Announcement

Collapse
No announcement yet.

Mediocre chain restaurants

Collapse
X
 
  • Filter
  • Time
  • Show
Clear All
new posts

    Originally posted by ursus arctos View Post
    AKA people with better things to do than spend their lives in automobiles
    Don't you have some kids to shoo off your lawn?

    Comment


      I had some 'Nduja on my pizza at Pizza Express for the first time last week. It wasn't too bad.

      Comment


        Nah, there's plenty of room for everyone



        More seriously, those at best mediocre "roadside" chains rely almost entirely on people who either don't want to stray more than a few hundred metres from a motorway exit and/or will always go for predictable and mediocre as opposed to "taking a chance" on someplace they haven't eaten before.

        I can't honestly say that I'd rather die, but I would never chose to live that way.

        Comment


          The real benefit of shows like Diners, Drive-ins and Dives is that it reminds people of the small / indie options that still exist. It's too easy to just go to places you already know.

          Comment


            For some reason, this thread is suddenly giving me a flashback to a road trip as a teenager which opened my eyes to different families doing things in different ways. I had a group of friends that I went on hiking holidays with in youth hostels once every summer. When we were 15, we wanted to go to the Peak District or possibly the Lake District, I forget which. My dad drove us there, my friend's dad drove us back. On the way there, my dad drove at his usual speed, which meant getting us there in 3 hours flat. There was exactly one pit stop at a service station to use the loos and grab sandwiches, where two of my friends confessed they had been so terrified of the speed we were being driven at that they had been independently planning their own funerals in their heads. On the way back, my friend's dad drove at his usual speed, which meant it took us 7 hours to get back, and included a 2 hour diversion where we went off the motorway and pootled around some country lanes until we found a nice pub for a sit-down meal. I found it infuriatingly slow and just wanted to be home already. Quite the contrast.

            Comment


              I worked with a guy whose idea of a perfect vacation was driving around the wilds of Scotland or Finland or wherever took his fancy.

              But not driving...stopping to look at antiques...driving...stopping for a distillery tour. No, he liked to just drive for 8...10...12 hours a day, then stop for the night and do it all again the next day.

              He said it was the end of many relationships for him.

              Comment


                Fancy that

                Comment


                  Originally posted by WOM View Post
                  The US has a good selection of consistently decent roadside sit-down places; Applebees, Chili's, Red Lobster, Olive Garden, TGIFriday's, etc. You rarely get a shit meal, but nobody's confusing it with fine dining. It's consistently consistent.
                  Ha! Ursus calls WOM a crank. You should hear my mental response to this comment

                  Comment


                    I may have substituted a few words in reading it.

                    I think I can make it work for us with only two changes. In fact, one only needs to swap the position of two adjectives.

                    Comment


                      You can probably just move "rarely" to after US. The syntax would be a bit weird, but it would work

                      Comment


                        I'll still go for swapping "decent" and "shit"

                        Comment


                          Originally posted by ursus arctos View Post
                          I'll still go for swapping "decent" and "shit"
                          Oh, please. How many Chili's, Applebees, TGIFs, etc. have you ever eaten in?

                          Comment


                            One of each, which was more than enough

                            We have different tastes in all kinds of things.

                            Comment


                              Originally posted by TonTon View Post
                              Millennials kill everything. Also they spend all their money on avocado on toast. Which they call avocado toast because they can't afford all the words, due to spending all their money on avocado on toast.

                              McDonald's call their holes "restaurants". We shouldn't ever listen to "industry types".

                              Wahaca does some stuff that's spicy enough for me and some that's unspicy enough for my other half. That's part of the reason we like it.
                              I think they’re often also called “stores.”

                              BTW, has everyone seen The Founder? It’s about how Ray Kroc got McDonalds going and swindled the real McDonalds Brothers out of a fortune. It didn’t get any oscars because, I’m told, powerful interests worked against it.

                              Comment


                                Originally posted by TonTon View Post
                                Millennials kill everything. Also they spend all their money on avocado on toast. Which they call avocado toast because they can't afford all the words, due to spending all their money on avocado on toast.
                                What is it with hipsters/Americans reducing perfectly good phrases? Actually, I will take it back about Americans, they can do what they want with their language but every macaroni cheese over here now is a mac'n'cheese. We have two perfectly good English words, why not use them.

                                Comment


                                  Gin and tonic in Spanish is gin-tonic.

                                  Comment


                                    Why did "you" kill the "and" in macaroni and cheese to start with?

                                    Comment


                                      Originally posted by Bordeaux Education View Post
                                      macaroni cheese
                                      This is almost as bad as avocado toast. It's macaroni and cheese.

                                      Man, it really freaks me out when I agree with TonTon so many times in one day....

                                      Comment


                                        Originally posted by Bordeaux Education View Post
                                        What is it with hipsters/Americans reducing perfectly good phrases? Actually, I will take it back about Americans, they can do what they want with their language but every macaroni cheese over here now is a mac'n'cheese. We have two perfectly good English words, why not use them.
                                        Macaroni and cheese has a long history. It was brought here by Thomas Jefferson, apparently. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Macaro...se?wprov=sfti1


                                        I’m not sure when it became so widely known as “mac’n’cheese.” Perhaps Kraft used that in their advertising or maybe it just caught on with the young people as the Kraft version is popular with college students.

                                        Comment


                                          Originally posted by WOM View Post
                                          I worked with a guy whose idea of a perfect vacation was driving around the wilds of Scotland or Finland or wherever took his fancy.

                                          But not driving...stopping to look at antiques...driving...stopping for a distillery tour. No, he liked to just drive for 8...10...12 hours a day, then stop for the night and do it all again the next day.

                                          He said it was the end of many relationships for him.
                                          I once went on a 4 days tour of Scotland. The first leg of the journey was Manchester to Thurso with a break on the way in Inverness. I got in Thurso at 930pm and left the day after at 630am. I then went by coach to Ullapool to catch a ferry to Lewis and so on. I spent most of my time travelling, without a hitch (a 15 min delay was the worse snag, it meant I had to rush slightly my second pint in Ullapool...). All done with the Freedom of Scotland pass.

                                          ​​​​​​

                                          Comment


                                            That's a good point - I am arguing against my 'avocado toast' polemic. I suppose it ties up with cauliflower cheese. Actually, that doesn't help, does it? In thinking about it, it is a mental name as it suggests a cheese made of macaroni. Anyway, my point still stands.

                                            I did love, in the Wikipdeia entry, it saying "In the United States, it is considered a comfort food." - as opposed to, in the UK, where it is regarded as haute cuisine.

                                            Comment


                                              Nobody ever said "bread and/with garlic". Just "garlic bread".

                                              Comment


                                                Now WOM needs to tell us why the stuff in the box is "Kraft Dinner" in Canada

                                                Comment


                                                  Originally posted by Hot Pepsi View Post
                                                  BTW, has everyone seen The Founder? It’s about how Ray Kroc got McDonalds going and swindled the real McDonalds Brothers out of a fortune. It didn’t get any oscars because, I’m told, powerful interests worked against it.
                                                  I dunno, I remember it didn't review very well at the time. That's why I didn't see it, despite the subject matter being of interest.

                                                  Comment


                                                    Originally posted by Sporting View Post
                                                    Gin and tonic in Spanish is gin-tonic.
                                                    Italy, too (as is often the case)

                                                    Comment

                                                    Working...
                                                    X