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?

YANBU, we don't eat out all that often for this reason. We only occasionally have microwave meals at home, so reluctant to pay to go out for one. I am happy to go out less but pay more.

We've both worked for years in the industry and nearly all restaurant & hotel chains do this. We used to refer to it as 'Operation Ping'

Pizza express have removed the cheese several times for us. The dough is pre-made, but the rest of the pizza is fresh. The deserts are obviously pre-made.

Many places do that, Brasserie Blanc for example has lots of shipped in items on the menu, things like casseroles and soups, which mean that you can control the quality. I quite like the food in there and they do cook from fresh things that can't be shipped in.

Frankie and Benny's food is absolutely rank though.

Pizza Express do a schools thing where you can take a class and you all make a pizza. I don't think they do all come pre-made there.

As for 'why are F&B et al so popular', well it's because they are ok, and everyone can agree on ok. No one has strong opinions about it so when you book a staff night out or a family get together everyone can tolerate OK.
DH's family always insist on Hungry Horse or Toby Carvery type places. One other family member and I always chunter on to each other about the dreadful food and wonder why we are going to somewhere like that when there are independents we could go to for the same money, but we get told off for being snobs.

Interesting what a PP was saying about Wetherspoons having a target waiting time of ten minutes for food. It reminds me of when I went to somewhere similar and ordered food and some drinks. The order went through and the staff member got the drinks. By the time I got back to the table the food had arrived.

I thought Wagamamas had an open kitchen.

I prefer places like McDonald's or Pizza Hut but don't eat out often, maybe 2-3 times a year. I love the idea of not cooking but rarely enjoy food when eating out so better to eat at home and save money.

Don't get why people keep saying Pizza Express won't remove the cheese.
There's an amazing vegan pizza there. Cheese included. (Although not dairy cheese!) Still a lovely pizza.

I like F&Bs and 'spoons for their breakfasts. I don't like the rest of their menu much tbh.

I'm with you. F&B is one of the worst offenders but all of these places leave a bad taste in the mouth and the sense that we've been scammed out of our money! The one that leaves me most confused though is Pizza Express. It's always rammed but the prices are insane and the food is meh and barely enough to stave off hunger.

I worked at a Hungry Horse for a bit and thats all they did, just microwave meals/sauces. YANBU

Pizza express def do the toppings on site. I can’t get worked up about frozen dough.
Zizzi s def use frozen starters at least a I had a still-cold one the other week which I sent back. They redid it. I like Zizzi so am not fussed and always use a code. Wouldn’t pay full price for a chain meal anyway.
Haven’t been to F&B for years and remember it being awful when I did go.

Blimey, I had no ideea things had got this bad. Mind you, dh hates going out for meals so we just don't do it - I used to do it all the time, but then I got married .....

We have a Weatherspoons here but that's the only chain we have foodwise, everything else is independent. Sometimes - maybe twice a year - we have take-aways, but they're from independent Bengali, Turkish, Chinese places. I suppose we do sometimes use the burger bars on the motorway, but we expect them to be shit and know exactly what we're going to get.

I can stop feeling a bit jealous of people who go out for dinner now.

The bill would creep up to £250 ish with drinks.
What on earth were you ordering in wetherspoons for it to be that much!!? Anyway, wetherspoons don't pretend to be fine dining... everyone knows it's microwaved. I go regularly, always have great service, a cheap filling meal, they're great with children and I never feel uncomfortable with our slightly boisterous toddler. Doesn't bother me that it's not the very best food as it's often very tasty and it's more about having it brought to you and having a beer too.

Can't stand Frankie and Benny's, their pizzas are consistently inedible, the pastas are bland and unpleasant, and if you order a salad you get a plate of lettuce with totally random vegetables added like tinned sweetcorn, and half a red onion in it. It's not a 'dish', it's like something your gran would throw together to eke out a too-small lasagna. Only it costs £8.95, and there's no lasagna

How the fuck does anyone rack up a bill of £250 in spoons unless it is 25 of you on a xmas do with an copious amount of drinks included? No chance other wise.

@noenergy if you look, Wagamama’s kitchen may be ‘open’ but the side is v high.
I can assure you that the ingredients come
in ready prepped. Ex boyfriend used to work there and used to tell me all sorts.

They ran out of pad Thai the other day, and when I said but all the ingredients are in other dishes, surely you do, she said no it’s because they are pre bagged. Confirms they still do it.

Unfortunately you have to pay really quite a lot for a decent, nothing fancy, freshly cooked meal that's as good as a home-cooked one. That's why we don't eat out often. Tend to have a takeaway curry instead.

@howismovingbungalow £250 between 8 is about £32 each. Easily done with 3 courses and several drinks!!

To be honest I was even a bit disappointed at Bill’s today. They can do allergy friendly but it takes forever. Given what I asked or and that they were completely encouraging me to order allergy free item, it was shocking

I remember when you could go for tea at the local pub and it would be mainly homemade stuff. There would be frozen chips usually and the veggie option was usually a readymeal but most of the rest was homecooked, even if made in thr day then dinged later on.

You just can't find pubs like that anymore. It's either a chain pub with frozen everything or an expensive 'bistro/gourmet' pub. We were going to go out for tea tonight and probably pay £50 for us to eat fastfood served on a plate but decided on pizzahut instead.

Frankie and Bennies does pretty decent discounts on the app if you have it. Kids eat free or you xan chose 40 or 50 % of mains but it's not brilliant. It used to be better. You used to be able to get a big breakfast (and it was big) for a fiver.

Wagamama's - overpriced noodle shite
Spoons - constantly shite but cheap booze
Toby carvery - constantly mediocre shit
F & B - utter shite for ££.
Mac D's - shite but you know what shite you will get.
Nandos - £££ for shite chicken and chips/rice/spice.

YANBU. I can't stand eating that crap. We never visit chains unless we're desperate and there's nowhere else. I went to weatherspoons a couple of months ago with a friend for lunch and it was just awful. Yes it's cheap, and I can see why people go there, but it isn't for me.

Who has 3 courses in Spoons?

I don’t like it and avoid places like that but I think for some people it’s part of their appeal. Some people like that the food will be the same wherever you go and a lot of people are OTT about food hygiene and so like that everything’s been cooked in a factory which they trust adheres to higher standards than a small, independent kitchen ( not necessarily true but they think it is).

V commonness with the big chains. They will say that they do it for cost, portion control and quality consistency. However it also means they can slash the staff bill as they don't have to hire and pay for fully qualified chefs. That's the truth of it.

I used to own an independent bakery where we made all the bread etc. from scratch. People don't seem to realise that the supermarket bakeries buy in their bread ready mixed or their Danishes are the ones you get from Brakes all frozen. As for Greggs - well that's all brought in frozen and finished off in the store ovens. You can get Greggs frozen pastries in Iceland to cook at home!

We rarely eat out but when we do it snow usually to a pub we know which has an actual chef...a proper one. The menu is minimal and changed regularly plus the chef is happy to cook up extra bits and pieces or change the way something is prepared. You wait for your meal but you know it’s being cooked from fresh. And it’s only slightly more expensive than sone chain restaurants.

Chiquito I can take or leave...didn’t realise they were owned by the F&B folk and yes there is a F&B right next door to our local one. We do eat there now and then but my friend is a waitress there and usually puts us down as students which knocks 10% of the bill, ....I love my friend