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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Food in Europe is overrated in sit down restaurants and expensive.  Unless you are doing fine dining like Michelin star it's going to be overpriced for what you get and very meh. Reviews are not reliable, restaurants get guests to review them and happy drunk tourists are happy to oblige.  Wine is not as expensive as here, so this explains the reviews  :lol:   Our best meals had been at take out places like sandwich or pasta shops and whatever we'd cook buying groceries. Most waterfront seafood restaurants in Mediterranean serve very similar things regardless of the country.  I wouldn't know the diff eating grilled/fried seafood in Greece or Italy or France.  Appetizers and some things are variations like pizza in Italy, tapas in France and gyros in Greece, these are better options IMHO than your branzino.  Bread served in the restaurants is not fresh.

Overall, as much as we like to complain about food in the States it's way better IMO.  More choices, more international cuisines, more diff tier places that are more consistent with what you pay for is what you get.  There is junk food in Europe too, just avoid it everywhere. [/quote]

This is a depressing take! Sit down restaurants in “Europe” other than Michelin-starred restaurants aren’t all “overrated”, and if you found them “meh” then it sounds like you went to some bad restaurants, so I hope your takeaway is to do better research in the future. Ask here or other online forums, being specific about where you are going (Europe is a big place…) I agree that there are plenty of bad restaurants, just like there are here, but the trick is to avoid them!

I really want to know what your idea of a good restaurant here in the US is, as that would help shape how my recommendations to you. [/quote]

All this sounds good if you have all the time on your hands.  The way we travel unfortunately given jobs/schools/budget is at a faster pace, which doesn't leave much time to try many options or do extensive research especially if you have kids and are trying to also do lots of sightseeing.  It also leaves you tired at the end of the day and not willing to work hard to find dinner accommodations with cranky kids.  I found it helpful to stick to local food options of the region, they tend to be better (pizza/pasta/anchovies in Italy, tapas in Spain, etc) and avoid expensive proteins like steak and fish as they are rather plain and overpriced if you are looking for more interesting preparations.  I rarely got disappointed this way.  If you agonize over food choices it adds quite a bit of overhead researching and still may not have your expectations met.  I ate at 2 well rated restaurants and one turned out to be great while another one was rather underwhelming given the same reviews/rating.  This is true for the USA too.[/quote]

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