To not expect to be served a ready-meal when I eat out?

[WeBuiltThisBuffetOnSausageRoll]

We bought some gift vouchers for family members for a big chain 'restaurant' place named after two Italian gentlemen that they love and go to frequently. All fine.

But it got me thinking as we personally can't stand that place. When we went there with them once, the food was terrible - chewy, tasteless and thoroughly unappetising, the same as it was when we went some time ago - I suppose we were hoping it might have changed in the meantime, but it was actually worse. It wasn't cheap either.

We've experienced this at a number of other places too. Looking online, it appears that it's become the norm at a lot of restaurants to have dishes prepared centrally (often from a generic third-party wholesaler) that they then keep in the freezer and just heat up - often in a microwave - when they're ordered.

We don't have ready meals at home unless it's a real emergency - in such cases, we'd rather have something simple and basic like beans on toast or a sandwich than a microwave meal, which we invariably regret immediately afterwards anyway.

We're not snobbish in any way - we've had many a satisfying meal at greasy spoon/transport cafes and pubs where they've had a chef who actually cooks rather than just microwaving. We don't like and couldn't afford and would probably be turned away at first glance from 'gourmet' restaurants owned by a celebrity chef and with a waiting list, but we're happy to pay a fair price for a good meal.

The worst ones are carveries, where 80% of customers are eating pretty much the same thing all day, with a steady stream of demand, and yet some still use frozen roast potatoes and Yorkshire puddings.

It seems like a lot of people don't mind it, and some obviously enjoy it, which is great if you do - maybe the atmosphere and theme/surroundings is what matters most to some folk - but I really wish there was some clear way of knowing in advance whether a cafe/pub/restaurant serves food prepared and cooked on the premises or just shoves an unpleasant ready-meal in the microwave for you. Maybe something like CAMRA accreditation but for food rather than just beer?

Don’t go to chain restaurants. They rip off customers and they rip off staff.

We only eat out every couple of months or so, and go to a local hotel with a fantastic restaurant, or go to a good local pub. Can't abide chain restaurants and can't abide ready meals or takeaways either. I always feel ill the next day from the salt content. If I'm tired or can't be arsed to cook, we have baked potatoes with cheese or scrambled egg on toast.

Doesn't bother me in the slightest.
If you know you only like fresh cooked on the premises right there in front of you grub, go to them.
Chains though they're all the same, all the same whichever restaurant you go to.
Seeing as I love my independent freshly cooked stuff but also love the chain ones too, really can't get worked up about it.
Just don't go there if you really hate them. It's not hard, no-one's forcing you.
You do you.

I worked at Wetherspoons. Microwave city. The beef for the Sunday roast came in little plastic packets with gravy in it as well.

YANBU, don't they have this rule in one country, where all eateries have to have a sign up to say how the food is prepared. Think it's France. It would be amazing if we had it here

It annoys me too and really limits where I will eat out
I’m a fairly good cook so will only eat out if it’s going to be better or different to what I can be bothered to cook at home
Tonight taking DP to local Indian where we have been many times - it has an open kitchen so no hiding there and they do tasting platters of lots of little dishes mmmmmmm

Please don't always be put off by a large menu meaning lots of ready meals. We have in excess of 10 starters, 10+ pizzas, 15 pasta dishes, risottos and the all of our meat, seafood and fish dishes plus the weeks chef specials. A good chef will have a select number of ingredients/base sauces which will be used in quite a few dishes, so king prawns for example will be in a starter, a salad, a pasta dish and a main course. Mushrooms are another good example that are used in numerous dishes plus in sauces. One of the things DH is most proud of is his low wastage because he manages his stock in such a way that it's always fresh. (And if that means we have to 'disappoint' customers by running out of something then so be it. (Last night we ran out of sirloin steak - I've worked in other restaurants where they would just haul one out of the freezer, defrost and cook. DH refuses to compromise on quality so won't do that)
So after that ramble - my point is, an extensive menu with lots of dishes doesn't always mean pre-prepared dishes. (And please support local independents to keep us in business )

Oh and when I worked at Spoons (in 2010, not sure if it's the same now) we had to work to a target of all meals to be out in under 10 minutes. You're not gonna get anything fresh in under 10 minutes.

