[Laser]

My biggest peeve with this category of restaurants (applebees, sizzler, red lobster, olive garden, etc.) is the food is goddamn terrible from a culinary perspective, but Americans love it. I think its an extension of the lack of culture and and sophistication of Americans in general that they'll go to olive garden, order some wack penne and shrimp dish, and think they are having a gourmet Italian food.

[reaper23]

All this shit is true.

However, I literally don't know one single person in my social circle that eats at any of these places, ever.

I think it really breaks down urban vs suburban/rural.

I do know that I live in a little bubble where everyone eats well, goes to the gym and gives a fuck about how they look - and I love it.

I'd die if I had to move even 20 miles westward.

[Neo]

(02-16-2012 04:02 PM)worldwidetraveler Wrote:  

Mike, I always think of that stuff as the Crab mentality. Most people don't want to see you try to improve. Maybe they don't want to be reminded about their own inadequacies.

We see the same thing from family/friends who secretly love the idea of traveling around the world and banging foreign women. They hate on you because they envy you.

Hell, I had to cut off people because of their negativity.

According to most, you have to get married, settle down and have kids. I would rather cut my throat then be boxed in to an endless routine of car pooling, soccer games and banging a women who's waist measurements seem to be changing every year of marriage.

Trying to break outside the norms of society will always lead to jealousy. They couldn't do it so why would they want to see you do it.

Right on. I've had to cut off lots of people over the years. Unfortunately it's harder to make friends now, but the 'friends' who try to hold you back are not worth it.

[Gunner]

It's sad that Chili's, Applebees and TGIF are gaining a lot of market in Mexico.

[MiXX]

(02-17-2012 12:33 PM)bars Wrote:  

It's sad that Chili's, Applebees and TGIF are gaining a lot of market in Mexico.

So true!

I went to visit some business client in Mexico, and when they wanted to THRILL ME with lunch, they took me to TGIF's!! I immediately told them, not all Americans eat at TGIF's, only the ones from the bible belt states...of course I had to talk for the next 15 minutes what Bible states are while we looked for a respectable/cool venue to have lunch.

Mixx

[Aliblahba]

I've pulled ass out of these establishments, even in one as far out as Kuwa*t. The menus are always the same, so you always know what to order. Chili's has a good top shelf margarita. Knowing your surroundings is half the battle.

These chains all have bars. Find them close to convention centers and business districts. Hit them up at lunch and happy hours during the week. Don't count on the weekends, unless it's in a small ass town, where venues are lacking. Chicks like to go because it is a familiar place in an unfamiliar town. Their in town on biz, bored, and looking for something to do. This is easy pickings.

[el mechanico]

(02-17-2012 12:50 PM)Aliblahba Wrote:  

I've pulled ass out of these establishments, even in one as far out as Kuwa*t. The menus are always the same, so you always know what to order. Chili's has a good top shelf margarita. Knowing your surroundings is half the battle.

These chains all have bars. Find them close to convention centers and business districts. Hit them up at lunch and happy hours during the week. Don't count on the weekends, unless it's in a small ass town, where venues are lacking. Chicks like to go because it is a familiar place in an unfamiliar town. Their in town on biz, bored, and looking for something to do. This is easy pickings.

Pulling from these places deserves it own thread. Goldmine!

It is sad that these chains are creeping abroad. I swear that pizza hut is becoming the Dominican national dish.

[InternationPlayboy]

Ugh, the average American diet is disgusting. I've just started a new diet last month. I won't really eat out anymore and I eat 5 small meals a day instead of 2 or 3 big ones. I've even considered giving up meat for a month just to see how I feel.

[Chad Daring]

(02-16-2012 08:27 PM)Hotwheels Wrote:  

I eat chips, pizza, ice cream, drink gallons of soda, etc and laugh at those that "can't".

It's great having a high metabolism.

Until it catches up with you. I used to hate my slow metabolism, mud moves faster, but now I love it. Because of it I've learned how to eat healthy and be healthy. Guys like you who abuse a fast metabolism are the ones who have out-of-the-blue heart attacks at 35.

Just cause you can doesn't mean you should.

[MiXX]

(02-16-2012 08:27 PM)Hotwheels Wrote:  

I eat chips, pizza, ice cream, drink gallons of soda, etc and laugh at those that "can't".

And I laugh at guys who say this to make themselves feel better about choking on soda, ice cream, pizza, and eating like complete crap - because they "can". Nobody is designed to eat like shit, nobody. The fitter you are, the more meticulous and carefully planned is your diet!

Simply put, If you were to take off your shirt, and show off your soda, pizza and chips malnourished body, it in no way would compare to my Muscular, Athletic, Raw White Fish, and green Spinach physique...you're delusional if you think you can fuck with my six-pack stomach of raw power, and my Popeye forearms and calves!

I do hope you clean up your diet, but if you don't, hey, its your arteries under a surgeons knife in 10 years, not mine.

Putting other people down by mocking them for trying to make themselves better is WEAK GAME, homie.

You almost start to smell like a troll, so watch your step.

