Help - where do I want to go for dinner? (First world problem)

[SKL]

Every 5th Friday I have to choose the restaurant for a party of 5.  Me, my kids, and my 2 housemates.  My housemates love restaurants, hence the requirement that we eat at one every Friday.

I really don't like food.  I eat it because I need to.  I have a few things I like if I'm hungry enough, but these are not restaurant meals.

I do have one restaurant I can think of that I'd like to return to, but everyone else in the house hates it and I don't want to deal with the negativity.

We usually end up at Olive Garden because I like it OK and everyone else loves it.  But it's so unhealthy.  I literally watched a lady have a heart attack there once.

Honestly, this stresses me out every 5th Friday.  So ... suggest some chain restaurants that I should try.  No steak houses and no Indian (we've had Indian numerous times in the past few weeks).  Preferably something that isn't heart-attack-on-a-plate but that also won't disgust people who dislike vegetables.

Edited January 24, 2020 by SKL

[happypamama]

Mexican?  We have a few around here that are great, and they have a big variety. 

 

Instead of a chain place, what about a local restaurant that you've never tried?

[Selkie]

Maybe Cheesecake Factory and Chilis? They both have a fairly wide variety of meals and healthy options.

[MEmama]

Any independent brew pub. They nearly always have a wide selection including light, healthy meals, cater to families and of course you get to celebrate Friday with a great beer. Win win win. 😉 

[BeachGal]

Any Spanish tapas restaurants in your area?

[marbel]

Well, the only national chain I can think of right now that I like is Red Robin, which can be healthy or not, I think.  (I always get a cheeseburger, not looking for the healthy options.)

What about thinking of the kind of food you do like, or at least tolerate, and looking up local places?  They might be better than chains.

Or, if you and your people rotate, can you hand your choice off to someone else on your week?  You can rotate through the rotation - give your upcoming week to oldest daughter, the next week to a roommate, etc. It seems like they might have stronger opinions than you do anyway?

How about the cafe at Whole Foods?

ETA: Seconding brew pubs.

ETA: I just realized that Red Robin may not be nationwide. I just assumed it was, since every place I've lived as an adult had one. But now I'm seeing several chains mentioned that I've never heard of and aren't around here, so I thought I'd check. 

 

Edited January 24, 2020 by marbel

[rebcoola]

Huhots or another Mongolian grill people can make it as healthy or bad for themselves as they want.  

[Kassia]

Ruby Tuesdays has a good salad bar?  I agree about Olive Garden's soup/salad/breadsticks deal.  

I hate eating in restaurants, too.  

[Kassia]

Just now, rebcoola said:

Huhots or another Mongolian grill people can make it as healthy or bad for themselves as they want.  

 

Oh, that's a great idea! 

[SKL]

My kids hate Latin American food.  The one Guatemalan restaurant I really like, they despise.  😕

None of us drink alcohol.

I just remembered there is a Japanese restaurant nearby that I've been wanting to try.  Wasabi.  Not sure if it is a chain or not.

[TheReader]

Tossing out the idea of a pho place; that's nice and light, but also yummy. 

Or the Mongolian Grill type place; that's good. 

We have down here a few places that are "build your own" pizza -- there are lots of healthy options for it that way. One is called Blaze Pizza, and one is called....something else...?....but both are national chains, I think.  Any of the "build your own" whatevers would be good. 

A chain we have here that's good is Sweet Tomatoes. Salad Bar, but unlimited, and has soups, chilis, pizzas, pastas, etc. also. Very easy for a wide range of healthy to not. 

[Islandgal]

Cheesecake Factory or Bonefish Grill.

Edited January 25, 2020 by Islandgal

[zimom]

My new favorite place is Rock and Brew.  But 90% of it is the atmosphere of sitting out on the patio with 80s rock playing which I'm guessing you can't do.   I really like their cajun pasta and their gumbo.   

[DoraBora]

Do you have a Mediterranean or Halal Guys place?

[Terabith]

I got tired of this so I made a list of 20 restaurants, numbered them, put them in my phone, and we roll a 20 sided dice (or use an online dice rolling thing) to decide.  

[prairiewindmomma]

Chipotle—get a salad?

