Lupinus

If you are used to proper hoagies, then the crap that passes for a hoagie in the rest of the world is disgusting. Why Philly/NYC/Delaware people patronize Subway when they have decent stuff as close as even a Wawa is a mystery. (not that Wawa is definitive, but there sure are a lot of them, probably more than Subways) Growing up in NJ I was used to good subs. There's a deli every five minutes and they are either good or last a week. I had the same problem with I moved to SC, most of the subs here are downright nasty. The local Subway actually has their string of "Best sub in town!" things strung on the wall. Publix supermarkets, on the other hand, use boars head meats and the bread is actually decent. Best subs going for the area IMO. Still doesn't match up to Tastee in Edison, NJ but it's as good as I've found down here.

There's a couple that come close but the one that takes the cake was a little Italian place in town that was a little hit or miss but never horrible. My wife ordered a pasta dish. Bacon, mushrooms, some sort of cream sauce, no mention of tomato. What came out was deli meat ham and spicy tomato sauce. Waitress wrote the right thing down, but the kitchen apparently decided what my wife really wanted was arrabiata. With cheap deli meat ham in place of panchetta as noted on the menu. It wasn't the wrong plate, we were one of two tables in the place and the got their pizza five minutes after we sat down. I'm thinking someone looked at the description of the arraiata which was the thing directy above and ran with it. Being as it was nasty deli meat ham and nothing my wife would be interested in we sent it back. Now, it took about fifteen minutes to come out the first time and the pasta was actually cooked perfectly. So a pasta dish that took fifteen minutes to come out with perfectly cooked pasta....took about 4 to refire. And when it came back it still had the same nasty deli meat ham, some half raw mushrooms, tomato instead of cream sauce, and pasta that was now gummy and when you ate a piece of pasta or ham by itself had an underlying watered down spiciness to it that the plain tomato sauce had not even a hint of. Now, I didn't stand there and see them dump her plate of pasta into a colander, rinse off the spicy tomato sauce, and then toss it in a pan with some mushrooms and plain tomato sauce. But you sure as heck could have fooled me if that's not what the lazy SOB in the kitchen did. To her credit, I think the waitress was more ticked off than we were.

AAA raitings are worthless. You've got better odds checking a resturant out on yelp or trip advisor and looking through the reviews to get a general feel for the place (weed out the people that will whine or praise anything.)

Depends. At the local place where I get take out frequently and they know me? Sure. My order is always correct, it's always ready when I get there, and unless there's a new person behind the counter they know me when I walk in the door. So I toss them a couple bucks. But that's the exception. My general rule is that I don't tip for take out. Delivery is another story and I tip for delivery. But for places that charge a delivery fee or someplace that is litterally right down the street I don't usually tip as much as I would had there been no fee or the drive is going to take longer than a minute or two.

As odd as it sounds, good bread. I grew up in NJ, eating the same bread from the same italian bakery from almost day I was old enough my Grandfather could get me to gnaw on a piece until I move away 17 years later to SC. I have found a handful of places where I can truely enjoy the bread, and they charge an arm and a leg because it's "artesinal". No it's not, it's just making bread the way you're freakin supposed to! After much trial and error I've resorted to making it myself and have it right where I like it. Same for Italian sausage. We got a few pounds a week from the same little Italian deli, made fresh by the Southern Italian sisters who owned it. Simple, proper, and delicious. Don't get me started on their Arancine made fresh every Saturday for lunch. I'll shut up now, I'm getting hungry.

Imagine my chagrin after leaving NJ for SC and ordering a hot dog We have a local place here with a few locations, not quite large enough to call it a chain or anything. Home made chili that is excelent, but the cheapest little flavorless mystery meat hot dog possible. The chili is it's saving grace and the reason I eat them. But I'm constantly reminding myself that the thing would go from good to excelent with a decent hot dog.

When I go out to eat, I expect to not be insulted. And I expect my wife to not be insulted. Using terms that demean the customer is just bad form and the server ought to be on their way to the unemployment office. At the same time, they're both idiots for over playing it. Insulted? Offended? Sure. Scarred? Are you kidding me? Put on your big girl panties and grow up.

I totally agree. You've gotta use more realistic ingredients if you want stellar results. Sure. But "we're gonna make a bad burger on a bad bun and throw pickles on it!" Really? Seriosuly? The best you can do with your pickles is fry and toss them onto a burger?

No reason for an attitude like that, and his response were...wow. Oysters still attached so you can tell they didn't come out of a can...right. Five hours under the PR doesn't mean their cooked right. And yeah, don't order garlic mash if you don't like garlic. Personally, I'd leave a review based on the facts of what was wrong with the meal, not return, and leave it at that. Nothing wrong with a poor review when warranted.

I'm of the opinion that if you open your establishment up to the general public, you've opened your establishment up to the general public. So I don't see someone coming in just to you the restroom as all that different from a window shopper with zero intention of buying anything or someone that hops in to get out of the rain.

You think you have it bad? Try SC. Prepackaged "corned beef", mayo, processed swiss, and white bread. It was all I could do to keep from weeping.

Didn't we all? Being short handed isn't an excuse to screw something up that is so easily avoided. Suck it up buttercup, your teammate got sick and needed medical attention. It happens.

I'm both ways on the subject. A GOOD bagel, IMO, does not need to be toasted. Nothing is gained or lost, it merely caters to your personal preference. A not so good bagel though, in the land of no decent bagels, from....say a certain doughnut shop that sells a lot of coffee? This is almost inedible without a toasting.

Anything involving knife work. Slicing, dicing, deboning, etc. I also rather enjoy kneading dough by hand. Good workout

Saurbratten perhaps?