Cheesecake factory cakes are so bad. They don't even taste like real cheesecake, they just taste like watery corn syrup. This is a common thing with American food it seems. Watered down but also somehow too sweet.
Most artificial sweeteners (also called nonnutritive sweeteners) are created from chemicals in a lab. A few are made from natural substances like herbs. They can be 200 to 700 times sweeter than table sugar.
June 1, 2023 – A new study reveals health concerns about the sugar substitute sucralose so alarming that researchers said people should stop eating it and the government should regulate it more.
Sucralose is sold under the brand name Splenda and is also used as an ingredient in packaged foods and beverages.
The researchers found that sucralose causes DNA to break apart, putting people at risk for disease. They also linked sucralose to leaky gut syndrome, which means the lining of the intestines are worn down and become permeable. Symptoms are a burning sensation, painful digestion, diarrhea, gas, and bloating.
When a substance damages DNA, it is called genotoxic. Researchers have found that eating sucralose results in the body producing a substance called sucralose-6-acetate, which the new study now shows is genotoxic. The researchers also found sucralose-6-acetate in trace amounts in off-the-shelf products that are so high, they would exceed the safety levels currently allowed in Europe.
I have no idea how any of these rank. I assume cheesecake factory sells cheesecake. Does applebees sell apples with bees (or maybe honey)? Who knows, I'll never find out on a date I assume. We have a cheesecake shop here but that's about it.
lol even cheesecake factory's exotic around here. their gimmick is basically that they have EVERYTHING on the menu - like a ridiculously long menu of nearly any food you could think of, all done servicably but none of it really standing out. cheesecake is merely one of the bajillion things they have. it's popular because if you bring a group there everyone will find something on that menu they're willing to eat, whereas if you go to red lobster or something and someone doesnt' like seafood then lol they can eat chicken strips i guess.
unironically an important step in my radicalization was receiving a meme to this effect like a decade ago and it clicking. "oh, rich people literally do not understand most people don't eat at upscale places. this person actually thinks they're culturally superior to me because i do not eat at 'actually fancy' restaurants. they think the reason I have never eaten at a three star restaurant is because I'm close minded, not that i can't afford to blow that much of my money on a single meal or spend an hour just driving each way. the entire joke is that they're not racist because they have an open mind and eat at a lot of sit down restaurants and poor people are racist because they've only ever eaten at olive garden a few times and just refuse to try anything different."
i've learned enough since to understand that not all of the US is as utterly fucked as this and in some places there's affordable restaurants that are much higher quality and that the restaurant industry as a whole is an abusive nightmare, but that really did get me thinking about the liberal contempt of the masses.
Is the USA really this level of suburban hell? I have never been on a date, taken a partner on a date, even thought of having a date in a chain restaurant. Aren't you guys supposed to be the small business republic?
I see this image and I wonder where the fuck else people are going to eat. Tbh this reads as a very urban take, if you're living in an area that basically exists to service people driving on the interstate it is just all chains. Any "family" restaurants are serving food from the same bulk supplier so they're identical to one another as well on top of tasting bad and being overpriced. People say chains are bad but like theyr'e at least consistent, paying $20 for really bad pizza that's worse than the $10 pizza you can get from Pizza Hut of all places is the extent of commercial food culture in much of so-called flyover country.
There isn't really such a thing as a public space out here. Any other kind of date is simply going to be at a bar or at someone's house. You simply do not socialize like how people socialize on TV out here, you either have to be visiting your friends' houses regularly or you're going to simply go direclty home and watch TV. There's simply not enough rich people to support anything more upscale.
Personally have I live in a fairly rural areas in California and Nevada for most of my adult life, and I have never had trouble finding at least a few good local spots, though usually not right on the interstates, that tends to be dominated by the chains. In fact one of my favorite taquerias is this hole in the wall in a town of about 500. I wonder if part of the difference is that we have significant populations of assorted migrants in rural areas out west.
Yes, it really is that bad. I'm from bumfuck nowhere and Olive Garden is considered bougie. JCPenny is practically Tom Ford to the people here.
