Food quality: getting worse by the day
 

Example: couple months ago decided to have Pad Thai takeout from the local eatery. Been there before and it was always good. This time: HUGE pile of rice with tiny pieces of chicken you have to find using a magnification glass. Thought it was a one-time off snafu. But no, the two other times I went since had the same problem: lots of noodles/rice carbs, not much of the real thing (chicken, pork) any more.
Another example: liked a local chicken noodle soup in a cup. Good chunks of meat. Nowadays: pile of noodles with minuscule pieces of meat.

And there are plenty of other example where food quality had gone down hill big time of the last few years. Food is stuffed with carbs, and little or no healthy veggies or protein left.

I guess I won't frequent these places anymore.

Have you talked to them about this? There's a local place here where one cook would always scrimp on things, a quick chat with the owner fixed that. The cook is still there, but isn't giving you scraps.

Is this just a couple restaurants, or do you feel like the overall culinary scene in Boston (assuming you're there...) is falling apart?

I feel like options where I live are actually getting better. Kansas City used to be a one-trick pony: barbecue. Now we have a wide variety of more modern, cosmopolitan choices that aren't centered around a huge hunk of smoked meat. We're not piling up Michelin stars yet, but a lot of national magazines are beginning to rate KC as a Top 20 (U.S.) type of food destination. Much of the credit goes to non-barbecue development. Quality here is light-years better than it was 20 years ago.

Of course we also have some restaurants that rest on their laurels. There are some older, widely-recognized barbecue places in town where quality is nowhere near what some newer places are doing. They bring people in because of name recognition only.

And don't forget about restaurants. Was in Seville last week and ordered chicken Paella. Guess what: pile of fried rice with minuscule pieces of chicken. Even my little finger was bigger.
Or that Mexican restaurant where I ordered fajitas. Same story: pile of fried veggies, little meat.

It's becoming epidemic.

Why don't you order chicken/pork/steak right away ?

Interesting observation. Does this only happen with older restaurants, or have you seen this with newer ones?

My favorite restaurant - it's been running for decades - still puts out good quality food, but I've noticed that the portions are slowly getting smaller. There's also more filler like lettuce under the entree. It seems like restaurants that have been in business for a long time are cutting corners to see how "efficient" they can get.

I wonder if this effect is predominant with older restaurants who can bank on their reputation to put out a slightly less good product.

Simple restaurant economics: protein is expensive; carbs are cheap.

It could also be a factor of how large the menu is and how often it is updated. Restaurants with those one page menus that are updated often can adjust prices more easily to reflect surges in cost, whereas my local chinese place that has had the same 100 item menu and $6.95 lunch specials for years is more likely to just adjust quantity.

There's a seafood place in Travelers Rest, SC, that is generally very popular and where I've noticed over time that the portion sizes vary more than the price does. It's generally a good deal...in Atlanta you might get 20% more but for nearly twice the price.

My theory is that that market has a lot more price resistance. Incomes are generally lower and you have lots of people on fixed incomes. If you go even further out into the boondocks you find towns that have lost their major industry and are now just retirees and a low-paid service sector (likely heavy on immigrants). You can't raise prices in that scenario to hold the line on quality or portion size like you can in the big city.

I suspect it's time to evaluate your options.

Are you sure it was actually pad thai? Once I opened it up and saw rice, I would have called to tell them I'd received the wrong order.

That does sound more like chicken fried rice...

And let's not forget the "Same Price, Smaller Can" scam supermarkets pull off these days.
Or that for instance baby cuts carrots you buy in a package need to be boiled for 30 minutes and still taste funny. I switched to organic carrots that actually taste like a real carrot and only need to be boiled for 5 minutes.

No wonder Americans are obese and have low IQ. Their food is loaded with junk.

Coke / diet coke bottles are now considerable smaller than they were a couple of years ago.

The escalating price of soft drinks at the grocery store had a positive effect on us: we completely eliminated them from our lives. When Diet Coke was $1.99 a 12-pack, it was easy to blow through a case a week. Now it's doubled in price - easy decision to kick the habit.

But the 32-ouncers at McDonald's are still my downfall. (They're $1 plus tax, all day every day.) I don't like McD's food, but they always get the Diet Coke right. Drive-thru, $1.08, I have my fix... So I need them to double their prices so I can kick that habit and get 100% caffeine-free. :p