OVERRATED LIST

Hooters - it's fast food quality with marked up prices because of tits and ass

Outback - The meat quality is pretty good. My problem with them is that their food lacks culinary mastery. Everything they serve is filled with saturated fat and butter.

Chick-fil-A - I have tried multiple menu items and nothing has hit the spot. Burgers are better.

Jack in the Box - In the e-coli days in the 90s, this place was great. Remember the Colossus??? Their meat quality has really gone down. Some of the patties I get taste like they came from the grade school cafeteria.

Burger King - Same thing with Jack. Their meat quality has gone downhill. Most Whoppers I get are hit or miss.

IHOP - Not trucker enough for my liking.

I don't mind Olive Garden that much, and I feel like I've had plenty of Italian food. Their chicken parm is pretty good. I just don't think of Olive Garden as something that's supposed to be home-made Italian or anything. It's chain restaurant fare.

Olive Garden is an afterthought in affluent, suburban neighborhoods. Buca di Beppo, Carrabba's and Macaroni Grill are now the places the big wigs go if they want franchised Italian.

In my town, riff raff go to Olive Garden. That's why I am surprised it is mentioned so much in this thread. I bet Olive Garden will be like Sizzler and Godfather's Pizza 20 years from now.

My wife and I were going to dinner the other night and were talking about the rise of restaurants. I don't know much about this, but my theory is that at one point in time restaurants didn't exist, and then they were probably invented primarily for travelers while all the locals prepared their own meals.

Then at some point, perhaps in the 30s to 50s or so with the rise of cars, I think local people probably started going to restaurants occasionally for special occasions. No reason to go out when the wife was at home all day to prepare meals.

And then maybe in the 60s you had two changes that made an impact. Fast food started making meals cheap, and women started working. Now all of a sudden families had some practical reasons to start eating out. This probably outweighed advances in home foods like frozen dinners, better shipping to give us diversity of foods, and maybe even things like more mixes.

Now fast forward to today, and my wife and I are going out to dinner just because we're busy and working late and it's more convenient and easy to just walk to a restaurant than it would be to go home and cook. That's a long ways from the original mission of restaurants.

All of this is just a theory, so anyone can feel free to refute it or expand on it.

Pizza Hut blows too.

Their crust is like eating a stick of butter.

I know I'm going to catch a bunch of shit for saying this, but I don't get all the Applebee's hate on this board. I've never had anything there I didn't really enjoy.

I live in Florida which has to have more restaurants per capita than any other state in the union due to the number of tourists. Me and the missus dine in all sorts of restaurants , from hole-in-the-walls to craptastically expensive places (well, at least when her well-heeled relatives are treating). So don't think Applebee's is the best place I ever go into, and don't know any better.

I've been in some expensive places I'll never go back into again because of their food, but I would never hesitate to drop into Applebee's for a meal.

So flame away...

Tried Cheddar's for lunch today, had "New Orleans Pasta" which had shrimp, chicken and sausage. Spicy. Not bad, lunch with a salad was like $11 and tax.

I used to hear a lot of hype for In A Tub from the stoner crowd. It's also got a 3.5/5 stars on Yelp and an 87% on UrbanSpoon. That shit seriously ****ed my shit up and nearly ruined a Valentine's Day for me once.

That dish is awesome! Its one of my main choices when I go there. The Lemon Pepper Chicken is good too.

agreed. Stoned or not, that powdered nuclear cheese crap they put on a taco is plain wrong

Oh, God yes, this!

I had this flaming fajita thing from applebees the other day, it had way more flavor than it should have been. total sleeper meal. Woah

I don't know about some of these places ... like Applebee's, for example. I ate there once. But afterwards. I did some calculations and decided never to go back. Here's what I figured out ...

The average US male person lives 75.6 years. If you deduct the first 18 years on account of those are the years where you either eat pizza or don't get to choose the restaurant, that give you 57.6 total dinner years. Then, you have to deduct another 5.6 years because those are the years you either eat oatmeal or malt-o-meal or some other kind of porridge which leaves you 52 total dinner years.

52 years times 365 is 18,980 dinners. Now, you have to deduct about 4,290 dinners to account for Christmas, Thanksgiving, Picnics, Orgies, and other special events and that gives you a grand total of 14,690 dinners you can eat in your lifetime. That's it. Only 14,690 dinners. And you guys want to waste one of those eating at Applebee's?

FAX

It's highly possible that you simply don't like authentic vietnamese food. It isn't for eveyone. They use lots of fish sauce (fermented fish juice), lots of chili oil and paste, lots of fresh herbs like mint and cilantro that have strong flavors. That place is authentic as it gets and if you like authentic vietnamese food, you will like it. If you are looking for sweet beef and rice noodles, you will be grossed out.

