What does your town need?

[Claire]

After reading the "if you had a restaurant" thread, I'm curious as to what you find your community is lacking in restaurants. I live in the midwest, and right at the moment it seems the restaurant scene has become Italian, Steak House, and Italian Steakhouses. Several places will make Greek food for you if you know how to order. But we are so lacking in Asian, German, Eastern European, Middle Eastern ... well, I understand why (anything that exotic would never survive the winter non-tourist season). But what do you wish you could find in your community?

 

[texasgirl]

What do I wish I could find in my community? A community!!
I want less bars!! We have one restaurant. A mexican restaurant and it's not very good. Although, we have 6 bars!!

The town 6 miles away is fixing to start booming though. The Walmart is just now fixing to start pouring cement and we have a Chili's in the works, a Golden Chick and supposedly, another restaurant, but, they haven't said which one yet. I'm glad. Not just to have more choices, but, for the kids to have places to get employment. My boys didn't have a chance out here. Now, the future looks a little brighter for the kids to get work and for the adults that can't afford cars too. These 2 towns are mainly poor or low income families. I hope this will help them grow.

 

[Hopz]

Sorry to hear about your locational difficulties... let me add my own. I live near Salt Lake City.
This place has a lot of restaurant choices, most of them, uninspiring. there are some pretty good places, but the few that do exist are expen$ive, and as some would say snooty.
The great middle ground is occupied by restauranteurs who cater to large families who do not enjoy a wine or beer with a meal, and who, in general lack exposure to the outside world of fine dining. All that coupled with a general lack of critical thinking skills and no orientation toward demanding or even expecting fine dining, leads to mediocre, sink-to-the-lowest-common-denominator restaurants.

Obviously I think the predominant local religion is greatly to blame in this regard.
OTOH I can go to Park city. Very small town with many good restaurants- all expensive. Way expensive catering to the ski/vacation crowd.

One small examplepun intended) In Utah we can get a drink with dinner. Yes, it is a ONE ounce pour, but served at the same price you would pay in a "normal" place. You can get a "sidecar" which is another shot glass on the side, with one more ounce, but again- at the price of a full drink. So, to get a "real" drink, you can pay twice as much- still only get a 2 ounce drink.

Wine is available, but limited to the very few labels the State thinks you ought to have access to. The market does not decide- the state will do that for you.

I think the restaurant guys are in collusion with the religion guys...

This is why we cook so much at home, and drink there as well. We drive to other states to purchase wine and bootleg it home.

(Sorry for the rant... I just got started and could not stop)

 

[licia]

I live in what is considered a bedroom community. We have a Wendys, Mc D's,KFC, Huddle House, Domino's, Pizza Hut, a good Mexican place, a few mom and pop restaurants. We have no bars, but several package stores. 11 miles away there is some of everything - from very bad to very good and lots of them. The college about 8 miles away has a very good cultural center with family entertainment every week. We have 2 playhouses that have things from very good to questionable. We have 2 good grocery stores. Most of the people here live on either big lots or acreage, but we still have parks, lots of water activities since we aren't far from the river and very close to a big creek, and just a few miles from many lakes,lots of water sports. We also have lots of churches of various denominations. The thing I would change is the road system - the roadways are full of people all the time. Hey, I forgot to mention we have the ocean 35 miles away.

 

[phinz]

We have primarily Italian, American McChains (Applebee's, Famous Daves, Sonny's, et cetera), Mexican (though I call it Tennican, because none of them are true Tex-Mex and it's not true Mexican.) and I can count 7 Teppanyaki/Sushi restaurants within 5 miles of my driveway. We only have one Indian restaurant and a few Thai/Chinese/Szechuan restaurants. We have one German Restaurant, one French restaurant and one fondue restaurant. Most of our most succesful restaurants involve steaks and Miller Lite. We need some variety. I get tired of Italian, Mexican and Japa/Chinese. I'd like a real Japanese restaurant. I'd like another Indian restaurant, because the only one we have is always packed. Mongolian, Cambodian, a true English pub with real pub food, a real Irish pub, a true Middle-Eastern restaurant that doesn't double as a greasy spoon for hamburgers and chicken-in-a-sack. An Eastern European restaurant. Our only kosher deli is gone now. I could really get into another one. Spanish food would be nice. Polynesian would be fun.

Anything but meat and potatoes, spaghetti, hamburgers, hibachi chicken and chicken fingers.

 

[ironchef]

Los Angeles? Nothing really in the way of restaurants. You can find anything and everything here. Less people, traffic, and smog would be nice.

