I always order a french dip. I am almost always mad that I ordered it because I am a punk and I like shaved “meat” and I usually get “real” meat, which is thick and fatty. and probably the way it is supposed to be, but still…
Clam chowder. If at a less-fancy place, onion rings.
I’m spoiled. A handful of little Mom & Pop diners around here will give you a grade-A breakfast-I usually order a western omelet, although I had great SOS last Sunday in Parkville, MD.
Usually I’m a seafood ordering person when out for the evening. Broiled seafood samplers and the like are prime targets.
For you folks who like German, there’s a little hole in the wall on route 30 in Abbottstown, PA called Hofbrauhaus. Yummy food, great cuisine, and prices that aren’t hard on the wallet.
Gyros, especially at diners (and Greek restaurants, of course). I LOVE gyros!
If it’s a place I’ve never been, I always try to order something that comes with a sampling of several popular dishes or house specials, to try a little of everything. This works well at Italian, Mexican, and Greek places in particular.
If it’s a Mexican place, keep that salsa flowing! If it’s a barbecue place, I must sample all the sauces. If a place serves chili (even if it’s a “soup” as part of a soup list), I feel compelled to sample the chili.
Onion rings instead of fries, please, when it is possible to do so.
Fresh-squeezed lemonade is the best, even though most places only offer Minute Maid or Hi-C or something. I always ask if they make it fresh, and order it if they do.
Yes, actually, I can, and you can too. The quality of the hunk o’ beef is the most important factor. Make nice-nice with a butcher, buy a grill (or make one – the lengthwise half of a 50-gallon drum, an appropriately sized sheet of expanded metal, & a good size pile of wood will work quite well) and you will never again pay a premium price for someone else to cook a merely decent steak. Get good meat, and using the broiler of a cheap-ass range will taste better.
If that’s too much trouble, just realize you’re paying for the service instead of the food.
Sorry for the hijack.
Bread pudding. Unless it has raisins in it, in which case, I’ll take the creme brulee.
I’m not much of a sweets eater, so I don’t do desserts at home except on special occasions, and no one else in my house LIKES bread pudding or creme brulee (these people are not normal) so there’s no point in making them on those rare occasions I do get a craving. So, if I can get either when I’m out for dinner, I’m all over it. With strong black coffee. Yum.
Seconded. I rarely find gnocchi, so it’s still a novelty and I order it when I can.
My last gnocchi experience (in wild mushroom & marsala cream sauce, at a North Beach restaurant in SF last year) may be hard to top.
Onion rings instead of fries, although it pisses me off that most places charge a little extra for that. :mad:
Various seafood bisque soups. Lobster bisque or crab bisque, yumm. 
Note to Frederick residents: try the bisques and cream soups at the Double T diner across from the Target on Rte. 355.
Bread pudding. Sweet, rich, and easy to make…so why do so many places not make it well? 
My Chocolate Kahlua bread pudding is excellent! Yet, I keep searching. Word to the wise: Famous Dave’s manages to pull it off with a well done hot bread pudding topped with vanilla ice cream and rum sauce. Their Key Lime Pie is excellent, too.
I ordered “French onion soup” from a chain bakery/cafe here once a few years ago, and it was served microwaved in a styrofoam bowl, with a square slice of that Kraft Singles-type “Swiss” cheese limply melted on top (not nearly spanning the entire surface). I don’t consider myself a “food snob,” but God, what an abomination.
I’d have been better off dumping a packet of onion soup mix into a jar of Kikkoman, tossing it back, and chasing it with a squirt of Easy Cheese.
For those of you who like the gnocchi alla vodka, the best I’ve had was at an upscale Italian chain restaurant called Maggiano’s, which serves HUGE family-style portions, similar to Buca Di Beppo, if you have either of those near you. I tried making my own gnocchi once using Alton Brown’s recipe, but it was a colossal disaster, so now I leave it to the professionals.
On a semi-related note, I HATE a la carte dining. I get so pissed off when I end up at a restaurant that usually has higher-than-average prices, and the meals don’t come with anything. No sides, no salads, nothing – and the sides end up costing an arm and a leg too! I’m looking at you, upscale steakhouses! If I order an entree, I want it to come with other stuff that goes well with it, and have it factored into the price. Why is it that only classy/fancy restaurants usually do the a la carte thing?
Duck.
Well no, I don’t usually order it because when it’s on the menu it’s usually $30, meant for at least two people, and takes two hours to make.
But I’ve run into a few places that had duck appitizers, or smaller duck dishes and I have to go for it. I’m still waiting for the opening of Peking McDuck.
And liver. In whole or pate form. Yes, I like liver.
If it’s a place where we’re eating “Thai style,” with several communal dishes in the middle of the table, and not just a quick single dish for an on-the-go meal, I will invariably order chicken with cashew nuts. I can’t get enough if it.
If I am anywhere here in New Mexico, I have to try the green chile stew.
Strangely, although I love Thai food, chicken, and cashews, I’ve never ordered that dish, in (my one trip to) Thailand or in the U.S. It always struck me as the “chicken fingers” of the Thai menu, and I’d always go with something spicier or seemingly more exotic.
I’ll have to make a point of trying it, though. It’s probably better than I envision.
Ice water.
From the tap.
It fills me up enough that I don’t eat so much. Of course, if it’s a good meal, there’s always the doggie bag … 
Pretty much. Here’s a few hints and tips. Use a cast iron pan, well seasoned. Make sure the pan is very hot- and one way to do this- and add extra taste with fewer calories- is to cut some of the fat trims and fry them first. When they are sizzling and melting, make sure the bottom of the pan is lightly oiled with that same fat. Have the steak sitting ou, room temp, and pre-seasoned. Make sure it is well marbled. Fry to no more than Medium rare. True, really really good steakhouses have “dry-aged” beef, which is hard for us “civilians” to procure. But otherwise, you can do almost as well. Oh, and you’ll set off the smoke alarm. Now, what **MadPansy64 **sez is correct also, but we can’t always BBQ outdoors.
I will always order Smothered Chicken if I see it, which is rare.
One of my standards is a Ceasar salad, few restaurants have really good dressing. Oddly, there are a couple semi-fast-food eateries locally (Pizza-a-Go-Go and la Boulangerie) that have excellent dressing.
**Big Bad Voodoo Lou **- Preach it Sister! There’s a local seafood place (Scotts) that does this. I hate that place. Hwaaaay overpriced. Oddly, if it is a steakhouse, I can live with “a al carte” is the steak is big enough (I go high-protien/low carb once in a while).
Depending on the restaurant, I’ll order spinach and artichoke dip, turkey, or lamb. I love queso, tortilla soup, and cheese enchiladas, but unfortunately a lot of places around here just don’t do these dishes justice. When you consider the sizable Hispanic population of this city, it’s amazing. I’ll always try these two when I go to a new restaurant that offers them, and I always order them at the restaurants that I KNOW do them well. In fact, in my family, we don’t say that we want to go to a specific restaurant, we say that we want queso or tortilla soup, and we all know where we’re going for dinner.
Slippery Pot Pie. And being such a regional and traditional dish, and hard to really mess up, I’m satisfied almost always.
Another French Onion Soup orderer here.