Panera—get a salad or protein bowl?

[marbel]

Do you have California Pizza Kitchen?  (We have them here in PA so it's not just a Cali thing. Though maybe you are in Cali, but I don't think so.) Anyway, I have only been once but it was very good, lots of healthy options.  No one in our party of 10 ordered pizza. 

[mom2scouts]

2 hours ago, TheReader said:

Tossing out the idea of a pho place; that's nice and light, but also yummy. 

Or the Mongolian Grill type place; that's good. 

We have down here a few places that are "build your own" pizza -- there are lots of healthy options for it that way. One is called Blaze Pizza, and one is called....something else...?....but both are national chains, I think.  Any of the "build your own" whatevers would be good. 

A chain we have here that's good is Sweet Tomatoes. Salad Bar, but unlimited, and has soups, chilis, pizzas, pastas, etc. also. Very easy for a wide range of healthy to not. 

A new restaurant called Pho King just opened here. People are having way too much fun with the name.😂

[KungFuPanda]

Can't you get a salad at most places?  Even pizza places serve salads.  I'm not getting what's hard about this.  

I'm at the opposite end of the spectrum.  I NEVER pick the restaurants because everyone is pickier than I am.  I let the keto-vegetarian-gf-df-MSGfree-friends choose because I can find something on every menu that's acceptable.  Halal guys was a bit crowded, so we ended up at Mission BBQ.  I was just as happy.

[KungFuPanda]

5 hours ago, TheReader said:

Tossing out the idea of a pho place; that's nice and light, but also yummy. 

Or the Mongolian Grill type place; that's good. 

We have down here a few places that are "build your own" pizza -- there are lots of healthy options for it that way. One is called Blaze Pizza, and one is called....something else...?....but both are national chains, I think.  Any of the "build your own" whatevers would be good. 

A chain we have here that's good is Sweet Tomatoes. Salad Bar, but unlimited, and has soups, chilis, pizzas, pastas, etc. also. Very easy for a wide range of healthy to not. 

Blaze Pizza

Pie Five

Mod Pizza

😁

[Kareni]

Is there a Thai restaurant in your area?

Regards,

Kareni

[SKL]

We went to Hibachi - a Japanese restaurant where they cook the food right at the table.  Lots of fire and theatrics.  The kids were sullen at first, but the cook got them laughing, and everyone enjoyed the food.

Whew!  We're good for another 5 weeks ....

[marbel]

I'm glad you found a place! Can't you go back there in 5 weeks?

And I know the thread is over, but something is bugging me:  aren't most pizza places kinda "build your own"?  

Start with red or white, then add toppings, such different meats, vegetables/fruit, cheeses. There are set combinations or special types (Buffalo chicken!) on offer as well, but one can usually customize to their heart's content.

At least, that's what I've always seen since I started paying attention to pizza menus.

Edited January 25, 2020 by marbel

[TheReader]

1 hour ago, marbel said:

I'm glad you found a place! Can't you go back there in 5 weeks?

And I know the thread is over, but something is bugging me:  aren't most pizza places kinda "build your own"?  

Start with red or white, then add toppings, such different meats, vegetables/fruit, cheeses. There are set combinations or special types (Buffalo chicken!) on offer as well, but one can usually customize to their heart's content.

At least, that's what I've always seen since I started paying attention to pizza menus.

Ah, sorry; the pizza places I mentioned are each person picks their own, and it's through the line kind of like Subway sandwiches. So they are smaller pizzas (vs the whole group agreeing on 1 or 2 choices) and has many more options than a normal place. Blaze, for ex, has a regular red sauce, a white sauce, a spicy red sauce, a pesto sauce, or you can do just olive oil. Then there are a zillion cheeses (well, like 6....), including blue cheese. Then all manner of toppings you don't normally find. Then finishing sauces for after, from ranch to basalmic to whatever. 

But you are very correct, even most mainstream places you can customize a large pizza how you want, or I suppose most also have personal sized pizzas you can do that with as well. 

[Tanaqui]

Quote

But it's so unhealthy.  I literally watched a lady have a heart attack there once.

 

I mean, that has nothing to do with how good or bad the food is for the heart?

