re: Who here has worked at a chain restaurant/what was precooked/frozen?

That's way back. More than a few managers smoke. They just don't get high at work. Who was your general manager?

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I worked at Chimes back in the day and never signed an NDA, ask me anything.


Did anything come in precooked and was just reheated?

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Most everything is cooked completely in the kitchen. They even cut their own ribeye steaks and filet the fish. Fries are frozen, that's about all I can think of. Also the twice stuffed potatoes are all made in the Parrain's kitchen as a commissary for both BR Chimes locations and just need to be thrown in the oven before serving.

According to a forum from a few years ago,

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As with the soups, the ingredients to our sauces are frozen, but we hand make them everyday

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Not to take up for Olive Garden, but this kind of thing is common and shouldn't bother anyone.

As for microwaves, rarely is a microwaved used to actually prepare a dish for someone. But most kitchens have them for pre-assembled desserts such as bread pudding that need to be heated to order, and also for when something isn't hot enough and needs to go out now. For example, if the big pot of soup hasn't gotten hot enough to serve yet in the soup warmer, it isn't uncommon for a server to pop an individual serving in the microwave. If not, the customer would surely send it back for being cold and they'd end up throwing it in the microwave anyway.

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Unless you are strictly eating at $30+ a plate placing then you are probably getting less quality than a chain.

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Well, this is dead wrong, esp if you live in coastal Louisiana. I can take you to at least a dozen non-chain, locally owned restaurants at a $8-15 pricing point where most everything is made in house. Okay, salad dressings and condiments are Sysco, and perhaps the ubiquitous frozen cheesecake & similar desserts, but the entrees & sides are most definitely cooked on site. I'm not going to vouch for less food-centric areas of our country, but the average level of "ordinary" non chain restaurant food in south Louisiana is pretty damn good.

It is easy to avoid chains and eat very well, without entering the white tablecloth realm. Guess we need to start another thread where we list non-chain, non-white-tablecloth locally owned restaurants that cook their own food.

fricking mouton...

if we say youre right about this subject that youve unmercifully beat into the ground, will you shutup about it for the rest of the year?

Well maybe for two months before it gets started again...

My kid is currently working for Chic Fil-a. He said that the grilled chicken breast for sure are frozen. He's never seen how the fried ones come in. I feel comfortable they are frozen too.

The lemonaide is made fresh every day with squeezed lemons.

Spot on. Mouton can defend the frozen or premade claims, but that doesn't make Olive Garden good.

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At a good Italian restaurant the tomatoes are probably San Marzano tomatoes. The cheese is probably mozzarella di bufalo campana that is only a couple of days old. Go to the Olive Garden and they will attempt to recreate this using canned or out of season tomatoes and the kind of mozzarella you find shredded in a bag at the grocery store. The flavors are not comparable. When you use poor ingredients you end up feeling like something is missing and add additional items, trying to build a flavor.

Part of the difference is necessity. Olive Garden is a chain restaurant. It is designed to mass produce a consistent menu anywhere in the country. It isn't realistic to have quality fresh ingredients everywhere, all the time.

Part of the difference is cultural tastes. Americans tend to like things sweeter and saltier. So both sugar and salt are added to meals, everywhere.

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That doesn't touch demographics. It isn't uncommon for people to select where to do business based on demographics.