Originally Posted by
jbcarioca
I also am a fan pof Italian and French motorway food. AutoGrill has consistently very good food at modest prices. I have been known to seek out an AutoGrill rather than take a gamble on the sometimes poor choices in many Italian cities.
Autogrill isn't bad if you are stuck on the autoroute. I can't imagine seeking it out when you aren't on the road. But Italy does have some dead spots. In France however, you find find excellent food anywhere.
Those who denigrate lousy US food really need to try the lousy options often available, especially at odd times, in Italy, the UK, Ireland and some other countries. Even France is now stuffed full of really horrible fast food places such as McDonald's and Quick while restaurants in some small cities and towns are quite horrible.
Come on! The percentage of lousy fast food in France is infinitesimal compared to the US! Both in numbers of restaurants and revenue. In the US it is a hundred billion dollar empire. It's nothing here in France. And in France it is pretty much only kids that go to these places. At my local McDonalds they serve way more coke, coffee and fries than sandwiches. The teens use it as a hang-out place, but they don't eat much there. You only see adults at McDonalds when they are bringing little kids to use the indoor playground on a rainy day.
The UK and Ireland I agree have an abundance of bad food. How you can screw up fish and chips that bad, I don't know.