The continuation of being dumped on in Restaurants needs to end.

[billt460]

The reason you pay more at a restaurant is all the overhead. They have to pay staff, rent or mortgage, insurance, water, electric, gas, licensing, food sanitation courses, purveyors, loss from breakage, laundry, etc... Restaurant margins are around 5%. So most of what you are paying goes to keep the place open.

They've always had to pay that. But restaurants were a lot more affordable in years past. It's in the last 5 years or so they've gotten ridiculous in price. Even the drive thru grease pits.

https://nypost.com/2023/10/30/business/mcdonalds-revenue-soars-as-it-hikes-menu-prices-18-big-macs/

"One branch in Darien, Conn., charged as much as $18 for a Big Mac combo meal, which includes medium fries and a medium soft drink.

 

[Dave Hess]

Food at rest stops are always more expensive.

I agree $20 an hour pay in California will hurt fast food sales.

 

[snarl]

No doubt there is gouging. In the past five years all the operating costs have gone up so the food prices go up. If people are going to pay that kind of money for a big mac then mcd's will continue to charge that amount.

 

[CKN]

There is no value in eating out anymore. You eat out because you want to, you are traveling, or it's convenient. If you are looking for value for your money you need to stay home.

 

[alarmguy]

I try to eat healthy, I know Im not the typical consumer in a restaurant, even compared to my family and friends when we go out to eat. But so far I am winning the war against my family health history and enjoying it.

So much of this stuff now is just salt and fat covering up subpar meat and fish as well as poorly cooked.
It really is a challenge for me, though I tend to find at least one item in all places that I go that isnt fried or loaded with creamy fat laden sauce and can actually taste the food. Many places have very few if any items that can be considered nutritious yet the places are packed with people all the time so I am admitting I am unusual.

So far Bonefish Grill is my go to feel good place for a chain restaurant, also Carrabba's offers a few good items. Sadly that isnt always possible with local places and we have a TON of them here. Anyway, sometimes I dread where a family or friend may choose to go to dinner but so far I can find at least one item that I consider ok to eat but some places I cant.

I'll admit, price increases are starting to turn me off but so far we haven't cut back. Restaurant business is a tough business if you think about it.

 

[blkwtr]

I'm done with chain restaurants, and am now eating at locally owned establishments if at all possible.

Here's where I ate on Friday night: https://www.tripadvisor.com/Restaur...etto_House_of_Pasta-Saint_Louis_Missouri.html

Much better results overall.

Good restaurant on "The Hill" in St. Louis. Salad and toasted ravioli were my favorites.

 

[dlundblad]

And the pooches get some scraps of steak.

Was that saloon style restaurant very busy when you went there ?

I’m interested in seeing photos of this place, what’s the name of this place ?

It was pretty busy. Good music. Cool bar area. This is it. Right down the road from Fort Wayne GM plant.

MENU – The Local Saloon

thelocalsaloon.com

 

[Owen Lucas]

So much of this stuff now is just salt and fat covering up subpar meat and fish as well as poorly cooked.
It really is a challenge for me, though I tend to find at least one item in all places that I go that isnt fried or loaded with creamy fat laden sauce and can actually taste the food. Many places have very few if any items that can be considered nutritious yet the places are packed with people all the time so I am admitting I am unusual.

Fast food / processed food companies have mastered the "bliss point" which is a ratio of ingredients that makes food addictive. I presume this has an evolutionary element to it due to feat and famine modes our ancestors went through.

"The bliss point for salt, sugar, or fat is a range within which perception is that there is neither too much nor too little, but the "just right" amount of saltiness, sweetness, or richness. The human body has evolved to favor foods delivering these tastes: the brain responds with a "reward" in the form of a jolt of endorphins, remembers what we did to get that reward, and makes us want to do it again, an effect run by dopamine, a neurotransmitter. The human body needs salt for balancing fluids, sugar for energy, and fat for composing the brain.[4] Besides the physical and taste need for sugar, salt, and fat, foods that contain high amounts of these ingredients are typically visually appealing. The visual appeal can override suppressing appetite hormones for many people to consume these goods.[5] Combinations of sugar, fat, and salt act synergistically, and are more rewarding than any one alone. In food product optimization, the goal is to include two or three of these nutrients at their bliss point.[6]"

Bliss point (food) - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

So far Bonefish Grill is my go to feel good place for a chain restaurant, also Carrabba's offers a few good items.

Carrabba's is my favorite, I usually end up getting the Chicken Bryan.

 

[alarmguy]

Fast food has mastered the "bliss point" of food that makes it addictive. I presume this has an evolutionary element to it due to feat and famine modes our ancestors went through.

"The bliss point for salt, sugar, or fat is a range within which perception is that there is neither too much nor too little, but the "just right" amount of saltiness, sweetness, or richness. The human body has evolved to favor foods delivering these tastes: the brain responds with a "reward" in the form of a jolt of endorphins, remembers what we did to get that reward, and makes us want to do it again, an effect run by dopamine, a neurotransmitter. The human body needs salt for balancing fluids, sugar for energy, and fat for composing the brain.[4] Besides the physical and taste need for sugar, salt, and fat, foods that contain high amounts of these ingredients are typically visually appealing. The visual appeal can override suppressing appetite hormones for many people to consume these goods.[5] Combinations of sugar, fat, and salt act synergistically, and are more rewarding than any one alone. In food product optimization, the goal is to include two or three of these nutrients at their bliss point.[6]"

Bliss point (food) - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

Carrabba's is my favorite, I usually end up getting the Chicken Bryan.

