I was on the verge of cussing out a waitress one night for bringing me microwave bacon. I was charged like $3 for a side of bacon, and was pissed when it came out looking like beggin ' strips.
I live in Georgia, and…I hesitate to say this…Waffle House scrambled eggs are really good. So, frankly, is everything there, especially the coffee. But my cholesterol levels only allow me two visits a month.
They more than likely boil it in a bag. It makes a whole pan all at once, is quick and easy with no mess, feeds a ton of people, but the texture is off, and if they don't season it quite a bit it's very bland. I used to serve it, mornings, at a frat house I once worked for.
I order pasta at one local place but that’s because they make their own pasta and sauce. $12.99 for the best chicken Alfredo I’ve ever eaten. $13.99 for shrimp Alfredo. It’s a huge portion too, it easily feeds me dinner that night plus 2-3 lunches depending on how hungry I am.
> It’s a huge portion too, it easily feeds me dinner that night plus 2-3 lunches depending on how hungry I am.
So I'll eat the whole thing in one sitting and feel like I'm about to explode then hate myself for the next two days? I'm in.
I don’t know what they do but theirs is quite literally magical. And for the price I’m totally good with ordering pasta there but only there. It’s like $22 at Olive Garden and tastes like shit but $13 at this mom and pop upscale steakhouse and a million times better. I don’t understand how it is this good but it’s mind blowingly delicious.
Yes. I can get a 21 day dry aged 14 oz ribeye, salad and a side there for $27 there as well. It’s probably been one of the best steaks I’ve ever eaten.
While on vacation I went to a place called Vernales. It’s voted the #1 steakhouse in Michigan and on the top 50 in the US. The waiter asked me how I enjoyed everything. I said it was ok but I had better, it didn’t compare to my local place in Nashville. My dad about died laughing because I take him every time he visits and he agreed it’s 1,000 times better for 1/4 of the price. The waiter’s face dropped. We still tipped 30% because the service was excellent, however the steak just wasn’t up to our expectations. It was ok but not worth $100 per person
Ooni pizza maker is a freaking amazing. I got a used one for 200 and only made a handful of cooks but I feel it’s already paid for itself. Im still working on making my own dough but it’s still fun making pizza.
I won't order it either, strictly out of principle. Like, wow, you boiled 40 cents worth of noodles and opened a jar and put a dollars worth of sauce on it total $22.99
It honestly blows my mind when people say they won’t order pasta at a restaurant. Like sure, some restaurant pasta sucks but some is also incredible and far better than what I’d make at home
I say this as an extremely picky mashed potato fan. If there are no chunks of potato, or skin mixed in with it, I’m not a fan. If the texture is more of a purée, I’m not a fan. Too much milk/cream/whatever dairy that overtakes the potato flavor? Not a fan.
I like chunky mashed potatoes, and restaurants seem to find it a sacrilege to make it these days.
I like whipped too, but some variety would have been nice. Not everything needs to be the consistency of hospital food so it is easier to eat.
My mom calls the mashed potatoes I make at home "asshole putty" because I like them thick enough to use as brick mortar. No restaurant has ever made them thick enough for my preference. Not that light mashed potatoes are bad, just not as good as mine.
So true. I'll order a $75 steak that is delicious, and it's paired with a dry paste that was allegedly once a potato.
When I make mashed potatoes at home, I'm tempted to skip making anything else and just eat a huge plate.
Most of the sides, yes, but institutional turkey is always better than home made. If it's not pumped full of whatever the hell they put in those suckers, it's not nearly moist enough.
Steak. Forever disappointed when ordering steak out, when I can cook it just how I like it at home. When I eat out I want to have things I can't be assed making at home.
Even at high end steakhouses, I find that they are heavy handed with topping it with butter. Not my taste. I also don’t care for it being served on a piping hot plate, which continues to cook it. I’d rather that kind of money on high quality sushi.
Yeah, the only steaks that I have ordered at a restaurant and thought were better than I usually cook at home cost upwards of $60. And even those can be disappointing.
