How Much Change/How Many Mistakes do you Tolerate?

I like to consider myself a foodie. We try new places at least 2-3 times a month, budgets considered.

When I eat out for lunch, I try to go to quality places. This generally means no fast food (though, strangely, my stomach can handle Burger King's Original Chicken Sandwich) but instead better fresh food that is quick. Pancheros, sushi, low salt deli meats on hoagies, etc.

But lately, there've been a lot of places we've gone that there's just been something wrong.

For example, today I went to my "good old standby" for lunch sushi. 9 bucks for a "cooked sushi" box and soup.
The box consists of six each cooked salmon and tuna, wrapped, and 4 California rolls. (I do like raw sushi, but I get the cooked box because of travel back to the office.) Normally it's very good. However, today, almost half of the fish the sushi was made from was undercooked and inedible.
Since I've been going to that restaurant for 4+ years, I'll go back, but if the issue continues, they'll get written off.

Similarly, the Applebees near my office, which I used to go to with the other members of my department 3-4 times a year on slow days (or Federal Holidays) or with m'Lady for a movie dinner, has been really bad of late, with 3 of us on 4 separate occasions getting bad food. One of the guys even ended up with food poisoning for almost a week right after July 4th.

Or there's the "famous" Italian place that a coworker suggested. Some of the food was good - the bread at the table was fantastic, and the caesar salad was quite tasty - but the pasta was sticky, the sauce was flat and relatively tasteless and my own entree (veal with arugula) was a paper-thin sheet of veal covered with more leafy green stuff than had been in the salad bowl.
We haven't gone back since it was so disappointing the first time.

Or the diner attached to the hotel that had orange bacon. Yes. Bright neon orange bacon. I never took a picture, I was so damned shocked.

And then there's the "full menu changes."
When the Fuddruckers in my area all closed, they reopened a few days later as a generically named "American Prime Burgers" (or something similar) with crappy burgers, terrible rolls, and chintzy out-of-a-bag fries. We stopped going, and they closed a month later. Sadly, the only burger place to eat now that's not a pizza/steak place is Five Guys (which I detest unless I'm deeply craving burger.)

Or the Italian place that used to offer family-style dishes that changed their whole menu from family-style to gourmet portions for a much higher price.

Let's not forget the places that totally screw up your order.
Like the hoagie place where I ordered "tuna salad with tomato" and got "straight oil-packed tuna with bruschetta." It wasn't bad, but it lubricated my system for a day.
Or the other hoagie place that always gives you onions, when you say "No Onions." Or peppers. That's always a good one, too.

Places we've actually written off:
The sushi place where m'Lady got sick before we left the restaurant, and I got sick later that day
The mexican place that didn't cook nopales correctly, making them a slimy lump that still makes my throat spasm when I think about it
The diner near m'Lady's house that they added a sports bar onto, that no longer gets orders right and also has music playing so loud during all business hours you can't talk to the person across from you
The diner with the orange bacon

What about you? How much change do you tolerate in places you eat? How many mistakes do you let slip by?

I'm like you, if it's a place I've frequented and had good stuff at I will give them a retry after a sub-par meal, but after a couple of times I figure something must have changed and it won't get back to what I liked. New places get one shot, and if I find the food boring I won't go back.

I'm lucky that I've never gotten sick after eating at a restaurant, although I have been to some where the food was so bad it made me want to be sick.

Unless it's pretty minor, I ask the waiter about it, or at the very least point out that it's wrong, and say I'll eat it and request they pass the complaint along. That usually can get things sorted out pretty quickly.

If there is something drastically wrong with anything I order in a restaurant, I'll tell the waiter/waitress. I will not eat anything bad, and have almost always been given something else, and comped for the meal. Fortunately it has only happened a half dozen times in my life.

If it is a new place, I won't go back. If its a regular, I'll also give them another one or two tries over a couple months, and then quit if things don't get better.

Compared to what you've experienced, Mike, I've been EXCEEDINGLY lucky, or just pick better places! lol

Oh, and to be fair to waiters: A friend of mine will order things by making multiple substitutions and then adding toppings. To everything. So something is ALWAYS wrong with his food.

Always speak up when something is wrong, you paid for it and it's doing them a favor to give them an opportunity to make you happy. Just be nice, there is no good outcome possible for someone rude to waitstaff and/or cooks. ;)

And what is wrong with you that you don't like 5 guys?!? They are awesome! Cheeseburger and Cajun fries ftw!

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Originally Posted by Nadiar

Oh, and to be fair to waiters: A friend of mine will order things by making multiple substitutions and then adding toppings. To everything. So something is ALWAYS wrong with his food.

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Very "When Harry Met Sally", huh? ;)

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Originally Posted by Salamane

Always speak up when something is wrong, you paid for it and it's doing them a favor to give them an opportunity to make you happy. Just be nice, there is no good outcome possible for someone rude to waitstaff and/or cooks. ;)

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Most of the time, the instances of problems or mistakes are takeout.

Though m'Lady hounds me pretty regularly still about not sending back the stone-cold brisket at the Amish bbq place.

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And what is wrong with you that you don't like 5 guys?!? They are awesome! Cheeseburger and Cajun fries ftw!

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They're okay for overly greasy fries and burger, and I'd actually take them before going to McD's, but it's just "eh" and I've had much better at Fudds.

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Originally Posted by Mileron

They're okay for overly greasy fries and burger, and I'd actually take them before going to McD's, but it's just "eh" and I've had much better at Fudds.

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I've never gotten the big deal with 5 Guys either...their hamburgers are ok, but we have one by where I work, and I rarely think of them when craving a burger.

For me, the question is service. A certain amount of mishaps are expected, whether I come back is based on how they react when I point them out. Its my duty as a customer to point out problems, its their duty as a service-oriented business to fix their problems. If they show no interest in doing so, they lose me and my endorsement.

I went to a place this past summer that ruined me for all the other hamburgers in the world. Even my own burgers, the ones I make at home just fall short. Sadly, its not near me, its up closer to Daph.

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Originally Posted by Lunal

I went to a place this past summer that ruined me for all the other hamburgers in the world. Even my own burgers, the ones I make at home just fall short. Sadly, its not near me, its up closer to Daph.

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Who? Where?

I tried 5 Guys twice now. It was a really good burger, but it wasn't 2.5 times better then In-N-Out, which is what it actually costs.

Plus -- its like 40 minutes by car to the closest one.

*shrug*

Its a small burger joint in Truckee called Burger Me. I must go there in December when I visit my sister.

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Originally Posted by Lunal

Its a small burger joint in Truckee called Burger Me. I must go there in December when I visit my sister.

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Thanks! We'll definitely check them out our next trip. Last trip to Truckee we went to a place that had been on Diners, Drive Ins, and Dives, AND a place Bobby Flay had a throw down at. Now we have a new goal! lol

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Originally Posted by Lunal

Its a small burger joint in Truckee called Burger Me. I must go there in December when I visit my sister.

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Hmm, Truckee is only about an hour and a half from here, looks like it's time to take a cruise up the mountain.

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Originally Posted by Daph

Thanks! We'll definitely check them out our next trip. Last trip to Truckee we went to a place that had been on Diners, Drive Ins, and Dives, AND a place Bobby Flay had a throw down at. Now we have a new goal! lol

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Burger Me has been on DD&D

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Originally Posted by Eremius

Burger Me has been on DD&D

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Good to know. Unfortunately I doubt I've seen EVERY episode! lol

When it comes down to an eh meal we give a new place one more chance. What I mean by eh is bland, no flavor, over cooked pasta, not very tasty. If the food is wrong or cooked wrong we will mention it to the serve. Also a great server can go a long ways to making a place more enjoyable.

