Cost / quality of meals out, chain restaurants
Discussion
After two recent poor experiences, had to raise this in a post.
Just back from a meal in a well-known Italian place that rhymes with Busy, and what an awful experience. Nearly £20 for a small plate of tepid, tasteless ravioli and a soft drink .... I could have done better myself with a Heinz tin and a carton of Tropicana from Sainsbury's for £4 total.
Yes I did make a quiet complaint to the waitress, she said she'd pass it on, but nothing changed. Except of course I didn't want to order anything else, and so we departed, for a leisurely stroll along the docks (no cruise ships in today).
Not long ago I had a similar experience in a similar place - again about £20 for a small bowl of lukewarm noodles and a soft drink.
Rant over, unless you have had similar?
Just back from a meal in a well-known Italian place that rhymes with Busy, and what an awful experience. Nearly £20 for a small plate of tepid, tasteless ravioli and a soft drink .... I could have done better myself with a Heinz tin and a carton of Tropicana from Sainsbury's for £4 total.
Yes I did make a quiet complaint to the waitress, she said she'd pass it on, but nothing changed. Except of course I didn't want to order anything else, and so we departed, for a leisurely stroll along the docks (no cruise ships in today).
Not long ago I had a similar experience in a similar place - again about £20 for a small bowl of lukewarm noodles and a soft drink.
Rant over, unless you have had similar?
They’re all pretty s
t tbh but at least consistent and predictable.
There’s a little Italian restaurant/cafe I know where it’s still £20/head for three courses but no choices. £10 for a bottle of either red or white wine (again, no choice other than red or white) and it’s fabulous. Always.
t tbh but at least consistent and predictable. There’s a little Italian restaurant/cafe I know where it’s still £20/head for three courses but no choices. £10 for a bottle of either red or white wine (again, no choice other than red or white) and it’s fabulous. Always.
Mid market chain restaurants are universally dire. They basically assemble ready meals onto plates. Everything is centrally cooked and packaged. To make sure everything is stable during transportation and the days between when they are cooked and served, the food is pumped with emulsifiers, preservatives and stabilisers. Won’t ever eat in them unless there is no other choice.
Edited by wyson on Tuesday 26th December 22:20
Lefty said:
They’re all pretty st tbh but at least consistent and predictable.
There’s a little Italian restaurant/cafe I know where it’s still £20/head for three courses but no choices. £10 for a bottle of either red or white wine (again, no choice other than red or white) and it’s fabulous. Always.
'Predictably st tbh but at least consistent and predictable. There’s a little Italian restaurant/cafe I know where it’s still £20/head for three courses but no choices. £10 for a bottle of either red or white wine (again, no choice other than red or white) and it’s fabulous. Always.
t', there's a marketing tagline Had a similar experience on Christmas Eve when we always go to the same restaurant as bit of a tradition.
Been there a couple of times this year and thought that the quality had definitely dropped but maybe they would up their game for this time of year…no luck..
1 boiled potato, 1 roast, 1 parsnip, and 1 sprout , and to add insult to injury at almost half way through they brought over a single chipolata as they had forgotten it previously…
Been there a couple of times this year and thought that the quality had definitely dropped but maybe they would up their game for this time of year…no luck..
1 boiled potato, 1 roast, 1 parsnip, and 1 sprout , and to add insult to injury at almost half way through they brought over a single chipolata as they had forgotten it previously…
Edited by Kuwahara on Tuesday 26th December 23:33
For balance we live in a part of the county where there are few chain establishments.
Quality of food and service varies very widely, from exceptional to really, really bad as a result. Price is little indicator.
At least with a chain 99% of the time it’ll be open when it should be and they’ll have what’s on the menu and be ‘ok’
Rising food prices has hit the chain restaurant sector hard and you can see this in reducing quality and portion size. To the vast majority of the population they don’t care though they just want a meal out. You can make any chain restaurant food better at home and there are independents that will do it better sure but that’s missing the point of a chain restaurant.