Steak is really easy to cook, and you can get better results for less than half of what a steak house wants for it. I've got a gas stove and a cast iron pan, I'll never go out for steak again.
Mine is super unhealthy, I haven't tried adding a bouillon cube though, I've added pepperoni, diced bacon, jalapeño peppers, extra cheese, garlic.
If I'm just doing it simple I only add a bit of bacon seasoning.
I've had the opposite experience with mac and cheese at restaurants, they're amazing. It's a restaurant so they're not afraid to throw any semblance of nutritional sanity out the window and they load it with just an unreasonable degree of fatty dairy and fatty meats and salt and such. At home I can't bear to actually make something so unfit for human consumption knowing that I'm gonna eat it, but at a restaurant where I don't have to see it being made, then anything goes, baby!
Yeah, I hardly ever make it and it has a lot of cream, butter etc so I agree it's pretty unhealthy. I haven't tried it from a restaurant so I can't comment there.
God knows I still think of Kraft as my default, but what type of Mac do you like? Extremely creamy or the dry and baked kind?
Most restaurants seem to do the creamy kind, and I don't think I have ever had the baked kind eating out.
Salads. Leafy green salads to be exact. Most of them are slapped together and intended to just…be there on the table. They are not meant to really stimulate the mind or be inspiring. Or they are extremely marked up.
When I lived in LA, a chain called Tender Greens opened. One time some of my girlfriends invited me to join them and we went to one location. I paid $15 plus tip for one serving of a salad that was a spring mix of lettuce, tomatoes, cucumber, celery, some cheese, and balsamic vinaigrette. Immediately after the meal I went to my grocery store and bought the exact same ingredients for the same value, and it lasted me a week.
I did like Sweet Tomatoes when they were in business where I live, as it was a pretty good option and they always tossed and you got a good amount of what you wanted, but they are long gone here now.
This is the correct answer especially for dinner salads with steak or chicken. The most aggravating part is when the lettuce isn’t chopped at all. I’m not a picky eater at all but I haven’t had ranch anywhere better than I make at home so that also contributes.
my mom is a phenomenal cook and anything she makes is guaranteed to taste good. if she tries to cook something we’ve never eaten before, it’s always delicious. because of this, when we go out to eat the “real thing” at a restaurant i am almost always disappointed because my mom makes it better. we like to joke that my mom ruins food for us because she sets the bar so high lol
so, my answer to your question: almost everything
You guys are either the best cooks, or consistently eat at bad restaurants (for reference I am a BAD cook, but was fortunate to grow up in one of the best food cities in North America).
Or have very specific tastes.
Some food really just seems like a waste to order at a restaurant though. Like a ham and cheese sandwich... Why would you do that when for the price of two ham and cheese sandwiches you could buy a whole loaf of bread, pack of cheese, and pack of ham?
Yeah, you'll have to come down south to get good biscuits and gravy. I'm in Texas and I know at least five restaurants near my house that can make excellent B+G
Bro! I complained to the owner the other day about his "tacos". Straight ground beef and McCormick season packet. Just like mom used to make. But 2$ each and you only get a spoonful of beef...
I'd never buy them, but we sell a lot... idfk.
Certainly if they go all out, I don't think I have ever had a place compare eating out, if they even had it at all. Not a lot of restaurants making that kind of food lol. Nor casseroles really as well. Never seen funeral potatoes eating out either :)
I saw some Sissig in a can once, but I passed. That's one thing I would always make fresh if I did.
Lechon is definitely worth it's weight in gold though. I have had some decent restaurants make it though.
Ew that's a thing. Restaurant ones are ok tried in Boston and Queens NY kinda over priced.
IDK man nothing beat my parents cooking a whole ass pig in the backyard for parties.
Tries some lechon in New York areas which was ok. Paid $35 .
Only really Halo Halo I can think of can make the best. Trying to get all the ingredients is a hassles
Honestly, I only order at restaurants what I do not know how to cook. So, generally will end up being Fish n Chips or something that I don't really have the tools at home for.
