Restaurants you don't like

In My Humble Opinion
1

I was inspired to start this thread after a recent visit to Outback. I had a low opinion of Outback already, having gone once before. The first time, my daughter had just been born. The restaurant was crowded and noisy and she was so fussy, I wound up having to sit outside with her while the rest of the family finished their meals. Not the restaurant’s fault, I know, but it gave me a unpleasant association with the place just the same.

On my second (and last) visit, the restaurant was again crowded and noisy. There were far too many televisions to avoid, no matter how much I wished to, and I felt that I had to keep my elbows close at my side for fear of joggling the strangers at the next table. Most of the food was good, but that Bloomin’ Onion thing they always go on about was greasy and disgusting. I suppose for a sports-bar type of place, it’s okay, but I won’t be going again.

There are more restaurants I don’t care for, of course, but let me hear about some of yours!

2

White Castle - Bad association with a night of extreme drunkenness

Applebees - Generica at it’s blandest worst
Chili’s - ditto

3

I don’t like Outback, either.

I haven’t been to Applebees in years, but I remember that all the food tasted like it was microwaved.

4

Hate Applebee’s, but I love Outback. The key is to go for lunch. Dinner is the worst! We made the mistake of going on Valentine’s day, and we had a family with toddlers hovering over our table willing us to eat quickly and bail. It wasn’t fun.

5

Any where the menu includes “hand-crafted linguine covered in a zesty sauce di pomodoro aux fines herbes, accompanied by finely ground prime beef.” Give me spaguetti bolognese any time, my tummy says.

Any where they claim to do “experimental cuisine”. Both my wallet and my tummy consider they end up too empty, in those.

6

Taco Hell. Can’t stand’em.
I don’t mind Applebees so much. We don’t eat there but once or twice a year, and I haven’t had a bad experience.
Chili’s…Hate’em.

I live near some really cool non-chain places, so I don’t have to go to the big corporate giants very often.

7

Burger King. I just don’t like their cheeseburgers. Give me McDonald’s or Sonic.

Applebee’s and TGI Fridays. I don’t even mind the “generic American” food experience, once in a while. But the food at those places tastes like rubber. Give me Chili’s (surprised to see Chili’s hate in this thread-- I love that place).

Indian restaurant I can’t remember the name of. Decent but unimpressive food in microscopic portions, for $15 a plate. I’m not going back.

8

Chipotle. It was one of my “last meals” before my gastric bypass, and I got the worst case of food poisoning I ever had. No wonder, considering that when my daughter worked there, if you called off sick in the first 30 days of employment, the manager could fire you. So if these poor kids come down with something, they don’t want to call off sick for fear of losing their job. My daughter had to go in sick and be throwing up at work before they would let her call off…it was flu season, too.

9

[QUOTE=VunderBob]
Applebees - Generica at it’s blandest worst
[/QUOTE]

Try the one down the street from me. It’s far from bland. It’s downright proactive on disgusting. I think the head chef has a sodium fetish. And there’s some secret ingredient in everything. My guess is salt, barf, and salted barf. I love the waitstaff, but the food is salty and barfy.

Never tried Outback. It’s just not worth the 1.5 to 2 hour wait.

Some people here love Subway. Not me. I’ve only been to one, but all three times I was desperately hungry, and all three times I couldn’t get more than a few bites into the retch. I now know why Jared is so thin. If Subway were my only source of food, I’d starve too.

10

[QUOTE=Dung Beetle]
I was inspired to start this thread after a recent visit to Outback. I had a low opinion of Outback already, having gone once before. The first time, my daughter had just been born. The restaurant was crowded and noisy and she was so fussy, I wound up having to sit outside with her while the rest of the family finished their meals. Not the restaurant’s fault, I know, but it gave me a unpleasant association with the place just the same.

On my second (and last) visit, the restaurant was again crowded and noisy. There were far too many televisions to avoid, no matter how much I wished to, and I felt that I had to keep my elbows close at my side for fear of joggling the strangers at the next table. Most of the food was good, but that Bloomin’ Onion thing they always go on about was greasy and disgusting. I suppose for a sports-bar type of place, it’s okay, but I won’t be going again.

There are more restaurants I don’t care for, of course, but let me hear about some of yours!
[/QUOTE]

Yeah, Outback can suck sometimes. Once, my family and our neighbors went to the Outback in our town. It sucked. They kept us waiting for over an hour, while other groups who had come in after us were seated. We were a group of five. They kept wasting space by putting groups of four at tables for six. Finally, we complained and they gave us dessert free. We didn"t take the dessert.

Another time, we (the same group from the Outback story) went to a place called Bailey’s, (we get together every Friday Night) which is like half family restaraunt and half bar. We ordered our drinks. Ten, then Twenty minutes passed, and still no drinks. It turns out that, after about 45 minutes to an hour, they brought out all of our food at the same time! :eek: :eek: :eek: :eek: :eek: Also, to add insult to injury, very little of our food was they way we wanted it. So we sent it back and called for the manager and our waitress and just completely blew up at them (yeah, we’re that kind of people). So they sent out another waitress. She was actually quite good, much better than that other waitress. She served us our food just the way we ordered it. They gave us all our food free and I think we gave the waitress a hefty tip. The moral of these two stories: Complain. Maybe you’ll get free stuff.

