• Confound4082@lemmy.ml
    ·
    1 year ago

    My wife informed me that Olive Garden was not actually a fancy restaurant... this was a shock to me...

    • keepcarrot [she/her]
      ·
      1 year ago

      I have no idea how any of these rank. I assume cheesecake factory sells cheesecake. Does applebees sell apples with bees (or maybe honey)? Who knows, I'll never find out on a date I assume. We have a cheesecake shop here but that's about it.

      • Helmic [he/him]
        ·
        1 year ago

        lol even cheesecake factory's exotic around here. their gimmick is basically that they have EVERYTHING on the menu - like a ridiculously long menu of nearly any food you could think of, all done servicably but none of it really standing out. cheesecake is merely one of the bajillion things they have. it's popular because if you bring a group there everyone will find something on that menu they're willing to eat, whereas if you go to red lobster or something and someone doesnt' like seafood then lol they can eat chicken strips i guess.

        • SaniFlush [any, any]
          ·
          1 year ago

          Also the restaurant is designed as if it was owned by a wizard.

      • FunkyStuff [he/him]
        ·
        1 year ago

        Applebee's is essentially a fast food place with slightly better presentation and servers.

        • keepcarrot [she/her]
          ·
          1 year ago

          Oh, we have like... Nandos and various pubs. Our America themed local is actually pretty popular, but it's about 30% more expensive than Hungry Jack's

          • SaniFlush [any, any]
            ·
            1 year ago

            "American" restaurants in other countries are so surreal because they get the food wrong in the same way America usually gets other places' food wrong

    • Helmic [he/him]
      ·
      1 year ago

      unironically an important step in my radicalization was receiving a meme to this effect like a decade ago and it clicking. "oh, rich people literally do not understand most people don't eat at upscale places. this person actually thinks they're culturally superior to me because i do not eat at 'actually fancy' restaurants. they think the reason I have never eaten at a three star restaurant is because I'm close minded, not that i can't afford to blow that much of my money on a single meal or spend an hour just driving each way. the entire joke is that they're not racist because they have an open mind and eat at a lot of sit down restaurants and poor people are racist because they've only ever eaten at olive garden a few times and just refuse to try anything different."

      i've learned enough since to understand that not all of the US is as utterly fucked as this and in some places there's affordable restaurants that are much higher quality and that the restaurant industry as a whole is an abusive nightmare, but that really did get me thinking about the liberal contempt of the masses.