restaurant you hate that everyone loves?

What is a restaurant you hate but everyone seems to love? For me, its the Olive Garden. Why? Because it tastes like "fake italian" food to me and i get sick everytime i eat it .... yet my FMIL is insistant on going there.. grr..

What are some of your dislikes that everyone seems to love?

Original Post by umneydurak:

I completely agree with Chipotle, Starbucks, and Olive Garden (or any Italian restaurant actually). Chipotle burritos taste horrible and just not worth the calories. Starbucks has nothing good. Does anyone actually orders regular coffee? Seems like everyone orders those foo foo coffe (flavored lates, flavored iced coffee, etc), and Olive Garden is just bland and is loaded with calories.

UD

Haha. Foo Foo coffee. I used to get the different frappacinnos but then I saw how many cals there were. Now I just get tea from there, if that.

I hate when I get a big take out order from Mickey D's and you get home and something is missing!!!!!

Best burgers I've ever eaten are at All American Burger on Long Island. Only one store , they could be as big as Mickey D's but don't want to expand or franchise their business. They've been around as long as Mickey D and if you're from LI you'll know them.  

Ditto for Olive Garden and In/Out Burger - but I'd have to disagree about their fries; The few times I've gone there, they were horrible, greasy tasteless cardboard.  KFC - those poor chickens in battery cages and all that grease.  My issue with Subway is that weird odor eminating from all of their outlets, what is that, the yeast?  Anyway, I'm finding I'm cooking much more at home and being much more selective about where I'm eating out.  I'm finding much better value at independent restaurants in my area. 

OK, can't resist, this is a great thread.

I'll have to add Applebee's - any restaurant that sells as much hype as they do is suspicious.  As with TGIF - all that crap on the walls.  What - I guess it's supposed to distract you from how boring the food is.

PF Changs - had some mixed results, but basically it's extremely overpriced food, maybe having grown up with lots of wonderful Asian food, it's depressing to think that they charge as much as they do for such mediocrity.

Dennys - Everything looks the same, if they can't fry it, it's not on the menu, except for the tasteless salads made with iceberg lettuce.  Now I personally think the only advantage of iceberg lettuce is the crunch, certainly not any taste - but Denny's manages to serve it as if it's been sitting around for hours at room temperature.

I guess I'm picky, or other folks are just not very discriminating.  Here's my list in no particular order:

Olive Garden

TGIF's

Poopplantation, I mean, Souplantation (I don't know what they wash their lettuce with but, well I won't get into details)

Chili's

McD's

Hometown Buffet

Starbucks - the problem is that they don't roast their coffee beans locally.  Smaller chains like Peet's are able to control the roasting because it's done on a much smaller scale.  I'll go to a Starbucks sometimes when I want to sit and read and have a coffee, but I sure don't expect much from the coffee.  Unfortunately, there's not a Peet's in the desert area of Southern California.

Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf - I can't believe there are so many.  I've had such bad service in all the ones I've been to, and I've had to wait for up to 20 minutes while they brewed decafinated coffee.

Souplantation & Hometown Buffet - Scary to think about all those people coughing, sneezing and then touching the food and utensils.

Outback - Ugh! Toughest and most tasteless steak I've ever ordered out. Noisy - another one of those places that masks the boring food with chaotic atmosphere.

IHOP drives me nuts.  My grandparents drag us there every chance they get because they think it is cheap.  The fact that they won't reveal their nutritional information drives me crazy...I just order a fruit salad or some sort of chicken.

Original Post by icecream18:

IHOP drives me nuts.  My grandparents drag us there every chance they get because they think it is cheap.  The fact that they won't reveal their nutritional information drives me crazy...I just order a fruit salad or some sort of chicken.

 Yikes - good to know. I admit I've had a craving to go there and indulge in chocolate chip pancakes (slap my wrist). I didn't realize they didn't give any nutritional information, but it seems logical, considering what they offer.

Outback steakhouse, golden corral, OLIVE GARDEN FOR SURE, white castle (ewww) burger king, chillis, rafferty's, applebees. TGIF for sure, the food is downright tasteless and greasy. Denny's, Waffle House, CICI'S PIZZA.

EW. The list goes on.

Original Post by healthisinplease:

Outback steakhouse, golden corral, OLIVE GARDEN FOR SURE, white castle (ewww) burger king, chillis, rafferty's, applebees. TGIF for sure, the food is downright tasteless and greasy. Denny's, Waffle House, CICI'S PIZZA.

 

EW. The list goes on.

White Castle! Ugh!!

Can we say "indigestion"??

Another place I wanted to add is all of the jip-joint Chinese restaraunts. EVERYONE in my school loves them. I just don't get it. Super soggy fries, freaky shaped chicken, eggrolls dripping with grease.... Even if I wasn't a vegetarian, you still couldn't pay me to eat something from there.

The Olive Garden.   I don't get it.   People stand in line out the door for this place.   The food is awful.   My Mom and her girlfriend ate there one night. The service was horrible and the meatballs were like bricks.  

Also I've come to learn that most of the steakhouse chains don't do it for me either.   Overpriced, sloppy service, and just lousy food in general.   I can do better at home on my own grill.   Alot cheaper too....

Subway is GROSS