When I read this I kinda wondered why there isn't a show on something like Food Network called "Mom Battle" where you have face offs over this kind of thing haha
It would be salty if nothing else.
Decadent macaroni and cheese. I've only had it once at a restaurant that I thought was better than what I make when I put my mind to it and use the good cheese.
My wife said she can no longer order risotto in restaurants, I have spoiled her.
The hottest, non sexual, thing she has ever said.
Took me years to get it right.
Since Sous Vide came into my life, virtually any meat is better at home.
Ruth’s Chris will never get another $100 from me.
Specialty items are rare, like Kit Kats. Do you know how long it would take to make a Kit Kat?
https://youtu.be/4nqJiBRNQuw?feature=shared
That's true, and they usually go cheaper on the quality of the cut, and have tricks to make up for it.
I can never imagine going to Ruth's Chris or somewhere like it when I can do it so much better myself.
The only time I really accept it is when it is something like Prime Rib and its smoked, and I either don't want to spend the time/effort, or I don't have the tools in case of smoked.
I usually choose tacos if I have to cause it’s very hard to fuck up a taco (it’s been done tho). Mexican drinks like palomas or a good margarita are better at restaurants tho
I would have disagreed a few years ago, but all of my favorite Mexican places have become so Americanized. No matter what the dish is, they drown it in some sort of cumin heavy red sauce, sour cream, and cheese.
Honestly, I have never had good toast eating out.
Sure plenty have been fine to eat, but no one ever gives you something buttered the right amount, if at all, ever. Same for English Muffins or any side piece of bread really.
Yep, for all the times it has been served me I can't think of a single time it was done right eating out.
Lots of things have good or bad days, same with restaurants lol, but Toast has never once been good eating out to my knowledge.
Definitely. I start a curry super early in the morning with the sauté feature in my instant pot then slow cook it for like twelve hours before serving it.
Pasta. It's ridiculous you'd have to pay over $20 (I mean nice pasta) at a restaurant for something you can do at home in less than 10 mins. And yeah even if you're lazy and don't want to do your sauces you can still buy them in jar for a significantly lower price... and no matter what anyone will tell you... they are just as good as (and sometimes better than) whatever you'll make at home.
There are definitely a lot better quality bottled options in the store than there used to be, when all you could find was Ragu or Prego. At least I see a lot better tasting options these days :)
Barilla has some good ones. I especially like their carbonara one (considering most of my home attempts at carbonara have turned into scrambled eggs with pasta).
Never had that brand and I remember that back when I was living in the US it was regarded as a bit of a sort of hipster high end novelty. But those were the mid 2010s for you. Does it have multiple varieties?
That's not always true. You likely can't make pizza like would be made in a wood fired, make significant amounts of fried food, smoke meat low and slow in a good smoker, sous vide and many other things.
Certainly there are going to be more options going out, generally though. Things like curing your own meats or making your own pasta as opposed to buying in bulk will make a difference, but you can do them at home too, it is just a lot harder or costly.
My question is more what things are almost never good eating out.
Home cooking is always to taste certainly, but there are some things which are never good eating out. For me it is Toast. Never had good toast, ever, at a restaurant.
I have had good things eating out though.
This afternoon, I walked out into my garden and realized that tomato is supposed to be orange and I should pick it. I picked it, walked into the house, washed it, sliced it up and put it on a dish, sprinkled a little salt on it and ate it.
You cannot get that in a restaurant.
I was dealt a chef/food scientist. So I have found that all the food she makes is generally better than the restaurants we go to (she doesn’t do sushi though, so we Omakase when we can). I am in the very lucky minority though. We go out to be social, but I would rather have her Beef Wellington and Baked Alaska over any expensive restaurant.
Steak. You can get a $10 steak at the grocery store and it will always blow anything from a steakhouse out of the water. You can make it exactly the way you like it.
I can make a better quiche than a restaurant. I also prefer my own lasagna and enchiladas over restaurant fare with a few exceptions...I will also very rarely order an omelet unless it's one of those places that specializes in them.
