Favorite/Least favorite...restaurant?

Topics not covered in other forums. NO POLITICS OR RELIGION.

What kind of place do you like best?

Pizza place
2
9%
Burger Joint
4
18%
Family Restaurant
6
27%
Hot Dog Cart/ food stand/ court
1
5%
Other
6
27%
I'd much rather cook than go out
3
14%
 
Total votes: 22
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Kishiria
Posts: 231
Joined: Sun Sep 24, 2006 10:32 am
Location: Hidalgo Colony, Side 3

bluemax151 wrote: You really shouldn't use gabacho..... it's pretty derogatory. Not that I care but I'd rather use Guero :twisted:
Haha, you think I don't know gabacho is derogatory? Actually, I've read a pretty funny definition for it: Gabacho: anyone who expects to be called a gringo, or who would USE the word gringo.

All "guero" means is "light skinned" and it's more a descriptive term than racial epithet. Even down in Mexico I get called "guerita" affectionately because I have light skin but dark hair and eyes.
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lalahsghost

lalahsghost wrote:Oh, Lawdy Lawdy Taco bell is my absolute weakness. Once... I knew I wouldn't be going back for ages, so I bought ten soft tacos, Mind you that the closest one is about 30 miles away. I think I ate like four or five as soon as I got them, but the rest were saved until about seven or eight hours later... oh man... And you know what taco bell does to your stomach sometimes..... :oops:
Okay, so there's this very new, and very local quick stop mexican restaurant, ran by very cute lady-types. They are basically making easy and Americanized versions of actual restaurant foods. Quesadillas, Enchiladas, Chimichangas, Churros <3, and the fanfare of sot and hard tacos.
Tuesdays are two hard/soft tacos for $1.

I've only heard of this place from friends, since I was not aware of it, so far this week. I'm quite stoked, and this might just take the spot for #1 restaurant... TWO TACOS FOR A DOLLAR!!!... sorry ^_^;;
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Random Zaku Pilot
Posts: 150
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my favorite place is in 125th street called basement pizza.
Meh
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Toxicity
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Joined: Sun Aug 27, 2006 5:20 pm
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As I said before, I'll eat just about anywhere, but I'll go ahead and List my favorites:

Best Burger Joint: Arby's (Mmmmm roast beef)

Best Pizza...Joint: CiCi's. The only place where you can get chocolate covered pizza.

Best Breakfast restaurant: IHOP. Blueberry smothered waffles. Nuff said.

Best Diner: Denny's. My older sister works there, so sometimes my friends and I will go there in the middle of the night and get whatever we want for free. Best Nachos I've ever had.

Best Gourmet Restaurant: There was this place I went to once near atlanta called Cheddar's. Best Bacon Cheeseburger and Strawberry milkshake I've ever had.
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tetsujin
Posts: 38
Joined: Mon Mar 06, 2006 3:18 pm
Location: Bostonia, Inglessa

My, such variety... :roll:

I mean, the poll choices are all fast food or comfort food. Obviously there's no way a multiple-choice poll can cover the spectrum, but I feel like there's a whole lot of stuff that falls rather unfortunately into "other" - any nice restaurant, for instance. And almost any sit-down restaurant.

No mention of Thai, Indian, or even good Italian places?

My recommendation: my girlfriend and I have spent a lot of time going to chain restaurants - these can be fun places but at the same time we as a result have been overlooking some incredibly good places on Main St. in my town - we've got an Italian restaurant that was established in Boston's North End (plus a couple more Italian restaurants there that we haven't tried), a fairly nice Indian restaurant that just moved in there a year or two ago - and then old standards like the Thai restaurant near my office.

These places are slightly less convenient (the places in my town don't have their own parking - you need to use municipal (free) parking about a block away) and they're usually busier than the On The Border or Papa Razzi - but the price for a good meal there is just a bit more than the chains and it's better food. Comparing the meal from an Olive Garden or Macaroni Grill to a good North End restaurant reveals a pretty stark contrast. On The Border compares similarly - it's tasty stuff but overall it's really not so great, especially for the price. If you go to a chain sit-down restaurant you'll pay a sit-down restaurant price (plus tip) for what is essentially assembly-line food. It's still a step up from "family restaurants" and diners and such and it's less hassle than going to a small place - but consider what you're paying for. Homogeny, basically, the promise that good or bad you'll always get the same thing. Whereas with smaller restaurants you have the potential for the food and service to be better - or worse - than average. So don't get drawn in by chains too much. Explore the other options. That's my advice.

