Why do we like some places over others?

[Pegasus928]

I find threads like the one currently running about your favourite eating places really interesting, and often wonder why it is that you can name a restaurant that you would always visit during your holiday because you have only ever had good meals and experiences there, yet along will come numerous people who wouldn't eat there if it was the last place in the area.
Is it because peoples tastes and expectations are so different? Maybe on the one occasion that someone visited the regular chef was off and a stand in couldn't cook to the same quality? Was your waitress having a bad day and brought it to work?
Discuss

 

[2Tiggies]

Cool, a discussion thread

My take on it is that it all the factors you mentioned play a part, whether consciously or not. I am going to add one of mine in too: Association by memories. I think this would depend to a degree on how sentimental you are, and where the place is, etc, but it definitley plays a big role in it for me.

Expectations have a LOT to do with it too, so yes, I would add those in as a strong influencing factor.

There are a few places where I have not always had the 'best' meal, but they still rank high amongst my top picks. Why? Because I don't rank every restaurant bythe same criteria. Sound a bit odd? Here is an example:

We eat onsite at Disney. We have done plenty character meals there. There are some restaurants at Disney where I book it and willingly pay for th experience. I expect the food to be satisfactory - appropriately warm/cold, efficent service and not to be hungry when I leave. But with these in particular, what I DO expect is a good atmosphere, an acceptable level of character interaction/entertainment (as applicable) and very importantly, I want to bring home happy memories of the experience. One of our character meals last year had possibly the best breakfast buffet we have eaten onsite .... but this one in particular, I had booked for character interaction. Well I have never seen Disney characters being so rushed. We had to go and call Goofy back for a picture as he breezed past the table, stopped for an autograph and didn't even wait for the picture. Now that is probably silly given the age of my daughter, but I doubt we will book a breakfast there again unless we went solely for the food and were no longer interested in the characters, whcih may happen in time anyway.

Then we dine at other places which are NOT character meals/dinner shows. Now these are rated differently: They have to deliver on the food and service and I hold them to a much higher standard.

I don't know if this is an uncommon approach, but I am fairly forgiving of a place so for me not to go back again, they must have messed up big time!

If the food is 'terrible' what is it exactly that I don't like about it? Did I know what I expected to get when I ordered? Did I book a restaurant with a menu that perhaps isn't top of my list in terms of favourite food? Was the server/chef just having a bad day?

If any of the above questions come up 99% of the time it is something that can be addressed and hopefully resolved there and then. And how the situation is handled by management is probably going to be the ultimate deciding factor as to whether it is worth another visit, never going back there again or sometimes they even manage to turn it around so that your potentially bad experience becomes a stellar one.

I have to admit, I don't really understand it when people have an absolutely terrible time, yet don't say anything until after they have left. There is a difference between complaining and bringing a problem to the attention of management. I don't like to complain and tend not to but most things are fixable if addressed at the time. However, if you want me never to come back again, just be rude to me Not being an aggressive type, I am not likely to approach a manager or staff member rudely - and I expect the same courtesy by return.

I'd love to see how more of you rate your faves.

Oh one more thing, I have seen and heard plenty reviews from people who have booked a meal at say, a Chinese restaurant .... but they dont particularly like Chinese food. Why would anyone do that? Then they write up a damning review and all of a sudden, from a complaint that began with hating the food, now the service was awful and the staff were slow ..... blah blah

 

[wickesy]

Dad and I fall into the 'any more laid back and they would fall over' camp so it takes a lot for us to be unhappy with service we get. Also we're not really foodies and we eat to live rather than live to eat so again we're easily pleased.

The one that I find strange is people saying that they feel rushed. Personally I hate sitting at the table twiddling my thumbs between courses so the faster the service the better as far as I'm concerned - in fact I would much rather choose a buffet like Sweet Tomatos over a dining experience like California Grill. Having said that some people like to take a couple of hours over dinner and would jump at the chance to go to somewhere like Victoria & Alberts.

Like 2Tiggies I would never judge a place on one experience, I don't think that is fair.

 

[2Tiggies]

Like 2Tiggies I would never judge a place on one experience, I don't think that is fair.

Are you sucking up coz you still want those lottery numbers?

Interesting point you touched on re. being foodies or just eating to live. I hadn't thought about that. I am sure that would impact the way you reviews a dining experience quite heavily.

 

[wickesy]

Are you sucking up coz you still want those lottery numbers?