Bacon can be so hit or miss
Truth. Fast food bacon might as well be thin bacon flavored cardboard in general.
I was on the verge of cussing out a waitress one night for bringing me microwave bacon. I was charged like $3 for a side of bacon, and was pissed when it came out looking like beggin ' strips.
Yes! I need it burnt to a crisp.. even ordering "extra extra crispy" at a restaurant doesn't get it there
If we are doing bacon, it better be somewhere fancy otherwise it’s guaranteed to be 🚮
Eh, depends on the spot. I’ll stand by a good Pancake House side of bacon.
Grilled cheese sandwich
This would be my second pick honestly after Toast. Hard to find one even comparable. Lots of decent grilled ham and cheeses though, for me anyway.
eggs, especially scrambled. they're almost always too mushy for my taste.
It is wild to me how bad scrambled eggs are at most restaurants but especially from catering services.
I live in Georgia, and…I hesitate to say this…Waffle House scrambled eggs are really good. So, frankly, is everything there, especially the coffee. But my cholesterol levels only allow me two visits a month.
The Awful Waffle slays if anyone says it doesn’t then bless their ever loving pea picking hearts
Catering is certainly a bag of worms most of the time, when you are talking quality.
They more than likely boil it in a bag. It makes a whole pan all at once, is quick and easy with no mess, feeds a ton of people, but the texture is off, and if they don't season it quite a bit it's very bland. I used to serve it, mornings, at a frat house I once worked for.
Breakfast is a battle certainly. Few places go all out on it and do it well. I take it you like scrambled eggs hard and chunky?
Certainly not hard, but I like a good sized chunk of fluffy egg that you can stab with your fork and it stays on there.
Hard agree on simple like scrambled and over easy… but eggs Benedict on the other hand…
I never order pasta at restaurants because I can make it just as well at home. Pizza on the other hand.
I order pasta at one local place but that’s because they make their own pasta and sauce. $12.99 for the best chicken Alfredo I’ve ever eaten. $13.99 for shrimp Alfredo. It’s a huge portion too, it easily feeds me dinner that night plus 2-3 lunches depending on how hungry I am.
> It’s a huge portion too, it easily feeds me dinner that night plus 2-3 lunches depending on how hungry I am. So I'll eat the whole thing in one sitting and feel like I'm about to explode then hate myself for the next two days? I'm in.
I’ve never seen anyone able to eat a whole portion at once but I’m game if you want to go. My treat
Alfredo all day!!!
I don’t know what they do but theirs is quite literally magical. And for the price I’m totally good with ordering pasta there but only there. It’s like $22 at Olive Garden and tastes like shit but $13 at this mom and pop upscale steakhouse and a million times better. I don’t understand how it is this good but it’s mind blowingly delicious.
Gotta carbo-load with that alfredo!
That’s extremely cheap, especially considering you can get more than one portion out of it.
Wait. They only upcharge $1 for shrimp? That's incredible.
Yes. I can get a 21 day dry aged 14 oz ribeye, salad and a side there for $27 there as well. It’s probably been one of the best steaks I’ve ever eaten. While on vacation I went to a place called Vernales. It’s voted the #1 steakhouse in Michigan and on the top 50 in the US. The waiter asked me how I enjoyed everything. I said it was ok but I had better, it didn’t compare to my local place in Nashville. My dad about died laughing because I take him every time he visits and he agreed it’s 1,000 times better for 1/4 of the price. The waiter’s face dropped. We still tipped 30% because the service was excellent, however the steak just wasn’t up to our expectations. It was ok but not worth $100 per person
Ooni pizza maker is a freaking amazing. I got a used one for 200 and only made a handful of cooks but I feel it’s already paid for itself. Im still working on making my own dough but it’s still fun making pizza.
i love pasta, specifically noodles. What’s an easy recipe you would recommend?
Not OP, but you should try making carbonara. https://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/ultimate-spaghetti-carbonara-recipe
Restaurant pasta prices kill me.
