Applebees and Chili's replacing waiters with Tablet PCs

[derspiess]

I kind of like Olive Garden. 

In may experience with them, they are a mixed bag. When they're good, their good.

I hate their commercials and how they try to brand themselves as super-duper authentic Italian food.  But on a few dishes that are hard to screw up (capellini pomodoro, baked ziti al forno), they're decent.  Their salad is okay as well.  Carrabba's is a shorter drive for us and they're a bit better. 

There's only one or two Italian places around here (both non-chain of course) that come anywhere near the awesome family-owned places we had back in Delaware.  And they're both downtown.

[derspiess]

I suppose that depends then on what decent means. I mean it is edible but I would never recommend unless the conversation was about where you can get a super cheap one.

I've had much thinner/tougher steaks that were still edible. Outback is as good as any other place you can get a steak under $20.

Their salad sucks though. Dry as Texas.

I think it's fair to say you can get a pretty decent steak for the money at Outback.  Doesn't compare to higher-end places, but most of their cuts are good for what they are.

[OttoVonBismarck]

Mind I put Olive Garden / Red Lobster / Ruby Tuesday in a category "above Applebee's / Chili's" but below casual dining restaurants I regard as "actually decent."

With OG, for me at least, even pasta not done right still tastes "okay." Pasta is hard, at least to my tastes, to render "disgusting." It's the difference between saying Domino's pizza is good versus saying it is "inedible." I can (and have) eaten $1 frozen pizza from a gas station. Was it good? No, but it wasn't "inedible" or even really gross, it was just low quality food. So the worst OG does is "low quality pasta" which (like low quality pizza) is usually worth eating if you've got nothing else in front of you. But Applebee's makes a lot of dishes like steaks, wings, burgers etc that can really be just plain bad if not done right, and they don't execute well.

Red Lobster is in the same category because they basically serve lobster which tastes good just about anyway you cook it and other seafood items like shrimp that are also hard to render unpleasant. Ruby Tuesday serves the same stuff as Applebee's or Chili's but just does a better job of it IMO. I'd probably but TGIF in the same category as Ruby Tuesday.

[The Brain]

I tend to eat at real restaurants.

[OttoVonBismarck]

I tend to eat at real restaurants.

Well there's only one city in Sweden so I'm assuming all the restaurants in the country are in the same square mile. But in America it's pretty common to be traveling and have less options.

[derspiess]

I tend to eat at real restaurants.

Well there's only one city in Sweden so I'm assuming all the restaurants in the country are in the same square mile. But in America it's pretty common to be traveling and have less options.

And in some of the shitty little towns I've had to travel to, even Applebee's would have been a welcome sight.

[Barrister]

I tend to eat at real restaurants.

Well there's only one city in Sweden so I'm assuming all the restaurants in the country are in the same square mile. But in America it's pretty common to be traveling and have less options.

And in some of the shitty little towns I've had to travel to, even Applebee's would have been a welcome sight.

You should try some of the shitty little northern towns I've been to, where ANY restaurant would be a welcome sight (instead of schlepping your own food in and hoping you can find a way to heat it before eating).

[grumbler]

My answer to technological unemployment involves nationalizing corporations so that we can all share in the increased productivity of capital improvement, and recreating American values to conform to the workerless economy that will come whether we will it to or not.

My answer has the added benefit of avoiding the complete breakdown of society and GDP that will occur once capitalism destroys its own markets.

P.S. The Olive Garbon blows.  Last time I was there, they served Korea watered-down... wine.  WTF.

That seems reasonable, although multinationals might be more difficult to nationalize.  The nested multinationals cause a lot of problems.

Ide's idols in North Korea seem to have managed.

[Neil]

I tend to eat at real restaurants.

Well there's only one city in Sweden so I'm assuming all the restaurants in the country are in the same square mile. But in America it's pretty common to be traveling and have less options.

And in some of the shitty little towns I've had to travel to, even Applebee's would have been a welcome sight.

Just do the Caliga thing:  Gas station food.

[Neil]

My answer to technological unemployment involves nationalizing corporations so that we can all share in the increased productivity of capital improvement, and recreating American values to conform to the workerless economy that will come whether we will it to or not.

My answer has the added benefit of avoiding the complete breakdown of society and GDP that will occur once capitalism destroys its own markets.

P.S. The Olive Garbon blows.  Last time I was there, they served Korea watered-down... wine.  WTF.

That seems reasonable, although multinationals might be more difficult to nationalize.  The nested multinationals cause a lot of problems.

Ide's idols in North Korea seem to have managed.

Which multinationals did they nationalize?

[Admiral Yi]

Mitsubishi

[Neil]

Mitsubishi

I don't think that was a multinational.

[Admiral Yi]

They probably had operations in Manchukuo. 

[Maximus]

I tend to eat at real restaurants.

Well there's only one city in Sweden so I'm assuming all the restaurants in the country are in the same square mile. But in America it's pretty common to be traveling and have less options.

And in some of the shitty little towns I've had to travel to, even Applebee's would have been a welcome sight.

Just do the Caliga thing:  Gas station food.

Several steps up from Offal House

[Neil]

They probably had operations in Manchukuo. 

But they were probably extraterritorial and operating under Japanese law.