Originally Posted by
exbayern
I agree - this is a big issue I have with chains in the US especially. Trying to find something vegetarian which is hot and somewhat balanced is often nearly impossible, as so much is premade. Try and have Panera remove something from their cheese/mushroom sandwich - not possible. That is just one of many examples.
Walt Disney World has taken the premade chain style food to new heights - they prepare the food in a central kitchen location and deliver it to the restaurants, severely reducing the ability to change anything about an item. What used to be 'boil in the bag' food there was marginally improved and how now sunk to new lows by not even doing 'boil in the bag' onsite.
I'm regularly amazed at how much business TGIF's and Hard Rock Cafe do around the world; they seem to attract a large number of American customers (who could eat pretty much the same food at home). And some smaller cities even support more than one TGIF! I just walked past one which had a Friday night crowd building while local restaurants were still fairly quiet.
Surprising.. a good word about WDW. I find it pretty good selection at WDW.. and its now magnified after visiting DL.. Just not much choice at DL compared to WDW, where there seems to be alot more sit down restaurants to choose from.. and WDW actually does have some pretty high quality food restaurants that we've come to enjoy..
We typically like to get a fast serve, and a sit down restaurant each day we visit the parks.. we make the sit down meal an event.. whereas its character dining, or unique setting.. there's always a reason why we dine (example, getting some guaranteed reserved seats for a show)..
Originally Posted by
nkedel
Sometimes you just want familiar, decent food. Although TGIF and the present incarnation of the Hard Rock Cafe barely qualify for that, and the Hard Rock is wickedly expensive these days (even by US standards, let alone local ones!) in places which are otherwise quite cheap. $20 for a hamburger is robbery even in Manhattan or London -- and the HRC in Pattaya of all places had a burger at that price (well, 600 baht) with other entrees similarly scaled up.
That and the general crapification of the menu is why these days, I just pick up an overpriced T-shirt and not a meal there. A shame - they used to be reasonably priced and reasonably good.
Familiar and decent.. almost oxymoron.. but the chains that have successfully got this system down pat, is getting the business nowadays..