Honolulu? More educated diners. I could never open up my own restaurant there because it wouldn't work. Majority of the people wouldn't appreciate the food.

 

[buckytom]

same here in nyc, and northern new jersey.

nothing to add, but we could do with fewer pizza places (especially ones with the name "ray" in it), dirty chinese take out, and greasy diners.

 

[pdswife]

We have lots to choose from... Chinese, Japanese, Italian, fast food, Denny's, Chili's, diners and cafes... they all pretty much suck though. Issaquah is NOT a good place to come and dine. It's all pretty boring and dull.

 

[buckytom]

ok, so issaquah = boring town, bad restaurants, super nice people, crazed drunk driving chickens...

 

[BigDog]

My fair city has Timberlodge Steakhouse, Original RoadHouse Grill, The Dakota Grill, Olive Garden, Ciatti's, Champps, TGI Friday's Romano's Macaroni Grill, Bucca de Beppo, Baker's Square, a mall with a food court, a couple mom & pop chinese places, Dominos, Pizza Hut, Davanni's, a couple mom & pop pizza joints, and the traditional fast food joints, including Subway and Chipotle.

What do they need? To lower the prices so common folk can enjoy. Just for Mrs. Big Dog and I, the bill is rarely lower then $40 with no adult beverages! The only places we can eat for cheap is fast food, which defeats the concept of healthy living, or maybe Cracker Barrel in the town just south of us. We can get out of there for about $25, including tip. Cracker Barrel is my kind of restaurant, good portions of high quality food at affordable pricing. If/When the day comes I open a restaurant, it's likely to be along the lines of Cracker Barrel.

 

[cara]

here in Hannover we have everything... never missed anything..
htere are good ones and bad ones... you just have to find the good places, but I know a few by now ,o)

 

[texasgirl]

ok, so issaquah = boring town, bad restaurants, super nice people, crazed drunk driving chickens...

You never fail to make us choke on laughter!!

 

[ljewell]

Hopz...I had a friend who moved to Utah, loved it at first, for the skiing, mountains...but couldn't do any business there...wasn't the RIGHT religion. She ended up moving to Texas.

 

[JMediger]

Well ... my wee town of 2000 has 4 bars that each have their own version of the hot beef, 2 local cafe's that are owned by siblings that hate each other, trying to out-do the other and as a result are running their once very good restaurants into the dirt and a steak house. We also have a Pizza Hut, McD's and Hardees. A mile away, we have a Subway and a new Chinese place. All well and good when I was growing up but after living in Portland (OR) for 8 years, I have changed my mind. Granted The Cities and a few other bigger cities are close so we go there often for good food but it would be nice to have sushi closer than 60 miles. The good thing about this area (and that I haven't found anywhere else in all my travels) are all the supper clubs tucked into the woods starting a little north of here. They tend to only be opened on Thursday - Saturday, have great atmosphere's and let you really enjoy dining (come in, have a few drinks, order from the bar and they let you know when the food is on your table - about 3 hours total).

 

[pdswife]

ok, so issaquah = boring town, bad restaurants, super nice people, crazed drunk driving chickens...

lolololol!!!!!LOLOLOL!!!!!
Bucky, you always bring some sunshine to my rainy days!

 

[Dina]

For sure we need more Middle Eastern cuisine down here in south Texas and lots and lots of cultural and educational establishments for our children.

 

[Little Miss J]

I thought that I had lucked out after moving back to the country after finishing my degree! I don't miss the lack of franchised take away companies in the country but I do miss being able to have something other than pub food, fish and chips or a pizza if I want to go out for dinner.

 

[SierraCook]

My area has a Mexican restaurant (excellent), a diner (makes the best biscuits and gravy), a steakhouse (Ok, but not mouthwatering good), and a hamburger joint (just opened and I am not impressed). A new pizza restaurant has opened about 13 miles away from my house. I have not been there but it has gotten good reviews from coworkers and friends.

What I would like to see is a good Asian restaurant. There is an Asian restaurant in the town about 20 miles away and it is awful. The food is boring, bland, and too Americanized. Other people in the area just love it and I think it is gross.

 

[kleenex]

Every big city needs a place where you get a 66 ounce steak right

 

[Michelemarie]

I live in a small but growing town - we are getting more restaurants every day - but they are all chains! Not that there is anything wrong with chains, I do like Outback, Portillos, Panera and of course Starbucks (drive through opens in a couple of months!) - but I would love to see a few mom and pop restaurants - good homemade food - different specials every night. Some restaurants with good atmosphere would be great. Something that is not a chain.