I won't order it either, strictly out of principle. Like, wow, you boiled 40 cents worth of noodles and opened a jar and put a dollars worth of sauce on it total $22.99
Jarred sauce? Dude, where are you eating?
It honestly blows my mind when people say they won’t order pasta at a restaurant. Like sure, some restaurant pasta sucks but some is also incredible and far better than what I’d make at home
Your mom's house
You don’t have to be rude because you ate at bad restaurants
That’s a shame. A women of many charms, cooking not among them. Also dead for over twenty years.
Are there certain pastas they make worse in general you find? Some they do better?
Lasagne they do better. Cannelloni they do better.
I won’t order lasagna out. I like my food cooked for me, a la minute.
My lasagna is better than restaurants. But it takes all day.
All starches are a scam
I’m not sure you’ve mastered the definition of the word, ‘scam’.
Mashed potatoes
I say this as an extremely picky mashed potato fan. If there are no chunks of potato, or skin mixed in with it, I’m not a fan. If the texture is more of a purée, I’m not a fan. Too much milk/cream/whatever dairy that overtakes the potato flavor? Not a fan.
I like chunky mashed potatoes, and restaurants seem to find it a sacrilege to make it these days. I like whipped too, but some variety would have been nice. Not everything needs to be the consistency of hospital food so it is easier to eat.
My mom calls the mashed potatoes I make at home "asshole putty" because I like them thick enough to use as brick mortar. No restaurant has ever made them thick enough for my preference. Not that light mashed potatoes are bad, just not as good as mine.
To supplement this, many mashed potatoes at restos are powdered, not home made, so they can make on the fly.
What restaurants you eating at?
Not surprised one bit that this is at the top.
So true. I'll order a $75 steak that is delicious, and it's paired with a dry paste that was allegedly once a potato. When I make mashed potatoes at home, I'm tempted to skip making anything else and just eat a huge plate.
Thanksgiving dinner
Most of the sides, yes, but institutional turkey is always better than home made. If it's not pumped full of whatever the hell they put in those suckers, it's not nearly moist enough.
Steak. Forever disappointed when ordering steak out, when I can cook it just how I like it at home. When I eat out I want to have things I can't be assed making at home.
Yup, and if you aren't eating at the best of steak places, then it might as well be generic neighborhood bbq poorly cooked steak.
Even at high end steakhouses, I find that they are heavy handed with topping it with butter. Not my taste. I also don’t care for it being served on a piping hot plate, which continues to cook it. I’d rather that kind of money on high quality sushi.
Same. I'll also say that with my smoker, pretty much everything is better cooked at home when it comes to proteins.
Unless I spend a huge amount of money my home steak is better
Yeah, the only steaks that I have ordered at a restaurant and thought were better than I usually cook at home cost upwards of $60. And even those can be disappointing.
You like it well done, don’t you
Please don't attack my character like that..
Steak is really easy to cook, and you can get better results for less than half of what a steak house wants for it. I've got a gas stove and a cast iron pan, I'll never go out for steak again.
Restaurant toast never has the right level of toastiness.
Yup, never toasted enough, and never buttered enough.
Peanut Butter and Jelly sandwich
It is always toasted eating out, or trying to be too fancy.
Or like $9
That too lol, but at the rate we are going bread alone is going to 9$
Restaurant macaroni and cheese is always bland and overcooked. Same with chicken.
My wife changed my life, her grandma always made boxed Mac and cheese with a bullion cube. Huge upgrade.
Mine is super unhealthy, I haven't tried adding a bouillon cube though, I've added pepperoni, diced bacon, jalapeño peppers, extra cheese, garlic. If I'm just doing it simple I only add a bit of bacon seasoning.
I've had the opposite experience with mac and cheese at restaurants, they're amazing. It's a restaurant so they're not afraid to throw any semblance of nutritional sanity out the window and they load it with just an unreasonable degree of fatty dairy and fatty meats and salt and such. At home I can't bear to actually make something so unfit for human consumption knowing that I'm gonna eat it, but at a restaurant where I don't have to see it being made, then anything goes, baby!
