Poll: What to Eat at Restaurants

(Quick: Name the movie!)

My posts of the last few days have been pretty meaty, so I thought I’d go with some lighter fare today. A simple question: how do you decide what you’re going to eat at restaurants?

Me personally? For a while, I always got the same thing. I’d find something I liked at the restaurant, and then I’d order it every time. TGI Fridays? Fajitas. That sort of thing. I did this because why in the world would I want to risk having a bad experience? What if I got something new, and I didn’t like it as much as what I’d gotten the time before? I’d have wasted some money. Gotten less bang for my buck.

Somewhere along the way, I flipped my approach. Now I almost always get something new every time. Because maybe the thing I ordered first–and liked–isn’t as good as something else on the menu. Every time I order something twice, I miss out on the chance to get something new. Something maybe worse, yes. But maybe better. So I typically ask for recommendations from the waiter, and I almost always go with what they recommend. I’m rarely disappointed.

This is also why I watch and read so many new things all the time, and why I don’t re-watch and re-read things. Or at least do so only occasionally.

And so I open the question to you. Which approach do you take at a restaurant? And why?

(Oh–and the movie? My Dinner with Andre. Love that flick.)

3 thoughts on “Poll: What to Eat at Restaurants”

  1. I’m scared to try new things at restaurants I’m used to. NEW restaurants, however, I’ll definitely try different stuff at. Becky and I took the plunge last year and tried Indian, and now it’s my favorite kind of food. Always new dishes to try at Indian restaurants.

  2. I like to find the strangest thing on the menu and try that. Because you have to figure if they put it on the menu and it sounds weird, it must be amazing. I usually have success with that.

  3. I like to find things I know I like elsewhere and compare them. I also like to eat things I know I’ve liked before. And I like trying new things. So… I guess my answer is a mixture of all 3! It just depends on my mood.

    Lately I’ve been wanting to try entirely new restaurants so that EVERYTHING I have to choose from is new! I like trying places that have unique menus to begin with, so I’m not as tempted to try a new version of something traditional.

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