Well all these expensive holidays don't pay for themselves.

I just read something on another thread that might affect things as well - hype. If a place has loads of reviews saying that the food there is the best food ever and can't be beaten then that is going to raise some people's expectations to (possibly) an unrealistic level.

 

[wilma-bride]

I really do think it is all down to personal taste. I am one of those people who knows what I like and likes what I know. I am a very boring (and picky) eater and I don't have particularly eclectic tastes. So the more upscale restaurants just don't appeal to me. Several times we have booked California Grill and Yachtsman's Steakhouse and ended up cancelling because, deep down, I know it's probably not going to be my sort of thing. Having said that, I wouldn't advise somebody against going to a place that I had never tried personally. Nor would I advise against a place based on one experience only.

Our favourite places to eat tend to be off-site and of the cheap and cheerful variety, mainly because I am pretty much guaranteed to find several things to choose from on the menu. There is nothing more disconcerting to me than being limited to one choice of meal because it's the only thing I like/would eat.

Additionally, I think that places can have good and bad days and I think, like a lot of tourist areas, restaurants in Orlando probably have quite a high turnover of staff. The servers in a restaurant can make (or break) a meal and, if you get bad service, it can put you off going back. Having said that, again I have fairly low expectations, expecially when eating in diner-type places, and it would take a really bad server to dissuade me from returning to a place.

I found it interesting, on that off-site dining thread, that people were put off eating at a place because of the opinion of one person on the thread, even though others had said they really liked a place.

When all is said and done (I love that saying ), everybody is different and most people have different tastes and expectations. I have seen films that other people have loved and I don't rate them. Similarly, I have recommended films to others who haven't enjoyed them at all. The same goes for books, television programmes, recipes and, let's face it, people. Not everybody and everything is to everybody else's taste. Different strokes for different folks and all that

And I don't care if there are people out there who don't like Mannys - hopefully it will make it easier for us to get a table there in October

 

[disneyholic family]

i agree that hype may be a good part of the reason that my family reacted so strongly to hoop de do review and California Grill - both of which we detested and will never go back to again, even if we were offered it for free....

it must be hype....after all, as someone noted, there are restaurants that we return to year in and year out, even though we've had bad meals there on occasion....

so yes, i think that hype must be some part of it for us..

the other part is the service....
i can put up with so so food when the service is good...

bad service will really put me off.....and in both of the cases above, CG and HDDR, the service was atrocious the one time we went there....

i guess there are no do overs when the service is really bad the first time around...

 

[dixonsontour]

I'm definitely a bargain lover - if I feel ripped off I wont enjoy it.

So meals like friendleys $11.99 for meal, drink and ice cream are a hit and we do every offsite trip.

I also use a lot of coupons from email sign up to reataurants websites' - if you've got a free meal you are going to be far more favourable towards a restaurant.

We also have favourites we visit each year - each year we try new places aswell and they become must dos so the list becomes longer.

Would give places a try more than once - we've tried Boma twice and it's not for us yet lots love it.

 

[Pegasus928]

Lots of really good thoughts coming out here and it makes for really interesting reading
I can understand the reasons mentioned for people having firm favourites due to personal experiences and admit to being guilty of that myself. We love the Biergarten in Epcot for example - the reasons being that it reminds us of the time we lived in Germany and for us we will always return there for a meal regardless of whether we had bad service or not (something thathas never happened incidentally).
But I thought 2tiggies point about expectations is an important one to bear in mind. If you know you are paying for character interaction, and expect that the food on offer is acceptable, then you wont be disappointed. If you turn up expecting a gastonomic experience and get irritated by the characters and screaming children then you will obviously give it negative feedback.
Someone also mentioned that the restaurants in the area probably suffer from a high turn over of staff and I agree that that is also probably a huge factor in the service you receive. One of our favourite places to eat on our first 2 visits was a place on I-Drive called Wild Jacks. It was amazing and had a fantastic atmosphere, with all the staff putting on the wild west accents and really making you feel at home. The last time we went it had lost ALL of its atmosphere and the only thing we could put that down to was the staff.
I am looking forward to following this thread and think there are a lot of interesting points still to come out

 

[jjk]

I am not too fussed about here I eat for Myself (as long as its clean and has some form of vegatable) but living in a mostly Male Household I tend to go for Meals which will satisfy the appetite of hungry teenagers and Hubby as Holidays can be miserable if they come away hungry.
We frequently Change our Minds on what we like due to service,change in Menu's etc.
2009 we loved Raglan road and Tutta Italia but last year we were disapointed with both. It may be old fashioned but A happy hubby leads to more shopping for me

 

[loobzuk]

Our next trip will be our 4th, but the first trip I have planned with the help of these boards. As a result I have lots of places on my list that other's have rated that I will be trying. Whether or not I like them remains to be seen.