I was also severely disappointed in Next Door Pizza. It got talked up a lot when it opened so we made the trek to Lee's Summit. That Chicago Style pizza was laughable, and while I did appreciate their beer selection they poured me a Moose Drool in an ice frosted mug, way too cold for that beer.

I also found the Margherita at PizzaBella bland.

Good point.

:grr:

Whatever sources you use for your information, just stop. This, like everything else you post, is a hoax. The restaurant confirmed that it was about a $33 bill with a tip of $7.33, and there was nothing written on the receipt.

Get over yourself.

Http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/trending...165556900.html

:hmmm:

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Here ya go, Saul.


http://www.thesmokinggun.com/buster/...op-hoax-869032

You mean, people LIE on the internet????

Wife just made me this and its not overrated http://img.tapatalk.com/426eefa2-40a2-1a1d.jpg








HTC Inspire/Cleardroid

:hmmm:

I can see that invitation now

YOU'RE INVITED TO AN ORGY NEXT WEEKEND THE 17TH
BRING PLENTY OF CONDOMS AND A COVERED DISH

Their sandwiches are not good at all.

I always get the strips. Way better.

Yep. In fact, I will be eating those tonight. Tuesday's are buy one meal and gt a kids meal free nights. Plus their milkshakes are great.

LMAO PF Changs is HORRIBLE compared to actual Chinese food.

Dunk N Donuts taste like dick

I like how the nuggets and strips have their own flavor.

Still better than Krispy Kreme

I feel like the nuggets are dry. They seem overcooked to me.

Hooters! The food is extremely overpriced and the wait staff do not live up to the reputation!

Somewhat, yes.

I don't get them often.

White Castle is complete shit.

It's not only plausible, but true. There are some good documentaries on the subject.

One thing I'll add is the rise of the chain.

Back when travelers were searching for good grub (being away from their home kitchen and all) it wasn't uncommon to get stung by a place that had not only unappetizing food, but unhealthy.

Unhealthy as in sickness and death, not as in 6packs going to 2packs.

The rise of the chain restaurant was fueled by the wary public eager for a place they knew and trusted (not to give them botulism, for instance.)

Golden arches. Plaster Shoney's man. They're not simply marketing "I'm a restaurant", but "I won't have you hurling like Bob's Unknown-to-you Restaurant over there".

We bit on it. Local dives suffered.

On another note, sometimes another way to say "suffered" is "became uncrowded enough to finally eat there regularly", which is a good thing.

Moral of the story: Find people who know good food when they eat it, and find out where they eat.

And you know this because....

Of course, there's also the possibility that some restaurants serve good food and provide good service so they grow into a chain. I would love to open a Free State Brewery, for example.

Because he tried Dunkin Donuts recently.

Applebee's
Chick-fil-A

I don't know how people eat that stuff.

About 15 years ago a WC opened up about 5 miles from my house. It was ridiculous the amount of people they pulled in... for about six months. I tried it once and that was enough. Grease-soaked bread with onions and something that was supposed to be beef. That store lasted about two years and it was gone. It's been a Boston Market ever since.

Agreed but their jarred sauce is pretty good.

Ihop and Hooters.

Interesting. I figured the chains became popular because of a desire to eliminate risk when traveling, but I would've guessed it was risk from a flavor perspective, not a health perspective. But that makes sense.

A movie that I really enjoyed was Memphis Belle. I can't remember who was in it other than Harry Connick, Jr., but at one point two guys were having a conversation about what they'd do after the war. One of them talked about the concept of opening a chain of restaurants, without knowing what it was, and the other guy was roundly dismissing it. "Why would people want to eat at the same restaurant in different cities?" I thought it was kind of funny.

I need to go re-watch that movie and see if I still like it. I haven't seen it in years.

A friend (23 y.o female) just posted this on facebook:

****, i wish we had a damned Olive Garden where i live. Being Mexican, Italian food at all is hard to come by. lol

Nah Krispy Kreme is better.

Our Cheddars went out of business, but their chicken fingers were awesome.

Ponak's

/thread

Chef Mavro and to a lesser extent Ruth's Chris
They're good, but not near worth what the prices suggest they should be.

Sounds about right. Damn cars.

Those steakhouse places serve a good steak, but the prices are ludicrous.

This got me thinking. My wife and I used to eat at restaurants a lot, like 3 or 4 nights per week. The past few years we've settled down and probably only do it once or twice per week, but if you figure that maybe we're averaging $60 per visit with tip, that comes out to about $500 per month on average.

Actually, we charge most of our restaurant meals, so I just went and looked at our annual statement summaries. In 2011, we charged $7,440 for "dining". Now, some of that is meals and vacation and some of it is social lunches and stuff, so actually $500 per month sounds about right.

