There are several methods of "unfreezing," but rest assured, that's all they do. I mean, the scampi comes in a bag that says "shrimp scampi" and the "cook" puts in a microwave.
Don't get me wrong, I could get down on some mediocre crab legs and cheddar biscuits with you, but the operation is no different than you pulling something out of the freezer.
And what do you mean fry? I don't think they are frying crab legs are they? That doesn't seem possible. And what about the lobster - aren't they serving you the ones that are swimming in the tank? Or is that a trick? They look pretty delicious trying to crawl around with their claws all wrapped up in those rubber bands.
btw - speaking of fine dining, I think I am so lucky to live in an area with high populations of Mexicans. A new place just opened up outside of work, and like usual, it was delicious. We have more Mexican restaurants by far than anything - in fact I think it would be impossible to drive down a major street by me and not see at least one on a corner. Take all the BK's/McDonalds/Wendy's and add them up, and we have 10x more Mom and Pop Mexican joints.
I'm not saying everything is fried, I'm saying that everything comes prepackaged and frozen and the guys on the line are steaming, boiling and mostly microwaving and frying things back to life. No one is making a sauce or a stock and there is literally no need for a saute pan, so they don't have any. Ask the cook making $8.50/hr how to make shrimp scampi and he'll tell you he just heats up the bag that says "shrimp scampi." It's idiot-proofing, recipe-protecting, money-saving etc, and not all corporate restaurants do it, but a lot of them do. Darden stores and Applebee's are some of the biggest offenders from what I've heard. I'm probably going to eat some healthy choice frozen something for lunch in a bit, but I wouldn't pay $15 for it.
If they have live lobsters for sale, I assume they'll boil one for you proficiently enough. I haven't been to one in years.
They do have live lobsters swimming in tanks. I have no idea what they do there, but it's not Olive Garden/Applebee's etc... quality by a long shot imo. Olive Garden I can tolerate, Applebees/TGIF's etc.. I just won't go. The description of heating up a healthy choice meal in a microwave is pretty much how it tastes. Now maybe they are doing that at Red Lobster, but it doesn't taste like it to me. In fact on an 10 point scale if upscale $$$ seafood joints are a 9 or a 10, RL is an 8. It's *right* there imo.
edit - although I know those biscuits have to be premade with ten pounds of salt and butter but I don't care. Delicious.
Olive Garden and Red Lobster are owned by the same company and have extremely similar setups re: pricing and marketing and structure. One is setup around seafood and one is setup around italian. Unlimited bread sticks/biscuits immediately comes to mind regarding an example. Sure the plates are different, but it's silly to believe one is much higher quality than the other.
I have nothing further to add to haltz's comments about the food being nuked, but I don't doubt what he says.
jim wrote:Completely disagree with Red Lobster. There are things I don't like on the menu, but if you go with the Crab Legs/Lobster/fish of the day you are going to get a pretty good meal at a reasonable price. Plus 1,000 calorie biscuits that are deeeeee-licious. All you can eat.
The key to eating a ton of crab legs is to tell the waitstaff to get the biscuits off the table so you aren't tempted to eat them. More biscuits equals less crab legs.
jim wrote:It's getting over the top. When you see it in fast food places is when you know it's just turned into a marketing gimic. Panera Bread - fast food that is overpriced with a menu you can't understand. Turkey sandwich with ketchup sound awful? Guess what - it is. Of course you couldn't sell something like that, but you can sell a turkey sandwich with ketchup if you call the ketchup "sun-dried tomato ale mustard". Then call the entire thing a Smokehouse Turkey and bingo. Plus entertainment for the workers - when someone orders it send the secret code out so everyone can gather and peek in to see the expression on that poor sap as he takes his first bite. I got three bites before I had to just pitch it - and I only suffered through 2 more because it cost like $8. Good thing it came with a bag of four potato chips (organic of course) or I would have been starving the rest of the day.
I always laugh when u post this because I actually like the Bacon Turkey Bravo sandwich. Although, you must have got a really crappy made one because the sauce you said tasted like ketchup has never tasted that way when I've ordered it.
