# Thoroughly "blah" restaurants **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [July 5, 2004, 9:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thoroughly-blah-restaurants/253693 "2004-07-05T21:15:36Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Necros](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/necros/32/11086_2.png) [@Necros](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Necros)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2004, 10:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thoroughly-blah-restaurants/253693/21 "2004-07-06T22:24:13Z")
> [@chique](#): > > You’ve just described my entire freakin’ city…There’s is only one restaurant in town that’s really worth eating at, and no one goes there because, as my family likes to say, “the portions are too small”. Which means, of couse, that the food is well-prepared, plated without a pound of french fries, and actually has flavor. **chique** , what is it? Since I’m often in your neck of the woods, I’d love to find a place that doesn’t suck. I mean, one can only take so much Granite City and Green Mill. I’m not a small-town Midwestern guy, and the food is the hardest thing for me to deal with when I’m there. **Lamar Mundane** , I am totally with you on Baby Doe’s. It blows. I’m not sure why people like it. I’ve never met someone who I really trust about food say that had a good experience there, though. For my contribution, **Lutece** in Vegas. I’m really hoping it’s just a very pale imitation of the original, because “blah.” Service was good, food was acceptable, but just acceptable. I have reservations at the French Laundry in August. Hopefully they won’t let me down. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Bippy\_the\_Beardless](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ac8455/32.png) [@Bippy\_the\_Beardless](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bippy_the_Beardless)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2004, 10:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thoroughly-blah-restaurants/253693/22 "2004-07-06T22:42:09Z")
> [@Necros](#): > > I have reservations at the French Laundry in August. Hopefully they won’t let me down. 😉 Well the “French Laundry” is only the best restaurant on the planet 1. French Laundry, California 2. El Bulli, Barcelona 3. Le Louis XV, Alain Ducasse, Monaco 4. Jean Georges, New York 5. Gordon Ramsay, London 6. L’Arpège, Paris 7. Comme chez Soi, Brussels 8. Rockpool, Sydney 9. L’Ambroisie, Paris 10. Gramercy Tavern, New York 11. Michel Bras, Laguiole, France 12. Chez Panisse, California 13. Pierre Gagnaire, Paris 14. The Merchant House, Shropshire 15. Bocca, Tallinn, Estonia 16. Jiro, Tokyo, Japan 17. Felix, Hong Kong 18. L’Auberge de L’ill, France 19. Gidleigh Park, Devon 20. Bukhara, New Delhi 21. Restaurant Bocuse, Collonges, France According to [News | The Scotsman](http://news.scotsman.com/topics.cfm?tid=789&id=486522003) ---
**Author:** ![Dogzilla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e480ec/32.png) [@Dogzilla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dogzilla)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2004, 10:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thoroughly-blah-restaurants/253693/23 "2004-07-06T22:43:36Z")
> [@fishbicycle](#): > > **Cafe Di Lorenzo** in Tallahassee apparently enjoys a good reputation, so we went there for our first anniversary. It cost us nearly $100 for not enough food to fill us up. It was totally bland, undercooked and virtually tasteless. We remarked during the meal that we both can make better Italian food than that at home. So now we do! > > **Ruby Tuesday’s** is also extremely blah, no matter which location you patronize. Try Mom n Dads out on the Parkway… No, wait, that one burned down, didn’t it? Let’s see, Little Italy in the Winn Dixie shopping center on Magnolia… No, wait, they changed ownership and they suck now too… You’re right. There’s no good Italian place in Tallahassee. I can’t find good Greek or Chinese food here either. It’s all bleh. ---
**Author:** ![Necros](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/necros/32/11086_2.png) [@Necros](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Necros)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2004, 10:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thoroughly-blah-restaurants/253693/24 "2004-07-06T22:52:48Z")
> [@Bippy the Beardless](#): > > Well the “French Laundry” is only the best restaurant on the planet So they have a lot to live up to, then. 🙂 Thanks for that link. I’m going to put Jiro on my list for when I’m in Tokyo next year. ---