I was wondering if we spent enough to afford a cook to come over once or twice a week and cook us a gourmet dinner at home, but I'm not sure that's enough. Roughly $110 per week over the course of the year - by the time you spend $30 or so on the food, that would be about $70 per week for labor. Would a person come over twice a week and cook us a meal and clean up for roughly $300 per month? Eh, I guess it's possible.

At least three hours of work per evening...so...looking at about $12 per hour. Yeah, that should be enough for gourmet.

Oh yeah Denny's has gone downhill too.

That place is the absolute worst.

Is that the place in little Mexico on Southwest BLVD?

Manny's

One of many. They have pitcher of Margaritas that are about 90% tequila with a splash of mix. It's over the top strong. Literally 1 glass will get you drunk and 2 makes it hard to walk.

I'm seriously shocked to learn what other people eat and see how different is from my diet. I'm not passing judgement. I'm just amazed by the differences.

BTW, if you expand this from "Overated Places to Eat" to "Eat or Drink", let me add Starbucks to my list. I know people that act like they put crack in those overpriced coffee drinks. I've been there once and thought it was the most vile thing I've ever tasted. The coffee down at the gas station is 100x better and costs $.65 if you bring your own mug. :shake:

If there was any justice in the world, there would be a Tully's on every corner instead of Starbucks.

Amen. Starbucks would top my list as well. It's not the worst coffee in the world by far.. but it is the definition of OVERRATED! People act like it's amazing, but any decent coffee shop (especially one that roasts beans on premises) beats the crap out of it.

If you want crack in your coffee drink, though.. I have the place for you.

Of course most people don't go there for coffee per se; more like coffee milkshakes.

Edit: It's pretty pretentious too.

i like Dunkin Doughnuts coffee much better than Starbucks

Waffle house

Chipotle

Jimmy john's

Carrabba's


*edit

Which come to think of it, I wouldn't even call it overrated......the place just sucks.

Chipotle isn't overrated, Love their underpriced food. ;)

Also lost a lot of weight eating the Veggie Burrito with rice/black beans/hot/medium/mild/guacamole 5 days a week. ;)

I will also add it can't really be overrated if the parking lot is so full for lunch you can't even get in there to park your car much less order.

I'm starting to get intrigued by this. The more I think about it, you're right. It just might work.

Back in the day, there was a place around here (fast food chain joint) called Long John Silvers. Now that food was BAD.

http://www.my3cents.com/review_images/108492.gif

How the hell can waffle house be over rated? It is supposed to be a breakfast dive, not a four star gourmet breakfast place. I'd say it's under rated.

They still have those. Yeah, not a fan.

Panera

I was a freshman in high school when that place came to town. All would hear about was how good the food was. A buddy of mine and I went in one afternoon to try it out. We ordered large, to try as much as we could. Out of all the items we ordered, there wasn't one of them we could finish, it was THAT bad. It was like Alpo, with breading.

https://secure3.convio.net/warl/imag...lder/10961.jpg

The times I've gone the fish was all wet when I got it. Like they fried it and then stuck it in a steamer so all the breading got soggy and started peeling off.

Long John Silver's is a guilty pleasure of mine. Once or twice a year I'll eat there, but yeah, I can see where you guys are coming from.

I've always liked Long John Silver's, but I just can't deal with all the damned grease. I'll eat there perhaps once a year (if that), but I feel like crap for a couple of hours afterward.

Had a friend that worked at Captain D's (very similar) years ago. He said that every article of clothing he'd wear to work would get ruined because of the grease in a few days.

only thing good at LJS is the crunch shit in the bottom of the paper boat.

We still have them and I love it. I understand it's greasy and probably not the best quality stuff but something about LJS appeals to me. Maybe it's because my mom loved it when I was growing up and we ate there a lot. Probably grab lunch there about once a month. Love me a little malt vinegar on my big ol slab 'o fish... like their fries, the hushpuppies and the slaw... and please put some extra "crunchies" in the box thank you.

Now I want LJS for lunch today.

Perhaps we just had a sting of bad owners at this one? It went through 3 owners in 4 years. After that, it shut down and sat there for another 5 years, until they tore it down.

I can understand why people wouldn't be a fan of LJS. Every one I've ever eaten at has been the same... it just happens to be a same I like. Maybe it's a guilty pleasure. Like I said I don't claim they offer the best quality I just dig it anyway.

I was a big fan of LJS growing up, but I don't think I've eaten at one in 20+ years. I've seen them once or twice while traveling, but haven't stopped for various reasons.

What's Cheddar's? Anyone ever eaten there? What's an equivalent restaurant chain?

This