American Restaurants in the UK??

Chain-wise, I'd take Carrabba's over the Olive Garden any day!  And I do miss Panera, and IHOP.  But it's okay that they're not here - it gives me something to look forward to when I go back to visit...although more often than not, it doesn't taste as good as I remember.

We have some great Italian restaurants around here, one just 10 minutes walk down the street from us - run by an Italian & it's really good!  Plus there's one in Headingley that won Gordon Ramsay's F-Word Best Neighbourhood Italian.

We have a fabulous & authentic Beijing & Sichuan Chinese restaurant & amazing Indian restaurants - being near the Curry Capital of England.

I'm hungry! 

My Dad travelled around Europe in the 60s (when, he reminds me, the dollar was king ) and he was served a bowl of pasta in Rome that was basically Chef Boyardee and he got a plate of spaghetti with thinned ketchup. 

Yeah, Venice is tricky. When I went I did tons of homework on where to eat and we still got screwed at a couple places. My Italian friend would tell you that Venice is no more than theater now and that all the true Venetians have left. He may have a point. :-/

I almost never have a good meal in Venice or Rome and I do tons of research :/

Milan on the other hand...zomg...you could throw a rock and hit an amazing restaurant in Milan

Sending chefs to Italy makes no impact on me if the recipes they're working from are so Americanised and the ingredients they're using are mass produced. Fresh, zingy, seasonal food isn't available at places where the menu doesn't change for years.

I almost never have a good meal in Venice or Rome and I do tons of research :/

This plus the other posts about food in Venice makes me feel much less like I totally failed on my big old Italian excursion back in the spring.  We hit a few restaurants that were good, but mostly it was seriously lackluster.  I felt like a giant loser admitting that I'd take a randomly selected place back on Federal Hill in Providence over just about anything we ate when so many people just rave about their foodie experiences.  Phew.   

We had some very hit or miss experiences in Venice, but found one that was amazing. We were the only non-Venetians there, both times we went. What I found odd is that most places, when we asked about vegetarian options thought we were nuts and then offered fish. I was stunned that they didn't just have a simple marinara or pesto, but that's Venice cuisine.

Still, their touristy food was better than anything I'd had in an Olive Garden.

This plus the other posts about food in Venice makes me feel much less like I totally failed on my big old Italian excursion back in the spring.  We hit a few restaurants that were good, but mostly it was seriously lackluster.  I felt like a giant loser admitting that I'd take a randomly selected place back on Federal Hill in Providence over just about anything we ate when so many people just rave about their foodie experiences.  Phew.   

I definitely wouldn't feel bad, for me those cities are all about the ingredients, you can get some amazing hams, oils, olives, fruits, cheese, preserves etc. I'm a big cheese person so for me a plate of lovely supple mozzarella and some slivers of ham constitutes a great meal It's just a shame that bread is such an after thought.

I thought the Mercato Trionfale market behind the Vatican was amazing and bought bags of buffalo mozzarella and fresh porcini (among other things) to bring back.

Last time I was in Rome I was on a work trip and the Italian office had to drive us out to get food into the country. I had some amazing meals, I recommend - http://www.lemaniinpasta.com/ where I had a great but safe meal and http://www.gelateriafatamorgana.it/ makes the most creative/amazing gelato.

I quite like this as some tips when in Italy - http://www.msadventuresinitaly.com/blog/2010/06/09/10-tourist-mistakes-when-visiting-italy-tipping-tickets-and-more/

Yeah, the best meal I had in Rome was a tiny little place on the outskirts that our Italian friend had to drive us to. Tourists never went there and I got to try true carbonera there. Awesome!

While I don't really want to see too many American chains over here, I do like how it all eventually gets back to the fact that we all miss Mexican food.   I've BEEN to that place in North Mankato! (I went to school in Northfield (Carleton College)) My friends took me when I was desperate for Mexican; we had to be out there for some reason anyway, but it was a special side trip for the San Diego girl.

I'm lucky, though, there's tons of place to eat in Manchester--and I've even heard rumours of a Mexican place in town. Don't worry, I will check it out next week.

It's amazing how 'un-Italian' American Italian food is.  No matter how hard I've tried, I've never found a pizza that tasted authentic Italian to me (or pasta for that matter).  When we visited touristy areas in Italy (like Rome and Venice), the food tasted nothing like authentic Italian food.  I also found that pizza and spaghetti weren't all that popular and 'locals' seemed to prefer seafood (something Italians do great but we seem to forget about) or wild game.  My ex was from New York and his family were Italian so they had a lot of 'Italian traditions' that were drastically different from actual Italian traditions.

