I love reading this kind of stuff, it's fascinating. It's just amazing what restaurants will do to make their food taste better than the competitor, to keep people coming back.

I do agree (for the most part) that it is the responsibility of the individual to know what they put in their mouths, but this just seems like crazy extremes, who would expect food to be this unhealthy?

I think about all the times I went to restaurants and didn't care/didn't want to know how many calories/fat were in the food. I was so deliberately blind. Personally (just for me), I think this kind of food ruined my tastebuds for normal healthy foods. How can a baked sweet potato compare to cold stone creamery?

http://health.msn.com/dietfitness/sl...56601&GT1=9033

Uno Chicago Grill pizza skins - 2050 calories, 48 grams of saturated fat and 3,140 milligrams of sodium

Ruby Tuesday’s Fresh Chicken and Broccoli Pasta - 2,060 calories, 128 grams of fat (including 60 to 70 of the artery-clotting saturated variety)

Ruby Tuesday's Colossal Burger Colossal Burger: 1,940 calories (without fries!)Total grams of fat: 141 grams

Cold Stone Creamery's Founder's Favorite - 1,740 calories, 48 grams of saturated fat and even 4 grams of trans fat (four times the healthy amount in a day).

Cheesecake Factory Outrageous Chocolate Cake - 1,380 calories (including 32 teaspoons of sugar)

Romano’s Macaroni Grill Twice-Baked Lasagna with Meatballs - 1,360 calories, 38 grams of fat and 3,900 milligrams of sodium

On The Border’s Double-Stacked Club Quesadillas - 1,860 calories, 52 grams of saturated fat and 3,440 milligrams of sodium

On The Border Ranchiladas - 1,870-calories, 46 grams of saturated fat and 3,810 milligrams of sodium

Ok I can count the times I've been to Macaroni Grill on a single hand but I love their bread. I don't really care much for their food but I do like their Lasagna. Granted, I don't eat the entire thing, DH and I would share one or split ours in half. I also never got the Lasagna with a meatball, just the Lasagna alone. I'm still guessing the entire meal is 1000 calories (half lasagna, no meatball, bread). Definitely why it is a very occassional treat.

Edit: Just looked up the regular Lasagna, not great but I'm guessing that meatball is a killer. Regular lasagna is 850 calories, 44 g of fat.

I sure wouldn't have thought that chicken and brocolli pasta would be that much fat or calories. I've ordered that stuff before thinking it was a little healthy.

I know those new bowls at KFC with fried chicken nuggets, mashed potatoes, gravy, corn ,and cheese sure look nasty to me. I saw the commercial the other day and mentioned I don't see how anyone could eat that. My 21 yr. old son popped up and said "OH, those things are great, I love em".

Wow, that is extreme -- more the reason why I only occasionally dine out - period (though I have a tendency to shy away from chain places anyways, and the boutique bistro-y restaurants tend to serve healthier fare, but a caloric indulgence nonetheless.) But yea, I can't imagine finishing ANY of those dishes in one sitting. Ok, maybe the quesadilla

Part of that huge calorie count is the portions and sizes. I can't even eat half of what they bring at Macaroni's or Carraba's. You could feed a family of four with some of those dinners.

Jay

Well crap. I've never been to Cheesecake Factory, but now I'll really have to try that chocolate cake sometime...split between three other people, naturally.

Cheesecake Factory is a definite must-try if there's one in your vicinity (and if you can bear the almost-always long wait times), but yea- ALL their portions are obscenely huge. I can't even finish an appetizer in one sitting - and yes! split the dessert.

I agree, those commercials make me sick.

I absolutely HATE Cheesecake Factory. Not only do they not specialize in any type of food (except cheesecake) they feel that each dish should be enough to feed a family of 4. I've never had anything there (except cheesecake) that was even remotely tasty. DH once had a burger that was so tall he couldn't get it in his mouth. Okay, I have to admit, they make a very good cheesecake, but oh, so overpriced! We got 6 slices for FIL's birthday (we each had our own flavor) and we did it takeout--the cost was almost $50! I could have made several cheesecakes for that price.

Give me a Non-Chain restaurant any day!! We have a little Italian place DH and I go to for our Friday lunch, one day, I got the ravioli. Four small crab stuffed ravioli in a very good sauce and a small salad. Just what you need for lunch. We also have a place that does sandwiches and such for lunch--you can get fries or sweet potato fries with your sandwich or burger, but all you get is a taste of the fries--no more than a dozen. I think that is great! Afterall, it is the sandwich that you ordered, the fries and pickle are almost more of a decoration! And to top it off, the owner is really into fitness so they use all non-fat mayo, sour cream, etc. It is great! You won't see that at any chain restaurants!

I love the cheesecake factory but not for their food Their food sucks bad but that isn't why you are going there in the first place. Go to the cheesecake factory, ask for a cheesecake to go or ask for one with coffee or whatever you want and it'll be a much better option. Also, On the Border (listed with 2 entrees), also has really bad food so its not some place you'd find me.

Allison - you should've gone to Costco or Starbucks. On my honeymoon, I wanted cheesecake and our hotel was near the cheesecake factory. There was also a borders near us. I went in the starbucks at borders and they had cheesecake factory cheesecakes (a large variety) and it was half the price of the cheesecake factory. So DH and I sat down and split half a cheesecake.

I've made a habit of looking at the nutritional contents of menus where I frequent.........although this is a bit *horrifying* I make better choices or split the entree...

I still can't figure out how Chili's steak and Portobella mushroom fajita has over 1800 calories and 45 grams of fat?! If I duplicated this recipe at home, I would guess 1/2 of that!

Yeah---in general for any restaurant I estimate how it would be if I make it at home non diet style and add 4T oil. They do seem to manage to squeeze in more fat and calories than you would think would be possible.

I stand by my original assertion that restaurants have a magic fat injector they use to bump it up.

I want to know how a chicken breast can have 900 calories and still taste drier than sand though.

Chili's is the WORST. They are the ones who can take a chicken breast, grill it, serve it to you bone dry, and it still has almost 1000 calories. I actually add 5T oil when I eat there.

I agree- those look like the grossest things on the planet. What a horrid combo.

I agree Nelie. In fact, if we had planned it better, I could have gotten it at Costco! Our local Barnes & Noble often has cheesecake, but not a great variety. I've never looked at Borders--but it might be true (especially since Borders is right next door to Cheesecake Factory).