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 think at one time only the wealthy ate out whereas now anybody can go to Pizza Hut. "

When I was growing up eating out happened about once in TEN years for a special birthday or anniversary and would then be at a hotel. There just weren't many restaurants around and it was considered for a special occasion.

There were cafes so things like Little Cheff or Sayers the Bakers and the cafes in department stores like mentioned above.

Not as many pubs did food and even then they'd often refuse to make you a hot drink if it wasn't lunchtime.

The family above who had a cafetiere at home in the 80s were very sophisticated!

"Just don’t go to them. It’s not hard."

It is hard to avoid chains. As I mentioned above, only chains can afford to be in the city centre where I love and if you're meeting up with friends it tends to be in the centre.

i said berni inns!

we didnt eat ouxt alot inthe 80's maybe a couple of pub resturants but there werent alot of them back then

@Elderflower14 I have to visit cash and carry places, they all have massive catering tubs of Uncle Bens sweet and sour sauce. It is a very popular item. Really sad when you’re paying for a meal out and get Uncle Bens.

“It is hard to avoid chains. As I mentioned above, only chains can afford to be in the city centre where I love and if you're meeting up with friends it tends to be in the centre.”

Welcome to late stage capitalism 🤷🏻‍♀️

It’s hard to not go to chains when your whole family want to go to one and you come across as an arsehole by refusing to go.

Late capitalism. Does that means it will end? 🙏🏻

@GabsAlot

("i said berni inns!")

Not on this thread

Berni Inns certainly got a mention.

@DGRossetti

Here you go

Never ever order a salad at these sorts of places. Believe me, I've tried.

When I drive to work, there are freezer trucks pulling up outside all these chains, so I am under no illusion any cooking takes place.

I work on an industrial estate where huge artics arrive to drop stuff off, which is then re delivered in smaller pastel coloured chi-chi vans to give a more 'home made' vibe,.

It's the places charging proper money that get me - Wetherspoons is so cheap I think it's acceptable (stick to the burgers they are fine) it's the places charging over £10 for something that you can buy from a supermarket for a lot less and it's badly prepared - plus there's noisy kids etc. I avoid those places tbh would rather pay a lot more less often

Ah, I got my browser to search for "Berni" and found no hits ! Sorry for that.

Ps, nothing wrong with McDonald's, signature burgers really nice

Frankie and Bennys is just rank!

But Wetherspoons is actually OK, I got a chicken burger with cheese and bacon served with onion rings, chips and some peppercorn sauce and a pint of cider for £7.49!!! It was totally edible.

Wetherspoons and Maccas are fine, cheap and cheerful, good value for money, it's the mid priced chains that are shit, they serve the same food but charge far too much.

My parents say the only place that they used to have for eating out was Wimpy.

Frankie & Bennys is terrible, i worked for a training company a decade ago and regularly went in to assess chefs.....they aren't chefs it's a joke, they couldn't actually achieve a cheffing qualification as they don't do enough.
Sauces come in plastic packets which are placed in hot water, then snipped open and poured over pasta, meat etc.
Most of the mains are ready meals heated through in the oven.
The garnishes are pre-packaged. It's awful. I think most people would be shocked to see it in action.
No knife skills are needed, no recipe knowledge, no sauces made, basically it's fat dryers and pots of boiling water.
It's awful. I'd never eat there.

Don’t like it then don’t go there. I’m sure other people would dislike your choice in restaurants.
No restaurant is going to be able to cater for everyone’s likes.

Well yes, obviously Sarah

DSD's mum thinks it's the best "restaurant" around! Do not get it!
She's a right snob with a lot of stuff and looks down her nose at other people who don't meet her standards but f&b's is where she has her birthday meal every year!
We took DSD there once (at least we had NHS discount!) and I swear the cheese cake from a can 🤮

I absolutely can’t stand the food at F&B’s but it’s positively amazing in comparison to their service. DD2 however adores it (I think it’s the bottomless liquid sugar aka kids cocktails). It coats us significantly less to eat at the local independent tapas restaurant where all your food is cooked fresh to order and the waiters can’t do enough. YANBU about that however I used to manage a Carvery restaurant and felt the same about Yorkshire’s and potatoes as you. We started making our own at great extra effort to the chefs, it actually needed an extra staff membe in the kitchen and everyone complained. We changed them back!

I have a brother and sister in law who go all the time to the same restaurant ( I don’t mean to sound like a bitch ) but they don’t really know good food. We went with them for a birthday once and half my meal was red red hot and the other part was warm-ish - so badly microwaved.

It was terrible the bill was £60 for just two of us with drinks! We eat now and again in a family run Italian restaurant it’s a chain which sounds like man larlo and it is perfect every time and roughly the same price for 2 mains and a drink each

A few years ago we ate at a hotel which had homemade steak pie on the menu. It was served in its foil dish! Waiter was quite surprised when we complained