I'm not saying this to be mean, because by extension this applies to me too, but so many places in the US and Canada are just, for lack of better term, the burger zone. This isn't simply just places that are not the city. Rural places have at least some things that might make it unique, small midwest cities like Ann Arbor or Buffalo have at least a little actual amenities.
It's no one's fault that they are in the burger zone thanks to hellworld. It's practically a cruel joke played by porky to make our lives as boring as humanly possible.
A cruel joke would at least be funny I guess at the end of the day this is also complaining about treats but that is a mindset I'm having skill issues picturing
the main problem is for large swaths of america, those are the nicest restaurants you can go to. chipotle is the worst in this list though, at least go somewhere there is a server.
there's no ethical consumption in capitalism. you can go to a park and youre taking advantage of the park employees/landscapers that don't get paid much. being 100% stubborn ideologically is a great way to end up alone.
I mean Chipotle food wise is at least edible. I would go with my grandparents to lunch once a week and I'd let them pick so we'd either go to Chili's, Applebee's, or an actually good mom and pop Mexican restaurant and Applebee's is dreadful. Their Caesar salad was soup with how much dressing they put on it.
Take me to the local mom'n'pops hole in the wall that never grew out of the 50's and who's every "secret ingredient" is a wad of lard on a skillet. Take me to a ramen hut where the chef lives in the apartment above. Take me to that tiny coffee shop and nerdy tabletop joint that the married couple owns to save on rent and has wildly clashing aesthetic choices. Take me to the BBQ pit where beer guts and 70's afros are the dress code and there are 6 seats and a booth.
First dates are meant to be easy, casual, and an honestly blatant first-sight judgement calls of the tastes of the other person. Local, less-known joints are the perfect way to show depth of character and that you can show potential partners novel and interesting experiences. It doesn't have to be food either. Arcades, natural spaces, and quiet, secluded spots that let you both be at ease as you explore future prospects with one another.
I agree. A good first date should be something that lasts about an hour, is a light activity in a public space (like a good walk or a cup of coffee and some boardgames), which should open up the possibility for making the date last longer, if the connection is there, or which gives a polite "out" if it isn't.
Taking someone to a restaurant on a first date is a bad idea. It's gonna cost a lot of money, which creates a weird sort of vibe, and it keeps you captive for way too long, with no clear "end" to the date. It's just barely above going to the movies, because at least you can talk. Meeting over dinner is pretty intimate, that's a 2nd date thing (or something you escalate the 1st date into, if it goes well).
This of course comes from someone who lives in a walkable city in a country with a culture of splitting the bill. It'll probably vary for you yanks. But seriously I think a good first date is something light, casual, safe and short. You're trying to find out if you wanna get to know each other better, and you might find out you don't. If that's the case then it sucks being in a situation where you can't leave, and where there is no polite way of declining at the end.
my move used to be taking them out to this very affordable, half-hidden mexican joint where a bunch of the seasonal agricultural workers go, because i could show off my functional spanish-speaking skills since nobody there spoke english. the food is awesome. they've gotten more popular though and relocated to a more formal restaurant space (instead of this weird strip mall cubby), so servers now have strong english and the menu has english on it. the food is still awesome,
i don't really do restaurants anymore, but it does seem like a meal is the expectation for a lot of people here, if not a bar or a cafe. i don't drink-drink anymore and i'm not a coffee person, so i get to be immediately weird by having weak tea or water or tonic water and then having to explain my health choices or how the i think US annihilated its "third places" to induce more commercial activity and dismantle community resistance of capital formations.
i guess it's better to let them know immediately that i am incapable of what people generally refer to as normal conversation.
Is this ranked like #1 is worse than #5 or is #5 worse than #1 and #1 is just the limit.
Because if #1 is considered the worst then this entire list is upside down. Other than that, idk, I haven't been on a first date in over a decade. Definitely been to these places at request of my partner when in a relationship.
I’m fascinated by this story, because it sounds like my worst nightmare. When I was single I usually couldn’t wait for a first date to end. What was the situation like on day 3? Awkward?
Maybe if you're in a small city or deep in the suburbs with limited options, but around me you can easily find a better date spot than any of these for cheaper.
I think a lot about stuff like this with Family Feud. Just seems like common denominators because these are the places that exist everywhere and are popular.