If you could afford to eat out every night of the week

NFW I'd want to eat out 7 nights a week.

I look to cook, plus it's a pain in the ass to go out every night for dinner. Some nights you want to stay home and eat in your sweats and hoodie and watch 'The Devil Wears Prada'.

I'd eat at the Cheesecake Factory every night of the week.

R2 Hi Chrissy.

I can afford to eat out as often as I like, and still don’t. Too much salt, plus it gets tedious after awhile. We order lots of DoorDash and Uber Eats, but usually the same 3-4 places because truth is most restaurants just aren’t as good as what we can prepare at home - assuming we’re willing to put a little time and effort in.

[quote]If you could afford to eat out every night of the week . . .

you'd be as fat as the OP.

Texas Roadhouse every night. It’s always a good experience and it has a little bit of everything for everyone. Plus the rolls, with cinnamon butter!

Olive Garden, Buca di Beppo, Cheesecake Factory, Benihana and Cracker Barrel. Just perfect.

R2 I'm seconding Cheesecake Factory. Tbh it's unparalleled in the chain restaurant space. Enormous portions of fresh cooked food, something for everyone, and one of the nicest ambiances. If I could afford it I would eat there a lot more often.

I'm fine with my cooking supplemented by WF deli. Every few weeks, order in pad thai or dandan noodles or pizza.

I always forget just how many fatties are on the DL.

I eat restaurant food about 2/3 of the time. I generally get food from local restaurants, not chains. Most entrees are too much food for me, so I typically get two meals out of each one (either two dinners, or a dinner and lunch). Also, I usually order two meals and I freeze one. That way I'm not eating food from the same restaurant too many days in a row.

I like to cook, but it's hard to stock a kitchen properly when you are cooking for only one person. You wind up having to throw food out before you can use it.

Walk-Ons, Papa John's, Texas Roadhouse, Five Guys, Panda Express, Firehouse Subs, Pedro's.

R12 Luv Panda. I get it once a week.

I would literally eat at Subway every day if they had fries.

R2 Actually not a bad idea. They do serve practically everything.

I don’t eat at chains but do eat out at local places at least 4x a week. I used to cook at home all the time but I can’t really be bothered anymore

What a shitty selection. I'd rather eat my own grilled cheese and a can of Campbell's tomato.

You can do better than Campbell's/

Who are these people replying to this thread?

I eat out frequently and go to specific places for specific reasons- quick convenience, or pre an event or with friends for a good meal and fun. I can name a half dozen quickly but I go to quite a variety of places over time because I live in Manhattan, and spend time in a number of other parts of the country, Palm Springs in particular. So I can’t really answer the question. I don’t have 7 “top” restaurants. I do have one or two special favorites: River Cafe in Brooklyn, Manhatta in downtown Manhattan, Spencer’s in Palm Springs….

[quote] Cheesecake Factory...fresh cooked food...

This poster is delusional. With a menu that large the food is probably mostly pre-prepared and frozen and just heated up (maybe in a microwave).

That was always my impression. I've been there a small handful of times.

Perhaps the cheesecake is freshly made but I've never eaten it.

Cheesecake Factory does have a huge menu ... but nothing looks tempting to me.

If I end up there (with friends), I just order an omelet.

Who could do this and stay healthy? You'd weigh 500 lbs.

P.F. Chang’s, Cheesecake Factory, shake shack, sweetgreen,

I like the last two better than the first two but to each their own. Apart from Sweetgreen, no one can maintain their health going to restaurants nightly.

R25, of course you can if you know what you’re doing.

Chuck's Steak House, Longhorn Steakhouse, Wood-n-Tap, Saybrook Fish House and there a couple of local restuarants that I go to for happy hour. As someone mentioned above it gets old because the menus don't change much and it's hard to control calories.

On the other hand the link to New Orleans-Inspired BBQ Shrimp Op provided looks really good.

Ugh, I feel fat just from reading this thread.

I don't even like going out every night on vacation.

2 palace hotel restaurants with terraces, 1 great Lebanese place for humble people, 1 hip restaurant, 1 sumptuous old world Italian, the best sushi restaurant in town, and the food court of a luxury department store.

I could probably eat Lebanese food once a week. Sushi, as well.

I love Mexican food and Korean food, but tend to overeat.

If you travel for work you sometimes have no choice but to eat out seven (or almost that many) nights a week and that's just dinner. If I were in NYC which I sometimes am and I get to choose (not the client) I would go to Keens, Old Homestead, Roberta's, Tommy's, Motorino, Veselka and just to keep a balance. McDonald's.

Well done, R29. Food and atmosphere and real variety.

Pre-Covid I ate out 6 nights a week on average and liked doing. There's variety where I live and most restaurants are quite affordable and good (overall or selectively). I just got out of the habit, and the fact that reservations are more necessary and timing more critical now, together with the fact that the cost is significantly more: it adds up to a new hybrid mix of eating out/in.

R21 Everything is made fresh from scratch every day.