Fine Dining - Fazoli's: Mom's Spaghetti, GOATed Breadsticks, and Sh*tting with my Shirt Off

Episode Date: June 17, 2026

🍝🥖 Fazoli's Review: Breadsticks, Nostalgic Pasta, and the Trader Joe's Restroom 🥖🍝 This week, Sabrina Carmichael (@brina711) and I finally put Fazoli's to the Chili's Test. Between "unlimited" breadsticks, pasta that reminds me of my mom's pasta, overly sweet desserts, and a pizza that looked like it had been "touched," Fazoli's delivered one of the more unique fast-fast dining experiences I've ever had. 🍝 Spaghetti with Meat Sauce Unlocks Childhood Memories (Plus: My Homemade Garlic Pasta Sandwiches!) 🥖 Breadsticks Better Than Olive Garden's 🍕 The Double Slice is Presented Interestingly... 🧀 Fettuccine Alfredo Rocks Sabrina's World 🍪 Great American Cookie Desserts Are Sweet Enough to Cause Structural Damage 🥤 Sabrina's DIY Arnold Palmer Goes Wrong 📦 Breadsticks-To-Go? Not On Their Watch! 🧹 To Bus or Not to Bus? An Existential Crisis 🚻 What Men Use Hooks for in Public Restroom Stalls - A Cautionary Tale 🎭 Sabrina Gets Poetic About the Magic of Musso & Frank Grill 💬 COMMENT BELOW: What's the best chain restaurant breadstick in America? 📢 SUPPORT THE SHOW & JOIN THE COMMUNITY: 🎉 Patreon (Bonus episodes, extended Yelp segments & more): patreon.com/finediningpodcast 💬 Discord (Food talk, memes, cursed Yelp): discord.gg/6a2YqrtWV4 🎥 Watch full episodes: youtube.com/channel/UCLbraNhL6KhDPkdSWt2yiuw 🔗 All links: linktree.com/finediningpodcast 🎤 Guest: Sabrina Carmichael | IG: @brina711 Patreon Producers:Sue Ornelas, Joyce Van, & Robert McLaughlin Patreon Subscribers:David Ornelas, Kellie Baldwin, Jeremy Horwitz, Herbert Amaya, Simone Davalos, Scott Bennett, Amy Reinhart, Josef Castaneda-Liles, Travis Langley, & Jewell Hermann Free Patreon Followers:Joe Warszalek, Lauren Cummings, Grace Krainak, Keri Estes, Robert Duran, Patrick Elliott, Michelle Elmer, Dave Plummer, Nicholas Volney, Michael Gerard, Tracy Molino, Phuong Duong, Tyler Robinson, Brandon Gully, Mason Cruz, Michael Milito, Mez, Aaron Hubbard, Steff, Renae Michael, Crystal C., & NiZ 👉 NEXT WEEK: A few months out from Septemburger 2026, I cover the history of the No. 7 seed Smashburger with Bennett Cohen.

Is Fizzoli's making the case that Italian is the superior form of fast food? The unlimited breadsticks were actually better than olive gardens, but the brownie was so sugary, it should come with a warning label. A very nice man delivered our food within minutes of ordering. But the cheese on the pizza looked like it belonged in an abandoned wax museum. The spaghetti with meat sauce tasted literally like what my mom used to make, but the news blasting while dining is also literally the vibe my mom used to make. make. I love a good drive-through. Is Fizzoli's good enough for a quick pasta fix, or is the concept

rendered moot by offering unlimited breadsticks only to those that dine in? Let's find out together. This is the Fine Dining Podcast. I am your host, Michael Ornellis, and this is the podcast that uses Chili's, the most mediocre restaurant in America, as a point of comparison to measure a restaurant's quality. By the end of this episode, we'll answer the question everyone was wondering when Heidi clume dressed as a worm that one time, is Fizzoli's better than Chili's? Today, we're going to tell you everything that was good, not good, and just there about our meal at Fizzolese before we give it a score. And joining me today to discuss Fizzolis is a friend of mine who gives me community envy, as she was featured in the Spanish class on one of my all-time favorite shows. She's the embodiment

