The doors to the restaurant open, and hungry guests stream in. They’re wearing starched white shirts, silky dresses, pearl necklaces, and cufflinks. The reviews have lauded the restaurant’s appetizers and entrees, not to mention the marquee dessert, billows of cream caressed with crème de cacao. Conversations and laughter fill the room as couples flirt over who gets the last battered pollo pequeño and tease each other about the origin of the special sauce on the poppyseed-encrusted steak. No one even looks at the bill when it comes; they dole out hundreds of dollars without batting an eye.
Little do these people know…that they just had McDonald’s for dinner.
You’ve all seen these commercials. There’s been a rash of them lately, fast food restaurants serving their food at real restaurants, “unbeknownst” to the customers. Okay, do these people really think they’re eating real restaurant food? Hardees makes a mean burger, but people who eat burgers know what a Hardees burger tastes like. Same with Pizza Hut—they recently served their new pasta dishes to unsuspecting customers at what is apparently a pretty bad Italian restaurant. Sure, people don’t expect Pizza Hut to serve pasta, but it must have that distinctly greasy Pizza Hut taste.
Can’t fast food restaurants go back to serving their food at their own establishments? If I want Taco Bell, I’ll go to Taco Bell, not Pueblo Solis. Now every time I go to a restaurant, I somewhat expect to be served White Castle. I’d like to think I wouldn’t fall for it, though. You serve me a Big Mac at posh burger bar, and I’m going to call you out on it.
What are they going to try next? Serving things that aren’t even food? “Waiter, this tastes like a sock to me.”
“Sir, that’s duck l’orange.”
“It’s a sock. And it’s paisley, not orange.”
Little did this customer know…that he just had Old Navy for dinner.