More on topic, if this stresses you out so much, why don't you have your two housemates alternate taking "your" week? Then you just have to go wherever they pick and you don't have to decide for yourself.

[SKL]

4 hours ago, Tanaqui said:

More on topic, if this stresses you out so much, why don't you have your two housemates alternate taking "your" week? Then you just have to go wherever they pick and you don't have to decide for yourself.

Because they will choose Indian food (which we already have regularly).  I mean I like Indian food in moderation, but not that frequently.  Plus, one of my kids claims to despise Indian food (though that is just an act, I don't enjoy dealing with it).

[QueenCat]

What about a nicer Italian place, like Carabbas or Maggianos? They both have healthy food, as well as unhealthy food. And the quality is significantly better than Olive Garden (imo).

[SKL]

4 minutes ago, happysmileylady said:

I am curious, now that you have 5 more weeks, why don't you just opt out.  Is there a reason that you can't just send your kids with your roommates and just stay home yourself?  Like, now that the dust has settled can't you just have the discussion "hey guys, I am really just over this going out to eat arrangement.  Its time for a change and my change is that I am not going out anymore.  

 

OR, if that's not something you want to do....then I suggest coming up with a list of like 5 places that you are interested in....like Olive Garden, the hibachi place, that other restaurant you were interested in, etc etc.  Once you have your list, just rotate through them.  So this week, it was the hibachi place.  Next time (5 weeks from now) it's Olive Garden.  Then 5 weeks after that, it's that other restaurant.  And so on and so forth.  That way you don't have to deal with the stress of picking, it's just pick the next one on the list.  

I have tried opting out.  It didn't fly.

I did suggest a new rule though.  Anyone who grumps about someone's choice of meal has to forfeit her next turn.

[Serenade]

On 1/24/2020 at 4:42 PM, TheReader said:

 

A chain we have here that's good is Sweet Tomatoes. Salad Bar, but unlimited, and has soups, chilis, pizzas, pastas, etc. also. Very easy for a wide range of healthy to not. 

 

I really like Sweet Tomatoes.  I was so sad when they pulled out of NC.  I haven't been to one in years, but they had really wonderful soups in addition to the salad bar.  And I'd always like to go during lemon week when they had pasta, soup and salad things with a lemon theme. 

[marbel]

10 hours ago, TheReader said:

Ah, sorry; the pizza places I mentioned are each person picks their own, and it's through the line kind of like Subway sandwiches. So they are smaller pizzas (vs the whole group agreeing on 1 or 2 choices) and has many more options than a normal place. Blaze, for ex, has a regular red sauce, a white sauce, a spicy red sauce, a pesto sauce, or you can do just olive oil. Then there are a zillion cheeses (well, like 6....), including blue cheese. Then all manner of toppings you don't normally find. Then finishing sauces for after, from ranch to basalmic to whatever. 

But you are very correct, even most mainstream places you can customize a large pizza how you want, or I suppose most also have personal sized pizzas you can do that with as well. 

Oh, I get you now!  I have never seen a place like that! Which is probably good, because I would probably be in there way too often. Pizza is my #1 crave food, I am like a teenage boy and can inhale way too much of it!  Thanks for explaining!

[catz]

Blaze pizza is one of my favorites.  I can get 20 veggies, light cheese, spicy sauce and my kids can get their lame pizzas and we're all happy!   It is pretty reasonably priced too.  I never get as much as I want on pizza most places because they want 2-3 bucks per topping.  

[katilac]

FYI, Olive Garden has a decent number of healthy-ish choices, certainly as much as you'd find at any other chain restaurant. They always have half a dozen or so choices that are 500-600 calories for a dinner portion, and they'll also modify other dishes for you. They have salmon, grilled chicken, and usually some fresh veggies. I like broccoli in almost any red or cheesy sauce. The minestrone soup is a pretty solid choice. They have both zucchini noodles and whole grain pasta. 

If portion control is an issue, have them bring out boxes right away and pack up some food before you even start eating. If you don't take food home, tell them to only bring a half portion (either of the whole meal or part of the meal). My dh eats out for work all the time, and he does both of those things.