Finding restaurants

In article , Andreas Skitsnack wrote:

Oh, a troll thread from Andreas. Been a while.

A poster here has repeatedly whinged about not being able to find
good restaurants in the tourist corridor of the Orlando area.
Hardly surprising because 1) he was looking for good restaurants in
an area where simply being open is all it takes to attract
customers, and 2) "good" is a subjective judgment that is based
primarily on acquired taste.

Most adults feel that "good", in restaurant fare, is what they are
used to and have found to be "good" over time. A restaurant in a
country other than their own is not likely to serve the type of
dish, prepared in the way they are used to, and spiced the way they
are used to.

Not at all. I like testing different food. Unfortunately, Americans don't
season their food much at all, especially not in tourist-heavy areas, where
most tourists are Americans.

Most food is super-greasy, tons of added sugar and way too sweet to eat.
But that's not really the biggest problem (and could be filed under the
'this is how we "spice" things in America). The biggest probem is the
usually really low aulity of meat, produce and things like that. It's like
you guys add syrup, sugar and salt to hide the crappy meat that's hidden
underneath somewhere.

US Chain restaurants have some advantage to the traveler. When
traveling in the US, I know I will find what I consider to be good
food in an Outback Steakhouse or a Carrabba's Italian Grill. I know
that the food in an Olive Garden or a Denny's is not going to be
something I will enjoy. I have no illusions that others will share
this opinion. I pick a restaurant to please me, not others.

As a foreigner, this is not a viable option, since few American chains
exists abroad.

And even on those that do exist abroad (like McDonald's) they still are of
lower quality in the states. FOr instance; in America, the soda is
sweetened with syrup instead of real sugar, as opposed to most of the rest
of the world, which means that a Coke tastes... well, worse. Also, the
quality of produce and meat in McDonald's in US is lower than most of
Europe.

While I like Carrabba's, I wouldn't recommend it to a person from
Europe. American Italian-style food is not the same as what a
European may be used to. Certainly not what an Italian is used to.

Too much added sugar, usually. Same with most chinese food joints.

I've traveled extensively in Europe, and had both hits and misses.
The independently owned restaurant is more prevalent in Europe, so
there's no experience factor involved in choosing restaurants. In
Europe, the full parking lot and the presence of a crowd in a
restaurant is not a dependable way to choose. The better
restaurants often don't have on-site parking, and the crowd in the
place only means that this restaurant offers what the local crowd
likes. That can be quite different from the style of food that I
like.

Plus, Europe is such a diverse place, where food culture changes ever X
miles you travel, most times significantly. But most places in Europe has
good quality meat and produce to begin with, so whatever reason you end up
disliking a dish has more to do with how it's done than what it was made
of.

I've never used Yelp or that type of thing for a recommendation.
It's ridiculous to do so. Yelp recommendations are often "salted"
by the restaurant.

Proof? No? Thought so.

Had the poster asked me for recommendation (fat chance!), I would
have suggested trying places that serve a cuisine totally different
from what he's used to...Sonny's for barbecue, a Cuban restaurant, a
Southern-style restaurant, or a Mexican restaurant (not Taco Bell!).
He may or may not like it, but be adventurous. Take your chances.
That's one of the interesting things about travel.

All the places we ate at were new to us, but alas; what most of them had in
common is the low standard meat/produce and the added sugar/salt/fish
fetish.

And Taco Bell most certainly served a "cuisine" totally different to what
we're used to!


--
Sandman[.net]