Chain Restaurants Are at an All Time Low

Those crack fries were good. Only had them once, but they were amazing.

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The one in Standale?
That caught me off guard as well. I was thinking like, “wtf am i tipping you for?”
Me and my buddies used to work at a carwash when we were all 16 years old and some people would throw you a tip if they asked you to do a little extra like spray the bird poop off if it was covered or scrub the back tailgate good but the people wanting tips is getting stupid.
Even the chinese restaurant we usually order from asks for tips and they have 1 table for eat-in and its all for pickup and takeout.

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I could read Weasisms all day. Bravo!

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The worst is when they include it in the bill as a default. There’s a really fantastic Greek place in Easton PA that opened up - really authentic Greek at great prices. But when you order take out, you have to back out the auto-18% tip. Just for the privilege of ordering on line, driving there and picking up your own order on a take-out shelf. I’m betting half the people don’t even look and so they get away with it, so they’ll keep on doing it.

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That is quite a scam. Almost seems illegal. How about they give me some gratuity for patronizing their business? It’s a two-way street.

I’m too damn old to change and had to many friends with kids in the service industry who lost a ton of money a few years back, including a bartending daughter(she was gm for a restaurant in that timeline now only bartends as she hates serving food or managing in the restaurant world).

I usually tip for all food related purchases at restaurants/cafes etc. Now if no table service it won’t be the standard 20% I start at. But it’s habit that started dating a waitress 40yrs ago, granted different %% back then.

But tipping the car wash guy, yea, not happening.

That place looks incredible! On the list for my next GR visit

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Not a fan of restaurants in general, but I definitely don’t bother with the chains that have been around 30+ years and are barely hanging on. We will go to a Mitchell’s on occasion, or Maggianos, but you won’t find me in a Chilis or Olive Garden.

About to try out Kpot tomorrow, new enough that it hasn’t had time to go downhill yet hopefully.

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Feel free to not tip, but don’t be surprised if the prices go up even more. Tipping helps keep prices lower.

Restaurant food always had one advantage over home cooking: they could always easily add more butter, cream and savoury ingredients than people would at home. The markup makes it trivial. When a chain takes over, every single ounce of product needs to be penny pinched.

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Never said I didn’t tip. I tip >20% for most places I go to and sit down. The lower the prices the greater % tip. And its usually in cash to make sure the right people are getting it. Take-out? Sometimes a couple bucks if there’s the slightest little thing out of the ordinary - even a warm smile. But take-out places that try to trick me? Nope, sorry. You’re not being rewarded for that BS.

It was really refreshing to spend time in Australia last fall. No tipping allowed. I once had a waiter chase me down with my cash tip as I was leaving the restaurant saying, sorry sir, we don’t take tips here. Australians are my hero’s. How did they do it? I don’t feel that I paid more for the food, either.

Mostly, it helps keep server’s standard wages lower. There’s no shortage of servers in Australia.

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my mom and I used to go to this Chinese place in Clio, Michigan-they was quite good “China Express” I believe, but they moved- months later my aunt asked if we had tried “China Moon” -which we hadn’t yet, however, we tried it about two weeks ago…it was NASTY/ never going again and about $40, for our two meals-I threw mine away right there, I had ordered” General Tso’s Chicken—which wasn’t any chicken I ever had !!!

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I hate to be that guy, but a lot of mom and pops have just as sh*tty food. I know if I go to Longhorn that I’ll probably get a delicious filet mignon. So it really is not as easy as looking at the car make. But I fully agree with F private equity.

Do they use good ingredients in Costa Rica? I know you do but I mean the local restaurants?

Well, that most definitely isn’t the case in our house.
Wife, daughter and eldest son all cook from scratch and the spices/herbs take up a full cabinet in the kitchen. We still buy milk straight from the dairy, non-pasteurized and make other dairy items from the milk.

We can go from regular pot roast with carrots/potatoes onion etc to italian with homemade sauce and pasta to thai, smash burgers, Greek, Indian and more. One of my biggest issues, weight wise, was the second portions…

I stopped the seconds and made smaller portions the norm

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I had to check to make sure I did not make this post LOL

With proper spices and fresh ingredients you do not need lots of butter and oils

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LOL
We have four kids. Wife early on taught them that she wasn’t their servant or maid. Do your own laundry, learn how to cook simple items and then more complicated.

Issue now is the discussions at the dinner table between mom and kids.
“would be better if you did this”
“Yea, no it wouldn’t”
“seriously, it would be better if you did this and this…dad/husband don’t you agree?”
“uh, great meal, I have to go finish a few work items in the office”

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Wow 4 kids also

But my wife is an Italian witch who loves to cook

We basically make a ton of our food, can, smoke, buy whole animals from our “guy”

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Oh for sure, I wasn’t saying restaurant food was better (though it can be), I was saying it was a trick of the trade to add more fats and salt etc as an easy way to appeal to the palate without actually preparing great dishes.

Hmmm. Depends where. Typical CR fare is not exceptional. They do breakfast pretty good. But if you want good meals you often have to go to a foreign-owned joint, or a local place based on foreign cuisine. Really hit or miss. Cheese is bad here. You can find great food but you have to go to places known to serve quality meals. Ingredients hit or miss too. People come here for the nature, not the culture by and large. Mexico is where the great food is.

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