Rex

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Originally Posted by Daph

Thanks! We'll definitely check them out our next trip. Last trip to Truckee we went to a place that had been on Diners, Drive Ins, and Dives, AND a place Bobby Flay had a throw down at. Now we have a new goal! lol

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Was it Jax at the Tracks? Never been there, myself, but I think they serve pretty good breakfast food.

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Originally Posted by Bonlainy

Hmm, Truckee is only about an hour and a half from here, looks like it's time to take a cruise up the mountain.

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The place left a big impression on me, obviously. Hope you like it. The burger I had was called the Truckee Trainwreck, and I had it with sweet potato fries.

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Originally Posted by Lunal

Was it Jax at the Tracks? Never been there, myself, but I think they serve pretty good breakfast food.

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Yep, and the breakfast was awesome! I think I have pics on my FB :)

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How Much Change/How Many Mistakes do you Tolerate?

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Largely depends on the mistakes and the competition. Certain places can get away with certain mistakes because they have other reasons to go there. Eg a hole-in-the wall not having enough seating when I go at 6:00pm. If it's cheap, fast, and there are no alternatives I'm more likely to forgive mistakes than if it's slow and expensive. In this area, a place like Applebees rarely even enters consideration to begin with. There are superior options all over the place.

Also, obviously, if it's a place I've been 30 times and they make one mistake I probably won't care much. If the baguette I get with my salad at Panera Bread isn't 100% fresh one day, it probably will be the next.

I also tend to look at the cost/quality ratio. As soon as I pick up on a restaurant chronically skimping on its dishes I'm not likely to keep going there. A big warning sign is when they sell you a "garden salad" for $7 and it has iceberg lettuce and a couple of slices of cucumber and a piece of tomato, and if you're lucky a few shreds of carrot or an olive. There's nothing inherently wrong with it (that's the only salad my dad likes, actually), but it's not a fucking seven dollar salad. Sometimes an overpriced salad is an anomaly, but usually you'll find it paired with other ingredients that aren't fresh or otherwise poor quality, like a sandwich on almost-stale slices of white bread with slimy wet shit deli turkey and miracle whip. Instead of finding some solid economic angle (eg Burtucci's making most of their recipes with the cheap-but-popular pizza dough) this restaurant is trying to scam you on everything.

never seen a Five Guys before, they must not be a northeastern thing.

I am generally not too picky, upside to a preference to steak is there are not too many ways to screwup a steak or prime rib. That said I tend to look at cost for what I get as well as taste, $30+ for a fillet that is smaller than a hockey puck barely filling me? meh I will go to Outback and get the Prime Rib.

Now of course some of this is also because I do not generally stay for the full package at a fancy place... because I generally do not care for the fancy cakes and whatever with whatever imported from Europe but they look at you like you are growing extra heads when you try to find the hot fudge sundae... so instead thats why one gets dinner at the nice place and goes and finds a local ice cream parlor.

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Originally Posted by FilanFyretracker

I am generally not too picky, upside to a preference to steak is there are not too many ways to screwup a steak or prime rib.

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I've found that lots of restaurants actually DO NOT know how to cook a steak right, therefore pretty much the only time I eat a steak is when I cook it myself or it comes from a good steakhouse I know the quality of.

There is a sushi place in the building we're in, the first time it was ok'ish, the second time as soon as we got from there to our place on the 5th floor the man ran to the bathroom and was throwing it all up, they're off the list of places to go to. Last night we hit up one of our regular places for a birthday dinner, instead of sticking to burgers and apps, we hit up steaks... it was awful, we won't do that again, even their fries were terrible, whoever was cooking was just off - it won't mean we won't be back but we'll stick to the apps and burgers.

Generally, if it's a new place, one time with terrible results is enough, a regular place and if it's just a one time weird thing and we'll go back but be wary of that stuff, but if it's a place we've only been to a couple times it doesn't get a lot of chances. Luckily there's a lot of great places to eat in the area so there's lots to pick from so one bad place being picked off because of being terrible isn't a bad thing.

Also, I'd take In n Out over Five Guys any day of the week and never look back.

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Originally Posted by FilanFyretracker

never seen a Five Guys before, they must not be a northeastern thing.

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They're more prevalent than you think - they really started sprouting around here about 2 years ago.
Voorhees, Cherry Hill, Deptford, Washington Township...

They're even showing up in parts of Canada, when I was in southern Alberta for the summer there was a Five Guys there and there's one not far from where I am visiting here in downtown Boise as well.

There's a 5 guys in Dedham, MA and supposedly there's going to be one opening downtown somewhere. But there are a lot of other good burger places in Boston-- Bartley's, Boston Burger Company, Uburger, Tasty Burger, and Four Burgers for standard grills, then there's plenty of bars with good burgers like Cask and Flagon.

Incidentally, I'm curious what's better about In-n-out over 5guys? Maybe my cheeseburger discretion is not finely honed but it seems like once you reach that tier it's all going to be a matter of preference. Fresh ingredients, well-proportioned and cooked skillfully. There's not much more to a burger than that.

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Originally Posted by Goladus

Incidentally, I'm curious what's better about In-n-out over 5guys? Maybe my cheeseburger discretion is not finely honed but it seems like once you reach that tier it's all going to be a matter of preference. Fresh ingredients, well-proportioned and cooked skillfully. There's not much more to a burger than that.

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Nothing. However, a single at In N Out is $1.79, whereas at 5 Guys, it is a little south of 5 dollars. Apart from that, there is little difference, aside from the 1000 island dressing.

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I ordered a chicken fried steak at chili's, when I cut into it I found they had battered and deep fried the thing while it was still sealed in a plastic pouch.

Haven't set foot in the place again.

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Originally Posted by E.Coyote

I ordered a chicken fried steak at chili's, when I cut into it I found they had battered and deep fried the thing while it was still sealed in a plastic pouch.

Haven't set foot in the place again.

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HAHAHAHAHAHA OH GOD.

I would have gotten myself a whole LOAD of free margarita vouchers out of that.

I am the opposite of a foodie. I'm picky in that I only eat certain types of food, but within that spectrum I don't complain as long as it's still edible. If I don't like something I just don't get it again. I don't eat out much and there are always other choices. It probably helps that it's hard to mess up the kinds of things I eat.

Last night was a bad night, between a bad experience at Applebees followed by another at Target.

I left this on the "Applebees Survey".

Spoiler for complaint:

While we waited for our server, the table behind us was seated and received their drinks and placed their order. We waited over 10 minutes for that table's server Mike (who ended up not being our actual server) to tell us that our server would be coming to help us. Over 5 minutes later, our server Mark finally showed up and apologized for "being out of it tonight." We ordered our drinks and an appetizer. The appetizer (boneless wings) came out first, and was cold. The server came back with drinks then walked away without even seeing if we were ready to place our main order. He came back after we had eaten all food from the appetizer plate and finally took our orders. While we were waiting for our entrees, the table behind us had an entree taken back, and when the manager approached them they complained their burger was badly undercooked. They refused a replacement. The manager asked in a nasty-sounding tone, "you're not going to be sick, are you?" When we received our entrees, my companion's chicken parm stack pasta was cold and the cheese congealed and unappetizing on it. My own ribs were OK but there wasn't much meat on them. Mark came back to get us extra drinks which he delivered quickly but didn't ask about the quality of the food until much later, at which point we asked for our check and said that the food was "not that good." We were never approached by a manager at any point during our visit.

