. In the past, they would refuse to state the ingredients in their products unless it pertained to known allergens. This policy was unlike many other fast food restaurants who do post their ingredients list.
 
Train said:
Chains offer consistency and predictability. Sometimes people really want to know what they are getting into, especially when travelling. Chains fill this need. Once restaurants figured this out, chains took off.

Of course, nowadays you've got yelp, so it's much less of a crap shoot trying out a mom & pop shop.
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D: that makes me sad if you're traveling and hitting up a chain spot.
 
AznAnarchy99 said:
D: that makes me sad if you're traveling and hitting up a chain spot.
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In the days before ubiquitous internet and reviews available being able to go to a chain that will have X in a quality that you can accept is a huge deal.

These days its easy to just look up nearby food and get there but it hasn't been so for a long time.

That's not even including the long drives where you just need to stop and eat something, again consistency is probably more welcome than mystery. Even these days going to a chain right off the exit and then getting right back on after eating is much easier than actually finding somewhere that is good and easy to get to.

I love food but chains have their place. I have more issue with Applebee's level chains than fast food.
 
Especially in destinations known for their amazing restaurants, chains are a sin. Here in NY, every single borough has amazing cuisine from every imaginable culture, sometimes better than the originating country.
 
Leyawiin said:
I find it hard to believe in a well-educated, prosperous metro area of three and a quarter million that you can't find interesting, well prepared food from all sorts of styles and ethnicities.
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You've probably never visited cities like Nashville, Charlotte, or Indianapolis then. And even some of the coastal cities are no great shakes either; for example DC and SF both should have more good restaurants than they do. Gary Danko wouldn't even make the top 20 list in NYC, L.A., Chicago, and maybe even Philly.
 
gotsmack said:
Guess what? Lots of mom and pop places use restaurant depot to get their frozen prepared food and they use soybean oil too. They then heat and serve instead of hiring a real chef. Also getting a real chef is difficult in the mid west.
-snip-
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I'm not familiar with restaurant depot, but many non-chain restaurants around here get their food from Sysco's. I.e., it's all the same stuff with a lot being pre-cooked and just warmed up before serving.

Luckily we do have restaurants that use local source products and make food from scratch.

Fern
 
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