I'm sick of sh*tty food

I’m sick of sh*tty food.  Sorry for the profanity, especially in the title, but it’s true.  Is it me or is the quality of the food at low-end table service restaurants rapidly declining?  I’m talking about places like Ruby Tuesdays, Applebees, Red Lobster, Olive Garden, and Buffalo Wild Wings.  With tip, you can’t get out of there for under $40 and I end up feeling like I ate at my kids elementary school cafeteria, which is a whole ‘nother topic.

I feel bad because I’m kind of picking on Buffalo Wild Wings, but let me talk about my dinner tonight.  I’m traveling, so the menu was a smidge different than my own local BWW, so perhaps some of the disappointment was based on my familiar expectations being met.  My husband ordered an ultimate nachos with chicken and six Asian Zing wings.  I had a Buffalo Ranch Wrap.  My girls each had a kids’ chicken tenders meal with fries.

The chips in the “ultimate” nachos had the same texture of Old El Paso taco shells directly from the package, before you heat them in the oven.  The chicken was some chicken-flavored mealy substance.  Calling it “processed” was kind.  For the love of God, this is, basically a chicken joint.  How is it unable to provide me with good quality chicken in the nachos?

The cheese was this watery and salty queso-style cheese.  Also on there was lettuce, tomato, and jalapenos.  Maybe this is just a preference, but when I think of nachos, I think of some kind of melted quality.  Melted cheese.  A warm plate.  Something.  There was nothing warm or melty about this dish and it was pretty gross.

My entrée was accompanied with more of these hard and stale-tasting chips and super-sweet salsa.  No thank you.  My wrap was okay.

The girls’ food, though ordered with ranch, didn’t come with any.  They won’t really touch it without the dressing, so we waited ten minutes for our waitress to come check on us, then another five before she returned with the ranch.  Mmmmm…cold fries and chicken tenders.  And the fries were coated in so much salt that you crunched on it.  The majority of their meal was inedible and they let us know.

Sadly, I feel like we’re pretty much having similar experiences in all of these low-end table service chains.  Low-quality food coupled with “eh” service.  Thanks, but no thanks.  I’m out.  I’ve declared May to be a no-eating-out month, including fast food.

Last night I walked around Washington, DC smelling the scents of amazing outdoor cafes, dying for some really good food.  Tonight I ate crap about BWW.  No joke, my focus is to go home from vacation tomorrow and work on a month of mouth-watering meals.  I’m ditching the rotation of hamburgers, hot dogs, spaghetti, tacos, and fajitas.  Who knows…maybe this will turn into a food blog of good, kid-approved, meals.  Stay tuned…