Wagamama used to be delicious at the start, still remember queuing for a seat on the bench at one of the originals in Central London. It went downhill when it was sold to a private equity group, and IMO became inedible once sold to the Restaurant Group. Honestly is a travesty to Japanese food, in a way the original wasn’t.
The founder Alan Yau is a bit annoying. His modus operandi is to start a concept that is really delicious, expand to 3 or 4 sites, prove it has chain potential then sell out the concept to some sort of group, who then centralise the kitchen and cheapen the hell out of everything. Everytime I eat at one of his new places, I just think, any day now, this will turn to st.
The founder Alan Yau is a bit annoying. His modus operandi is to start a concept that is really delicious, expand to 3 or 4 sites, prove it has chain potential then sell out the concept to some sort of group, who then centralise the kitchen and cheapen the hell out of everything. Everytime I eat at one of his new places, I just think, any day now, this will turn to s
t. Edited by wyson on Wednesday 27th December 00:08
We'll go to the chain that rhymes with Jezzos. My 12 year old daughter enjoys it, it's fairly straight-forward food and generally the food quality & service level is consistent.
We'll only go there when they're accepting Tastecard however - I feel that the prices are geared towards most diners having some form of discount/voucher to reduce the prices to an acceptable level.
We'll only go there when they're accepting Tastecard however - I feel that the prices are geared towards most diners having some form of discount/voucher to reduce the prices to an acceptable level.
What pisses me off the most about the chains is how they are now exploiting the food delivery apps. Take zizzi for instance, you may think “I don’t want to eat there” but you’re browsing on just eat and see an Italian restaurant called Coco di Mama…. Catches you off guard and you order for what looks like a nice Italian place….. you get food from Zizzi. This is clear misrepresentation and needs to stop
Ziplobb said:
I simply dont understand dining in a chain. Pretty much anywhere you go now in this country has superb local independant eateries
The reasons for eating in a chain restaurant are brand standards, and hygiene. Fridge / food delivery temperatures religiously monitored and signed off after every shift. Use by dates religiously monitored. Allergen controls properly understood and maintained. Kitchen equipment properly sanitised. The kitchen itself rigorously cleaned.
Having had first hand experience all all levels, I will only eat in chain restaurants or Michelin star. Nothing in between.
wyson said:
Wagamama used to be delicious at the start, still remember queuing for a seat on the bench at one of the originals in Central London. It went downhill when it was sold to a private equity group, and IMO became inedible once sold to the Restaurant Group. Honestly is a travesty to Japanese food, in a way the original wasn’t.
Inedible? I still find Wagamama by far the best fast food chain restaurant, albeit some ingredients are cooked off site.Olivera said:
wyson said:
Wagamama used to be delicious at the start, still remember queuing for a seat on the bench at one of the originals in Central London. It went downhill when it was sold to a private equity group, and IMO became inedible once sold to the Restaurant Group. Honestly is a travesty to Japanese food, in a way the original wasn’t.
Inedible? I still find Wagamama by far the best fast food chain restaurant, albeit some ingredients are cooked off site.Pasta / noodles - any chain anywhere this will be delivered pre-cooked and frozen. Likewise the sauce(s). Ready for the attentions of Chef Mike.
Pizza - dough will be delivered frozen, likewise sauces and toppings.
Desserts - all will be delivered frozen from Brakes or some such and defrosted for service.
All the 'Chef' needs to do in any of these places is be in control of the frozen store and microwave. Not necessarily a bad thing.
Ziplobb said:
I simply dont understand dining in a chain. Pretty much anywhere you go now in this country has superb local independant eateries
In my experience if we are talking about lowish price (on a par with chains) independent restaurants, I would say on average they might actually be *worse* than the chains. Yes there will be the odd independent gem that breaks this trend, and those should be sought out, but most are st. They don't have the economies of scale of a chain, so it will be the cheapest ingredients and cuts of everything. The budget really needs to be upped to find independent restaurants of a consistently good quality.Gassing Station | Food, Drink & Restaurants | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff