And, you won't believe what the cooks in the cafeteria served up today...

M

music-city-missy

Well-known member
so I have a new job at a place with cafeterias. This is a first for me and it's been nice though the food is just fair.

First thing I tried was Caribbean Jerk Chicken (we have been celebrating Hispanic Heritage month since I started)and while it looked delish it had not really been marinated and the spices were only sprinkled on the outside as it was grilled and it was mainly black and red pepper.

Then there was the Brazilian steak with chimichurri. Well, I knew it wasn't what it said because it was in this thin redish watery stuff. Doesn't have a clue what chimichurri is.

But the kicker was today. Chicken alfredo. It looked like the sauce had been absorbed so I asked for extra sauce. Took a bite and thought it tasted funny and took another bite and it hit me. They had used biscuit gravy mix. If it had ANY parmesan in it, I couldn't tell it. It was thick and flourish and filled with black pepper. Took it back to the head of the kitchen and asked if they had maybe confused the pans of sauce with the gravy and he insisted "We didn't do that!" and refused to taste it. A coworker tasted it and agreed with me. One only looked and agreed.

 
Ewwwww! I had a meal

at Vandy while my dh was having knee surgery. I got something akin to mystery meat smothered in gravy and onions??? and the curried rice with lentils. Gross, gross, gross. While they have great ideas, and I have to say, they are very happy people, they should be careful what names they give their food! I ended up throwing it away and ordering a spicy black bean burger instead.
Lots of luck, Melissa!
Oh BTW, we discovered a fantastic Thai restaurant/grocery on Belmont Ave today!

 
I once ordered eggs benedict at a Marie Calender's, and it said "Hollandaise" on the menu

and it came doused in their fettucini Alfredo sauce (white sauce base, cream cheese, canned Parmesan, garlic powder--I worked at MC's for several years while I was in college and I knew it well.) I'd have settled for a floury version of Hollandaise but this, on eggs, was gross. I told the waitress that a mistake had been made, and she asked the manager who insisted that the two sauces, Alfredo and Hollandaise, were one and the same.

I mentioned it to a friend who had moved up to the corporate level and she rolled her eyes and said that this particular MC's was an early franchise they were unable to buy back, that the owner was a jerk, and there was nothing they could do about him.

Don't you love jerks and beaurocrats telling you what Hollandaise sauce is? This was almost 20 years ago, and I haven't been back to a MC's since (mostly because they switched to char-broiling the burgers--they were so much better on the griddle.)

 
Wow, Missy...how awful! I now work at a place with a cafeteria (aka "mensa") and it's hideous...

First, they've never heard of vegetables in any form. The last two times I had to eat there, my plate was loaded half with rice and half with faint strings of meat, doused with at least a cup of OHU (Czech for "universal brown sauce").

"OHU!", I've discovered, is the cry my stomach makes after eating at this place...

Why do I eat there? Well, I try not to. The University (and many other employers) distributes "stravenky" or lunch tickets, good for 60 crowns (about $3--you pay half and the employer pays the rest); in many places (like my cafeteria), this will get you a hot lunch. The institution of subsidized hot lunch is HUGE, here. (Did someone say "socialism"? Stravenky / "ticket restaurant" / "cheque dejeuner" can also be found in France and Italy.)

In the math-physics faculty cafeteria, there are usually three offerings: 1) meat, rice, and sauce; 2) potatoes and sauce; 3) the "vegetarian" option, which means fried potatoes and green onions. Please pass the Maalox.

However, the branch of Charles U. that I work at is about half an hour outside of the center of Prague; within walking distance are student dorms and a used-car lot. So...in a pinch, if I forget lunch, I have to head to the cafeteria.

Fortunately, these "stravenky" tickets can be used at many groceries and butchers, in town, so I usually hoard mine, buy sandwich supplies for the week with one stravenka, and use the rest to buy supplies for GOOD weekend food.