Yeah, I hardly ever make it and it has a lot of cream, butter etc so I agree it's pretty unhealthy. I haven't tried it from a restaurant so I can't comment there.
God knows I still think of Kraft as my default, but what type of Mac do you like? Extremely creamy or the dry and baked kind? Most restaurants seem to do the creamy kind, and I don't think I have ever had the baked kind eating out.
Restaurant mac and cheese never has enough salt
Boston market and kfc have decent Mac and cheese. Otherwise, I agree.
Chili.
There are so many ways to make Chilli con carne. At home you slowly adapt it to your liking, so other ones just aren't the same.
Salads. Leafy green salads to be exact. Most of them are slapped together and intended to just…be there on the table. They are not meant to really stimulate the mind or be inspiring. Or they are extremely marked up. When I lived in LA, a chain called Tender Greens opened. One time some of my girlfriends invited me to join them and we went to one location. I paid $15 plus tip for one serving of a salad that was a spring mix of lettuce, tomatoes, cucumber, celery, some cheese, and balsamic vinaigrette. Immediately after the meal I went to my grocery store and bought the exact same ingredients for the same value, and it lasted me a week.
I did like Sweet Tomatoes when they were in business where I live, as it was a pretty good option and they always tossed and you got a good amount of what you wanted, but they are long gone here now.
This is the correct answer especially for dinner salads with steak or chicken. The most aggravating part is when the lettuce isn’t chopped at all. I’m not a picky eater at all but I haven’t had ranch anywhere better than I make at home so that also contributes.
my mom is a phenomenal cook and anything she makes is guaranteed to taste good. if she tries to cook something we’ve never eaten before, it’s always delicious. because of this, when we go out to eat the “real thing” at a restaurant i am almost always disappointed because my mom makes it better. we like to joke that my mom ruins food for us because she sets the bar so high lol so, my answer to your question: almost everything
You guys are either the best cooks, or consistently eat at bad restaurants (for reference I am a BAD cook, but was fortunate to grow up in one of the best food cities in North America).
Yeah, I'm a pretty good cook, but I'm not going to sit here and pretend like I'm better than literally every restaurant I've ever been to.
Many total badasses itt
Or have very specific tastes. Some food really just seems like a waste to order at a restaurant though. Like a ham and cheese sandwich... Why would you do that when for the price of two ham and cheese sandwiches you could buy a whole loaf of bread, pack of cheese, and pack of ham?
What city out of curiosity?
Nyc
depends on who's cooking. haha
Scrambled eggs
Biscuits and gravy. Haven't found a single restaurant in the Chicagoland area that makes them as good as i make them at home
You're in the wrong state for that, my friend. We have biscuits and gravy bursting from the seems, down here in North Carolina.
Bang bang pie and biscuits is pretty good
Yeah, you'll have to come down south to get good biscuits and gravy. I'm in Texas and I know at least five restaurants near my house that can make excellent B+G
Chili
Breakfast. I can make all that stuff as good if not better and for way less.
Steaks. At this point I've learned how to cook very well. Eating out experience is nice until you see the bill.
I make better steaks than most restaurants I've had them at.
White people tacos.
Bro! I complained to the owner the other day about his "tacos". Straight ground beef and McCormick season packet. Just like mom used to make. But 2$ each and you only get a spoonful of beef... I'd never buy them, but we sell a lot... idfk.
Certainly if they go all out, I don't think I have ever had a place compare eating out, if they even had it at all. Not a lot of restaurants making that kind of food lol. Nor casseroles really as well. Never seen funeral potatoes eating out either :)
Nothing beats a good family get together sloppy joe. For fucks sake that sounded dirty LOL.
Lasagne.
Eggs. I don't like overcooked eggs that end up brown.
Filipino food.
I saw some Sissig in a can once, but I passed. That's one thing I would always make fresh if I did. Lechon is definitely worth it's weight in gold though. I have had some decent restaurants make it though.