Yes prepackaged chill cook food is generally horrid. A decent gastropub or small restaurant that cooks real food is generally much nicer. I avoid chain restaurants but it’s sometimes difficult as that’s all there seems to be in some towns. At least McDonalds doesn’t pretend to be haute cuisine.

As far as I know Pizza Express are the same. We once asked them for a pizza without cheese as DS is allergic and they told us they couldn’t remove the cheese as the pizzas came fully prepared in boxes (just as the Pizza Express ones you can get in any supermarket). Yet everyone thinks the place is great.

I’m kind of shocked that people expect something made from scratch in a place that charges under £10 for a meal.

I have worked in many food establishments and it’s impossible to cook everything from scratch in such a small space. All restaurant chains use pre prepared food, most things are microwaved and fried, how else would they manage to have such a large menu? It saves on waste, it’s saves on money and it saves having to have a trained chef.

@Lovemusic33 just to add to my previous post... not one of our pasta, pizza or risotto dishes is over £9.95, so it is possible or maybe we need to do a price increase

Even the cocktails in F&B are a bit rubbish, and certainly not what I'd expect (a whole long island ice tea, and not even a slight buzz at the end of it)

I don't actually mind a bit of microwaving or frozen stuff, as long as it's priced appropriately and tasty, and hot (Beefeater, many years ago, used to do a kind of vegetable suet pudding thing which was BLOODY DELICIOUS - my boyfriend at the time was working as a barman, and when they changed the menu, rescued the remaining ones for me to have whenever I ate there for the next few weeks)

Giraffe is also bad for this - 2/3 meals we had there once were still cold in the middle, which is a liability.

there's a local pub which uses frozen sides, but kitchen cooked main bits (eg. steak pie they make, veggies and yorkshires frozen) and that's tasty and fine. TBH, this is why I'm more likely to go to a local pub these days, because then you just chat to someone and can find out what's fresh and what isn't.

I think YANBU about F&B but YABU about carveries. All the carveries round here are fantastic value for money with fresh veg and lovely turkey, even if the potatoes and YPs are frozen.

Thunder put your prices up, though pizza and pasta dishes are quite quick to knock up.

Most pizza places make pizza almost from scratch, they often buy the dough ready made, I have never stepped foot in a pizza express (don’t like their shop bought pizzas so never felt the need to try their restaurant).

Had breakfast in a Wetherspoons once and they notified us they had ran out of poached eggs. They had fried & scrambled though (not envy)

Pizza Express make the pizzas in front of you in an open kitchen don't they? Or am I mis remembering?

As I understand it, many Indian restaurants buy a lot of meals in too.

With Wetherspoons though EVERYONE knows all the food is microwaved

Pizza express dough is made on an industrial estate someplace and frozen - they assemble pizzas at the restaurant.

I think they're for fussy eaters. My in-laws only ever eat at chain restaurants, whenever we go somewhere different/home-cooked there's always too much salt/not enough whatever/rubbish service apparently

I like pizza express
If eating out I find a greasy spoon is the best for cooking up fresh food.

Yes, the dough is made in factories, I have seen it being made, it’s weighed out in balls and frozen.

I was a manager for a brief time for pizza express, everything comes in frozen and on a 24hr defrost, even there dough, it may be assembled in front of u but nothing on ur pizza is fresh..
all desserts are supplied frozen and then popped on a plate..

As far as I know Pizza Express are the same. We once asked them for a pizza without cheese as DS is allergic and they told us they couldn’t remove the cheese as the pizzas came fully prepared in boxes (just as the Pizza Express ones you can get in any supermarket). Yet everyone thinks the place is great.

That must have been a good while ago. Pizza Express has a vegan pizza now called the Guardinera (wah, spelling, know that's wrong lol!) vegan cheese ie no milk or dairy so perfectly fine for people with milk or egg allergies.

@Lovemusic33 at the moment we can't price increase, we are now competing with a lot of new Turkish restaurants which price low, and offer lots of bread, salad, etc 'free', plus the chains who offer BOGOF deals on main meals and what have you- so we need to keep our prices keen to stay in with a chance of staying in business. Obviously our main courses are more expensive but I guess the point I was making is that we do have people come in for a plate of pasta and a soft drink (or worse still tap water but I know that's a whole other thread I'd be shot down about) for £10-£15
Luckily for us the flip side of the coin is our customers who come in and spend £40-£50 a head, and both types of customer get the same fresh food and good service