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I mean, the thing of it is, most of those American Mall Restaurant chains are chock full of deep fried shit at its best.
It's encouraging to see that someone else noticed how goddamn salty the beef at Outback Steakhouse is. Why the chain feels the need to overseason their beef with salt is beyond me.
Now, the missus loves, I mean fucking LOVES, Chili's. She LOVES that fucking place. There are literally only two things on the menu I will eat there, because everything else is deep fried, overgarnished goo. The last time we were there, I actually remarked aloud that the food is a bunch of processed goo. And to me, there's really no discernable overall difference between Chili's, TGI Fridays and Applebee's.
As for the Cheescake factory, I knew I was in trouble the first time I went there strictly for a bit of cheescake and their plain cheescake was dry and hard, rather than moist and soft. If you can't get a plain cheescake right...not even talking exceptional, mind you (and if your place is named The Cheescake Factory, wouldn't you think your cheesecake would be exceptional?)...it's not a good harbinger of things to come in terms of a full meal. Alas, I went there again and had a full meal. Tables the size of postage stamps combined with high-speed food service where the appetizers, main courses and deserts were all rushed out with no regard by the foodstaff for the pace we were eating at...and nobody thought to clear the fucking empty plates and glasses throughout the meal! Nope, not for me.
P.F. Chang's was okay, but it wasn't nearly as great as everyone I had talked to claimed it was. Honestly, there's a little Chinese takeout up the road from me that is every bit as good for half the price.
While obviously not fine cuisine, I will say the local Olive Garden is stunningly consistent.
Now, I will say that I do like The Macaroni Grill. I also quite like The Bonefish Grill. And as far as burgers go, I will also say Red Robin did a great job with their burgers. Now, one might say that it's just a hamburger, but I've been to countless corporate restaurants that can't get a burger right. Either the lettuce is wilted, or the bun is too thin and the burger too greasy to the point where three bites in the bun just disintegrates. Red Robin had spot-on burgers.
The other thing I've noticed across the board in these Mall Restaurants is that the cooks can't cook meat properly in terms of getting temperatures correct. When you ask for a steak medium, it shouldn't be bleeding on the plate when it arrives. Medium rare and medium well there is a bit of wiggle room for interpretation, but if a cook can't tell the difference between rare and medium...not so fucking good.
And the Red Lobster is fucking ghastly. It smells of rancid seafood as soon as you walk in. If the seafood is of decent quality, it doesn't stink. If it's of really good quality, it doesn't smell of anything AT ALL. If you walk into a seafood joint and there is an overwhelming smell of fish as soon as you step in, turn tail and fucking run.
It's encouraging to see that someone else noticed how goddamn salty the beef at Outback Steakhouse is. Why the chain feels the need to overseason their beef with salt is beyond me.
Now, the missus loves, I mean fucking LOVES, Chili's. She LOVES that fucking place. There are literally only two things on the menu I will eat there, because everything else is deep fried, overgarnished goo. The last time we were there, I actually remarked aloud that the food is a bunch of processed goo. And to me, there's really no discernable overall difference between Chili's, TGI Fridays and Applebee's.
As for the Cheescake factory, I knew I was in trouble the first time I went there strictly for a bit of cheescake and their plain cheescake was dry and hard, rather than moist and soft. If you can't get a plain cheescake right...not even talking exceptional, mind you (and if your place is named The Cheescake Factory, wouldn't you think your cheesecake would be exceptional?)...it's not a good harbinger of things to come in terms of a full meal. Alas, I went there again and had a full meal. Tables the size of postage stamps combined with high-speed food service where the appetizers, main courses and deserts were all rushed out with no regard by the foodstaff for the pace we were eating at...and nobody thought to clear the fucking empty plates and glasses throughout the meal! Nope, not for me.
P.F. Chang's was okay, but it wasn't nearly as great as everyone I had talked to claimed it was. Honestly, there's a little Chinese takeout up the road from me that is every bit as good for half the price.
While obviously not fine cuisine, I will say the local Olive Garden is stunningly consistent.
Now, I will say that I do like The Macaroni Grill. I also quite like The Bonefish Grill. And as far as burgers go, I will also say Red Robin did a great job with their burgers. Now, one might say that it's just a hamburger, but I've been to countless corporate restaurants that can't get a burger right. Either the lettuce is wilted, or the bun is too thin and the burger too greasy to the point where three bites in the bun just disintegrates. Red Robin had spot-on burgers.
The other thing I've noticed across the board in these Mall Restaurants is that the cooks can't cook meat properly in terms of getting temperatures correct. When you ask for a steak medium, it shouldn't be bleeding on the plate when it arrives. Medium rare and medium well there is a bit of wiggle room for interpretation, but if a cook can't tell the difference between rare and medium...not so fucking good.
And the Red Lobster is fucking ghastly. It smells of rancid seafood as soon as you walk in. If the seafood is of decent quality, it doesn't stink. If it's of really good quality, it doesn't smell of anything AT ALL. If you walk into a seafood joint and there is an overwhelming smell of fish as soon as you step in, turn tail and fucking run.
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