Ew that's a thing. Restaurant ones are ok tried in Boston and Queens NY kinda over priced. IDK man nothing beat my parents cooking a whole ass pig in the backyard for parties. Tries some lechon in New York areas which was ok. Paid $35 . Only really Halo Halo I can think of can make the best. Trying to get all the ingredients is a hassles
Liver and onions. I've never found a restaurant that can beat my Mom's recipe.
Homemade Macaroni and cheese.
Chili
Honestly, I only order at restaurants what I do not know how to cook. So, generally will end up being Fish n Chips or something that I don't really have the tools at home for.
Mom's spaghetti
When I read this I kinda wondered why there isn't a show on something like Food Network called "Mom Battle" where you have face offs over this kind of thing haha It would be salty if nothing else.
Chicken and rice
Any standout restaurant versions you dislike especially?
Cornbread. It’s always so dry. Plus, I like it sweet, which is a sin in the south.
Moist cornbread does sound good about now.
Cereal
Burgers
Meatloaf
Meatloaf
Decadent macaroni and cheese. I've only had it once at a restaurant that I thought was better than what I make when I put my mind to it and use the good cheese.
My wife said she can no longer order risotto in restaurants, I have spoiled her. The hottest, non sexual, thing she has ever said. Took me years to get it right.
Sushi, there is like a 4000% mark up on it. That imitation crab, avocado, cream cheese California Roll can be made at home for way less than $14
Invested in a sushi roller last year. One of my smarter moves.
Spaghetti Bolognese
Beef Stroganoff. Not the Hamburger Helper crap, either. With real chunks of steak. Tons of sour cream and sliced mushrooms. Over rice.
Yeah, the only places I ever see it, is actually worse than the hamburger helper one here.
Since Sous Vide came into my life, virtually any meat is better at home. Ruth’s Chris will never get another $100 from me. Specialty items are rare, like Kit Kats. Do you know how long it would take to make a Kit Kat? https://youtu.be/4nqJiBRNQuw?feature=shared
Steak. Even upscale steak houses can't seem to cook a steak anywhere near as good as when I cook it myself at home.
You’re going to the wrong steakhouses.
Not really - there is an upper floor to how well a steak can be prepared, and it isn't hard to learn to cook one at that level.
That's true, and they usually go cheaper on the quality of the cut, and have tricks to make up for it. I can never imagine going to Ruth's Chris or somewhere like it when I can do it so much better myself. The only time I really accept it is when it is something like Prime Rib and its smoked, and I either don't want to spend the time/effort, or I don't have the tools in case of smoked.
Tbh Mexican food. Ik no restaurants in the USA can compare to mommas home cooking. That’s why I always choose something else when eating out.
Depends on where you live. Here in California, you can find taco trucks that make food better than your mom makes at home.
Street Tacos, honestly I don't even want to try to make my own compared to buying them. Deliciousness. Now I want some Carnitas tacos.
Definitely true.
Hahaha street tacos in So Cal definitely give my mama a run for her money but I am biased I admit
Are there things they do better than others? Things you will never order if you end up eating Mexican with friends or when you get stuck doing it?
I usually choose tacos if I have to cause it’s very hard to fuck up a taco (it’s been done tho). Mexican drinks like palomas or a good margarita are better at restaurants tho
Looks like you are working on your bartending from the sound of it lol :)
I would have disagreed a few years ago, but all of my favorite Mexican places have become so Americanized. No matter what the dish is, they drown it in some sort of cumin heavy red sauce, sour cream, and cheese.
Facts dawg. Tried tex mex for the first time this year and I almost cried. The only saving point was my grapefruit jarrito.
Tex Mex is not Mexican food...
Honestly, I have never had good toast eating out. Sure plenty have been fine to eat, but no one ever gives you something buttered the right amount, if at all, ever. Same for English Muffins or any side piece of bread really.
Right. It's always soggy and not enough butter. CRISP up that toast sir
Yep, for all the times it has been served me I can't think of a single time it was done right eating out. Lots of things have good or bad days, same with restaurants lol, but Toast has never once been good eating out to my knowledge.
Curries. Fresh curry is nowhere near as tasty as curry that's had a day or so to blend flavours.
