Are there foods you just don't order at any restaurants?

[thestrangebrew1]

Went out to dinner with the family and my daughter ordered spaghetti and my step son ordered pork chops. I got to thinking, I've never ordered spaghetti or pork chops from a restaurant before. I'm not sure why, only thing I can think of is that it's so easy to make and not screw up at home, why would I order it at a restaurant? Are there foods you just don't order whenever you go out to eat?

Thinking of a few more:

Soups. For some reason, I just don't order it as a meal, but I'll have it as a side with like a sandwich sometimes. I won't order stuff like albondigas or menudo when I eat out.

Just about any other kind of pasta. Only pasta dishes I'll order is cajun style shrimp and chicken or something of the sort.

 

[FeuerFrei]

I don't order chicken sandwiches from burger joints. I subconsciously consider it the "lite" option for people on health kicks.
(Not that I wouldn't enjoy a chicken sandwich, but it's targeted at a subset that doesn't include me.)

 

[lxskllr]

Any kind of seafood salad. Don't trust it
Spaghetti. It's messy to eat. I don't make it at home either. I like short noodles like rotini

Otherwise, if I'd eat it at home, I'd eat it out.

 

[quikah]

Speaking of spaghetti, we went to Buca di Beppo a while back, the one in Palo Alto is backwards, the kitchen is in the front, so you wait around in there. They have bags of Barilla pasta, same stuff you can buy in the store. So yeah, ordering spaghetti is kind of silly, but that is one of the few things one of my kids will eat so...

That said if the restaurant makes their own pasta I will happily order spaghetti.

 

[ponyo]

I try not to order any pasta or steak dish if I can help it. I can make better pasta and steaks at home. I make all my pasta sauces and most noodles from scratch. I'll make exception and order steak if I'm at really fancy steakhouse while on vacation.

 

[pete6032]

Generally don't order things I can make at home, other than cocktails and salads.

 

[s0me0nesmind1]

Entirely depends.

I'm actually just pretty bias in general. When I go out to eat it's likely going to revolve around the following:
1. Burger - typical for pubs
2. Wings
3. Italian restaurant - I usually always do their spicy pasta dish with chicken
4. Chips + Queso
5. Fajitas
6. Standard Sandwiches (for Lunch)
7. Beer
8-99. More Beer.

I'm pretty boring with my food, but I honestly don't care. I know what tastes good and until my taste pallet tells me that it's sick of it then I'll just keep going with what works.

 

[DigDog]

I practically never eat at restaurants; after 6 years of working there, i know you get *at best* 25c on the dollar.

I do go to pizzerias in Italy though; and if im out with friends ( ...like thats gonna happen) ill generally have ... the soup.

Most food places make a decent soup. Soup tends to be cheap but have a lot of food in it. And it's more likely to have a unique flavour, because most food places make their other food taste like whatever the standardized taste is for that particular thing.

But really, i just cook at home.



Oh yeah, wings are a thing. I do get a bigass pile of wings at my local pub.

 

[GagHalfrunt]

I try not to order any pasta or steak dish if I can help it. I can make better pasta and steaks at home. I make all my pasta sauces and most noodles from scratch. I'll make exception and order steak if I'm at really fancy steakhouse while on vacation.

That times 1000. Too easy to make really good pasta and steaks at home. When I go out 90% of the time it's for seafood. Around here close to Long Island Sound there are a lot of great seafood places and it's not something I make at home often. I won't buy supermarket seafood and I don't usually get to the real shops down by the shore that have the really good stuff. The other 10% is usually for pizza, another thing that I can't easily replicate at home. A pizza stone is a decent substitute, but there's something about a real professional pizza oven that you just can't get out of your own kitchen.

Also will never order cheesecake out. I love cheesecake, one of my favorite desserts, but I've never had any that were as good as my own.

 

[gorcorps]

Italian mostly, but that's mainly because I have to be good and cut down on my carbs/pasta... plus there aren't any Italian places good enough to waste calories on it when I can make it better.

 

[T_Yamamoto]

Salad.

Because why.

 

[ponyo]

Oh yeah, wings are a thing. I do get a bigass pile of wings at my local pub.

I don't order wings at restaurants. I love wings and used to order it all the time. When my brother-in-law had his wings and sandwich shop, I ate wings everyday for more than 180 days straight. About 20-30 wings everyday. That's how much I loved wings. But now, I refuse to order it at any restaurant. The cherry smoked wings I make at home on the Weber kettle is better than any fried wings at restaurants. Whenever I'm in mood for some wings, I fire up my charcoal kettle and about an hour later I have my perfect cherry smoked wings.