We won't be going back to either location any time soon.

What happened at Target?

I am still wraping my mind around the concept of someone under 65 eating at Applebees voluntarily.

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Originally Posted by Lysandor

I am still wraping my mind around the concept of someone under 65 eating at Applebees voluntarily.

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Not everybody can be as hip and pretentious as you :p

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Originally Posted by Lysandor

I am still wraping my mind around the concept of someone under 65 eating at Applebees voluntarily.

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free meal for veterans on Veteran's Day.

Around here (in South Jersey) it's a pretty popular hangout for teens/twenties while still serving mature clientele (not just retirees), and up til this visit was good for a quick, decent sit-in eat-out meal.

I travel quite a bit and opt for franchises pretty often. The Applebees franchise sucks everywhere I go. I keep trying to give them another chance and they keep screwing it up lol. Chili's and Outback are far superior imho, when talking franchises ~

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Originally Posted by Nerkahia

I travel quite a bit and opt for franchises pretty often. The Applebees franchise sucks everywhere I go. I keep trying to give them another chance and they keep screwing it up lol. Chili's and Outback are far superior imho, when talking franchises ~

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I've had the opposite experience in California. The food is consistently good, and service is fine. Red Robin is where we seem to run into slow and sloppy service with regularity. I do agree with Chilis and Outback, though they both seem mediocre as far as service.


Sent via mental telepathy

The only Red Robin I've ever been to is the one in Roseville, and I can't remember a really bad experience there, with either service or food. To be fair, though, I've never gone there for dinner, only lunch mid-afternoon on a Saturday after one of my daughter's games.

I will also add that Chili's and Outback are consistently good.

I've only been to one Red Robin, in Waldorf MD, and the service was great, but the food was mediocre.
I prefer (and miss!) Fuddruckers for my burgers. Both in my area closed this summer due to franchise disputes.

Outback in my area is stellar, food and service-wise.
Chili's is eh for me, because EVERYTHING is spicy, and I don't tolerate spice well. They even put that spice mixture on their salads! Yeesh. I've had 2 decent meals there lately though, maybe 7/10.
Red Lobster is hit or miss. We happen upon two locations and sometimes the food is good, and sometimes not so much. That very inconsistency is why we've stopped going more than once a year.
When we still had Lone Star, I never had a complaint. The location that I frequented, though, closed once about 8 years ago after a spate of chicken-related problems for about five or six months, reopened under new management, with major upgrades inside, and it was actually more busy than the Outback across the highway until it closed suddenly 2 years ago.

Slightly more upscale/pricy:
Longhorn is fantastic
Bonefish is lightyears better than Red Lobster
Melting Pot is awesome, we try to go on Restaurant Week

Buffets are a wholly different story, though.

Let's see...

Five Guys- Not a bad burger, a bit greasy for my taste. Also I'm not a big fan of the fries. If they only left them in the fryer for a little longer. I don't mind them floppy but not that floppy.
Applebees- Mediocre would be a better was of describing it. I used to love the Shrimp Fettucine Alfredo but got burned too many times, they apparently don't believe in using deveined shrimp.
Pizza- I'm having a rough time of it. Papa John's sauce gives me heartburn. Pizza Hut tastes fake, especially the stuffed crust pizza. Lately I've gone almost totally small time with local italian places, much better pizza IMO.
Carrabba's- I love eating there. My favorite item is the Pasta Weesie. The only problem is that I have, more than once gotten sick off of it. And I mean literally throwing it all up 30 mins after eating. I'm not allergic to anything I know of much less eggs or even shrimp. I'm at a loss on it.
Wendy's- For forever I've wanted them to make a spicy chicken sandwich with ranch and cheese, they finally do it and the chicken patty goes to shit, yay!
McDonalds- I haven't been able to eat there ever since watching Supersize Me. Even though I believe Morgan Spurlock was not the ideal test subject. And also force feeding yourself is never a good idea. Also, am I the only person in America who thinks the Big Mac is a pile of shit.
Burger King- I wish they would quit screwing around and put the Western Whopper back on the menu. The only problem is finding a way to keep the bun from sliding off.
Golden Corral- Like many other buffets. Do they all buy recycled food or something?

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Originally Posted by Vladius

Golden Corral- Like many other buffets. Do they all buy recycled food or something?

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One of the Golden Corral locations near me closed for almost a year (also due to franchising problems) and in the meantime a new one was built about 10 miles away (closer to my office).
The first one reopened a couple months before the second's grand opening, but the food is much better at the newer one.
They both have problems with the smell from the bathrooms leaking out into the restaurant, though :(

The only thing I can eat at BK without stomach problems is the original chicken sandwich, so I don't really count them.
I can't eat at Wendy's or McD's.
Chick-fil-a has a bunch of locations around here, and I even occasionally stop there for breakfast, but it's not a first choice.

Cheesecake Factory just doesn't wow me. M'Lady loves it, loves loves loves it (verbatim quote, natch) but I find the food sub-par for the price and the ambience is like working in an echo chamber.

Never been to McCormick & Shmick. Heard it's pretty bad from several people.

Ruby Tueday's hasn't been bad, but again it's a last ditch choice.

California Pizza Kitchen is pretty good, though the seating area of the local store is small.

Pizza - I could never safely eat Domino's or PJ's so instead we stick to the mom-n-pops. Much better quality.

Mexican - I prefer Pancheros over Baja Fresh, but those are still miles better than Chipotle or Qdoba.

I don't frequent Sodium Stadium, I mean Panera, as much as I used to - leaving there thirsty after two drink refills was a bit extreme, plus after witnessing the manager change a ceiling tile DURING lunch rush OVER a food station, I got a refund and walked out.
There's no Cosi near my office, but I found one while geocaching the other day and stopped for lunch. Had gone to one in DC and it was pretty darn good both times.

Chinese buffet wise, there's an establishment called "Mandarin Buffet" which, up til recently, had good food, if slightly expensive - 15.99 for dinner buffet.
Then back in March, a new place opened up a few miles in the other direction called "Hibachi Supreme and Sushi Buffet" (I think that's right) for 8.99 for dinner buffet. Guess which place is empty on Friday nights?
Now, at HSSB, I did have a complaint about the roast pork once (it was actually bad meat) and they took care of it right away, and with the large variety of clientele the bathrooms are never spotless, but they take care of issues quickly.
The other place, Supreme Buffet, changed hands twice in 3 months and closed after the food quality took a nosedive into crapville. Before that had happened, they always had a lunch crowd, between older folks and landscapers/construction/etc.

Texas Roadhouse is one of our favorite places to go - no complaints.

I should start a food blog. Hah.

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Originally Posted by Vladius

am I the only person in America who thinks the Big Mac is a pile of shit.

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No.

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Originally Posted by Eremius

No.

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Seconded. I'd rather eat dirt than eat McDonalds.

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Originally Posted by Bonlainy

The only Red Robin I've ever been to is the one in Roseville, and I can't remember a really bad experience there, with either service or food. To be fair, though, I've never gone there for dinner, only lunch mid-afternoon on a Saturday after one of my daughter's games.

