You know that there's actual, indepently owned, restaurants that are way better than these
Sure, sometimes. But honestly I find that this is rarely the case. The same economic pressures exist for the small independent restaurants as well, and they need to use the same 'tricks' to keep costs down. My 'favorite' reasonably price local place in my neighbourhood is a lovely place to go, nice vibe, often has live music and is run by nice people, but I'd be lying if I said the food was fantastic.
Don’t most of the chain restaurants serve essentially factory made food that is rehabilitated in the kitchen? Whereas I think most fancy restaurants I go to make the food from scratch. The latter seems better to me in theory, so I wonder if I value “made from scratch” more than you? Fancy restaurant food tends to have much more nuance and depth of flavor IME. Of course this doesn’t hold 100% of the time, I’ve certainly had bad food from expensive restaurants before.
Take a closer look how often the waiters change/quit. In the beginning phase of such a restaurant, all is nice and well.
For the google-recension. Then, price will rise and service will get worse.
Even high priced restaurants serve dwarf-sized dishes, 2 potatoes and a tiny slice of meat. The wine maybe expensive, but isnt it just grape juice?
Also, the food industry is very creative to produce stuff that looks like home-made, at a cheap price.
Or the recycling approach. Put sugar on your potatoes and let the dish half finished go back.
Wait for the next customers complain about "sweet potatoes".
