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?

I've eat at Frankie and Bennys twice and been sick at Frankie and Bennys twice! Don't know how they are still in business!!

I once went for breakfast at Wetherspoons and asked for poached eggs. They'd "ran out" but offered me a fried egg instead... I was very confused why they couldn't poach me an egg... until it dawned on me that their poached eggs are prepoached... urgh

I don’t eat at any chains for
this and many other reasons. Ghastly places serving up shite

I don’t eat at McDonald’s either but would rather feed the kids there than a chain as at least they have some ethics
and don’t rip you off

We support local places only

We went to a local hotel for a corporate two day event. At the evening meal in the main hotel restaurant the waitress took everyone's order including asking all of the steak orders how they'd like it cooked. There were around 20 of us so she took some time to do this. She then returned after a few minutes and said "sorry we only have well done steaks tonight"!
We had no clue what she was talking about until we realised that she meant they were pre cooked....

Me and DH rarely eat out now. It's not cheap any more and we get sick of saying to each other "we can cook this better". Luckily we both love cooking.

If we do eat out it is almost always indian food. We can cook good curries and side dishes, even quite a lot of the breads but naan are just not possible without a tandoor oven

My MIL is a sucker for these kind of places. She thinks when she is told to watch out as the plate may be v hot it's a sign of quality - not that the lasagne is straight out of the microwave

We did finally manage to show her the waitress at Pizza Express popping the desserts out of the packets. Prior to that she had thought 'the chef' at one branch might be more talented rather than there just being a special offer on.

Can confirm that Frankie & Benny’s are shit!

A good rule of thumb is that if a restaurant/ pub is offering easily available discount vouchers then never eat there at full price

Modern day definition of having more money than sense - eating at a chain restaurant without using a discount voucher.

I can’t stand f&b, crap food and service.

Is such a shame that this has become the norm. Our world is drowning in plastic too and it’s corporations like this that are forcing it upon us. I wouldn’t have ever assumed a meal would have been preprepared a few years ago but now it’s just the way most do it.

Incidentally I was discussing the same issue with our children’s school meals today. All local schools buy their meals in large plastic containers which are microwaved. It’s just hideous. Where did any of the skill in cooking go?!

it's not the skill; it's time and ingredients which are cheaper when done in bulk (e.g. in the case of school meals).
People have been led to expect to pay no more than £xx for food (cheap battery farm chicken etc) so to be profitable this is where places that serve food save money.

I used to be cabin crew and even the first class meals are ready meals and the eggs aren’t fresh either.

My grandma remembers flying BA in the 80s and in business class, roast beef was served at your seat and carved - from a silver trolley.

"Modern day definition of having more money than sense - eating at a chain restaurant without using a discount voucher."

Hardly. Sometimes where to go is a last minute decision. I don't want to walk home to put my laptop on to find a voucher.

Gwenhwyfar - you can just search for a voucher code on your phone. We do that all the time! Get the VoucherCode app!

I can understand consistency of food across branches of a restaurant chain but what gets me is the service at Frankie and Benny's is universally bad.

F&B’s was good when it first opened in the mid 90s. Black and blue burgers were yummy. I think eating out was more of a treat then. Now the market is completely over saturated.

Where did people used to go out to eat for casual dining? Pizza Hut? Harvesters? These days there is such a range of places all serving the same kind of thing and lots of pizza/pasta/burgers. Bills, Giraffe, Bella Italia, GBK etc.

I knew what restaurant this was before I even opened the thread 😂

Hardly. Sometimes where to go is a last minute decision. I don't want to walk home to put my laptop on to find a voucher.

Just do it on your phone.

Where did people used to go out to eat for casual dining?

It’s a good point. When I think back 20 years ago it was mainly just pubs and local places. I can’t really remember many large chain restaurants other than Pizza Hut.

It’s a good point. When I think back 20 years ago it was mainly just pubs and local places

They still exist in many areas. We have the microwave chains but also still the independents which offer much better value and food even if the menu may not be so big.

When our children were small those independents were also more family friendly than the "family chains". They actually welcomed children, happily made smaller portions of menu items and would adjust them because they were freshly prepared and not pre-made and pre-sized. It was notable that they talked to the children as customers and often had children in the local schools.

Family chains tended to offer nugget and chips plus colouring pencils - job done.

bernie inn anyone?

i agree f and b is qwoeful now when its first opened i had a great meal there then ever since its been mediocre at best

my dn likes the kids meal there so i reluctuntly take him-the dont even play the old school music anymore

Urgh. Had lasagna at F&B recently and it was vile. I mean how hard is it to make a Bolognese sauce.

May I ask what you ate OP?

I went to a pub that had been recently refurbed and which everyone raved about.

I ordered hunters chicken and it was rank. Fake grill marks in the chicken sauce dumped on top and cheese sprinkled on for £13.95. I felt conned.

As a family we like nandos it's not fine dining but at circa £70 for us all to go it is getting quite expensive. I made my own tonight (bought the sauces) free range chicken and oven cooked the chicken. I actually think it was nicer and so did the kids . The only down side was the clearing up.

Sometimes when you’re out with the kids it’s easier to go to a chain because the food is consistent and usually comes quickly.
We tend to eat at our local pizza express if we’ve been out and the kids get hungry. The staff are nice and helpful and the kids will eat the food.
We also eat often at a local Italian place, the food is great but it’s always busy and it’s almost like they try and hurry you along to clear the table.
Luckily we live near a major city and if DH and I are out together we have hundreds of restaurants to choose from and we never pick a chain.