Sadie's in Albuquerque, NM - folks asphyxiate themselves when talking about how authentic and wonderful this place is...but after about four visits there over a period of a few years all I've seen is a damned revamped bowling alley (aren't we too cool for school!) that sells high school football stadium quality New/Mexican food, and stumbles all over itself in trying to be lowbrow pretentious and thrist shop chic. For good New/Mexican food in ABQ go to a downtown or South Valley dive instead - the kind where they sell chicle at the front counter and the place is heated with a 50-year old wall heater - that's where you'll find the real stuff

AKA Cheese Penis.

Absolutely top notch.

^^^

Also worth trying the sister restaurants La Trompette, Chiswick and The Glasshouse, Kew.

Piazzeria Giardini in Estellencs, Mallorca has the worst food I have eaten in a restaurant to date. We went there for a pizza, it being a pizzeria, and I was stunned to find that the pizza base was the worst kind of supermarket pizza base (the ones that seem like small, wooden chopping boards) smeared with a thin layer of tomato 'stuff' and topped with cheap cheddar type cheese. It was inedible. My son had a steak which had been lavishly covered with some kind of chemical-based rub or sauce or something. I am a trained chef with many years experience, but this was something else. The pity about this restaurant is that it has a certain tatty charm, in a truly idyllic setting. The service was poor and grumpy and we fled after a mere 40 minutes (a normal supper being many hours in it's duration). Do not go to this restaurant-you have been warned. I am still having flashbacks.

A trip down memory lane in another thread leads me to recall
a place that was hideously overpriced and had horrendous food:
the Pantheon Bar right by the Pantheon in Rome.

Glad I stumbled on this one. By far the most overrated restaurant I've ever experienced, having decided to try it based on the reputation of the chef (Todd English) and the recommendations of friends: Olives, in Boston (Charlestown). Overpriced crap exemplified.

OTOH, Blue Ginger in Wellesley, also with a celebrity chef (Ming Tsai), was excellent, one of the best meals I've ever had.

FWIW, I went back to Fifeteen in London and it was still crap. Aimed clearly at the celebrity gawking market from the home counties. The highlight this time (after being served several very unimaginative wines)

Sommelier: I've got something very imaginative to go with your lamb
Table (in unison): Is it New Zealand Pinot Noir?
Sommelier: Yes, how did you guess.

He is now trying to make a media career for himself....remarkable.

TGI Friday's in Westbury, NY - I had a dead fly in my beverage, which I didn't realize until the fly was in my mouth. How nasty! When I pointed this out to the server, I received a lame "sorry about that" with no real attempt to address it. It took a conversation with the manager to receive a satisfactory response. I will not be going back there.

Any dining chain, anywhere, ever.

George's Thai Bistro
3732 S Bristol
Santa Ana, CA 92704

Although the owner is Thai, the food is not Thai, French or any other type ... just badly prepared meals

Some to avoid: Yellowfin in Edgewater, Maryland. Poor waitstaff, deteriorating interior. The seafood was good but my wife and I paid close to $100 without alcohol. Just don't go there. The waterfront location does not help.

Hundred Acres in New York, New York. I didn't really understand what the restaurant was about, since there was American and European blends of cuisine, but they did say they were gourmet fine dining, and many of the dishes there were pathetic (from a can). I almost never ask for food to be comped, but I came pretty close. The place is also far too crowded to be fire code safe.

Disappointing: Din Tai Fung in Taipei, Taiwan. The Los Angeles branch is fantastic but I found the flagship restaurant of this renowned franchise very poor in quality control. They pride on attention to detail but parts of my xiaolongbao were barely just warm, noodles undercooked. This, on a Tuesday night where it was just barely busy. I commented about this to the concierge at the hotel where I was staying at, they said back, "We get that a lot."

Worst Chain: I'll second Macaroni Grill. Besides their appetizers, everything is just soaked in sauces, and salty to the point you are just chugging water hours after the meal.

I couldn't agree more....spent almost $500USD for four for lunch for nothing special and the food was mediocre at best!

Les Halles Miami. Incredibly rude service and terrible food. A few years back it was excellent. Now it's truly horrible experience.

I was seriously underwhelmed by their location in Markham, ON just outside Toronto. Pretty much everything we ordered was a giant overbaked carbohydrate bomb - not at all what we expected. I'd rather find some semi-unknown Taiwanese style hole-in-the-wall spot in LA than line up at DTF again.

GRAND WOK, MGM GRAND, LAS VEGAS

For such a decent location this really is a miserable dining experience.
Rude staff and bog-standard greasy Chinese food where we played find-the-protein in most of the dishes we ordered despite paying the inevitably high prices.
Avoid at all costs.