I will also add that Chili's and Outback are consistently good.

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Over the past couple months we've been to that Red Robin 3 times...1st time they gave my mom the wrong burger, took it back (supposedly to scrape off the spicy sauce) and returned with an entirely new burger 10 minutes later when almost everyone else had finished eating. 2nd time they brought my daughter the wrong burger, but she ate it any way, and last Saturday they brought me the wrong tea, and my mom's martini was delivered about 10 minutes after the other drinks were served and just before dinner arrived. While these things individually are no big deal, when they consistently happen its annoying.

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Originally Posted by Daph

Over the past couple months we've been to that Red Robin 3 times...1st time they gave my mom the wrong burger, took it back (supposedly to scrape off the spicy sauce) and returned with an entirely new burger 10 minutes later when almost everyone else had finished eating. 2nd time they brought my daughter the wrong burger, but she ate it any way, and last Saturday they brought me the wrong tea, and my mom's martini was delivered about 10 minutes after the other drinks were served and just before dinner arrived. While these things individually are no big deal, when they consistently happen its annoying.

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Wow, not good at all. I actually haven't been there since, probably, around this time last year, and it sounds like they've gone downhill. I only go when my daughter wants to eat there, so the next time she does I'll see what happens, unless I can talk her out of it and just go to The Counter!!!

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Never been to McCormick & Shmick. Heard it's pretty bad from several people.

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I've been to both locations here in Sacramento, and both have had great service and outstanding food, and while it is a chain, I would put it in the same category as Red Lobster, Chilis, et al, it's quite a bit more upscale than those. At Red Lobster I usually pig out on the cheese biscuits and then eat small. :p

Outback is by and far my favorite franchise restaurant. Always good meal, with (generally) consistently good service.

Olive Garden is a close second, although one of the two close to me I will not go to typically due to service.

Texas Roadhouse is also good, although the last two times have been disappointing.

We've written off Applebees.

A new store was opened in a majorly-renovated strip mall where a Walmart was built.
Our first visit there, we waited almost 10 minutes for a server, nearly 8 minutes for drinks, waited 12 minutes for appetizers, and more than ten minutes after our appetizer plate was cleared we received our entrees. What should have been a 45 minute stop took almost twice as long.
The manager was indifferent to our complaints and basically gave off an aura of IDGAF.

A Red Robin will be opening in a local mall in the near future. I'd be willing to give it a second go.

Out of the two local BBQ places, one is now preferred (even if it is three times farther away); their business has picked up quite a bit since being featured in a local foodie magazine. Plus it's summertime, so more people are in the BBQ frame of mind.

The Afghan place nearby still has terrible takeout timing. They open at 11, I place an order at 11:15, they say "20 minutes", I get there at 11:35, and I'm often waiting until 12:00 or later. I will no longer order takeout from them for work lunch. I told the counter woman this (I think she's the owner's wife) and she just shrugged at me.

During my week in Vegas, I discovered that the breakfast buffet at Sam's Town Casino was pretty damn good, as was the BLT at the sports bar/deli.
I was not impressed at all with Jack-in-the-Box. Food was greasy (bread isn't supposed to slide on paper, food service wrapping or not), bacon was limp and undercooked.
However, the food at the Lil'Ale'Inn in Rachel, NV was fantastic! for being a little "sugar crystal-in-the-desert" place. The people were SO nice.
Raising Cane's chicken tenders were quite good; the mayo-pepper sauce was super-tasty. The cleanliness, not so much. Again, a manager with the IDGAF look.

Oh and I got to eat at a Fuddruckers there. YAY Fuddruckers!

This bump was timely. Last week many of my family from Texas were out here visiting for my daughter's HS graduation, so Sunday we decided on a jaunt to San Francisco at my sister's request. In the past we have gone to McCormick & Kuleto's at Ghiradelli Square, and love the place, so we had a late lunch there. The service was slow as molasses, on a holiday weekend, and the place was only half full. If the food hadn't have been so freaking wonderful I would have written it off right then, but I know we'll go back next time they come to visit, the food and view are too good to just toss aside.

Granted this isn't something we do weekly, or even monthly, but we do try to go a few times a year, and never has it been as slow as it was Sunday. I guess this basically goes to show that even the best places can have off days.

I used to think Stuart Anderson's was overpriced medium-quality beef in a dating-bar-and-private-booths atmosphere, but the one in my town has apparently revamped in the last year or two, and the meat-market lounge is now a more traditional bar with sports on screens, and more importantly the food seems better and the prices seem more reasonable. If you'd written them off as a bad bet before, they might be worth a second look. I recommend the Prime Rib.

Is it still a Stuart Anderson's? I thought they went out of business and the ones that were doing well just sort of struck out on their own as a "Black Angus" chain.

Not according to the Wikitubes: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Angus_Steakhouse

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Alikat Astrae

I used to think Stuart Anderson's was overpriced medium-quality beef in a dating-bar-and-private-booths atmosphere, but the one in my town has apparently revamped in the last year or two, and the meat-market lounge is now a more traditional bar with sports on screens, and more importantly the food seems better and the prices seem more reasonable. If you'd written them off as a bad bet before, they might be worth a second look. I recommend the Prime Rib.

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I'm not sure how you could conclude the Sunnyvale black angus has improved at all. If you are going to go for a chain steakhouse in the south bay, you're way better off hitting up outback than black angus.

Ugh, Outback smells sour and the bloomin onion tasted like it had been fried together with fish.

Any opinions on Joe's Crab Shack? They tore down Dakota here and looks like that's taking its place. I checked out the menu online and the steampots had me drooling.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Alikat Astrae

Ugh, Outback smells sour and the bloomin onion tasted like it had been fried together with fish.

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Yes, they fry everything together. Quite a few places do that. My friend has a shell fish allergy, so he can't eat fried food at a ton of places.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Nadiar

Yes, they fry everything together. Quite a few places do that. My friend has a shell fish allergy, so he can't eat fried food at a ton of places.

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This fact explains a lot. Thanks. I hadn't realized.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Laedria

Any opinions on Joe's Crab Shack? They tore down Dakota here and looks like that's taking its place. I checked out the menu online and the steampots had me drooling.

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Those are typically what I order when I go, but I'm hardly a foodie to comment against other high-end crab places. Properly cooked, they taste good enough that I've gone back, but I've had a couple where they've overcooked (crab meat glued to the inside of the shell) or where they've missed the spices a bit.

Went to something called "A Moveable Feast" today, it's a collection of high-end food trucks that comes together a couple of times per week to make a makeshift food court in the outdoors. Nice ice cream, and a burrito nigh as big as a man's thigh.

Well displayed like that, I'd have two!

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Laedria

Any opinions on Joe's Crab Shack? They tore down Dakota here and looks like that's taking its place. I checked out the menu online and the steampots had me drooling.

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My son ate there on his birthday and had the snow crab steampot, which is essentially a giant metal bucket of crab that comes with a shell cracker, meat picker, tub of melted butter and a giant bib. I was very impressed by the food, atmosphere and level of service. It was also very family friendly, but they had things set up so they could cloister families away into their own area that had a playplace.

I used to eat at Joes often until it went out of business, the place was a ghost town. Overall I liked the food but it seems really oily compared to say, a similar dish at Red Lobster.

I've only eaten at Joes three times; once in Denver, twice in Austin.

I don't remember exactly what I'd eaten, but I do remember the seafood being good quality, the iced tea being fantastic, and the service excellent.

