Most Over-rated restaurant in your town/city:

[kick-ass-bob]

Raleigh: The Angus Barn.

We went there once for our anniversary, hearing all the accolades, and were less than impressed. The food was ordinary (on that level) and it just seemed crowded. It built up a great reputation, and I think it has rested on that rep, it is no longer anywhere near the best restaurant in the Raleigh area.

[Shell Beau]

1. Well, I guess I will have to say

Tico's. It's a steak house. It is good, but not as good as they seem to think it is!! :7

[Midlodemocrat]

2. Outback. The food is just so-so, but it is always crowded there.

[Shell Beau]

4. Always. We went at 5:00 one Friday. They just opened and

it was already a 45 minute wait. :crazy: It's not worth waiting 45 minutes for.

[Taverner]

40. Nope definitely not

Better steakhouses in the world...

[kick-ass-bob]

6. Outback is ridiculous.

If I want to spend $50 on steaks for dinner, there are a lot more places you can go that would be better.

[Nicholas D Wolfwood]

9. I think Outback is better than Ruth Chris.

But Charlie Palmer's or Morton's annihilates them both.

http://www.charliepalmer.com/cp/intro.html

[kick-ass-bob]

12. I have never been to Ruths Chris.

I hear it is waay overpriced to even bother.

[Nicholas D Wolfwood]

14. It is.

Don't bother.

[KamaAina]

27. Plus, they're bg-time repukes, *and* they left N.O. *two days* after

the storm hit. They are now headquartered in the culinary capital of the galaxy, Orlando. :sarcasm:

Ruth (Fertel) herself, a bedrock New Orleanian, would never have stood for this, but alas, she passed away a few years back.

Oh yes, Outback are also big-time repukes, but at least they never abandoned Sydney, since they were never there in the first place. :eyes:

[GOPisEvil]

13. Outback sucks.

If I want a steak there are many other options. My family only eats there when my parents get a gift certificate.

[terrya]

3. Ed Debevics here in Chicago.

It's a horrible tourist trap. It's some sort of Chicago institution....don't ask me why. Lousy (and I do mean lousy) food, long waiting. One of the worst restaurants in Chicago.

[kick-ass-bob]

7. what kind of food is it?

[terrya]

8. Comfort food

Hamburgers, sandwiches, that sort of thing. It all tastes like crap.

It has this schtick of the waiters and waitresses being rude to you and vice versa. I don't care about that crap.

[Missy Vixen]

33. We went to Ed's several years ago

>It has this schtick of the waiters and waitresses being rude to you and vice versa.<

DH discovered that if you're snarky to the server's being rude ;-), they stop. The food was just okay.

We left a huge tip.

Julie

[XNASA]

15. I was gonna say Berghoff's.

Not sure why it has such an allure, except that it holds Liquor License #1.

But any of those chi-chi uber-expensive places would qualify. You know, like Charlie Trotter's.

There are just so many great small unknown restaurants in Chicago, that most of the famous places are never able to live up to the rep. At least not for long.

[AngryAmish]

24. Darn right

I haven't eaten there in over a decade.

[JVS]

54. Their sauerbraten was great and I liked the beer

I think it's a good place

[RubyDuby in GA]

22. Amen to that!

Being a tourist to the Windy City, I got suckered into going there. I want my hour back damnit!

[Nicholas D Wolfwood]

5. Olive's (Washington, DC)

It's allegedly one of the best in the city, but I thought it was quite pedestrian.

[MissMillie]

10. Actually in the next town over (just a few miles away)

Hot Dog Annie's. I kept hearing about how great this hotdogs were and how great the "sauce" is. The sauce is some kind of molasses barbeque sauce that adds nothing but sweetness to the dog. If you don't get it, the dogs themselves are disgusting: over-cooked, dry,.... blech.

[Nicholas D Wolfwood]

16. LOL, and sadly, that's what used to qualify as a "restaurant" there too.

At least until Shrewsbury Street came alive lately. 111 Chop House was surprisingly good last time I was there.

[Rabrrrrrr]

11. Tavern on the Green

[kick-ass-bob]

17. is that in NYC?

googling.........

[Rabrrrrrr]

21. Yes, it's the famous one in Central Park

The food there really is quite good, and it's a beautiful place, but it IS over-rated and not the fancy schmancy amazing place that a lot of people seem to think.

Still, it's better than most places. But the prices are not in line with the quality and the atmosphere - it has a lot of name recognition, so can get away with charging more than it should.

But I never had a meal that wasn't less than excellent there. I even had liver and onions there once, something I never order but was in the mood for, and it was really very good. Not $28 good, but better than I could have cooked at home.

[progmom]

18. i totally agree

:thumbsup:

[Burma Jones]

35. No Kidding

It's a big game of "spot the rube"

[GOPisEvil]

19. Matt's El Rancho here in Austin.

It's "mexican food" in name only. It's just...bad Mexican cuisine for white people who don't know better.

[amitten]

49. Thank you. Matt's El Rancho is El Grosso.

I have always hated that place. It's like Taco Bell with waitstaff.