of what it means to have Riz, and if she were a greeting card, she'd be a handwritten thank-you note. It's Sabrina Carmichael. Oh my goodness. I can never live up to that. I loved that. I came here just for that. If you can't live up to it, please leave. I will if you want me to be. It's only fair. Honestly, it's amazing. You should write intros for a living. Have you thought of that? I mean, I write two of these for each guest that I have. So I guess you do, yeah. And I am running out of like things. Well, I'm glad you saved so many good ones for me. Thank you. How are you feeling? We Italian food is not light. No, and I'm going to be really authentic right now,

and I'm going to talk to the viewers at home and say that my pants are undone. They're spread open. That is what's happening. And it's because I don't want to make a lot of stomach noises into the microphone. So you're welcome. And is it happening. It's like squeezing it out of you. It's literally there's like squeezing out of sponge.

You can't put that many organs inside of something along with that much of time. You know, you've got to make space. They cannot cohabitate. No. Well, there's not room. to have a spleen and Alfredo? Fazzolis was not made for people who have not had something removed, this long thing. That's crazy.

I'm actually, I'm doing okay. Are you? I think. I don't feel like I ate that much because it's just like, pasta isn't a thing where you're like, well, I'll get a little bit of everything. You usually just kind of commit to a pasta, which is what we did. Yeah. And even then, I only ate half of mine, took the rest to go, and I'll have it later. I mean, to be fair, there was pasta, and there was pizza, and there were breadsticks, and there were multiple different things.

sauces and there was some dessert. So it wasn't a light meal. Yeah, but like the amount of each of those things we ate, I thought was pretty tapered. Yeah, it didn't, it doesn't feel bad. I will say this. I'm not in, I don't feel like, I don't feel like, oh, what is happening in my stomach? This isn't food. I feel fine about that. Yeah. I just feel like, yeah, there's carbs and fat in there for sure. And I don't know if they know where to go. Their direction. They are without a shepherd. Yeah. Okay. Well, we're going to just like jump into it. And we're going to start in positivity. We're going to talk about everything about Fizzolis that was good. This is good done like it should be.

There's stuff that spanker-licking or sticking the land in there. I knew that you could. Yeah. So I'm going to just start with like the main event of the meal, my entree. Yes. Spaghetti with meat sauce is what I got. Very imaginative. It was the number one on the menu, you know?

So it's like this is the thing. Yeah. This is the inspiration for this entire concept. Yeah. Go with what they're known for. Marinera. Love it. A little bit of meat.

So my note on this, it tasted almost identical to the pasta that my mom would make me growing up. So are you saying it tastes like homemade pasta or is this like pasta out of a box, subpar? What does that mean? My mom is not a great cook. And no shade to Michael's mom ever as long as we live. Yeah. Bless Michael's mom. She does everything perfectly.

She's not a great cook. It's not her gift. She's too beautiful to cook that much. You know, true words never been spoken. Yeah. But I love it. Like, that's the thing. I loved that.

Like, I get excited. I, I, all the time would be like, mom, can you make spaghetti and garlic bread? All the time. And like, it wasn't the best, but it was hers. Yeah. And I would do something that, I think in years since people have been like, oh, that's unhinged. And I maintain is maybe the best food you could have. I would get like the yellow box Texas toast brand garlic bread.

You bake it and you know, you get like a little bit of browning crisp on it, but like that golden brown that you want for, you get the perfect texture. You put one down and like, look, I know. I know they're like thick boys, right? They're not. It's not not a lot to have too. Sure. Yeah. But you get one and then you pile up some spaghetti and meat sauce in it.