 

[sandorski]

Spaghetti is one I don't. I make plenty at home and eating it in public makes me a little self conscious. There are usually better options that I don't usually make, like Fettuccine Alfredo or some unique dish to that restaurant.

 

[kn51]

I don't order wings at restaurants. I love wings and used to order it all the time. When my brother-in-law had his wings and sandwich shop, I ate wings everyday for more than 180 days straight. About 20-30 wings everyday. That's how much I loved wings. But now, I refuse to order it at any restaurant. The cherry smoked wings I make at home on the Weber kettle is better than any fried wings at restaurants. Whenever I'm in mood for some wings, I fire up my charcoal kettle and about an hour later I have my perfect cherry smoked wings.

Yep, I love smoked wings and make them quite a bit.

But the one thing I refuse to order when "going out" is pasta. Feels like I'm getting robbed based on the price of materials. And yeah I'm getting robbed on the price of my cocktail, etc. but we all have our line in the sand.

 

[Ns1]

Salad.

Because why.

because I don't want to have to mise out 8 different fucking vegetables and have leftover sub par veggies for days. I just want 1/6th a head of lettuce, 1/12th of a red onion, 1/5th of a tomato, 1/8th of a cucumber, 1 slice of bread worth of croutons, etc, etc, and a few ounces of dressing.

 

[ponyo]

That times 1000. Too easy to make really good pasta and steaks at home. When I go out 90% of the time it's for seafood. Around here close to Long Island Sound there are a lot of great seafood places and it's not something I make at home often. I won't buy supermarket seafood and I don't usually get to the real shops down by the shore that have the really good stuff. The other 10% is usually for pizza, another thing that I can't easily replicate at home. A pizza stone is a decent substitute, but there's something about a real professional pizza oven that you just can't get out of your own kitchen.

Also will never order cheesecake out. I love cheesecake, one of my favorite desserts, but I've never had any that were as good as my own.

Seafood and sushi are something I go out to eat. Probably makes up 80% of my monthly restaurant spending. And I agree it's hard to make real good pizza at home because of the lack of brick oven. I owned pizza and pasta restaurant for short period of time so I know how to make pizza and pastas from scratch.

Yep, I love smoked wings and make them quite a bit.

But the one thing I refuse to order when "going out" is pasta. Feels like I'm getting robbed based on the price of materials. And yeah I'm getting robbed on the price of my cocktail, etc. but we all have our line in the sand.

Yep. Margins on pastas are insane. But when I visit Italy, I will make sure to order pasta for every meal.

 

[shortylickens]

yes.

bad food.

 

[MagnusTheBrewer]

I like trying different ethnic restaurants and never order anything I've had before.

 

[Retro Rob]

I pretty much do not order things I can make at home, and eggrolls..

 

[RLGL]

Salads as a main course and chicken

 

[lxskllr]

I like trying different ethnic restaurants and never order anything I've had before.

I do that once, but if I hit a winner first time, I get it every single time I go there. We don't have a plethora of ethnic places here, but I suspect I'd try something different at a different restaurant. I typically only eat one or two things from any place, and pick where I want to go based on those one or two things.

 

[MagnusTheBrewer]

I do that once, but if I hit a winner first time, I get it every single time I go there. We don't have a plethora of ethnic places here, but I suspect I'd try something different at a different restaurant. I typically only eat one or two things from any place, and pick where I want to go based on those one or two things.

If I've been someplace a number of times and have liked several different dishes, I just ask the Chef to fix me what he likes and surprise me.

 

[T_Yamamoto]

because I don't want to have to mise out 8 different fucking vegetables and have leftover sub par veggies for days. I just want 1/6th a head of lettuce, 1/12th of a red onion, 1/5th of a tomato, 1/8th of a cucumber, 1 slice of bread worth of croutons, etc, etc, and a few ounces of dressing.

I'm not a salad snob, just don't care for salad.

 

[Mayne]

probably salads. Just not my thing. I'm a basic eater..so its usually some pub fare with a side of fries.

 

[rh71]

My wife never learns. She constantly orders the salmon at various new restaurants we try and it's consistently too dry.

I practically never eat at restaurants; after 6 years of working there, i know you get *at best* 25c on the dollar.

More reason what they say about owners not paying wait staff a regular wage and saving us money in the long run because items don't have to be as expensive - is BS.