11

Joe’s Crab Shack is hit or miss. A good one is great, but a bad one is painful. There are specific locations I avoid with this one.

12

I’ve never had trouble at Outback. Except for the wait. (Which I don’t mind, as I have a small interest in Outback being busy.)

I learned the hard way that Olive Garden should be called Bland Garden. And this was after Doc Cathode warned me two years ago. Funny thing is, I used to like Olive Garden.

13

I assiduously avoid the traditional fast food joints (Taco Hell, Burger Fink, McDiarreahs) for
reasons apparent in that last deliberate misspelling. I also hate the “Chinee Takee Outee”
quickie Chinese joints-food is invariably bland (why can’t anyone make decent fried rice
anymore?)-and before someone jumps on my case that name I have indeed seen on a
glowing neon marquee in my town.

Good places include Boston Market, Jason’s Deli, and Moe’s (odd name for Southwestern
cuisine, but it’s good).

14

I cannot understand the love for the love for the [del]outhouse[/del] Outback. The last two times I visited there the steaks had be doused, and I mean doused with tenderizer. to the point of I could take my knife and scrape the top 1/8" off the steak, as it had turned to goo. The balance of the steak was as tough as old shoe leather. That and a blooming onion is a soggy mass of grease. (we really need that barfing smiley)
Sorry if I am going out for food, I expect it to be eatable. I guess I am funny that way.

15

Agree about the “outhouse” chain-it is basically overcooked, low quality meat-the pork chops are tough and bland. What can you say? How hard is it to cook steaks and baked potatoes? APPLEBEES: surprisingly good chicken salad, nothing else though. Is 'STEAK and ALE" still around? sometimes they were decent. OLIVE GARDEN: basic , bland, tasteless “italian” food-yet, one time, I had some surprisingly good veal parmiagian-tough to figure! in general, chain restaurants are mediocre-and avoid most hotel restaurants (MARRIOTT’s has the worst food at horrendous prices). Of course, I would eat at ANY national chain (over a local joint), if i was in the deep midwest (like in Davenport, Iowa)-nobody knows how to cook in that place! (Plus, since everybody is in bed by 9:00 PM, beter eat early!)

16

This thread strikes me as a bit odd, naming restaurants that everyone seems to recognise. Is American dining really that dominated by chain restaurants? Personally I’d only visit a chain restaurant at moments of dire need…

17

[QUOTE=Colophon]
This thread strikes me as a bit odd, naming restaurants that everyone seems to recognise. Is American dining really that dominated by chain restaurants? Personally I’d only visit a chain restaurant at moments of dire need…
[/QUOTE]

Yes, it is. I’d venture a guess that the majority of Americans never go to a decent sit-down restaurant if it’s not their birthday or anniversary. I put “decent” in there to rule out neighborhood Chinese or Mexican places, although a large number of Americans don’t eat “furrin” food either.

I avoid chains as much as possible, but occasionally I will seek them out because I know how bad the local stuff is. I learned this in Utah. Sometimes knowing exactly what you are going to get is preferable to the alternative.

I used to drive from Denver to Salt Lake City and I’d eat at local places all the way to the Glenwood Springs (60 miles west of Vail), but then it was chains only until I got to downtown SLC where I knew of a few good places.

18

Back in the late '60s KFC was GREAT. But then the old fellow, Sanders, sold the corporation and the new people changed the recipe and ruined it something horribly. Sanders was in the middle of suing them on account of it, but died before the proceedings went to court (or so I heard).

Bully’s Sports Bar and Grill was a place that I ate at a few weeks ago. The onion rings tasted like they were a day old and had been microwaved. I told the waitress when she asked me if every thing was okay, but she stilled charged me for 'em (probably 'cause I ate 'em anyway). I’ll never go there again.

Wendy’s used to be great 20-years ago, but since then their burgers are pretty much garbage. Too bad, 'cause I sure enjoyed 'em.

19

Olive Garden gets my spite for advertising faux Italian-named dishes like “chicken con broccoli” or “pasta con mushrooms.” Up their butt con a stale breadstick!!

I don’t mind Outback, but I’ll pretty much lump all turn-and-burn chain restaurants into a general category of dislike because their portions are just disgustingly large. I used to feel a little ill looking at a huge hamburger dripping with grease with a pound of huge steak fries nussled up against it. Bleah. So I’ve pretty much stopped going to TGI Fridays, Applebees, Chilis, all those places. I’d rather have a Big Mac.

20

[QUOTE=ralph124c]
Is 'STEAK and ALE" still around?
[/QUOTE]

Never heard of it, but the name reminds me of the Hilltop Steakhouse. Locals will probably hang me for saying this, but I hate that place.

It’s family-style dining for the morbidly obese. Most of the children I’ve seen in there seem to weigh more than I do, and I’m pretty big. Their idea of a salad is two leaves of iceberg lettuce, while their idea of an entree is a steak the size of a toilet seat. And the steak is of an unnatural color. It’s almost neon pink.

I mean, I’m a meat lover, but that place just gives me the willies.