Almost every place where I order spaghetti in restaurants it’s served apparently just fine, but there’s always a puddle of dishwater in the very bottom that imparts its taste to the pasta. Except for Denny’s, Shakey’s and The Sizzler.
Am I alone in this? Or have other Dopers found dishwater as an ingredient in their restaurant spaghetti?
You mean un-mixed pasta without sauce? Isn’t it just excess water from the spaghetti pot?
I never have, nor will I ever, order spaghetti in a restaurant.
I very rarely get spaghetti at a restaurant; when I do, it’s side dish to something else. (Otherwise, I figure spaghetti is something I can do equally well and much cheaper at home).
I have never seen water in the bottom of the dish the times that I have ordered it. However, I’d assume that this is just water from the pot it was boiled in. That’s certainly the explanation when I’m cooking it at home and sometimes have some water in the bottom of the plate.
Yeah, I can make it better and cheaper at home.
I was going to say the same thing, but if you’re eating spaghetti at Denny’s, Shakey’s and The Sizzler, then our tastes are very different and any opinion I would give is probably not pertinent.
Ideally, pasta should be boiled in very salty water. If there’s something besides the spaghetti on your plate, I’m guessing that’s what it is. The cook should drain it better before serving it.
He should also stir the pasta in the sauce before plating to give it a chance to absorb some of the latter’s flavor.
Never happened to me. Why on earth wouldn’t you send back dishwater-laced food? You seriously need to start going to nicer restaurants. If Denny’s and Sizzler is all you can afford, save your money and make better spaghetti just the way you like it at home.
Ouch.
This. Took the words right outta my mouth 
This began when I was eating lunch with a much older woman whom I was driving around–she was no longer able to handle a car by herself. She paid for our meals, and in pricier places than Denny’s or The Sizzler or Shakeys. Still and all, the puddle of water appeared in the plate–after I had eaten most of the spaghetti! :eek:
This was not the more recent Maureen. This was considerably earlier; the woman was the mother of a girl I knew in high school who was a real knockout. 
The mother eventually wasted away and died from congestive heart failure–not from eating spaghetti. 
I agree about homemade spaghetti. I have even made it myself.
What do you mean by the term “dishwater”? Do you mean just plain water, not sauce? Or do you mean that there was actually dish soap in it?
If it wasn’t there from the start, it’s from the spaghetti. They simply aren’t draining them properly, many people think it’s enough to just let the water fall off as you transfer them from pot to plate.
Yes, complete with suds.
Man, you should start going to better restaurants.
Try Yelp to scout out some good local places.
Could you taste the soap or did you just see a bubble? Water without soap can sometimes have a bubble on top of it. Why didn’t you immediately tell the waiter that there was dish soap in your spaghetti?
I don’t think any of the places you mentioned qualifies as a restaurant. The standard that my friends and I use for a restaurant is, if you pay your bill before you eat it isn’t a restaurant. It may be somewhere between McDonalds and a restaurant but it isn’t a restaurant.
Denny’s does–and the spaghetti and meatballs I got there is splendid! No water. (To Wendell Wagner, I did not make a complaint so as not to embarrass my patron–probably because of the crush I have had on her daughter.) Still, the pricier restaurant–which has gone out of business–had the puddle of water at the bottom of the spaghetti and the Denny’s does not.
Incidentally, I eat at Marie Callendar’s on a weekly basis; they are pricier, but their menu does not include spaghetti.
Besides: I have been a dishwasher for more than 50 years and I know dish suds when I see them.
When I have pasta out, a nice Penne Arribiata is my go-to. Denny’s? Denny’s is for drunken munchies hurrying to beat the dawn.
Sorry, buddy, but I am not a drunk! I live in Southern California, not Western Pennsylvania. Keep your insults to yourself. :mad:
FWIW, the Denny’s dish is Brooklyn style. The spaghetti I make at home is with sweet Italian sausage, not meatballs.