Carnivores at restaurants

(Alec) #1

I have been to a restaurant 4 times now as a carnivore, and 3 out of 4 experiences have been just poor. Today I ordered “a rib eye with butter only. Just that, nothing else please”. What turns up? An overdone ribeye with chips and salad… what don’t these people understand about “nothing else”???

Anybody got any advice on how to get a better experience as a carnivore at a restaurant? I thought I had been extremely clear and explicit, and they still got it wrong. What do you have to do? Get in the kitchen and cook it for them?

:face_with_symbols_over_mouth::face_with_symbols_over_mouth::face_with_symbols_over_mouth:

(Bob M) #2

I’m not carnivore, but I’ve noticed that if I order a rare steak, I never got one. I might be able to get one at a good steakhouse, but haven’t tried.

I usually get what I want, though. But I order vegetables or a salad instead of chips.

The bad thing for me is that I almost always leave a restaurant hungry. In order for me to order enough, I’m looking at $60+, as most dishes come with stuff I don’t want to eat. Meat is really expensive. And I almost never order fish, as you’re lucky to get 8 ounces, which is not enough.

(Alec) #3

Maybe I should tell them I am allergic to plants? :joy::joy::man_facepalming:

#4

“Is it possible to swap the chips and salad for two fried eggs?”

For me, the key word was always swap.

(Rebecca ) #5

Alec, when we do dine out (not often because we eat good home!) We go to a locally owned steakhouse. They have always prepared what we ask for.
Perhaps the cooks aren’t reading the order. Its hard to tell anymore.

#6

for me I always send back if it ain’t what I ordered. On the menu at a very expensive restaurant it just said ‘beautiful ribeye grilled to perfection’ and I got that ONLY on a plate and yea it came that way with this sloppy onion infused slimey gravy over the whole thing! omg…no where in the description did it say that HA

I give my order to a waitress about 3 times mostly. 1st time they think they got it but they don’t HAHA 2nd time I say I ONLY WANT, NOW I ONLY want meat on a plate…after all orders are done and that server is standing there saying anything else? I say again, NOW ON MINE I ONLY WANT xyz or abc and I say nothing else on that meat. I just don’t want it so be sure it comes thru as I want it…plain ol’ meat.

after that I usually get just what I ordered!!

with that I say all sides put into side bowl dishes so hubby can eat them. if I am with someone that ain’t hubby, I don’t put sides in a bowl for them to eat LOL

I have to say but just brow beating it into the server’s head how important this meal hit the table in front of me on a plate…they usually do it right :slight_smile: Yea took me alot of years to figure out how to order for ‘someone to really’ hear me but now, I have to say more times then not I get what I ask for.

#7

That’s super tiny especially from fish, it isn’t very substantial…
IDK the weight but once I was in a nice little but famous restaurant that only had some soups and trout. Whole trouts, not huge ones but way longer than the big plate :smiley: That was nice.

My plan for maybe this year (I keep daydreaming about it in the carnivore thread since some months) is a steak at a not too far away steakhouse. It has a 600g/21.4g oz one on the menu and eggs and bacon are side dish options… It sounds good for a nice meal to me unless they mess it up but as I don’t think I ever ate steak, at least I can’t compare… But why wouldn’t it be good, it’s a steakhouse than survived who knows how many years… I am hopeful but will read reviews. It’s just a plan for the more distant future.

(Bacon is a many-splendoured thing) #8

I find that, at least in this part of the U.S., “hold” seems to be the word that penetrates, as in “hold the bun and hold the fries” when ordering a burger. But as Karen says, repeating it three times is also important. That usually gets through to the person taking the order. It’s rare that the kitchen will not read it correctly after that.

I once had the delightful experience of mentioning keto and the waitress responded, “You’re keto? So am I!” That order came out just the way I wanted. :smile:

Btw, restaurants in the U.S. aren’t generally careful about the doneness of their meat, unless they have pretensions to being top of the line, whereas in France, for example, even in a quite ordinary place, you’ll have a hard time getting your meat cooked beyond rare—medium-rare, tops.

Also btw, my old favourite line was, “He prepared steaks by introducing the meat to the flames and permitting no further conversation,” but my new favourite has become, “Just march the cow past the fire and cut me off a hunk.”