Disappointingly, it's over an hour drive to the nearest restaurant to me.

And if you wanted to go to their website to find a restaurant, beware - the restaurant locator on their website is super-shitty - it only works in IE.

The Joe's here isn't bad at all, but you have to like it loud, which I'm pretty sure all are. I only go about once a year, but it's pretty crowded every time, which probably is due to it's location right on the river in old town. I like the steampots, especially the one that includes sausage, it's pretty damn tasty.

Here's a wonderful example of negative changes...

A new BBQ place opened near my house
I went about a month after they opened, back in February. The pulled pork was fantastic. Great smoke, good texture, the sauce topped it off well. A side of corn bread was a fist-sized mini-loaf.

We've been back every 2-3 weeks since.

Last week I went with my mom and brother. The pulled pork sucked. Instead of tasting smoked, it tasted roasted. It was also dipped into a hot water bath to warm it up, so the sauce just ran off and left it gooey. The corn bread sides ended up being corn bread mini-muffins.

To say that I was disenchanted would be an understatement.

Went last night with m'Lady and her sister. The corn bread minimuffins were still the corn bread offering, and while the pork was again roasted, not smoked, it tasted better than it had the week prior.
They loved it, but if I'm going for barbecue, I want the food to taste like it was actually cooked barbecue style, dammit.

I know a bbq place that had to shut down its smoker because neighbors complained. Didn't last long after that.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Goladus

I know a bbq place that had to shut down its smoker because neighbors complained. Didn't last long after that.

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o.0

Man, I can't even fathom that

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Goladus

I know a bbq place that had to shut down its smoker because neighbors complained. Didn't last long after that.

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... does not compute... :(

Medium-tier Italian place
Prix fixe menu - 30 bucks for 4 courses. Huge salad, not-bad appetizer, small dessert, tiny entree. My salmon was smaller than my palm.
Same place hosts Murder Mystery dinner.
Family style platters. I ate five pieces of salmon the size of my flattened hand. Take that, bitches.

Bar with amazing wings out in the middle of nowhere.
Wings progressively get smaller over the last two years. This past time, some of the wings weren't even whole - the two-bone pieces were almost all cut in half :( I'm not sure we'll be going back too often anymore, it's almost no longer worth the drive (~25 miles one way.)

Five Guys Burger place. Three different locations. Beef tastes like grease sponge. Prefer not to go back. Unfortunately not a lot of options for decent burgers that don't cost 14 bucks for burger with cheese, fries, and a drink.

Nifty Fifty's. One of those nostalgia places, but not done very well. Turkey burger and fries. The fries had NO salt, and were mostly burned. The turkey burger was tasteless except for the excessive black pepper in the mix. Won't be getting a burger there again, that's for sure.

I'm surprised I never updated this thread after my last trip to Red Robin. And yes, I mean "last" as in, the last most recent time I went, and "last fucking ever".
We went maybe two weeks after opening. Thursday night. Packed to the gills.
I had the A1 Peppercorn Burger, she had the Prime Chophouse Burger. We had the Onion Rings and Mushroom appetizer combo with the spicy mustard and the smoked bacon aioli. Actually, I should say "we received the Onion Rings and Mushroom app combo" because we ordered it, and our burgers actually came before BOTH our drinks AND our appetizer!
We both got very sick within 30 minutes. I had nausea for more than 12 hours, she had bathroom trips for almost that long. When it finally did decide to come out of me, I didn't leave the bathroom for almost four hours.

IRONY: I tell my mom this, because I had to cancel my pickup of my dad from dialysis, and she tells me "Why didn't you tell me you were going there?"
Me: Say what now?
Mom: Your sister and her husband both got extreme food poisoning from the location near them (40+ miles away in PA) and they were sick for 3-4 days too!
Me: WTF, I could have used this information VOLUNTARILY 2 days ago!

Creepy factor: My sister got the same burger as me, and my fiancee got the same burger as my brother-in-law!

(For my sister's birthday, we got her a gift card to Home Depot... in a Red Robin gift card holder. She still hates me for that five months later. Bwahahaha.)

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Mileron

(For my sister's birthday, we got her a gift card to Home Depot... in a Red Robin gift card holder. She still hates me for that five months later. Bwahahaha.)

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Ok, That's just all kinds of awesome :worship:

There are two new diners opening up nearby, which is probably a good thing, depending on your point of view... One is in a great location with terrible parking, and the other is in a bad location with great parking. We'll try both, but probably won't frequent, based on the following:

We were a little "bad" this month, and went out 4 times, though I can only remember the three most recent...

Olive Garden The last time I went to an Olive Garden was with Dale and his soon-to-be-wife in May of 2006. For good reason; their food always made me sick. So last week in an attempt to treat m'Lady and knowing she hasn't been there in several months (she goes by choice!) and we had a gift card, I decided to take her there and eat something off their gluten-free menu. Had to ask for utensils, then when we didn't get them I had to go to the server station for them myself. We had the calamari appetizer, which was good. The salad was overly dry - I mean, the lettuce came to the table and it was visibly dried out. She had the shrimp diavola? and I had the steak. Her plate was under-spiced and under-sauced. My steak, while relatively beef-textured, didn't taste like anything remotely resembling steak, even with the char lines on it. And my side of "seasonal vegetables" squash was tasteless and lacking in texture other than the skin. Yup, never ever going back.

California Pizza Kitchen Had a gift card from my birthday. We got the 6-dollar flatbread appetizer. It was tiny. Tasty, but tiny. She got a pizza that had pepperoni, green pepper, mushrooms, and spicy sausage. The whole pizza tasted like the spicy sausage, and the green peppers almost tasted ... pickled. And were uncooked. I had the California Chicken Club pizza, which came with a salad tossed in (what was supposed to be flavored) mayo on top. Dessert was some kind of chocolate souffle which didn't taste like chocolate. It was disappointing.

Diner This is our "go to for awesome" place... except, it wasn't. My french onion soup was lacking in crouton and the cheese was only provolone (they usually do the traditional mix). Her cream of potato soup had no taste - she actually put SALT ON IT, which she never does. Her patty melt burger didn't taste like beef - again she salted it (which she never does). My chicken croquettes were dry and tasted more like bread crumbs. The pale brown gravy on it had no taste, and the mashed potatoes were "there", also without taste. I put salt, pepper, and ketchup on it (I never use ketchup except on fries) and that didn't help at all. Her bread pudding looked like bread with scrambled eggs in it.

We think we're being punished. We know we can cook better at home, but sometimes at the end of a shitty day you just want to say "fuck it" and go out. So yeah. Punished.

My wife and I only sit down at one restaurant. We find a better consistency for food that actually tastes good from the fast food drive-throughs in the area.

I also wanted to add that I cannot stand olive garden.

That place is terrible. I went there on a date of sorts back in late high school and actually enjoyed it quite a bit. I have to say that I believe it was the salad I was most impressed by - this was about 18 years ago.

I went again about 10 years ago and was very dissatisfied. I've been back about once ever 3 years since for whatever reason or promotion I receive in the mail and it tastes worse every time.

About the only thing I can eat at Olive Garden anymore is the soup with basil, potato and Italian sausage. It has been quite awhile since I have been to an Olive Garden, so the soup may have changed, but holy crap it was good last time I was there. I would go to Macaroni Grill for (relatively) cheap Italian before Olive Garden, except they no longer serve the kick ass bread they once did, which was a major reason for going. So now I go to the hole in the wall Italian place that has almost no parking, so-so service, but good food.