**Author:** ![chique](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/4491bb/32.png) [@chique](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chique)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2004, 11:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thoroughly-blah-restaurants/253693/25 "2004-07-06T23:39:58Z")
> [@Necros](#): > > **chique** , what is it? Since I’m often in your neck of the woods, I’d love to find a place that doesn’t suck. I mean, one can only take so much Granite City and Green Mill. I’m not a small-town Midwestern guy, and the food is the hardest thing for me to deal with when I’m there. I’m going to put a great big huge caveat right here: This is not fine dining on a par with LA/NYC/SF or, for that matter, MPLS, but it’s as close as one can get in this burg, ok? It’s Michael’s, run by a crazy old Austrian guy and attached to the AmericInn on Hwy. 10. Please do let me know what you think. There’s another place in Waite Park called Bear Creek that’s not bad, either. It does lean towards bar food, but some of their entrees are excellent. And their food doesn’t come from freakin’ Apperts. ---
**Author:** ![fishbicycle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/aeb1de/32.png) [@fishbicycle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fishbicycle)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2004, 11:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thoroughly-blah-restaurants/253693/26 "2004-07-06T23:45:03Z")
> [@Dogzilla](#): > > Try Mom n Dads out on the Parkway… No, wait, that one burned down, didn’t it? I haven’t heard anything about it burning down! That’s not to say it hasn’t happened, but if so, it’d be a shame. That place is (was?) pretty good. We’ve learned not to go there on any occasions, because they don’t take reservations and we’re not into sitting outside wilting in the humidity for an hour or more. > [@](#): > > Let’s see, Little Italy in the Winn Dixie shopping center on Magnolia… No, wait, they changed ownership and they suck now too… Actually, we ate there for the first time last month, and we thought it was very, very good. And very inexpensive! If there was a time when it was better, I guess we’ve missed out. > [@](#): > > You’re right. There’s no good Italian place in Tallahassee. > I can’t find good Greek or Chinese food here either. It’s all bleh. I haven’t had a good souvlaki in about a quarter of a century. I haven’t had _any_ souvlaki since I came to the US. Maybe there’s a good Greek restaurant hiding in Jacksonville. Do you know about any there? If not, Jax makes up for it by having European Street. There are also no Polish or Hungarian restaurants here. Bummer. [sarcasm mode/] And hey, are you not familiar with Wok ‘n’ Roll? Or Chinee Takee Outee? [/sarcasm mode] ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Miskatonic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mr.miskatonic/32/310_2.png) [@Mr.Miskatonic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Miskatonic)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2004, 12:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thoroughly-blah-restaurants/253693/27 "2004-07-07T00:03:37Z")
> [@Left Hand of Dorkness](#): > > Heh–one of the only two restaurants I remember eating at in SanFran was the Stinking Rose. I was staying at the Green Tortoise Hostel, and the Stinking Rose was just down the street. And it sucked: I was really disappointed. > > At least it was better than the other restaurant, a “pizzeria” that served stale cardboard slathered in cheap ketchup with candlewax melted on top and expected me to believe it was a slice of pizza. > > Daniel I’m still not convinced that that is not how all pizza is done in CA. Worse, the prices are at gourmet pizza levels (brick oven places back on the East Coast). Ick. ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2004, 12:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thoroughly-blah-restaurants/253693/28 "2004-07-07T00:51:11Z")
We also have the usual crappy chain steak houses like Outback and Andersons, along with most other chain restaurants. But for homegrown poor, I nominate two of the so-called Italian restaurants in town: _Campobello_ and _Romano’s_, with the latter being one of the worst examples of what Italian food is NOT. Pasta swimming in pools of “alfredo” sauce, everything else smothered with some sort of gloppy cheese. People seem to like it, though, but I’ve found that most people have no idea what it’s supposed to taste like and equate large quantities with quality. ---