And VEGETABLES! smileys/wink.gif

 
Joe, yes, in is insulting when

someone tries to lie to you to dismiss your complaint. I used to stop off at a Vietnamese restaurant down the street from my house to pick up quick dinners. They had "Mom's Golden Fried Chicken" on the menu and I ordered it once. The menu described it as "1/2 chicken". OK. Get home, I've got a breast cut into 4 pieces, a wing, and a leg. Also, more than half of the breast meat had been sliced off to use in their other dishes. Definitely not 1/2 chicken. But it was good. Next time, before ordering it, I specifically asked if it was indeed 1/2 chicken, I was assured yes, I would recieve 1/2 chicken. I told them last time, I did not receive 1/2 chicken. They weren't concerened.

So I get home, unpack Mom's Golden Fried Chicken, and discover the same thing described above. I call the restaurant back to complain. The smart@$$ who I had talked to in the restaurant insisted there was 1/2 chicken in my order. No, I said, how does the leg connect to the chicken without a thigh? And why did the cook cut off over half of the meat from the breast? No, this did not happen, Perhaps, I did not know what 1/2 chicken looked like, was the response.

You can imagine the response from this farm boy who raised chickens and now cuts up whole birds and cooks them.

The jerk was yelling at me by this time as each time he insisted that I got 1/2 chicken, I quietly but firmly, insisted, No, I did not and I need a credit for not getting what I ordered. I stress again I was a regular customer, I had been stopping a couple times a month for a couple of years, plus, I had previously been a neighbor of one of the daughters (there were 14 children and they all ran the place together).

He hung up on me after telling me where to put the chicken.

The phone rang back, "MOM" of said fried chicken, overheard the conversation and called back. I told her why I had called, that I had been shortchanged, and that I did not appreciate the treatment from her son. She did apologize, but she then began making excuses that perhaps my chicken had been "small," still pretending I had received 1/2 chicken.

I told her that was insulting, they damned well knew that they weren't serving 1/2 chicken since I received the exact same thing twice, and that they had officially lost my and all of my friend's business. They didn't seem to care, of course.

The place is dying, I drive by and there's never anyone there. Is it any wonder? My episoe with them lost not only my regular business, but also the regular business of 4 other friends.

All they had to do was say, we're sorry. Here, have another piece of chicken.

But there was on way I was going to pretend their lie about the chicken. It was insulting. Don't liars usually make up another story when they're caught in their lies?

 
What a story! And they probably have no idea why their business has dropped off.

"How does the leg connect to the chicken without a thigh," LOL, I'm going to remember that one, just in case I have an occasion to use it.

 
He said something a long time ago that I thought was funny...

Something to the effect of, 'my father was the town drunk. Unfortunately, we lived in Chicago.'

Lonesome George.

Michael

 
I still have nightmares about grammar school cafeteria food. The best

days were pizza, burgers, sandwiches. The worst days were canned ravioli, tuna casserole and anything spaghetti. They used to plop globs of margarine on our bread and serve warm milk in cute little glass bottles. I think I survived eating peanut butter and jelly.

 
That's funny. Our grammar school cafeteria served better food than some restaurants! Freshly baked

Parker House rolls everyday, fantastic main dishes like meatloaf, stew, etc. The veggies were canned, which was fine cuz I don't think anyone ate them anyway. And freshly made desserts - Texas sheet cake, brownies, cookies, etc. Just a small serving, but very good.

The worst thing was Mexican Hat day - a slice of fried balogna, topped with a scoop of mashed potatoes and a melted slice of American cheese. Gag.

 
I can't stand MCs - they have this "garlic sauce" that appears in about half of the dishes on the

menu - now you know very well they have big packets of sauce mix back there they mix by the gallon. smileys/smile.gif

My 7 y.o loves to go there for the chicken, so my DH takes pity on me and they have a guys night out every so often and leave me at home.

 
My school cafeteria in elementary school wasn't so bad....

but we had good old southern cooks in the back and they really cooked. I didn't like the peas and carrots and a few other veggies because I was used to my grandmother's home frozen and canned veggies and there is no way to compare.

Now high school was a different story. It was vending with a few things like pizza and burgers and bbq in those silver foil bags that were somewhat edible.

 
I agree, and their famous corn bread was simply a commercial blend that they bought in

20-lb. bags. Maybe they added something to it, like more sugar?

But their burgers USED to be to die for. And their pie was good for its day.

They appeared on the scene when the only competition was Denny's and Big Boy. Family restaurants have really improved since then!

 
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