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Apparently I’m Really Out-of-Step On Restaurant Meals and Take-Out
The Wall Street Journal, in an article about restaurants increasing drive-through capabilities and reducing or even eliminating in-store dining capabilities (January 28, 2023, page B1), notes that in 2022, 85% of orders at fast food restaurants and 33% of orders at “full-service” restaurants were “to go” and not eaten on the premises.
85% of fast food orders to go? A third of orders at “full service” restaurants? Really? I was shocked at those numbers.
Mrs. Tabby and I find most restaurant food deteriorates quickly after it leaves the kitchen, and so we consider take-out (and delivery) food inferior to the same food eaten in the restaurant. If we’re going to eat a restaurant meal, we’re going to eat it in the restaurant. How do people find cooked food still enjoyable after it spends ten or fifteen minutes or more in transit? Especially fast food, much of which is fried.
Mrs. Tabby and I do not have sophisticated food tastes, and so the nuances of “fine dining” (linen tablecloths, exotic ingredients, fancy preparations, etc.) are lost on us. We prefer simple foods freshly prepared, which is reflected in our choice of restaurants for eating out once or twice a week.
In our favorite Mexican restaurant, no table is more than 50 feet from the kitchen, so everything arrives at our table fresh off the grill, hot, and at its tastiest. If I dawdle while eating my dinner, I notice the flavor dissipating as time goes on. Especially notable on his carne asada. I would be wasting the owner/cook’s efforts if I didn’t even start eating it until long after he cooked it.
We have two preferred hamburger joints. Two, because one has more options if we want a fancier burger, but the other does a better basic burger, and the two places prepare French fries quite distinct from each other (both excellent, but different). At both, we value that when we start to eat the burgers just a minute or two after they come off the grill, each layer (the meat, the lettuce leaves, the tomato slices, the toasted bun) has its distinct contribution to the sensory experience.
If we waited fifteen minutes to eat it (after a drive home or after a delivery trip), the sensory experience would be different. The lettuce and the tomato would be wilting under the heat from the meat. The meat would be lukewarm. The bun would be soggy. And French fries of any kind fifteen minutes after leaving the fryer are always a disappointment. I would assume a hamburger from the large chains would suffer similarly.
During the pandemic, my preferred chicken tenders fast food restaurant closed its dining room (one of the few large chain fast food places I use). I tried drive through take out a few times, but by the time I got home (ten minutes), both the chicken tenders and the French fries were limp, lacking the crisp tactile and taste satisfaction that would be present if I were biting into them just a minute or two after they emerged from the fryer. I have noticed, though, that Chick-fil-A fried products seem to travel slightly better than fried food from other fast-food chains.
We stopped patronizing one sit-down (“full service”) restaurant after they served Mrs. Tabby meals on a couple of occasions that tasted as though they had been sitting on a warming table for an extended time.
I just don’t understand the craze for near-universal take-out food and its drive-through service corollary.
Exceptions to my objections to take out are barbeque and some Chinese or Thai.
[Not the most earth-shattering topic for a rant, but these times when I discover how out-of-step I am with the culture at large cause me to take notes.]
Published in Culture
I hear you! My family is exactly who the Wall Street Journal is talking about. Since Covid, which is coming up on three years now, we could count on one hand the number of times we have sat down in a restaurant. In contrast we order something in (usually pick up since it’s faster and cuts down the time from kitchen to home) at least once every two weeks, but usually more frequently than that. Depending from where we’re ordering it can be as short as five minutes to as long as the fifteen minutes from kitchen to home. Frankly the going out experience is not that much fun. I would prefer not to listen to the background talk of other tables and the often uncomfortable seating. I much prefer to be at home and have my home conveniences at my hands reach.
Thst said, we’re supposed to take my mother in law out for her birthday next week!
Edit: I’m not counting going out for lunch or when I’m away on a business trip. I do go out for that. I’m referring to meals with the family.
On a related note, do people who get in long lines at a drive-through know they can usually cut the line by going inside?
I’ve thought of that but I have found when drive through is busy, staff focuses on the drive through first. They seem to get priority and inside I seem to wait a while. Even more so since Covid. Of course this could be my perception.
By all means, ask to be seated in a quiet section. I’ve done that when relatives are visiting, and we often get seated in an area of the restaurant that had nobody else there at all. The wait staff generally prefers to have customers grouped together, but I find that they’ll easily make allowances if you just say that you’d like one.
Unless the restaurant is so busy that all areas are in use.
And please tip accordingly since it’s at least a little more work for them.
If you mention the actual reason for the request, such as the birthday, you might get free desserts or something.
I don’t thing it’s perception, or at least I have the same one. I don’t do fast food, but do go to Starbucks. I used to be able to run in and out in 5 minutes for my very simple drink, even with a minor line. Now, I walk in to an empty store, have my order taken promptly, and wait 10 or more minutes while all of the drive-through and phone-in orders are handled. It used to be that a face to face customer was given respectful priority; now it seems like we can be ignored as captive while they scramble to make sure none of the cars in line decide to leave. I’m assuming the same thing is operative at the fast food places.
I don’t know if it’s faster one way or the other. But if there is a fairly long line I will often choose to go inside, that way I’m not wasting gas idling my engine for several minutes while creeping through the drive-up line.
Absolutely. That is why I go inside. But I have noticed the change in service time trend.
It’s pretty clear that places are emphasizing staff for drive-up, but I don’t find they are ignoring in-house. I’m talking about a fairly regular situation—in my experience— where there are five or so cars outside, and one or no people ordering inside.
That’s what usually happens to me too.
My insightful commentary is limited to Taco Bell and McDonald’s.
I don’t even bother with the drive through at McDonald’s anymore. I just use their app and park. The service is always shockingly fast. Since I’m entertained by Ricochet while I’m parked, it’s hardly noticeable.
Perhaps courtesy of a future wave of Chinese balloons.
I haven’t tried that yet. Do they try to goad you into tipping?
There is that. Important to choose carefully when deciding to marry. (-:
I prepared a few nice meals for my wife as part of the initial courtship ritual. She learned that I can cook. I’ve been paying the price for those early mistakes for years and years.
Nope. I pay on the app, no added fee.
Its great and convenient and I get the feeling the runner doesn’t mind leaving the building.
I’m no Democrat. I tip the kid.
Or also they have just enough help to focus on the food orders/card swiping and decided to eliminate the problem of having to tend to leftover cups, wiping tables and refilling sugar etc. dispensers.
You gotta be careful with that. A guy at work tipped the dude at Subway and it’s turned into a whole Seinfeld drama. I think my coworker’s fleeing the state because of it.
Wait. Anyone supporting tipping for carry-out must be a Democrat.
Not unless they bring it out to me. Usually I go inside, though.
I may have misunderstood. I regard tipping for food preparation and placement in a bag, which I will pick up much like a pizza, as a Commie plot designed to undermine our faith in the carry-out system that feeds our country. I note that this pretty much started with Covid, another Commie plot.
If someone does something “extra” like serve me at a table or carry a bag to my car, that may be different.