**Author:** ![ianzin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/ed655f/32.png) [@ianzin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ianzin)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2004, 4:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thoroughly-blah-restaurants/253693/29 "2004-07-07T04:11:47Z")
Here in London, UK, it’s got to be **The Ivy**. This place has an amazing sky-high reputation, especially among foodies, luvvies and the arts/media crowd, and I have no idea why. I’ve been there twice, and on both occasions someone else was paying so I was effectively there for free. Yet both times the place could suck the pattern off a carpet. Service - not good. The second time I went my host asked the waiter for a glass of water and ten minutes later it still hadn’t arrived. Menu - very short, limited and dull. Food - definitely nothing special. Decor - there isn’t any. Ambience - just noisy, over-crowded chatter. Prices - arm and a leg. Trivia note - the second time I was there, Oprah Winfrey was in there too. ---
**Author:** ![Juniper200](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/df788c/32.png) [@Juniper200](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Juniper200)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2004, 4:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thoroughly-blah-restaurants/253693/30 "2004-07-07T04:35:17Z")
[QUOTE=Dogzilla] Let’s see, Little Italy in the Winn Dixie shopping center on Magnolia… No, wait, they changed ownership and they suck now too… [QUOTE] I used to eat there a bunch when I worked at the Democrat. They suck now? Shame. ---
**Author:** ![unclviny](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/e274bd/32.png) [@unclviny](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/unclviny)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2004, 1:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thoroughly-blah-restaurants/253693/31 "2004-07-07T13:02:00Z")
On reading the thread title Village Pizza & Seafood in Houston jumped immediately to mind. For some odd reason this chain is popular (new and expanding), there is nothing wrong with the food but there is nothing right either, it’s just “there”. Unclviny ---
**Author:** ![Hello\_Again](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/85e7bf/32.png) [@Hello\_Again](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hello_Again)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2004, 2:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thoroughly-blah-restaurants/253693/32 "2004-07-07T14:55:28Z")
Here in Ann Arbor, it’s _gotta_ be The Gandy Dancer. “Fancy service” that isn’t, bleh food, overpriced, all the usual suspects are in attendence. We have a problem here with a lot of bleh, overpriced restaurants. Unfortunately, the market is driven by a)football crowds and b)parents of U of M students, who largely hail from the bland-o-riffic middle class burbs of Detroit. If a blander place than Farmington Hills exists, I don’t know about it (though parts of N. Virginia give it a run for its money.) The owners of The Gandy Dancer own two or three other overpriced, underwhelming restaurants in town, but for being both the priciest and most underwhelming, The Gandy Dancer wins. ---
**Author:** ![caveman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/caveman/32/7242_2.png) [@caveman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/caveman)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2004, 6:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thoroughly-blah-restaurants/253693/33 "2004-07-07T18:36:25Z")
Here in the City of the Violet Crown, amid untold culinary splendor, lie fetid pits of mediocrity that often snare the unsuspecting. Their very names make me queasy: _Luby’s, Old San Francisco Steakhouse, Texas Land & Cattle Co., Pappasito/deaux’s, Maudie’s…_ the list, sadly, goes on… However, some of the places favored by the geriatric set are actually rather good; my favorite example of this phenomenon is the Frisco Shop…mmm, chicken fried steak & pie… ---
**Author:** ![Necros](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/necros/32/11086_2.png) [@Necros](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Necros)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2004, 6:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thoroughly-blah-restaurants/253693/34 "2004-07-07T18:41:21Z")
> [@chique](#): > > I’m going to put a great big huge caveat right here: This is not fine dining on a par with LA/NYC/SF or, for that matter, MPLS, but it’s as close as one can get in this burg, ok? It’s Michael’s, run by a crazy old Austrian guy and attached to the AmericInn on Hwy. 10. Please do let me know what you think. > > There’s another place in Waite Park called Bear Creek that’s not bad, either. It does lean towards bar food, but some of their entrees are excellent. And their food doesn’t come from freakin’ Apperts. Oh, I’m not that much of a food snob (most of the time). I’m just looking for someplace that has some good food. 🙂 I’ll be back in St. Cloud in September, so I’ll definitely check it out. I’ve been to Bear Creek, and I agree that they’re not bad at all. Plus, they had Leinie Big Butt on tap when I was there. Mmmmm… [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thoroughly-blah-restaurants/253693.md?page=1)