What wouldn’t you order at a restaurant because “I can make it better at home”?

47 comments

1. A ham or turkey sandwich

2. Grits. I don’t fuck with the plain, no butter no cheese grits a lot of places serve

3. I’m kind of a guacamole snob.

4. So many things. I have basically stopped going out to eat. Mostly for the cost but after spending a good amount of time and energy learning to cook well, it is hard to justify eating out.

   One of the few things I eat when out would be lasagna or fried chicken.

5. Any pasta dish. It’s just not worth the expense.

6. Steak and Hot Dogs are the biggest thing that comes to mind.

7. Oatmeal. I prefer my oatmeal undercooked. Also, I’m not a great cook so there aren’t many other things I wouldn’t order out haha.

8. Grilled cheese, Quesadilla, Tuna Melt, Patty Melt, etc.

   Basically, any grilled sandwich that has cheese as its base and a BLT.

9. Nothing really, although 99% of places don’t do tuna salad or chili just the way I like it. I’ll still get those things sometimes though

10. Depends on the restaurant. If a professional cook made something I highly doubt I’ll do any better in my kitchen. My food goes down and I haven’t made anyone sick, these are the limits of my ambition in culinary arts.

11. Indian food, my aunt is always inviting me over for it. She lives 10 minutes away from me and always overprovisions, so we are served a week’s worth of leftovers every time we go.

12. There’s a grilled cheese restaurant in my town. I can’t imagine spending $15 on a grilled cheese sandwich. I could make like 20 sandwiches at home for that price.

13. Most spicy dishes. Restaurants do spices poorly unless it’s run ethnic people in my experience.

    Guacamole. The restaurant kind is so *bland*.

    Most sandwiches.

14. Japanese curry. I don’t know if it’s just because I’m used to a specific brand of curry roux or what, but restaurant versions are never as good as the kind I make at home.

15. I like my jambalaya more than any I’ve had a restaurant.

16. Lobster roll is the number one. No restaurant can make a lobster roll like you can at home.

    (and maybe my chili and chicken soup)

17. Eh, I’m a pretty good cook, so if I didn’t eat something from a restaurant because I *could* make it better at home, I wouldn’t really eat at restaurants at all. I eat out for the fun, convenience, and social aspects of it.

18. Enchiladas

    Most southern food (a few exceptions at a few restaurants).

19. Not a whole lot cause restaurants use a whole lot more butter, oil, and salt than I ever do at home. Grilled cheese I would never order out I guess, unless I was so fucking sick I couldn’t make it myself (grilled cheese and soup is my sick food).

    I guess beef stew would be another one, but I rarely ever happen to be out to eat and actually want to eat beef stew.

20. I don’t know about better, but if I’m paying restaurant prices, I want something that I can’t quickly and easily make for myself for a tenth of the price at most. No simple pastas. No pancakes. No toast with some mashed avocado and a sprinkle of salt and pepper. They would at least need to have some sort of sauce or topping that’s more unique or effort to make.

21. Macaroni and cheese. I start by making a bechamel sauce, add lots of good extra-sharp cheddar, and then bake the macaroni—sauce mixture until it reaches the level of browning that I like.

22. I would never order it anyways but I hate how other people make Tuna Salad.
    A lot of deserts and Salmon I would never order either

23. Steak. To reliably get as good a steak as I grill at home, you have to spend quite a lot of money. It’s not worth it, especially considering that I don’t want steak regularly.

24. French Toast. It’s so easy to make at home and so many restaurants phone it all the way in.

25. Burgers

26. Spaghetti and meatballs.

    because I can make full one pound box with sauce and frozen meatballs for less than the price of it a restarant and have enough for two days worth of meals.

27. Breakfast. I almost never eat out for breakfast unless I’m traveling.

28. Blueberry pie, any kind of pasta, meatballs.

29. Cereal.

30. Nothing.

31. I’d hope everyone makes better food at home than they get in restaurants.

    But restaurants are for convenience or sometimes just for the experience.

    To answer: basically everything except sushi. I don’t know how to make sushi at all.

32. Broccoli and cheddar soup- many places tend to overcook the broccoli

33. Literally nothing

    They always make it better

34. Ceasar salad

35. Italian food. All of it. But especially pasta.

    And I’m gonna say it, Italy had hands down the worst food of all 11 countries I visited last summer. Croatia and Slovenia had better Italian food than 90% of what I ate in my month in Italy.

36. nothing really, I think I am a decent cook but not as good as a professional chef. And also I like having food prepared for me.

37. Steak. I don’t mind a restaurant steak, but I am confident enough in my abilities to consistently make a good steak at home with very little real effort, time, or extra tools. I never really found it worth the price premium. It’s not like I have to spend 1 hour prepping and 10 hours cooking it and another hour cleaning up.

    I tend to like to order things that I don’t have the time or necessary equipment to make easily at home. A good example is barbecue, since I don’t have a smoker. Also, anything to do with seafood is not usually something I have much experience with and I only ever eat it when I go to a restaurant. I can pan-fry something like a fish filet pretty well, but I know next to nothing about cooking crab or lobster or anything like that.

38. Mostly ‘unhealthy’ things. Especially fast food offerings.

    I try to eat healthy now, but still get cravings for junky processed food. Add in a frustration of the service and cost of most fast food, and I just prefer to make my own.

    So whenever I get a craving for that type food, I’ll make a slightly less unhealthy version of what I’m craving that’s even tastier (and made just like I want it without worrying about a messed up order), using better ingredients.

39. When I’m not in Houston or South Texas, I make my own fajitas. I can usually find the right meat at a local butcher, and I’ve never had anybody outside the state or in Austin really make good ones.

40. Chili. I’ve never had really good restaurant chili.

41. Im very close to this point with burgers. Meh bread, and always over cooked.

42. My biscuits. They are better than anything your grandma or any professional chef can make.

43. Almost anything involving bacon. I’ve become a bacon snob since my favorite kind comes from a very specific local butcher and I cook it pretty crispy.

    Very rarely does restaurant bacon come close, as it’s often not crispy enough or has insufficient flavor.

44. Italian meatballs. They usually suck in restaraunts.

45. Most things but steak in particular

    I’m a decent cook. Anything that can be made in under about thirty minutes at home, I’ll do myself. If I’m going out, it’s for something that is for one reason or another not practical to make at home. This might be because of prep, equipment, or technique.

    Steak is really easy to make and usually comes with simple sides.

46. Steak. I’m not about to pay $30-$70 for a bland ass steak when I could get 4 decent size steaks at Kroger for $40 and season them exactly how I want them

47. Steaks, I can grill up a steak better than the best steak house in The USA.