Last time I went to CA Pizza Kitchen I ordered the Greek pizza, and it was borderline foul, haven't been back since.

I went into an Olive Garden with my boyfriend because he said it was a good place to eat, but as soon as I entered the restaurant I was appalled by the stench. Apparently the cooking was so bad that they were turning edible groceries into inedible garbage, and it STUNK. Properly made Italian food usually smells a bit like heaven, even when aged Gorgonzola is present, but this smell reminded me of dumpster juice and fresh vomit. I turned around and walked out so that I didn't completely lose my will to eat dinner, then we went and grabbed a burger.

Hmm, I've never been into an Olive Garden that smelled bad, if anything there wasn't any smell like you thought there should be. No cooking aroma at all, just sterile.

We made reservations at 8pm for a "soft opening" for a restaurant that opened yesterday.

At 8:02 we were turned away by two people who stated "We're out of food".

If anyone here visits western mass at all, try tavern on the hill in Easthampton. Went there for the first time, and was amazing.

I went to a new "barbecue and grill" place that opened in between home and work today for lunch.

I had the pulled pork lunch sandwich with coleslaw and a side of fries (and sweet iced tea.)

The fries were bland and unsalted.
The coleslaw was okay.
I had a few fork fulls of the pulled pork before two-handing the sandwich. They were good... but once I started biting into it I started to sweat. It was too spicy for me. After the fourth or fifth bite I simply couldn't taste it anymore. (That's a deal killer for me.)

When I brought it (the excessive spiciness) up to my server, she said "Well we ARE Rochester Bar & Grill" which, having been my first time, meant exactly nothing to me. "Everything's supposed to be a little bit more spicy" she then said.

All other BBQ places I've been to (in Texas OR NJ) have always given a choice of sauces, be they spicy, not spicy, etc.

I might take my fiancee who enjoys spicier foods but since that seems to be their stance, I won't be coming back solo.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Mileron

I went to a new "barbecue and grill" place that opened in between home and work today for lunch.

I had the pulled pork lunch sandwich with coleslaw and a side of fries (and sweet iced tea.)

The fries were bland and unsalted.
The coleslaw was okay.
I had a few fork fulls of the pulled pork before two-handing the sandwich. They were good... but once I started biting into it I started to sweat. It was too spicy for me. After the fourth or fifth bite I simply couldn't taste it anymore. (That's a deal killer for me.)

When I brought it (the excessive spiciness) up to my server, she said "Well we ARE Rochester Bar & Grill" which, having been my first time, meant exactly nothing to me. "Everything's supposed to be a little bit more spicy" she then said.

All other BBQ places I've been to (in Texas OR NJ) have always given a choice of sauces, be they spicy, not spicy, etc.

I might take my fiancee who enjoys spicier foods but since that seems to be their stance, I won't be coming back solo.

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Might be a matter of the rub used and not the sauce.

I'm surprised I didn't update this thread lately, because dayum it's been bad.

Late April 2014, after my fiancee got home from a weekend in NYC for a friend's birthday, we decided to go to a different, brand new Red Robin location right near the bus stop.
We both got food poisoning again within the time it took us to drive home and lost a few days' work from it.

We've limited ourselves to two-a-month "fuck it" dinners - one eating out, one take-out/delivery.
Our eating out option tends to be a local Chinese buffet, and it's usually quite good.

One of those days back in March 2015 we returned to a local Italian place for our third visit.
The first time we'd gone the food was amazing.
The second time was underwhelming.
The third time simply sucked. We won't be going back.

Outback seems to be a consistently good choice.

The first of two remaining local BBQ places has (as I've mentioned in this thread before) simply gone way down hill with regards to their pulled pork quality, and they don't even give you corn mini-muffins anymore. Instead you get a small 1.5" cube of corn bread (likely made in a huge sheet pan, given the pile out of which I saw them dig it.) I haven't even bothered trying anything else from there.

Our go-to quality sushi place is as awesome as ever (we went for Valentine's, and even though we were freezing our balls off in their second floor banquet area due to heavy traffic) we can't wait to go back.

(I'd had more examples mentally listed but they've all been wiped out since I spent the last two hours at a coworker's desk trying to remove malware. Sigh.)

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Mileron

Our go-to quality sushi place is as awesome as ever (we went for Valentine's, and even though we were freezing our balls off in their second floor banquet area due to heavy traffic) we can't wait to go back.

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Point of clarification please. Are you saying your girlfriend has balls or that you consider your balls to be hers and therefore "our balls"?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Merkus

Point of clarification please. Are you saying your girlfriend has balls or that you consider your balls to be hers and therefore "our balls"?

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deep fried mochi ice cream balls?

For pulled pork, you all are optimizing in a weird way to not follow my linked (elsewhere) recipe on making your own pulled pork in mass amounts of desired. It won't make the greatest of all-time pulled pork, but even the best of the best pulled pork will have minimal gains on the recipe. The take away is that making great pulled pork is easy and unless you have a dire throbbing need for some in your gut when sitting down ordering ribs is the better move. Thanks for subscribing to Better Living Through MIRistry.

The perils of working in "the big city" and only having 30 minutes for lunch.

The Saladworks on the first floor of my building has become my "emergency lunch" place.
Like if I wake up with a migraine or am running too late to make my own lunch, this is where I'll go.
Thankfully this only occurs once every couple of weeks (or less.)

The cafeteria on the first floor of my building has become my "emergency not-Saladworks" lunch place.
That's because there's this one employee at Saladworks who is a real winner.
I order the "Combo pick two" - half salad and soup - he starts making me a Cabo salad.
I order the "Pick two" and he starts making me a Nicoise salad.
There was a third, but I can't remember and it's not really important.
So if I see him behind the counter, I turn on my heel and go to the cafeteria.
Which is all fine and good, considering for what you spend you get maybe 60-75% of the amount you'd get at an actual restaurant (plus the quality can be hit or miss).


We ordered last Friday from our go-to Chinese take-out place.
The boneless spare ribs were the best out of the lot, and they were lacking. They were properly cooked (crispy and chewy and minimal fat) but had almost no taste.
My roast pork with broccoli didn't taste like much of anything.
M'Lady's House Lo Mein had no vegetables in it at all, where usually it has carrots, onion, and slivers of bok choy.
The Wonton soup however tasted like window cleaner. We tossed it.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Mileron

Late April 2014, after my fiancee got home from a weekend in NYC for a friend's birthday, we decided to go to a different, brand new Red Robin location right near the bus stop.
We both got food poisoning again within the time it took us to drive home and lost a few days' work from it.

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Thus far, the worst food poisoning of my life occurred after eating at a local Red Robin.
Never.
Again.

Thinking about it now still makes my stomach clench even though it happened a few years ago.

We've written off two Chinese takeout places and our primary Chinese buffet due to decreasing quality.

The usual pizza/sandwich place has one more chance to redeem themselves after two consecutive deliveries in one ten day period having a marked difference in quality and quantity. (I got a veggie stromboli that was of a wonderful size, but then days later was 20-25% smaller!)

We've agreed that our local Wawa (convenience store with sandwich/hot food area) is a very last-ditch place to go (like if everything else is closed if m'Lady gets home late and wants something not-in-our-fridge) because again, declining quality. Not to mention ongoing issues with the management and staff there.

