Do restaurants really serve microwaved 'ready meals'?

[AtleastitsnotMonday]

As it says really. This has come up several times on threads about eating out recently. Basically people saying they are not paying restaurant price for microwaved food. Is this really true? What's the point in having chefs if it's a case of sticking things in a microwave? Surely they wouldn't get away with it. It's often mentioned in discussion about pasta dishes in Italian chain restaurants, surely buying in ready made meals would cost them a whole lot more that cooking a bit of pasta and sauce anyway.

zizzi- all the pasta dishes are microwaved
pizza express
Prezzo
Frankie & Bennys

I worked at a place which may have been run by a company sounding like National Rust.

All the food was frozen. Scones (freshly made) were microwaved from frozen. Cakes everything was frozen. We didn’t have any cooking equipment, only a microwave. All bought in.

@babsanderson Thai is a fast food cuisine. I would expect Thai food to be cooked there and then in front of me. I don't expect complex slow cooked European casserole dishes to be whisked up from scatch. A boeuf a la daube takes five hours.

@sensechec Yes I have at both the original London restaurant and the Edinburgh chain one. The food was lovely in them both but I'd heard (on here actually) that the chain ones microwaved the food. But I see another pp says they don't.

Yep. I worked at TGI Fridays (UK) as a waitress when I was 18.

The vegetables, pasta, and mashed potato would arrive frozen. In little clear bags.

To cook it, the “chefs” simply put the frozen bag into the microwave for 60 seconds and would dump it straight onto a plate.

When I worked at little chef they were! And the burgers were often cooked on the griddle straight from the freezer, the jacket potatoes used to just sit pre cooked in the fridge in giant plastic containers in what I can only describe as their own juices 🤭😂

When Heston revamped them all it was a lot better, the beer battered fish was actually battered to order and the scrambled egg was an actual cracked egg, not just packaged powder with milk 😂

And yet Wetherspoons are one of the places that don’t microwave most of their stuff!

I've worked in two kitchens that served microwaved omlettes.
So much easier to pop them in the microwave and get on with the other 3 meals for the same table, add more sausages to the oven and top up the beans at the same time and after that deal with the 3 new tickets that have printed out of the order printer with similar orders.
If I was to stand there flipping an omelette from scratch pretty sure I'd get complaints!
Microwave food is essential for low cost restaurants and if done right, you won't even know!

I agree with you. You have to pay a lot of money to go somewhere where the food AND customer service is just right. It's a bit depressing. I do realise that it must be hard for average or low cost places to make money and find staff. But we will get to the point where people will weigh up whether or not they want to pay a large mark up on something of poor to average quality they can do at home in the microwave. Customers will also factor in travelling costs to get there or home again, and they have gone up too. So for the price of a night out a restaurant and the quality you get, many people will go for the option of a microwave meal at home instead.

Foodies will perhaps be aware they need to pay a lot more, and just go out less often.

That was fascinating Ty. Particularly how some stuff is so cheap for a portion, but then for things like some of the canapes, it is cheaper to buy from m and s.

@EffortlessDesmond - the same with anything slow cooked. Shepherds pie, stews, lasagne, curry.

These things in chain restaurants are arriving in little bags for individual serving.

I've never seen such an advert. If they want someone to reheat food then they shouldn't be referring to it as a chef position.

I LOVE The Ivy and will be really very disappointed if I learn that they do this! I also love Wetherspoons and am well aware that they do-but for the price, what do you expect?

I've worked in several chain restaurants and many of them didn't then. TGI Friday's for example didn't have things that were just heated in a microwave.

Pubs often do-but 'naice'/country pubs tend to not IME.

Forgot to add, I worked in chain restaurants in my student days and I'm old I'd not be surprised to learn that they do now, and cannot say I blame them.

I've been eating the same tiramisu in Pizza Express for about 25 years so I guessed that wasn't made fresh from scratch each time! Still delicious though!

But people who like food and cooking still pay to go to catering college. Cooking brilliant food is awesomely wonderfully rewarding, and immensely creative. Unfortunately the industry is mainly a toxic work environment, riddled with addiction and substance abuse, because the conditions are so demanding and the hours so ridiculous. My DS worked 17/18 hours a day on occasion, at 19, when necessary, and returned at 6.45 am to do breakfasts... for guests paying £450 per room. It did not change his salary, but the tip share scheme was fair.

I have been told this in lots of places. I like eggs really lightly poached and request that. If a place gets them like that, there is no possibility of runny eggs and I cannot stand the rubbery result. I just cancel my food order.

Stick to going to your local carvery, if you have one. At least then you know your food is fresh.

Prezzo microwave a lot of their meals I believe. Some years back a friend ordered a risotto and complained that it was frozen in the middle. Waitress shrugged and said it was a microwave meal and obviously hadn't been done long enough.

It's called 'ping and ding'

It is why risotto is often so crap eating out. I never order this.

I go out to eat ever less often. There's not many dishes I can't make, apart from complex patisseries, and I prefer cheese. But when I do want to eat out, I want to be amazed by the quality. And I am happy to pay what it costs to deliver the quality. So I happily pay for Japanese food/sushi/sashimi, but I'd do steak and fries at home.

We quite often go to a local country pub for lunch. The food might be bought in and microwaved but it's always hot and tasty, and the staff are lovely, so I really don't care.

Work in hospitality, look at Bidfest :) pretty much all chain restaurants and a fair few ‘Olde country inns’ type of place does the same. Cuts down on wastage and few people know the difference :)