I am not a foodie but as a family we do like to eat. We have our regular favourites that we do every time simply because they hold fond memories from previous trips (Crystal Palace, a particular Sizzler's for breakfast and Bob Evans). I can't remember any poor service or bad experiences at these restaurants but maybe I'm looking back through rose tinted glasses. This trip though I'm looking forward to trying some new places which may become favourites for the future (Manny's, Sweet Tomatoes and Whispering Canyon come to mind).

As everyone's needs and expectations vary there will always be a difference of opinion and even needs and expectations change over time - for example what was important to us when the children were small is different to what would be important now that they are that bit older. For example restaurants that gave them a colouring sheet and crayons would always have had a positive mark but now I don't think either of them would be seen colouring in at a restaurant!

I do vote with my feet and if my first experience at a particular restaurant is not pleasant I won't return in the future. However, if a first experience has been good, a subsequent poor experience wouldn't deter me from another visit as I would remember the original good experience. The only trouble is that the restaurant doesn't know whether or not it's my first visit!

I'm sure I've waffled far more than I should and I doubt I've even answered the original question but I'll hit submit anyway

 

[saraheeyore]

I think people go with too high expectations of some places because they have read how good a place is on here and then they go and are disappointed because they expected more

we always seem to like the places everyone else seems to hate. We love Hollywood and Vine and did it twice this time. Once for the play n dine breakfast and once for the fantasmic package. the buffet was great both times with lots of choice but yet it has so many bad reviews. service was excellent too especially for dinner

crystal palace actually had the worst servers this time. They were not bad but they just kind of didn't go the extra bit that every other server we had was saying that we go there for the characters and the food and that was great

I think we are easily pleased though as we liked every meal although we did a lot of planning and worked out what places had something the kids would eat. A lot of meals we loved and are top of list for next time

 

[paulh]

as have been going since 1991 have eaten at a lot off places, when we 1st went would in eat in sizzler s and pondarosa. got board and tired of them. eat at disney on the DDP several years both paid and free so would try diffrent every night.Had my share of bad experiences rainforest had a meal $50 gave waitress $100 TC se never came back with change so i whent after her after 10 min to ask for some to which she replied "oh your English and i thought you wouldn't understand about tipping" got manager involved in end got a full refund and a free meal later on in our stay have eaten there again and that experience means we never pay meals with TC or CC its always cash.
As for outback have eaten there at WDW,vero,californa,hilton head and london and have yet to have a bad meal
With so many places to eat if you do get a bad experience its easy not to go back
Paul

 

[2Tiggies]

se never came back with change so i whent after her after 10 min to ask for some to which she replied "oh your English and i thought you wouldn't understand about tipping"

Most of the time (at least at Disney or Disney area) they ask where you are from. If you say Scotland 99% of them don't know you are British and you never have a problem

We were once standing right next to someone who was bad mouthing Brits in general (not a server - just a regular guest) wth reference to behaviour etc. He realised suddenly that we were listening and caught my eye. I said to him "I know how you feel - we have these problems all the time" (I know, it was bvery naughty of me ) He asked where we were from and I told him we're Scottish. To which the reply was "Oh, do you folks get lots of British there too?" I assured him we have far more than you see in the US and he looked very sympathetic Tell 'em you're Scottish.

 

[disneyholic family]

Most of the time (at least at Disney or Disney area) they ask where you are from. If you say Scotland 99% of them don't know you are British and you never have a problem

We were once standing right next to someone who was bad mouthing Brits in general (not a server - just a regular guest) wth reference to behaviour etc. He realised suddenly that we were listening and caught my eye. I said to him "I know how you feel - we have these problems all the time" (I know, it was bvery naughty of me ) He asked where we were from and I told him we're Scottish. To which the reply was "Oh, do you folks get lots of British there too?" I assured him we have far more than you see in the US and he looked very sympathetic Tell 'em you're Scottish.

 

[VailaTigger]

There is nothing more disconcerting to me than being limited to one choice of meal because it's the only thing I like/would eat.

