Alright I'm Going Out To Eat Tonight - What Restaurants Should I Be Avoiding?......

[global1]

I know a lot of restaurants are trying to avoid Health Care costs by keeping people on only part time and that their are surcharges tagged on to the check for healthcare at others - and other shenanigans going on around the Obama win and the Affordable Care Act.

Please list here the restaurants that I should avoid going to tonight.

[NightWatcher]

1. eat local. Eat somwhere none of us has heard of

[fleur-de-lisa]

3. Totally agree . . .

why would ANYONE eat at a chain restaurant?

[ChisolmTrailDem]

7. Agreed. 9 times

out of 10 you'll be glad you did.

[Scuba]

18. I love this post ...

<a href="http://imgur.com/y82VA"><img src="" title="Hosted by imgur.com" alt="" /></a>

[backscatter712]

2. Applebees, Dennys, Papa Johns, for their Obamacare scaremongering, just to start...

Also Dominos and Chick-Fil-A - they're also run by right-wing fundies.

[unblock]

4. find a place that gets its food from local farms.

[leftynyc]

5. Avoid chains

They're the worse about denying benefits. Just eat local and you should be fine.

[Retrograde]

22. I'll make an exception for small local chains

There are a few around here that expanded their family business by having one family member open up another branch after the first one got successful, so I'll patronize those. But national chains - no: the way they keep consistency is by shipping stuff frozen from some central point, then nuking it as ordered. When I go out to eat I expect to be paying for the expertise and labor of the person preparing it - even if it's just a sandwich. I can microwave stuff at home.

[ChisolmTrailDem]

6. I like to explore. We live in exurbia and instead of going

to the local strip shopping centers and their usual name-brand eateries, We head in the other direction. This won't always be practical, especially if you live in an urban area. But my wife and I like to find little out-of-the-way places off the beaten path. Most of the time we find really good places to eat and our adventurism is rewarded.

[me b zola]

8. Eat at a locally owned business

You will be amazed at the great food and people that you will meet

[RebelOne]

14. I can agree with that.

In my neighborhood here in North Georgia, there are some great mom-and-pop, Chinese, Mexican and other ethic restaurants. And we also have many chain restaurants, such as Applebees, and TGI Fridays, which I usually avoid anyway.

[Barack_America]

9. Where are you at? Maybe someone can provide a local rec.

[d_r]

10. Chinese food in Kentucky

[OnyxCollie]

11. Eat at a Mexican Restaurant not run by caucasians.

Many in my area are owned by the same family, and I suspect they operate as an "underground railroad" for illegal immigrants (frequent new "foreign" faces with little english skills).

I'd rather give my money to them instead of some dickhead who would prefer to screw over his employees than provide for them.

[HopeHoops]

12. ANY of the chain restaurants. Go to a local one. We try to whenever possible.

Come to think of it, I can't even remember the last time I was in a national chain restaurant.

[neeksgeek]

13. Local!

And not just locally-owned businesses, but places that source their food locally, too. This might not be so easy to find out, I guess, though some places advertise "farm fresh" or words to that effect. I found out a lot about this when I worked for a while at the meat dept and the bakery at Sam's Club (Wal-Mart's membership club - I was really desperate for a job, what can I say). I was very surprised at the number of restaurants, including some "fine dining" places, in my area that got some or all of their food from Sam's. I no longer work for Sam's and no longer eat at those places, either.

[Earth_First]

15. L-O-C-A-L

Stay local, try something new/ethnic.

[demosincebirth]

16. Avoid Mexican food east of San Antionio, Tx.

[Gruenemann]

21. Avoid Mexican food NORTH of San Antonio as well.

[tjwash]

23. Better avoid Mexican food in Mexico as well.

[tjwash]

24. Avoid Mexican food in Canada as well...can't be too careful you know

[cloudbase]

17. Avoid Mexican food east of the Sabine River.

Fixed it for you.

[edhopper]

19. Don't go to a chain

they suck. Their food is closer to Swanson's TV Dinners than real cooking.
They are also unhealthy.
Use Yelp to find a good local place that meets your needs.

[aletier_v]

20. I eat at restaurants about 400 times per year

Been doing that for several years.

1) chains exist for a reason - quality control and predictability. I eat at local restaurants but what I've discovered is that many local recommendations are based on QUANTITY of food & price, not quality. I'd say about 1/2 of the local restaurants don't measure up to good chain restaurants.

2) Places I like - PFChangs. I know many people dislike it, often Asian people, but the quality/price point are great for me, but it's not A LOT of food (which I like, since I'm not a growing child anymore).

Claim Jumper for beef ribs & meat. You can't find beef ribs, generally. CJ serves too much food, though.

Cheesecake Factory - awesome depth of selection. Very few local restaurants can carry this level of diversity and pull it off. I ate an interesting Morrocan chicken there last week.

McCormick & Schmicks - I'm not a seafood eater but they carry a small range of other things. I had a parmesan-encrusted chicken last week & NY strip steak, both were quite good (but steak was $40).

Macaroni Grill - It's okay. It's gone cheaper during the recession but I still eat there occasionally.

You can't find good breakfast places in some cities. Phoenix had an awesome local chain called The Egg & I, something like that. Lately I've been eating breakfast at Silver Diner, which is a Virginia chain, it's not as good as Egg and I but it's the best I've found so far.

I've been eating at a place called Clyde's in Reston, VA lately, I had an unbeatable rosemary chicken two weeks ago for something like $13, really great price for what I got.

[MrYikes]

25. Just go eat at a local soup kitchen and leave a 40 dollar tip.

[longship]

26. The ones w/ all pick-ups in the lot with "Eat more possum" stickers on them. nt

[DisgustipatedinCA]

27. Yelp.com | Restaurants | Within 10 Miles | ...then filter out any chain restaurants

That normally does the trick.