Novak Conversions Jeep Wrangler TJ engine mounts

The decline of restaurants and eating out

Back to restaurants; my wife and I went to Wendy's the other day for a couple of Frostys (no complaints, they were good). But The drive-thru was operated by AI. I spoke to a computer to order our treats. That was a first for me.
 
Back to restaurants; my wife and I went to Wendy's the other day for a couple of Frostys (no complaints, they were good). But The drive-thru was operated by AI. I spoke to a computer to order our treats. That was a first for me.

How well/bad did that work? Most of the telephone systems are mediocre at best. At least Wendy's didn't insist that you have/use a PHOOOOOONNE.
 
How well/bad did that work? Most of the telephone systems are mediocre at best. At least Wendy's didn't insist that you have/use a PHOOOOOONNE.

It worked fine. "1 chocolate frosty and 1 vanilla frosty" seems like a simple command. Not sure how it worked for others that day.
 
I am not a drive through person, typically I can park/order/get my food before the guy at the drive through can order.

I order from my phoooooonne on the drive over and then either have them bring the food out curbside or run through the drive thru depending on the line.
 
I order from my phoooooonne on the drive over and then either have them bring the food out curbside or run through the drive thru depending on the line.

we will do that for dunkin donuts, by the time we arrive it is waiting. The few times we eat taco hell, the app has some online only specials that are like half off. We don't do much fast food of any type typically.
 
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Back to the original topic... My wife and I go out maybe twice a month and when we do it is to a high end restaurant with food we typically don't make at home. Probably spending $100-200 total for just the 2 of us. 9 out of 10 times the food and / or the experience is worth it to us. We 100% stay out of chain, diner, or typical style restaurants. Food all sucks and doesn't have flavor, most are using GMO ingredients. 98% of places just purely suck and the 2% that don't I can typically make it better at home.

We both enjoy cooking though, so I guess this helps, but every meal we make is homemade. We stay away from anything processed as much as possible. It's actually quite amazing that once you get use to eating good home cooked meals with high quality ingredients, restaurant food seems to have little to no flavor. I hunt so we have venison for the most part and supplement with 1/4 beef from local beef farms as needed. We buy produce from local stands in the warmer months / grow some ourselves as well. The rest of the year is all organic produce. We buy local raw milk for dairy. Use local honey and maple syrup in place of sugar if a recipe calls for it. The amount of shit in your grocery items is horrible and most pay no attention to it. Ice cream isn't even ice cream anymore, it's loaded with bs. Heavy cream has bs added to it. If you aren't reading ingredient labels on your foods, I highly suggest you all start.

Our entire system is failing in every category currently. We are literally on life support in every aspect. We live in a throw away society and that includes us as people when it comes to the big corporations in charge of everything. I could go on and on about this and most people in my family don't care. They look puzzled when i talk anything about food. It should come as no surprise though since big tobacco took over the food industry.

They is no quality anymore and if you find something quality, you better buy multiples of it because within 5 years it will be owned by a mega corp or private equity and be pure trash.
 
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My current state….

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Back to restaurants; my wife and I went to Wendy's the other day for a couple of Frostys (no complaints, they were good). But The drive-thru was operated by AI. I spoke to a computer to order our treats. That was a first for me.

Good, more of this, please.

Normally I wouldn't be for this but since it's fast food I'm happy to have more efficiency.

I had to deal with an AI customer service bot last week and I have to say that it was far more helpful than just about any human customer service person I've ever dealt with.
 
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It's actually quite amazing that once you get use to eating good home cooked meals with high quality ingredients, restaurant food seems to have little to no flavor.

This X100!

It's gotten so bad with me that if I ever eat anything processed I can literally taste the chemicals in it. My wife said to me the other day, "you've become a real food snob". I told her, "no, I just know what real food tastes like now".
 
Oh man, so much to unpack in this thread! I was ready to comment on the declining dining experience and then all of sudden we were all over the place!

The wife and I have always enjoyed eating out, especially when we were dating. Up until recently, we would usually go out to eat maybe once a week. We have a handful of places that we like to go to that have a good selection at reasonable prices. I'm not a big fan of trying new places because the prices have definitely gone up no question about it and it seems like a majority of places are all putting the same stuff on their menus and most of the time it's nothing to write home about. We went to brunch a couple Sundays ago at a local spot that we've gone to many times, good prices, good food, good selection. Under $50 for both of us and a few drinks. That was the first time we'd gone out to eat in over a month.

Now, if I'm trying to eat on a budget and not make it at home purely due to my laziness you bet your ass I'm going to my VFW which luckily has a grill. Now, it's typical bar food and there is no dedicated cook because the cook is the bartender but the price your paying is cut in half and they make a DAMN good burger! Plus, you really can't beat a $2 beer.

I don't do fast food anymore, for the price I'd much rather go to an actual restaurant and again anything that we make at home 9/10 is going to be way better then anything we get dining out for a fraction of the price. We buy quality ingredients and do our best to stay away from processed stuff. My wife is mostly plant based so she gets good stuff regardless but she still makes me meat. Haha

I'll save my take on the phones, screens, video games, and lack of kids playing outside for the appropriate thread. :LOL:
 
This X100!

It's gotten so bad with me that if I ever eat anything processed I can literally taste the chemicals in it. My wife said to me the other day, "you've become a real food snob". I told her, "no, I just know what real food tastes like now".

Once you know, you can't untaste it, either.

Sonic used to be in our top 2 or 3 fast food options, but once I realized I could buy a milkshake and put it in the freezer and take it back out still drinkable, I knew there was some fakery going on and now I hate going there.

Like has been mentioned, when we go out we usually save it for a handful of places we really like. Basically never chains unless we're road tripping but even then I get on Google and try to find something local/hole in the wall.
 
Once you know, you can't untaste it, either.

Sonic used to be in our top 2 or 3 fast food options, but once I realized I could buy a milkshake and put it in the freezer and take it back out still drinkable, I knew there was some fakery going on and now I hate going there.

Yep, that's what I tell me wife. Once I know that something is basically poison for the body and filled with all this crap, I can't knowingly in good conscience eat it anymore. Instead if I want ice cream we will make it from scratch using raw milk, raw cream, homemade butter, etc.

It's complicated our lives in many ways since meals take so long to make now, but it's totally been worth it. We've become so good at cooking and it's turned into a real passion.

I really hope and pray that RFK Jr. is able to make some lasting changes because the food they're giving us is absolutely awful for your body,
 
I'be been growing a garden. But this year was weird. Okra, cucumbers, and garlic were the only things that grew. I got so much Okra. I made a bunch of pickled Okra and gave a lot away. Cucumbers too.

I dried 10-15 lbs of garlic and planted the rest for next year.

I'll probably find a good local grower and buy from them next year.
 
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We usually have a garden every year. Not sure about next year, depends on how dad is doing.

We're lucky to have a Minonite community not far for us, probably buy alot from them next year for canning.
 
It worked fine. "1 chocolate frosty and 1 vanilla frosty" seems like a simple command. Not sure how it worked for others that day.

Ive used the Wendy's drive thru at 64th and Indiana . The AI worked fine for my order and I didn't have the typical 2nd language struggles.
I was pleasantly shocked ! :oops:
 
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Nothing like grinding a good mixture of beef for my burgers, last was brisket, chuck, sirloin and ribeye.
Also ground pork butt for ground pork, sweet Italian sausage and chorizo. No local places for me to buy fresh processed animals but aT least I can get into restaurant depot and get good quality meat that has yet to be frozen.
 
Novak Conversions Jeep Wrangler TJ engine mounts