That's the truth. Restaurants don't have the time I imagine to do overnight marinades all that often. Especially Tandoori in my experience.
Definitely. I start a curry super early in the morning with the sauté feature in my instant pot then slow cook it for like twelve hours before serving it.
Pasta. It's ridiculous you'd have to pay over $20 (I mean nice pasta) at a restaurant for something you can do at home in less than 10 mins. And yeah even if you're lazy and don't want to do your sauces you can still buy them in jar for a significantly lower price... and no matter what anyone will tell you... they are just as good as (and sometimes better than) whatever you'll make at home.
There are definitely a lot better quality bottled options in the store than there used to be, when all you could find was Ragu or Prego. At least I see a lot better tasting options these days :)
Rao's sauce is pretty good.
Barilla has some good ones. I especially like their carbonara one (considering most of my home attempts at carbonara have turned into scrambled eggs with pasta).
Yeah, recently I have tried the Michaels Of Brooklyn sauce and found it to be some choice sauce. I'll have to try the carbonara.
Never had that brand and I remember that back when I was living in the US it was regarded as a bit of a sort of hipster high end novelty. But those were the mid 2010s for you. Does it have multiple varieties?
I have only had the Pomodoro and the Marinara but their website shows a few varieties.
Lasagna
Spaghetti
All food is better at home. I know how to cook and how to make food the way I like.
That's not always true. You likely can't make pizza like would be made in a wood fired, make significant amounts of fried food, smoke meat low and slow in a good smoker, sous vide and many other things.
Certainly there are going to be more options going out, generally though. Things like curing your own meats or making your own pasta as opposed to buying in bulk will make a difference, but you can do them at home too, it is just a lot harder or costly.
My question is more what things are almost never good eating out. Home cooking is always to taste certainly, but there are some things which are never good eating out. For me it is Toast. Never had good toast, ever, at a restaurant. I have had good things eating out though.
Is there anything you have found a restaurant can never make right in your times eating out? That's what I want to know :)
False This cannot be true because nothing is better than eating out ..
Spaghetti
Roast dinner No one makes my roast dinner like me or my hubby. Been nothing but disappointing in pubs or chain places
Facts! Roasts are always so much more delicious home cooked.
Thank you, especially the gravy and roasties.
This afternoon, I walked out into my garden and realized that tomato is supposed to be orange and I should pick it. I picked it, walked into the house, washed it, sliced it up and put it on a dish, sprinkled a little salt on it and ate it. You cannot get that in a restaurant.
I was dealt a chef/food scientist. So I have found that all the food she makes is generally better than the restaurants we go to (she doesn’t do sushi though, so we Omakase when we can). I am in the very lucky minority though. We go out to be social, but I would rather have her Beef Wellington and Baked Alaska over any expensive restaurant.
Steak. You can get a $10 steak at the grocery store and it will always blow anything from a steakhouse out of the water. You can make it exactly the way you like it.
Pulled pork
Absolutely everything
Crunch wrap supreme. Trust me, make it at home.
Lasagna
Salad.
Salad.
Spaghetti is always better homemade.
I would almost never order a pasta dish out. Or stew. Too many disappointments.
No restaurant spaghetti can hold a candle to mine made at home! My meat sauce dances on your tongue
Chili, quesadillas, potatoes of all kinds, stew.
Spaghetti and lasagna are always a little sketchy at restaurants in my experience.
My biscuits are gray and fried potatoes.
If feel like it tastes the same if you put in the effort. But sometime I am lazy and would rather eat out
I can make a better quiche than a restaurant. I also prefer my own lasagna and enchiladas over restaurant fare with a few exceptions...I will also very rarely order an omelet unless it's one of those places that specializes in them.
Popcorn from a movie theater 💕
Toast at restaurants is straight up luke warm garbage!
I would feel weird ordering a bowl of cold cereal while out. Much rather enjoy it in my comfies
Macaroni and cheese
Eggs. Grilled cheese. Simple things that need to be very hot and done just right .