I've been to Sunday after-church breakfast several times this year with Mom and Bro. I refuse to eat anything that includes eggs or fried meats at two of these places. One was so bad that I spent the better part of twelve hours in and out of the bathroom.

We've tried a couple new places this year, including a Mongolian Grill (won't touch their sushi ever again, but the rest of the food was fantastic) and a shabu shabu place. Both are worth making return trips.

Where is karma balancing out for you? You have some seriously bad luck with food service.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Eremius

Where is karma balancing out for you? You have some seriously bad luck with food service.

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My wife and i eat fast food for dinner probably 20 nights out of the month. There are stints where we remove its consumption entirely, but before we can properly meal plan for the next stint before the current is over, we find ourselves stuck in the fast food rotation once again.

Besides the obvious health and cost issues, we narrow down or selections from large availability of variety into a vanishing list of choices by the number of mistakes made by each location.

Granted, we should be thankful that we almost never are made sick by our dinings out of choice, but the number of times we have items left out of our produced and paid for order has just gotten routinely worse as time marches on.

What used to be just one incorrect drink, to a size of fries mistakenly accounted for has gotten to food preference (hold the onions) ignored, and now, more routinely, entire items left out of the bag.

Workers just want to cast us away as quickly as possible. I always ask if specific items are in the bag, am told us, only to find them not there. We visually account for everything on the receipt now, before we drive off.

I used to call when we would get home after making these discoveries. Our name would get taken down, amanager might call and send a gift card, but nothing ever arrives or is honored.

We just order extra food, now, in hopes that if something is forgotten, there might be something else to enjoy. And if there is no mistake, Dad the Disposer will eat the extras.

It is silly, and if i got home an hour earlier, i might still not cook food.

But whether i do or don't, as soon as i can keep my wife as a stay at home mom, the better.

I prefer her cooking over most restaurants, anyway.

Instead of fast food go to Trader Joe's and load up on their frozen or refrigerated meals and dishes, pretty much all of it is really good and a lot healthier than fast food. Probably cheaper in the long run as well.

That is a great idea, Lain.

I have a picky eater for a wife, but I am the one who pays for our food, so i think 4 days out of the week from TJ shoukd be fair.

Our microwave is broken, though. Guess its just time to pony up.

I've been seeing a lot of these free delivery services on facebook lately. At least free for the first few meals. Might be something to check out they seem healthy, and essentially popped right into your mouth.

https://www.facebook.com/sunbasket/?fref=nf

Mistakes threshold depends on the place, If its something fancy the threshold is much much lower because for the money of a four star you are not wrong to expect perfection.

On the other hand a fast food place I find them more acceptable. Though I rarely encounter them because I do not really do special orders, I get some people get mad when McD's screws up their custom order but I also get these people are minimum wage paid and when you are at a busy location and just cranked out 120 Big Macs because a few tour buses rolled in and then someone orders Big Mac 121 with no special sauce I can see the kid still being in automatic and throwing the sauce on.

Fwiw, i should note that del taco almost never messes up an order.

Sometimes portions are inconsistent, but at the end of the day, we always get what we ordered.

Went to a new (to us) Mexican place. Highly recommended by friends who live nearby.
Environment: Quiet, nice decor, clean, music appropriate but muted.
Beverages: Soda in a can, presented with a glass of ice.
Freebies: Two types of corn chips - fine-ground and coarse. Both wonderful, crunchy but not too much, lightly salted and not overdone. Red salsa was too hot for me to reasonably try, but the wife was happy with it. Green salsa had a creamy consistency and was full of flavor.
Appetizers: Chicken taquitos (fantastic, flavorful, not overly spicy, crispy). Empanada de mariscos (crab empanada) and empanada de camaron (shrimp empanada). A little small, but also very tasty. The crab one tasted like eating a Maryland Crab Soup dumpling.
Entrees: Her Burrito Loco was small, 6 inches, and had more lettuce than chicken. Also, it was warm, through and through - the cheese was melted and had started to congeal. My burrito de carnitas consisted of a 4-inch burrito, with small (dime-sized) over-fried bits of pork, and a LOT of cheddar cheese. Also congealed to near solid.

It's not like it was busy - it was a Wednesday night and there were two other tables (six couples total, other than us) - so the food shouldn't have been sitting long under a heat lamp or anything. It should have been instantly fresh.

The failure in the entrees left us feeling very disappointed.

Went to a new (to us) Americana-style "tavern" bar-restaurant.
(Originally it was built a few years ago to be a Polish restaurant, touted as big-and-special because it had a million-dollar kitchen, but it was open less than a year before folding, then stood vacant for close to a year after that, opened as a tavern under a different name for a month before closing, then was gutted and became this new place not too long ago.)
Environment: Modern wood finish with too-shiny marble floors. Kind of tacky and not "warm" in a cavernous tavern style. Garishly placed large TVs all over for sports.
Beverages: Iced tea (was actually rather good), she had soda
Appetizers: We ordered crab dip (cheesy crab dip with chips) and "Philly cheesesteak pierogies with cheesy fondue".
Both were "out of stock due to a menu rework" so we ended up going with Thai chili chicken fingers, and something with a silly name like tri-dip tricolor chips.
The chicken fingers were dry, and bland, and the Thai chili sauce tasted like the Frank's Sweet Hot Chili Sauce from a bottle.
The tri-dip tricolor chips were red/green/yellow corn chips on a plate with not-home-made guacamole, pico de gallo, and what was supposed to be sour cream. Except, it wasn't sour cream. It was fucking cream cheese. Who the fuck puts cream cheese out with chips as dip? And yes, I mean, straight up fucking cream cheese.

Soup: One of our go-to "this is how you tell if a place is good" tests is the french onion soup. And the french onion soup here was fucking disgusting. It smelled like fucking vomit. Someone doesn't know what cheeses you put on french onion soup, and you definitely do NOT put provolone cheese on french onion soup, because I've done that and that's what you end up with - pukey fucking smelling french onion soup. Not to mention, you don't put the crouton sticking straight up out of the cheese like a fucking cheese covered cock (so that it burns, naturally) and there should also be some broth with the onions and cheese (there wasn't, it was literally just onions and cheese and burnt bread).

Entrees: She ordered the half rack ribs and half rotisserie chicken with fries. I ordered something called a "smothered short rib sandwich".
Come to find out that they were out of stock of the short rib... due to the aforementioned menu change... so I ordered a rather tasty-sounding patty melt.
Come to find out they're out of stock of tuna (and they're right across the street from a fucking Wal-mart, come on, walk across and buy a couple cans, I'd never have known the difference, really, but I do kind of appreciate the honesty) so I ordered a basic "fresh ground angus burger".

Her ribs looked and tasted relatively fantastic.
The half chicken though, was fucking tiny. I'm talking cornish-hen sized. She made a fist, and the chicken was smaller.
The cornbread that came with her chicken was bigger than the chicken. It wasn't very corn-bready, but it was alright, I guess.

My burger came out and it was assembled... with no vegetables inside.
AND the store-bought bun (I'm talking the kind you find at someone's 4th of July backyard barbecue) had the fucking tavern's name stamped/branded into the top of the bun.
So as I'm peeling the cheese off the meat and putting in the badly cut tomatoes (they didn't cut out the stem section, wtf) my wife's looking at me like I've lost it. I ignored the wilted lettuce.
Oh, and my "medium" burger patty was markedly under medium, and definitely not a fresh fucking ground burger - it was a frozen boxed patty and tasted like it.