Spot on with your post! Glad there are others out there like me *LOL*
Oh, yes, they have the human brain figured out and it's well known how our brain reacts. It is an addiction and people not satisfied unless it gets fed. But you can train yourself (like I suspect you know) to not like all that salt, sweetener and fat.

Chicken Bryan, yes. Got to love that they list the calories too and educated people already know what foods/sauces are laced with fat and salt so the calorie count is helpful.

 

[angeloc]

True to some extent. Many restaurants have plenty of help, there are many employees standing around doing nothing.

Having spent 40+ years in the food service industry tells me you may have not served time in a restaurant kitchen environment. Hiring quality staff and finding affordable ingredients is almost like finding an honest politician in DC...
Keep raising minimum wages folks...yer eggs will be getting colder.

 

[Hermann]

Having spent 40+ years in the food service industry tells me you may have not served time in a restaurant kitchen environment. Hiring quality staff and finding affordable ingredients is almost like finding an honest politician in DC...
Keep raising minimum wages folks...yer eggs will be getting colder.

Yes, for several years after high school graduation in 1972. Even though the work was unpleasant at times, quality was rarely sacrificed. This was a large hotel with everything from banquet facilities for up to 1000 folks to a coffee shoppe with revolving stools at a counter, also a 200 seat dining room.

 

[SC Maintenance]

yer eggs will be getting colder.

Mine won't - because I don't go anymore.

I never did work food service but when I was very little my mother used to wait tables to make ends meet - so I was always a big tipper, especially in the lower budget family places because I know those people generally didn't get great tips. I have pretty much given up that practice as well. Waiter takes your order, someone else leaves your food, they strategically drop off the bill when your mouth is full. Don't dare ask for a refill.

Most of my meals are business expenses and they could care less what I spend - but I still refuse. Funny that the hotels have mostly been able to maintain quality, everything from the top tier to the free breakfast places are as good as ever?

 

[Astro14]

Look, it’s simple: you don’t like the way an establishment treats you, don’t go there.

Take your appetite and money elsewhere.

 

[KrisZ]

I’m pretty sure you couldn’t ask for a better sign than this to change your ways. Someone above has your back, will you pay attention and change your ways though?

 

[Hermann]

Went to Cheddar's last prevening. Ordered chicken strips dinner with country gravy for dippin, a baked tater, and a salad which was wonderful. Our order obviously sat waiting to be delivered for a while after preparation. The chicken was hot but could have been 10-15° warmer. The tip off was the baked potato which was upper warmish but the butter was totally melted, telling me it had sat a while. Ordered a coke and it came out flat (zero fizz) twice. Didn't pay for that. It's still the Wild West out there folks, caveat emptor. Karen said her Monte Christo sandwich was not as hot as she would have liked it.

 

[SammyChevelleTypeS3]

Wife ordered me a fish sandwich from a place about a mile or two from the house. She got it home and I actually could not even cut the fish with a knife. It appeared to have been cooked hours ago and then refried once our order got placed. I was going to toss it. She would not let me. She went back YET I told her I WILL NOT accept any food from a place after I return something so she planned to get her money back. She came home smoking mad. They "claimed" the policy is "no refunds." But offered her more food which I would not accept. I rarely eat out anymore. I have a son who taught in culinary colleges and was an executive chef years ago and worked in many places. He is now a public school teacher. He said that experience in restaraunts alone caused him to avoid eating out at most places after seeing some of what goes on. I will go into Cracker Barrel once in a while or some local, private owned pizza or seafood places but that is about it.

 

[Pablo]

Wife ordered me a fish sandwich from a place about a mile or two from the house. She got it home and I actually could not even cut the fish with a knife.

Wow. Real talent. Food places.......they open to make money, nothing wrong with making money, but........................you would think that would include a concept known as "return customers"

Fish fry guy?? Cue the guy who hit the drill bits with a mower on the work bench!!

 

[GON]

Want to have better restaurants, the solution is simple. Bring free and open markets to healthcare.

Many wonderful individuals would live to run a independent restaurant, but the non competitive nature of healthcare and health insurance makes leaving a job and operating a restaurant prohibited to many who would love nothing better than operating a restaurant.

 

[billt460]

Want to have better restaurants, the solution is simple. Bring free and open markets to healthcare.

Many wonderful individuals would live to run a independent restaurant, but the non competitive nature of healthcare and health insurance makes leaving a job and operating a restaurant prohibited to many who would love nothing better than operating a restaurant.

Sadly because of cost, healthcare is becoming one of the fastest disappearing work benefits there is. Full coverage used to be a gimmie. Many companies, (even the larger one's), are either doing away with it entirely, or else charging large payroll deductions to help support it.

Just after I retired from the company I was working for back in 2014, they ended their full coverage, in favor of a, "healthcare savings account" that offered very minimal coverage.

This is only going to get worse as time marches on, until the government takes over the entire healthcare market..... And good luck with that.

 

[mrsilv04]

I'm out of town for a conference, and ran into a new one for me. A $100 guaranteed minimum, just to make a reservation at a restaurant.

On a MONDAY NIGHT? Hard pass. I'm in an area with a population of less than 400,000... not New York, LA or Chicago.