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Why aren't there any fast food Italian places?

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Markbnj said:
Sbarro''s brand image to me is "airport concourse crap," but maybe that is because it's the only place I've encountered one. But yeah, that is probably the canonical example of Italian fast food.
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There are/were store front locations in Manhattan and maybe Queens. I used to see them quite a bit in Manhattan but they went though bankruptcy this year so who knows how many locations closed over the years.
 
manimal said:
lol I miss the mall experience in the 80s.

My mom used to call them sbaglio which means failure
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Yeah, I more associate them with shopping malls in the 80's/90's than airports, though I'm sure there are quite of few airport sbarro's out there.

And yeah, they were horrible.
 
Rakehellion said:
Nice try. They don't have a drive-thru.
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But nearly all the Hutts around me have a drive through. Obviously, it's more for pick up orders, but it's still a drive through. And most are also Wing Streets. And if they are doing their lunch buffets, I would imagine you can pick up anything they may have ready to go from the drive through, too. Which is about as fast a food as you might want. And the lunch buffets are a better deal, anyway. Isn't that fast enough?

And after working in several Italian restaurants and pizza joints before, there's a lot of problems to work out to make it really fast. You have to top the pizzas when they are ordered. You can't leave them refridgerated and topped, ready to cook for very long, or they will sog out and fall apart. Then you have to cook it. Even the fastest conveyor belt convection ovens will take 6-8 minutes to fully cook a pizza, depending on the crust. How long is the line in the drive through now? 10 cars? And it isn't even boxed and cut up yet.

Then there is the noodle dishes which present a whole new set of prep, storage and cooking problems. You get the idea. And if there are any shortcuts, it will probably effect the food negatively. These same problems effect many different foods, obviously. Which is why your choices for fast food are so limited.
 
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I think mostly because outside of pizza, there aren't any real hand friendly Italian dishes. Italian food sandwiches are probably the closest you can get that are easy to grab and eat like other fast food. I'm sure a Panda Express-like Italian place wouldn't do terrible, if it were quick and cheap, though.
 
rsbennett00 said:
Because you swallowed something valuable? I don't get it.



Your pizza sluts don't have drive-thru's? Odd.
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Eh, we've got a saying around here regarding diarrhea: "I could shit through a screen."

Your bowel movement contains so much liquid that you could, in fact, shit through a screen without issue.

TL;DR: I got food poisoning at Fizoli's.
 
JM Aggie08 said:
Eh, we've got a saying around here regarding diarrhea: "I could shit through a screen."

Your bowel movement contains so much liquid that you could, in fact, shit through a screen without issue.

TL;DR: I got food poisoning at Fizoli's.
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Ah ok, hadn't heard that saying. Cool.
 
Fazoli's is good....but pasta is one of those things that is tough to cook aldente without doing it on your own terms. They definitely have a decent process for ensuring the pasta is cooked pretty decent.

I'm all for finding a good Greek or Italian-run restaurant and just placing to-go orders when you know what you want. Grab a menu and phone it in... Most can ballpark how long it'll take them to complete the order and prices are usually pretty reasonable. Calzones and greek salads are solid choices. 🙂
 
I think originally fast food was for eating something while you are driving or in the car. Can't imagine eating spaghetti while driving or in the car unless I had to....
 
I've always liked Fazoli's when I've eaten there. I didn't get anything exotic, just their spaghetti and marinara, but that was pretty good (for fast food) and their breadsticks were fucking epic.
 
We used to have a place up here called Mrs. Vanellis. Was mostly in mall food courts though, I don't think they had standalone joints.

KT
 
Lot of Italian groceries have a hot counter. Get a veal on a bun with all the fixings, dripping in sauce and parm. Yum.
 
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Why aren't there any fast food Italian places?

Its like asking why there isn't a fast food version of The Waffle House.

Italian food is fast food. Do they need to serve it in a sausage casing so you can squeeze it into your mouth while you are driving?
 
Captante said:
Now if you were to ask why there are no GOOD Italian fast food places .... 🙂

French on the other hand I've never seen.
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http://lamadeleine.com/

It is cafeteria style, close enough. I went to one once about 10 years ago. it was OK I guess, memory is fuzzy.

There are crepe places all over the place, but I don't know if you would count that as french.
 
GrumpyMan said:
I think originally fast food was for eating something while you are driving or in the car. Can't imagine eating spaghetti while driving or in the car unless I had to....
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Indeed, even pizza is kinda awkward in a car. Burgers, Subs, Burritos all work great in a car.
 
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