Oh yeah and our fries? Crinkle fries from a bag. Not hand cut, like the menu described.

We didn't order dessert, but as "consolation" for our "understanding with regards to the menu changing" the waitress "gave" us some danishes from their "daily bakery". Wife ended up trying to eat one for dessert later that night but told me it had to have been several days old, based on how hard it was.

Thankfully the meal was "free"... the wife's sister gave us a gift certificate for Christmas, but it feels like a waste.

When driving home, my wife asked me why I was shaking my head and cackling.

I told her how, in my head, I was having Gordon Ramsey Kitchen Nightmares-style conversations in my head about how you "don't advertise on the menu that your burger is fresh ground angus then feed me a fucking frozen burger patty let alone on a store-bought roll that has the audacity to brand the fucking restaurant name into the top next to crinkle cut fries from a bag with wilted lettuce" etc etc... I couldn't stop laughing.

TL;DR: Never going back there again.

Two-fer special here.

Went to new-to-us Asian Fusion place.
Menu consists of sushi, dumplings, dim sum, pho, some generic "Chinese-style" entrees, pad thai...

Environment: Dark wood. That's all I remember because they had NO lights on in the place. At 4pm on a Friday. Even though the sun was shining directly into the front of the restaurant. They sat us in the only table that received direct sunlight (which made it hot as fuck). We were the only customers there the whole time. The tables were super-cramped.
Beverages: We stuck with water. It tasted dirty. And that was after asking for clean refills, to which we got rolled eyes.
Appetizer: Got a "dim sum sampler" which came with two pork soup dumplings, two pork shu mai, and two crystal shrimp dumplings. Having been to two different dim sum restaurants in Philly's Chinatown, these were definitely sub-par. The pork soup dumplings were dry, the shu mai were overfried, and the shrimp dumplings' wrappers were over thick and grossly gummy.
Entree: By this point we'd decided we weren't going to stay, so we just ordered a single roll each.
She got some kind of "sashimi roll" which basically consisted of tuna, yellowtail, and whitefish, rolled, with more on top. It was decent but masked by some kind of sauce. Over-sauced, imo. She really liked it.
I got a "bonzai tree roll". It was... fantastic. In a larger soup bowl came out what was left of a cucumber (the outside solid parts having been used to make up the rolls), standing like two trees in the middle. Around the outside "wide brim" of the bowl were 7 rolls. Each was tuna, yellowtail, and salmon, wrapped with super-super-thin sliced cucumber "paper". It was topped only with some red roe and a few flecks of ponzu sauce. It was really damn good. It was like biting into a summer seafood fest. The fresh crispness of the cucumber, with the slight pungent twang of the ponzu and the definitely quality fish... mmm. My mouth is watering just remembering it.
Service: However, the service left a lot to be desired. We told her when we sat down and she asked what we wanted - before even having menus - that it was our first time in the restaurant*. As mentioned, we were the only customers in the ~45 minutes we were present. We got guff for asking for clean glasses or water. We received no water refills. No soy sauce refill (which we'd asked for, when she brought a nearly empty soy "crock" to the table). She never checked on us until she unceremoniously dropped off the bill. It took almost as long to receive my wife's card back as it did to get the dumplings - which we received -after- the sushi.

Verdict: We'll probably go back for rolls, or rolls-takeout, but nothing else. And probably order soda.

So we walked across the vestibule that they shared with a Thai place next door because we were still farking hungry. The gal behind the register stand visibly lit up and welcomed us. A man who ended up being our waiter came out and asked if we'd been there before (we hadn't). He stayed with us for an extra 2-3 minutes at our table pointing out things on the menu.

Environment: Brightly lit (even with the setting sun on the other side of the restaurant) and they sat us out of its rays so that I could see my wife's face without being blinded (except by her beauty, of course). Nicely spaced tables. Plenty of room for people to come-and-go without feeling cramped. (Which turned out to be a good thing**).
Beverages: We both received clean-tasting water but also ordered Thai iced tea without bubbles. (We hate tapioca bubbles). Thai iced tea was on point - we got to mix it ourselves if we so chose.
Appetizers: We ended up not getting appetizers because we considered the sushi we'd just had to be so.
Entrees: She ordered a vermicelli noodle dish with beef that came out and looked very good but very, very dry. She ended up requesting a side of green curry sauce (which tasted wonderful to me, even though I can't eat much at all) and even though the waiter seemed a little taken aback that she'd requested it, he brought it out for her.
I ordered Thai bbq chicken, which was very moist and quite tasty. Not my usual Thai pick but I wanted something simple.
Service: In addition to the waiter's obvious pleasure in being of assistance to us in pointing a few things out on the menu initially, both the hostess from the front checked up on us as did another seemingly random woman from the back (owner or his wife perhaps?) and we were never wanting for water.

Verdict: Definitely going back

* Okay so, in my opinion, if someone walks into your restaurant and says "I"ve never been here before" I'll find it to be a great bit of service if they spend an extra minute or two with me to go over their menu. For example, I took a coworker to a sushi place once who would not have tried something based on my description, until she verified it with our server, who described it better, and she ended up loving it. And she learned more about sushi than I thought to mention at one time. Same thing with my brother. Taking him to his first sushi place, he garnered a better idea of what he might like from the server's descriptions and reactions to his questions than my own (possibly biased) statements about what sushi might be.

** As we were eating in the second location, it started getting super, super busy, to the point that when we left, most of the tables were full, and there were over a dozen people standing and waiting to be seated. The other place was still empty. :evil:

This reminds me of a story from my boss the other night.

He and his wife were headed up to a wedding something-to-do about 40 miles away, one way. Knowing there was no food provided, they stopped at a McDonald's.

He orders a quarter pounder meal, she orders a fillet o' fish meal.

He scarfs his down in the parking lot quick so he can do the driving, she's chatting about her day to him. Once they get on the road, she opens up hers a few miles down.

Huh, that's funny. A fillet o' fish doesn't usually come with a sesame seed bun.

Or pickles.

Or cheese.

Or lettuce.

Or special sauce.

Sure enough, in the middle of that thing that LOOKED like a big mac was a fillet o'fish patty.

No middle bun, just a tiny little fish patty, about half the size of the bun, covered in big mac toppings.

She ate it anyway.

She apparently later said she didn't feel all that well.

As someone who worked at a McDonald's at the ripe old age of 15, I told him he should have taken a picture, phoned back, and gotten some nice free food coupons.

His response?

"Why would I want more food from a place that shoved a fish patty into a big mac setup?"

Point taken.

Positive mistake:

We found an all-you-can-eat sushi place (check what you want off on a paper and they bring it to you).

The service is kind of lacking - as soon as the plate is empty, someone's at your table pulling it out from under the chopsticks still holding the roll, which then drips on the table - but the food's quite good.

Last night we stopped in and got our usual stuff.

And then the server drops off something for us that we didn't recognize, wasn't on our order slips (I've been taking pictures out of habit, because we forget what we order sometimes), but she said it was ours so we ate it.

It was basically fried scallions wrapped in a strip of fish with a little bit of sauce. It was amazing.

Then with our rolls, she dropped off what was basically a fried breaded chicken breast, pounded super-thin. Also not something we ordered. But it was super-tasty.

On the way home, we decided that with those two plates, we got someone else's selections. :eek: Oops.