Mixx

[Hotwheels]

Mixx, the reason I worded that the way I did was in response to this;

"When I see they eating chips and ice cream I sneer and shake my head. I make them leave me because they cant deal with the guilt." from Chad.

It was meant more jokingly than it apparently came off to some, but also as a response that not everyone wants to eat such things as a lot of you guys do. I'm fortunate that I can eat whatever I want and not gain weight. I'm a meat and potato kinda guy that snacks on whatever and I don't have any desire to live in a gym.

If not for my metabolism being the way it is I would certainly eat differently.

As far as being a troll; Hardly. I'm here to read and learn about other places while lining up a trip to the DR for a dental holiday/vacation. I occasionally make a post on something that pertains to me.

Actually, I would probably post more but the constant howling about trolls here makes me pause as something meant to be humorous will get one banned. Just because someone doesn't want to be just like you doesn't make them a troll.

[babelfish669]

(02-16-2012 02:42 PM)MSW2007 Wrote:  

Middle-scale sitdown restaurants like Applebee's, Olive Garden, Chili's, etc. are often just as terrible offenders as fast food like McDonald's.

Definitely "worse" offenders than fast food.

Take your entire meal, including your beverage, run it in a blender for 20 seconds and then drink it. If it is disgusting crap, then you eat disgusting crap.

The best way to judge food is to remove the added salt, sugar, and fat. Go to a great sushi place, and eat a raw slab of salmon and it will be mind blowing. Go to a mediocre place, and they take their less than fresh salmon/tuna cover it with mayonnaise and roll it up in a giant pile of rice.

Other posters are right about the rural/urban thing. No one in a big city goes to Chili's. Every once in a rare while I end up at one of these chains with some friends or family. What really cracks me up is that people will actually sit around waiting an hour for a table! I don't wait an hour for a table at a 2 michelin star restaurant!

[Bad Hussar]

(02-16-2012 08:27 PM)Hotwheels Wrote:  

I eat chips, pizza, ice cream, drink gallons of soda, etc and laugh at those that "can't".

It's great having a high metabolism.

I used to think this about myself as well. Have never been fat, and will never be fat till my last breath on this crazy planet. I used to get a kick out of "teasing" chicks saying that I can eat anything I want and don't get fat. I did geniunly think this but honestly I was really just full of shit. If I ever bothered to calculate the actual calories I consumed in a day it would be in the normal range for someone my weight and activity level.

Implying it's all about in-built metabolism just gives people who actually do overeat a mental "out" excusing them of doing anything about their weight. They just think something like: "Well, that annoying prick Bad H is always going on about how he eats anything he wants and doesn't put on weight while I'm alway's dieting but am fat. I must have bad genes or a glandular problem or something. BooHoo, pass the Ben and Jerry's."

Nobody defies Newton's law of thermodynamics.

[kosko]

I had a fast metabolism growing up also I could pound down tons of shitty food with no effects.. It catches up to you tho and pumping yourself full of crap rots your insides up.

Great job to the poster whom let it be known that in big cities these shitty chains near hotels are like flys and honey for scooping out of town broads. Shitty Canadian chains like Jack Astors or Moxies are ripe with women if you hit it at the right times.
One thing I notice about Canada is that its cool to eat at shitty American chains vs in America I really just think you guys have such few options. America is over retailed/commercialized. Anytime I am in the states its a struggle to find any real food or food from non chain establishments. You venture for miles looking for a groccer or mom and pop resturant then you just get frustrated and pull into a chain since you have passed 20 on the way.

Another thing is the pallete of Americans... Salt and cheese. Applebees makes millions because they put cheese on evreything. Americans go crazy for salty foods, I couldn't eat many dishes in my last trip down south the food was way to salty to the point my mouth was swelling and puckering. Canadians much prefer sweet over salty and will eat a greasy deep fried piece of dough drenched in sugar versus a over salted steak grilled well like in America.

[carlosewers2012]

I personally, try to eat at home as much as possible, as i can prepare healthy meals that are low in calories, high in protein, and fiber. I don't think you can have a perfect diet all the time, that once in a while almost all of cheat a little.

[highandtight]

(02-17-2012 12:50 PM)Aliblahba Wrote:  

I've pulled ass out of these establishments, even in one as far out as Kuwa*t. The menus are always the same, so you always know what to order. Chili's has a good top shelf margarita. Knowing your surroundings is half the battle.

These chains all have bars. Find them close to convention centers and business districts. Hit them up at lunch and happy hours during the week. Don't count on the weekends, unless it's in a small ass town, where venues are lacking. Chicks like to go because it is a familiar place in an unfamiliar town. Their in town on biz, bored, and looking for something to do. This is easy pickings.

Ha, yeah man, me too! I actually used to live next to an outdoor strip mall filled with crappy establishments just like this: Chili's, Applebees, Olive Garden, Macaroni Grill, etc. Sometimes when I got bored at home I would just wander down to these places and post up at the bar area. Invariably I could find some bored chicks that were hanging out for business, tourists (this was in FL), etc. Conversion rates were very high. And, because my apartment was so close, logistics were great. I didn't necessarily pull the highest quality from those joints, but I have fond memories of those 6's and the nights (or, early evenings) we spent together.