Chain Restaurants...

  By Dawn Straccia

  I had gone to a very popular seafood chain restaurant tonight.. The wait time was about 45 minutes, so I had decided to go to the bar for a drink while waiting for a table... As I looked around I had asked myself, what is so great about this place? It was packed, the drinks were watered down and very expensive, and the atmosphere was so, so... But then I had remembered, being a huge fan of seafood, that's exactlywhat had brought me there.. After waiting more then the time expected I had finally arrived at my table..

Looking at the menu, and there were many great combinations to choose from, I had decided on two meals that had a triple assortment of fish. I had the Lobster Tail, Grilled Shrimp, and Shrimp Scampi. The Lobster Tail was just right, tender, delicious, succulent and melted in your mouth. The Grilled Shrimp were grilled to perfection and had a bit of smoke to them. But as far as the Shrimp Scampi went I was very disappointed. They were very small, salty, and cooked so much that they were soft and had no snap to them. The other entree; Shrimp over Alfredo Linguine, Fried Shrimp, and Shrimp Scampi. The Shrimp Scampi was the same as mine not good at all, the Shrimp over Alfredo Linguine were so small that after they were tossed in the pasta they were barley recognizable and loaded with salt, and the Fried Shrimp were just that, Shrimp that were butterflied, egged, breaded and then deep fried.. There was plenty, but the question is do you give up quality for quantity.

I am suggesting this, for the money that you spend in one of these places for the few extra bucks I would shoot for the gold and go with a place that specializes in that sort of fare. So when you leave you will know that it was fresh, made from scratch and in most cases made to order just by tasting it. Instead of leaving and feeling like you could have stayed home and popped in a $2.99 frozen box of Pasta and Shrimp or Shrimp Scampi...