Do you believe that a description of a meal on a restaurant menu is accurate to what you are served?

Question

When I watched episodes of Kitchen Nightmares on FOX, Chef Gordon Ramsey from h**l's Kitchen goes to different restaurants and trys to turn the restaurant around from being worst to great success.

In some of the restaurants that Ramsey goes to, a menu entree might say fresh and homemade even though the meal is made from frozen items and could be canned or packaged. For example, at one restaurant, Ramsey orders Tomato Soup that is said to be "Homemade" but the soup was packaged. At another restaurant, Ramsey orders Carimali that is said to be fresh but was actually frozen and heated up.

My question is, when you go to a restaurant, do you believe what you read on the menu at restaurants is what you are actually served when you recieve your meal? Why or why not?

Answer 1

I would say in most cases no, but sometimes yes. But only at the few good resturants will you find this.

My husband and I tried this resturant over the weekend. They brew their own beer and serve traditional german food. I decided to go with the good ole' german frank and what I was served was basically a cold hot dog. And would you beleive this one...they served it on a hamburger roll! What were they thinking?

I am finiding that more and more often I am less impressed with the actual food that is served. People get really creative these days with their dishes and their menus, but I find that rarely do they live up the description on the menu.

Answer 2

Yes they always seem to include what they say they do, if not I tell them to remake it with the ingredients it says. They never put it on those fancy plates or in those fancy cups you want though!

Answer 3

not at all

Answer 4

I SELL FOOD FOR A LIVING AND MY HUSBAND IS A CHEF.  THE DESCRIPTION OF ITEMS ON A MENU CAN TRULY BE DECEIVING,  THE "HOMEMADE SOUP" TO WHICH YOU REFER COULD BE HOMEMADE IN THE MIND OF THE RESTAURANTEUR, BECAUSE THEY TOOK AN ALREADY PREPARED SOUP AND AUGUMENTED IT WITH THEIR "HOMEMADE TOUCH".  SO THE ANSWER TO YOUR QUESTION IS "YES" AND "NO".

TRADITIONALLY, CHAINS USE PREPORTIONED, PREPARED FOOD STUFFS.  THAT HAVE TO TO MAINTAIN THEIR FOOD COSTS.  HIGHER END RESTAURANTS WITH A HIGHER TICKET AVERAGE USE FRESHER INGREDIENCE.

THAT IS NOT TO SAY THAT LESS EXPENSIVE RESTAURANTS, SAY MOST CHINESE FOOD RESTAURANTS, SO NOT USE FRESH INGREDIENCE.  RESTAURANTS THAT COOK FROM SCRATCH CAN USE FRESH INGREDIENCE AND CAN SERVE FOOD THAT SIMPLY COSTS LESS.

THE BOTTOM LINE HERE IS THAT WE ALL MUST BECOME BETTER CONSUMERS.  QUESTION THE VERBAGE.  I WAS AT A RESTAURANT IN AUSTIN, TX, THAT ADVERTISED FRESH ORANGE ROUGHY.  ORANGE ROUGHT IS A FISH THAT COMES FROM AUSTRALIA AND THERE IS NO WAY THAT THEY COULD HAVE SERVED IT FRESH UNLESS THEY HAD IT AIR FREIGHTED INTO AUSTIN, WHICH WOULD HAVE MADE IT COST PROHIBITAVE TO SERVE.  WHEN I QUESTIONED THE SERVER, THEY WENT TO GET THE MANAGER AND THEY ENDED UP COMPING MY MEAL, BECAUSE I CAUGHT THEM NOT TELLING THE TRUTH ABOUT THE PROTEIN THAT THEY WERE SERVING.

BECOME A GOOD CONSUMER AND ASK QUESTIONS.  THAT IS TRULY THE ONLY WAY TO DETERMINE EXACTLY WHAT IS "FRESH AND hOMEMADE" ON A MENU.

BON APITITE!