#9

THIS! too funny

at a steakhouse with a ‘grill on premises’ like one can see, that open grill cooking type place, is usually the worst place I get a steak. I think they have SO many on the grill for the rush times, each steak gets ‘left behind’ in some way and I always walk out telling hubby, a steak place CAN’T get my rare steak right? ugh LOL

some of the best places are little diner type mom and pop’s where ya order and it comes out the best, like each meal is ‘prepped and cooked’ directly for you without competition’ from a ton of other orders flooding the kitchen.

with my eating now, I do ‘early bird type’ specials LOL I find the less crowded a restaurant the better my food is for me.

I can’t even imagine a kitchen at full swing packed to the gills getting those orders out hot and great as wanted per individual, would make me go insane…more power to the chefs behind the scenes tho!!

(Allie) #10

I think it’s because the staff behave like robots, incapable of deviating from the norm.

I recently went out for dinner and decided on the steak with just a side salad which is my usual go to when we eat out (not often at all). I carefully explained that I didn’t want the chips, “onion stack”, peas, and other stuff that’s normally included, just the steak and some salad.

It arrived as “steak no chips”, no salad, and with all the other stuff I had said I didn’t want still included.

(Scott) #11

Knock the horns off and wipe its a$$.

#12

In my case, I have such a severe allergy to gluten, I inform them of that when I order. That usually signals the kitchen to give me a clean prep area, pans, etc. And usually, my order is done correctly the first time. The last thing that a restaurant wants is for someone to have a reaction.

(Bob M) #13

Where I live, we often go to somewhere near the sea, and a lot of the restaurants have very fresh fish, as in the fish came directly from the boat. While the fish tastes great, it’s generally not nearly enough food. In fact, I’ve ordered an appetizer (of mussels, oysters, other fish), and a fish dinner, and still had to go home and eat. If you ate all the bread, potatoes, whatever, it might be a different story.

I tend to get what I want most times.

Going on vacation soon, and that’s always interesting. I usually buy food to keep at the place we stay, as I won’t get enough to eat when eating out. The best meal for me is breakfast, as it’ll usually be heavy on eggs and meat, but I usually don’t eat breakfast.

And we’re going to a place where, when you search for “food of X”, where X is the place we’re going, it’s 90% carbs. There’s some meat, but it’s sandwiches. Friends are sending us recommendations, and they are all locations with bread or other carbs.

#14

yup I do that when deciding, 8 oz ribeye or the 12 or the 16 ‘cowboy cut’ but damn the prices hold me ya know…fish luckily I am not a fan so don’t order but to me, I go home and want to eat more off the 8 oz cheapest meat I can buy to get out of there on my wallet and go home and eat cheaper.

portion sizes, as 'big as there ‘were’ in the USA are shrinking incredibly now. I see it all over. My beef sticks were like 8 inches long are now 6 for a higher price…eek!!

#15

Unrealistic expectation?

(Bob M) #16

We’ve been trying to get our kids to eat the way we do…but buying 4 dinners of steak and salmon (one daughter likes this, and it’s plenty for her) ends at prices that are eye-watering.

We’ve gone toward renting places if we can (instead of hotels) with kitchens, as then we can eat more often in the rental. Still will be lucky to get one meal a day there, though.

(Alec) #17

Just had a very enjoyable meal at a Hogs Breath Cafe. Great steak, no extras, cooked beautifully! Success!

#18

yes this can be a money saver for sure, but if one is doing alot of sight seeing, one is usually caught in that ‘let’s eat out’ instead of going back to the rental for a meal.

We RV. Haven’t done hotels for over 35 yrs mostly now and even we get caught like that sometimes. Out and about and ordering out is just simpler in the end on a vacay.

I feel ya on the eye watering bills at the end of a meal! 3 meals out for a family, plus snacks and spending for vacay stuff, OW. the wallet can surely scream bloody murder LOL

#19

I’ve actually had pretty good service at restaurants while carnivore. One in particular turned into a fabulous opportunity to share information with the server. I got my medium ribeye with a side of butter just as ordered.
Other places, I just tell them I have too many food allergies to risk eating anything else. And while I do not have a large number of allergies, the most serious one that I do have- corn - is in damn near everything - so I can’t risk it.

(Rebecca ) #20

Yes! I make us fish once a week and we are both usually hungry later…