[Ryano42]

20. Santa Fe: Coyote Cafe

A pretentuous nouvelle take on traditional NM food. Good but for the $$$$$$$$$$$$$$ it should be more...and the Margs are tasty but WEAK.

REAL Santa Fe is places like Horseman's Haven; situated in a gas station and serving red and green chili that peels the paint off a battleship! Cheap too! :9

[Kellanved]

23. The Paris Bar in Berlin

Expensive, poor service and bad food. But well, people know that and keep going there anyway. :shrug:

[long_green]

25. Emeril's

service was poor, food was okay.
Underrated restaurant in N.O.? It used to be Brigtsen's but is now a place across the street from there...Dante's Kitchen.

[pinniped]

26. Fog City Diner in SF, CA.

- Service sucks
- Food is overpriced and average at best
- Tourist trap

This place needs to go under.

I'd rather eat at Mel's Diner.

[democracyindanger]

34. Hallelujah

Mel's isn't that great, though. Another tourist trap. And the service took a nosedive a couple years ago.

Nah, for good diner in SF you gotta look in the Lower Polk or that place on Church St. off of market, across from Chow.

[Taverner]

37. We need these places though

to send the tourists to so they don't move here!

[Initech]

28. Olive Garden

It's watered down Italian food. :puke:

[pinniped]

48. Pretty funny incident.

My friend asked the waiter for some pasta with fresh basil and gorgonzola on top. The waiter was dumbfounded but went back to check. He came back and said they didn't have any fresh basil. My friend asked the dude "What kind of Italian restaurant is this?" The dude said "This is not really an Italian restaurant."

I already knew that, but doesn't it say Italian Restaurant right outside on the wall?

[bif]

29. Joe Muer's -Detroit

Way over-rated and over priced. The original finally closed and they moved way out in the suburbs somewhere.

[cfield]

30. In Manhattan, KS

I'd say Famous Dave's BBQ. They're good, but not great. I prefer Whiskey Creek for that type of food. The prices are about the same but Whiskey Creek tastes better, has more options, and a better atmosphere!

[Montauk6]

31. Mario Batali's restaurant in Greenwich Village

I dunno, I just wasn't that impressed.

Also, Sylvia's Soul Food ain't all that.

[Tyrone Slothrop]

41. Which one?

Otto or Babbo?

I've eaten at both several times and think they're both sublime.

[Montauk6]

42. I can't remember... the one in the West Village... maybe Babbo

It's not that the food was bad; it just didn't bowl me over a la, say, Chez Panisse in Frisco.

[Tyrone Slothrop]

45. They're both in the West Village

So that doesn't help so much.

Babbo is the main one, Otto is mainly just pizzas and nibblers.

I was pretty impressed with my birthday meal at Babbo; of course, I may have just been on a good night.

Otto's pretty good and affordable, but not on the same level as Babbo.

[Montauk6]

47. OK, my wife just bailed me out: it was Lupa.

[Montauk6]

43. DELETE (that's funny... a double post... oh well)

[kwassa]

32. Citronelle, DC

Big bucks, pretentious atmosphere, underwhelming food. Worth about 1/5th the price.

[Taverner]

36. Stinking Rose

I mean it's good - very good even. But SFGate and the Bay Guardian keep giving them awards and there are hundreds of other SF restaraunts more deserving...

[gollygee]

38. Olive Garden! Why do people wait an hour to eat at the Olive Garden??

but that's the way it is here.

It isn't even very good food. I am always disappointed if fate sends me there.

[Burma Jones]

39. DC - I've been to Galileo twice and have been underwhelmed

I liked Barolo and Il Radicchio better.......

[ncrainbowgrrl]

44. I'll second that vote for The Angus Barn in Raleigh, NC.

Ordinary food- good smashed potatoes though!
If you sit upstairs, you hear that you're right in the flight path over to RDU. :eyes: Somehow you don't hear the flight traffic as much if you're downstairs. Perhaps it's 'cause it's just loud down there and overcrowded. :shrug:

[HEyHEY]

46. I think I ate there last night

Can't remember the name... but a restaurant in Yaletown should not get away with serving kraft cesar dressing

[XemaSab]

50. Virtually every restaurant in Redding

I went to this restaurant that was supposed to be the best Mexican in town and ordered fish tacos, and it was like, breaded fish sticks with tartar sauce in a tortilla. :puke:

Thai Cafe, Japanese, and Indian are safe, but every other restaurant, meh....

[leftofthedial]

51. McDonalds

[SmileyBoy]

52. Good one!!!

:)

[leftofthedial]

53. there's always a line . . .

[SmileyBoy]

56. I only get Mccy D's if I'm low on cash and the campus cafeteria is closed

Otherwise, I stay the hell away.

[leftofthedial]

57. NEVER go to McDonalds

except maybe for breakfast

or if every other restaurant on earth has mysteriously been destroyed by fire and plague.

[SmileyBoy]

55. For Fargo, it would be Uno Pizzeria's Chicago Grill.

The pizza was horrible, the soup was watery, and they didn't even get my fountain drink right.