Try being a vegetarian!

The places we tend to rate highly usually have a reasonable amount of choice for me (or at least one decent menu item - I get grumpy with 'pasta in tomato sauce' everywhere), and friendly staff. The places I won't go back to usually have a terrible veggie choice (or none at all) or where we've had terrible service.

However, DF surprises me by some of the places he didn't like on his first trip, places that I thought he WOULD like, and they weren't places where we had bad service. I thought he'd like the Rainforest Cafe (because I think it's cool - not really a place for foodies, but I can have a decent meal there, and I enjoy the atmosphere) - but DF thought it was just too busy, crowded and noisy. Even in the same family people can have different opinions.

Thankfully there were some places we both loved (great food, great service, great atmosphere) and they are on the list for when we return. We're going through reviews and menus just now too, trying to pick out a few new places for us to try. It's difficult going on what other people say, you kinda have to just read the menu, think about the location, and make your own judgement.

I guess we're different, as the first thing we do it look at the menu to see what the veggie choices are... No veggie choices, no visit!

 

[Elise79]

I think everyone has different likes/dislikes and different tolerances to service levels.

In the past few years we have gone from Free DDP and eating all meals on site to next trip when we have 2 dinner ADRs and 1 Breakfast for a 13 night trip. We don't want to plan 6 months in advance where we want to eat. I had to book ADR's for September before my last trip and it seemed so odd. I appricate we are lucky as we go twice a year so this is not a problem most people encounter!

I like to get 'value' when I go out to eat so that means I need to enjoy my food and have good service.

We will always give a restaurant a second chance too - everyone can have an off day be it the server or chef. We will also try things for ourselves and not let others put us off.

However a lot of the Disney restaurants have been crossed off one by one due to poor menus and then only average food.

 

[2Tiggies]

However, DF surprises me by some of the places he didn't like on his first trip, places that I thought he WOULD like, and they weren't places where we had bad service. I thought he'd like the Rainforest Cafe (because I think it's cool - not really a place for foodies, but I can have a decent meal there, and I enjoy the atmosphere) - but DF thought it was just too busy, crowded and noisy. Even in the same family people can have different opinions.

I am sure that a person's general mood or how they are feeling on a particular day could play a part in this. If someone gererally loves a lively atmosphere in a restaurant but arrives at the place exhausted from a day of touring the parks in the heat/has a headache/is just generally irritable, this would no doubt cast a negative shadow over that first impression (or even on subsequent visits). I am not suggesting that this was the case for your DF. When you mentioned it though, it brought up another ineresting point.

 

[disney_princess_85]

Try being a vegetarian!

The places we tend to rate highly usually have a reasonable amount of choice for me (or at least one decent menu item - I get grumpy with 'pasta in tomato sauce' everywhere), and friendly staff. The places I won't go back to usually have a terrible veggie choice (or none at all) or where we've had terrible service.

I guess we're different, as the first thing we do it look at the menu to see what the veggie choices are... No veggie choices, no visit!

 

[2Tiggies]

I thought of this thread immediately while reading a review on 1900 Park Fair Breakfast on the Disney Food Blog. The guests who wrote the review were not particularly taken with the place. Yet it has not put me off at all and I am really looking forward to trying it.

Possibly because most of the things they complained about are either not important to me, are things I would not have noticed or i would have spoken up while there to get matters addressed.

For example, there was no butter on the buffet apparently (come to think of it, I don't ever recall seeing real butter on a Disney breakfast buffet). This is something I would not have noticed as I would rather have cream cheese on my bagel than butter.

They were there almost 45 minutes and only saw one character. Halfway through my meal, if I have not seen near enough to half the characters, I will find someone (and have done) and let them know. The retaurant staff and management WANT all the characters to make the rounds to the tables as not only does this enhance the exprience of the guest and up the odds of better ratings, but someone with young children may well sit for an additional hour waiting for the characters. They want those tables to turn.

Just a few observations but I had barely started reading it and thought how different we all are in our preferances. And indeed, what I looked for at a restaurant with a 6 year old is not exactly the same as what I am after with a 9 year old and that will no doubt continue to change. So even with our individual tastes and preferences, most of us adapt what we look for to suit our needs at any given point of our lives.

Here is the article if anyone is interested in seeing it.

http://www.disneyfoodblog.com/2011/06/05/review-1900-park-fare/