Anyway...sorry for the sidetrack.  Personally I like that there aren't a million US chain restaraunts here.  As previous posters mentioned, it gives me something to look forward to when I go home...something 'special' (even if the food isn't that great).  I prefer to eat at small little 'hole-in-the-wall' restaraunts...whether in the US or the UK.  They seem to put much more effort into their usually-homemade-with-fresh-ingredients-and-not-out-of-a-freezer meals...and the service is always 100% better as it's usually the owner or their immediate family working their so they tend to care more than a teenager trying to pay their car insurance.

Bah!  I don't want to see *any* of those places.  It's bad enough as it is with KFCs and Dominoes and American-style strip malls everywhere you turn (hubby says that's only been in the last 15 or so years).  I would hate to see the UK become even more American-ized.

That *doesn't* mean I wouldn't want to see more good Mexican restaurants (not chains!) or even nice steak-houses for the carnivores among us (no me!), etc.

I agree wholeheartedly. If you want to live in the UK, then you want to live in the UK. What's the point of it if it's just a replica of the US??

Though, actually, I never went to any of those places when I lived in the US either. I mean, if I wanted Italian food, I'd go to an Italian restaurant, not to Olive Garden.

This!!!!  The chains can all stay away - thanks!
My favourite places are local, independent, and yummy!

Screw the chains, give me a good New York style Greek Diner any day...

What do I miss? Chicken Souvlaki & rice pudding at 3 am, a nice piece of fish stuffed with crabmeat, roumanian (or good skirt) steak, maybe even have it cooked with some schmaltz. Oh, and a good New York (Long Island to be exact) Flagel, nothing like them anywhere in the world except for Long Island...

Screw the chains, give me a good New York style Greek Diner any day...

What do I miss? Chicken Souvlaki & rice pudding at 3 am, a nice piece of fish stuffed with crabmeat, roumanian (or good skirt) steak, maybe even have it cooked with some schmaltz. Oh, and a good New York (Long Island to be exact) Flagel, nothing like them anywhere in the world except for Long Island...

Diners!  Yes, I'd take a diner.  I'm from Jersey so slightly different brand but same idea.  I hate chain restaurants, though.  They're depressingly bad most of the time and overpriced and not that good and way too big of portions--everything everyone's been saying.  I still live in the US but I don't think I've been to an Applebees or Olive Garden or TGI Fridays, etc in years. 

Some chain restaurants are fine, it depends on your tastes.  I'm not a food snob, I like pub grub here in the UK and I like diner food in the US.  Soup & bread is my favorite and I can find that in lots of eateries.  What I miss is a plate of hotcakes/pancakes or fat french toast.  I'll have some the next time I'm back home.

What I miss is a plate of hotcakes/pancakes or fat french toast. 

Wholeheartedly agree!

Some chain restaurants are fine, it depends on your tastes.  I'm not a food snob, I like pub grub here in the UK and I like diner food in the US.  Soup & bread is my favorite and I can find that in lots of eateries.  What I miss is a plate of hotcakes/pancakes or fat french toast.  I'll have some the next time I'm back home.

I'm not a food snob either, I work on the rule of the right food for the right occasion, so a mid week dinner, or a random lunch would not be on the same level as a Saturday night out or special occasion.

Chains for me have their place in certain situations, lunches, when in unfamiliar towns or travelling, mid-week, they often offer good value and a "safe" experience, you know what you're going to get and that's reassuring. I wouldn't outlaw chains by any means
I also think they offer a lot to families on tight budgets, especially as they often offer 50% off or 2 for 1.

Where I think there's an issue is when they're a first choice over local or better restaurants, like I have no idea why people in London visit chain restaurants for nights out when they live near to amazing places, but I would have a different opinion if I lived somewhere smaller without the choices you get in bigger cities.

I just hate seeing Pizza Express packed out when you could be at http://www.santamariapizzeria.com/ or http://francomanca.co.uk/, but if it was my only option, I'd be happy to go because it's a known quantity (except I'm boycotting Pizza Express because I've tried to have lunch there twice in recent years and they've been so terrible both times to the point of having to walk out) but again, I'm lucky because those restaurants are near me.

I would love to have somewhere like this open up around here -
http://www.southcongresscafe.com/menu-brunch.php

Their carrot cake french toast was to die for!