Door Dash/Grub hub etc——-food quality

[Ottakee]

I have never done door dash or grub hub and only have had pizza delivered one time.

i was just wondering about the quality of the food with these delivery services.   I often see food sitting waiting for pick up and then a drive time.   Can French fries really be tasty and warm 20-30 minutes later?

i am a bit of a fast food snob here (if you can be one) as I don’t even want to pick it up and drive it right home to eat it myself…..either we eat it inside or in car right there or we don’t get it as fries just don’t taste the great unless they are fresh and hot.

I can see subway being a bit different as subs are good even an hour later.

[Faith-manor]

My two bachelor sons rooming together occasionally use DoorDash. They live in a city with a lot of drivers so response time is pretty good. They do not order anything that would be less tasty if they have to pop it in the microwave or oven. So no French fries, no pizza. A common one for them is Cracker Barrel or Bob Evan's. They will usually get chicken dumplings from Cracker Barrel with green beans, cooked carrots, and salad. The salad is not packed with the hot items. It seems to be pretty hot when they get it. from Bob Evans, ham and sides.

Taco Bell for fast food might be okay, but I don't think McD's, Burger King, or Wendy's would be at all good. I think some Arby's sandwiches would be fine like their French dips. The au jus is usually piping hot, and a couple seconds in the microwave would be fine if it wasn't.

Edited March 18, 2023 by Faith-manor

[HomeAgain]

We sometimes get subs or burgers & fries delivered from our two favorite places here.  It's their own delivery service and they're a mile away.  Even so, when we see the order leaving we turn the oven on to convection and prep a baking sheet.  Fries come in, immediately get popped in the oven, and we start on the burgers.  5 minutes later the fries join the meal.

[Farrar]

I agree that it's better for things like Mexican, Chinese, Thai, Italian, subs, etc. Chipotle is good, for example. Or things like Cava or Panera. Honestly, it's also often better for higher end takeout. During the pandemic, we got from this place that was known as a sit down place but they started packaging meals to sell and it was amazing.

But we've gotten Shake Shack that way before and it's fine. I've used the pop the fries in the oven trick.

My kid who uses it more often than any of the rest of us is at college. He does it maybe once a month, sometimes twice. It's because he has limited options in walking distance and he'll not plan his food well around the dining hall hours and end up hungry late at night. And then the options are limited because his city doesn't have a ton of late night stuff. He's gotten Applebee's several times and I tease him about it. But he's like, it's food.

[marbel]

When I was working we would sometimes get food delivered. I quickly learned not to order fries, burgers, mostly any hot things. My coworkers didn't seem to mind but to me flaccid fries are not worth the calories. But I am like you, OP, I want them hot and fresh! 

This is a total aside but when I worked in the bank call center, I frequently took calls from people who wanted to dispute a charge for delivered food because they didn't like it. Not because the order was wrong, or the food was not properly cooked, just because they didn't like it! 

[Pawz4me]

We don't generally use delivery services, but when we do takeout I always pop the fries in our Ninja air fryer/toaster oven. It only takes a couple of minutes, often less, and they taste completely fresh, hot and crispy.

[Ottakee]

Part of my issue I guess is that I was raise Dutch (meaning frugal to the core) and low income so even paying for delivery for food is not in my realm of experience.

sounds good for higher end foods but not the fast food options.

[catz]

I never really used it locally.   It’s easy enough for us to pick up.  Since Covid, I love the ordering apps for place like Panera or chipotle or blaze pizza.  Though my daughter and I did have Thai food delivered last time my spouse was traveling and that was good.   
 

That said my daughter and I traveled 5 weeks in a row last month for college auditions and used it a couple times.   We ordered giordanos pizza delivered.   We were in a downtown urban area maybe 2-3 blocks from the restaurant but I had a cold and was trying to be a good citizen about going out.   Anyway supposed to deliver at 5:30.   I call the restaurant at 6.  Food is ready but Delivery service hasn’t showed.   Anyway back and forth until like 7:30 they made it seem like any minute.  But they never indicated they were remaking food.   Shows up.  Delivery person leaves us wrong order.  
 

we did have a cold marginal quality free meal that night that we didn’t order.  But let me tell you between the ridiculous fees and this mixup, I won’t be rushing to use them again.  
 

if you do have take out fries, a few minutes in a hot oven works wonders.   

Edited March 18, 2023 by catz

[Drama Llama]

If you want to order fast food, and not fast casual like cava, Popeyes holds up well.

Basically if it’s something I would make and eat over a few days it works well.  For me burgers and fries are not in that category, but fried chicken and red beans and rice are delicious the next day.

[Katy]

I’ve only had good experiences but we’ve only used it when traveling or when we had guests arriving late. 

[rebcoola]

We use delivery a fair bit since most of the evening when I am busy the event is the opposite direction of the restaurants.  Fries are really the only thing that I think really go down in quality but they are often still hot if it is one of the closer places.  We just throw them in the air fryer of they are though.