(My girlfriend and I have also spent a lot of time exploring the nacho options at various places. It's like a little hobby of ours. Lots of places serve nachos and a lot of them aren't very good at it. Chili's serves you a plate with like 12 chips on it, but each one is individually cheesed. We don't go to Chili's anymore. OTB is surprisingly inept at nachos given that they're a Mexican place. Applebee's can make decent nachos, but they use cheese-whiz-type sauce by default, and tend to be stingy with real cheese if you ask for it. I think Cheesecake Factory made decent nachos, but that place is always busy. Best nachos we've had so far were at a Mexican place in Boston - again, these nachos were about the same price as you'd pay at Applebees, Chili's, OTB, etc. for nachos, but the results are much better. And think about that: how do you screw up nachos? It's tortilla chips with melted cheese and stuff on top...)

Oh, there is one chain I do like, though I don't go there so much these days: California Pizza Kitchen. My girlfriend and I love that place, but she can't eat there anymore (celiac disease - she can't eat bread, wheat, oats, pasta, etc. unless they're gluten-free. And even apart from their pizzas CPK has absolutely nothing she can eat.)

And about food courts - even these have a range of quality that's greater than you might expect. There's a small chain of Indian places in the Boston area, for instance: "Gourmet India" - very good for mall food. They're a little inconsistent sometimes (their Palak Paneer has disappointed me from time to time) but on average it's quite good. And being able to take a casual stroll to the mall and snack on Chana Masala, Nan, and a Lassi - beats the hell out of a toasted sub, chips, and a Dr. Pepper, you know?
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G.Squirrel
Posts: 200
Joined: Tue Mar 14, 2006 10:45 pm

I prefer the small, family type restaurants to large chains, with certain mall chains being the only exceptions (Personally, China Wok is the only place that makes General Gao's chicken right!). Most of the family type restaurants are excellent where I live. There is this excellent Mexican restaurant called Tango Mango that makes the best burritos I have ever eaten. Vietnamese food is pretty good, the japanese place is awesome, and the thai restaurant boasts that it has the best Pad Thai in Massachusetts and I'm willing to believe it. Ironically, all of the Chinese restaurants in my town are not very good. We have this small pizza place on Main Street called Bill's House of Pizza that has won awards for it's pizza, needless to say it's good.
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Lert
Posts: 230
Joined: Fri Oct 13, 2006 11:19 am

It's a toss-up for me between a burger-joint and the italian. I love both. But any fast-food place works for me. Much better than those fancy schmancy restaurants.
Be alert. The world needs more Lerts.
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ORegan
Posts: 1814
Joined: Wed Sep 06, 2006 6:49 pm
Location: Boston

i went for the pizza...i love pizza...especally bacon pizza

best pizza joint ever created it Pini's pizza in Somerville MA
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Kishiria
Posts: 231
Joined: Sun Sep 24, 2006 10:32 am
Location: Hidalgo Colony, Side 3

Testujin, a restaurant called Gourmet India just opened up in the Gaslamp in San Diego--but I don't think it's the same as your mall Indian place unless it's like Panda Inn is to Panda Express. My spousal unit and I came across G.I. and thought it looked intriguing. It turned out to be different from any other Indian restaurant we'd been to in that most places specialize in cuisine from one region in India and this place had a menu from all over the subcontinent, even meat and seafood. We had dishes we'd never seen before, including a "railway snack" which involved fried noodles and chopped potatoes with cilantro and spices, served cold. Sounds weird, but it was scary-good.
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Blue Comet
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For a small town kind of guy like me, I don't usually eat out that much. But there are a few places I enjoy eating at from time to time.

Subway isn't bad for having something on the go (unless there's a big lineup of course) since everything is made almost right away. A little on the expensive side but you get a good meal for what you pay for.

Lou's and Sue's is a local place that I go to for a good breakfast sometimes. I like most things on the menu but their pizzas are a little on the spicy side. I tend to stay away from them now since I've had bad indigestion from their pizzas twice :(

Sonny's is another local place that I go to if I'm ever in the mood for good Japanese food (EDIT: Meant to say Chinese food. :oops: ). Much better than this other place I remember going to (though I can't remember the name) that had a lunch buffet. I tried one of their egg rolls and it was just plain bad. Blech!

But above all else, nothin' beats home cookin'. Since I enjoy cooking anyways, I guess it only comes natural for me to like it. I can make a pretty decent omelet which I consider to be a specialty of mine.

There are two particular dishes that rule in our family though. Both of which I only eat from my mother and grandmother since they have it down to an art form. They are Tomato Soup Cabbage Rolls and a dish we call "Zama Borsht" (I hope thats how you spell it :lol: ) which is basically a soup consisting of potatoes, carrots, sometimes celery and slices of cooked farmer sausage. Try either of these and you may wonder why you would ever want to eat resturant food again. I guarantee it :wink:
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