jaded

Disclaimer: I'm a food snob. I fully admit that. I definitely have my weaknesses, though, like Cracker Barrel. But that guilty pleasure aside, I have grown accustomed to my culinary-trained husband's amazing food so much that eating at home is almost always better than going out.

Where am I going with this? My cousin gave us some gift cards to Outback a few Christmases in a row and we never used them. We finally decided to cash them in at one of the other restaurants the monster chain owns, Roy's. Roy's Hawaiian Fusion Cuisine.

On the surface this seemed like a good idea. There was lots of fish on the menu and we've been avoiding meat lately. As we sat there and ate we both thought it was okay. Nothing great. Probably wouldn't choose to go back there, but still okay, especially since most of the meal was a gift.

But the next day, reflecting back on our meal, I decided that no, it wasn't okay. Despite that I felt sick all the following day, here's why: just like most other chain restaurants, they think all Americans want huge portions slathered in some kind of creamy sauce.

We both ordered fish. Pink's mahi mahi had a lobster Cognac butter sauce, my butterfish had a sweet thick soy glaze on it - there honestly wasn't a fish on the menu that didn't have some kind of rich sauce with it. When I eat fish I want to feel clean and fresh when I'm done, not like I just ate a jar of mayonnaise. Even the sushi we ordered for an app had a sauce on the plate. Sushi.

And the portions were probably three times the amount we would normally eat for a meal. The best part of my dish was the bok choy because even sauteed in butter it was the most unadulterated food on the table the whole night.