Okay. You put the other one on it. And you have a garlic bread spaghetti sandwich. And yes, it's indulgent. It doesn't sound bad. But it's uncivilized. It's uncouth. I'm more curious how you eat it.

How does it? Because one piece of that Texas toast is like, you really unhinge your jaw a little bit. It's pretty. You squish it down? But it's not tough. Like it's pretty like malleable bread. Okay. It's soft bread.

Yes. So like while you get like a crisping on both sides, it's still soft. and then spaghetti with meat sauce in the middle or red sauce. Why is this superior to just dipping the garlic sauce in it? It's just you have to have it all. The amount of garlic bread you're getting per bite and then the amount of spaghetti. And then like I like it. I like the meat sauce fairly meaty.

Okay. And so like it's kind of like if a sloppy Joe was garlic. It's an Italian sloppy Joe. It's an Italian sloppy. It's a sloppy Giuseppe. I mean, I don't think it sounds gross. I think it sounds good. No one's ever told me.

But it does sound crazy. That's the thing. No one's ever said gross. But they have been like, well, it's a lot. And I don't disagree. But that's what I used to do. And it's still what I'll do when I make pasta at home. I love those meals, first of all, too, I want to say.

The ones that are just so, I mean, that's pure comfort. Yeah. It reminds you of your mom. It's delicious. You figured out exactly how you want it. Yeah. It's not that good. Comfort food can't be that good for you.

or it's not comforting. That's awesome. Like, genuinely? Yeah. Like, this thought just crossed my mind. And it's a little morbid, but, like, you know, we're all going to lose our parents someday. Oh, that is morbid.

I'm going to bring down the room, Michael. But factual. But factual. I know that, like, within a week of my mom's passing, I will probably make that as, like, an homage of, like, I'm going to make spaghetti and put it in that sandwich. And, like, I'll just, I'll think of her. It's just like, it's an association I have. Oh, I actually really love that.

Anyways, Fazzoli's spaghetti's spaghetti. with meat sauce, largely tasted like my mom's spaghetti without the love, you know? Why do you think that was, though? Do you think they, it's like, do you think they're both like box pasta? Do you think they're, like, it's just similar. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. You're doing back there what a mom does who doesn't really cook, basically. I think kind of. Yeah. It was just kind of like, yeah, these are the basics. That feels correct. But it was good enough. It was good enough. Yeah. I do think that the Fazoles was maybe a little bit saltier than my mom's. Check out. But because it was so nostalgic, I did love it. That said.

putting it through a frame of objectivity. Oh, boo. I think it's a six and a half out of ten. Okay. No, that's not bad. Yeah. A six and a half is a little better than average, right? Yeah, it's good.

All right. It's good. We'll take it. So that's how I felt about the spaghetti with meat sauce. And because of that nostalgic connection, immediately I was like, fond. Yeah. Okay, should I talk about my pasta meal now? Let's hear it.

I had the fetidini alfredo and I added broccoli and mushrooms. And right away, the man said, you can also get this with a bunch of meat. And I said, oh, I don't want the meat part, though. And he seemed confused, but he did make it happen. Why? He was like, but you could have bacon. I wouldn't you? I mean, which I understand.

He's not wrong, but that's crazy. But some people are vegetarian. Right. But yeah, it's a weird life choice. I get it to not eat bacon. But what I have that at a six in my notes. But I feel like if I'm, I feel like it's more than that. I feel like it's a 6.5 because I really enjoyed it.

Sure. And I really tried to be like, there's pasta. is bland. You said compare it to like the best Italian. If a 10 is the best food you've ever had. Right. And I've had handmade pasta and some of these really nice restaurants. And of course it tastes completely different. And if you just, I picked up just one of the

noodles with the alfredo sauce and I was like, look, this isn't great. But when you mixed it all together, the vegetables actually were really full of flavor. They were actually crazy well-seasoned or something. And it was like a meal I look forward to. Like I wish I live next to Fuzzolese because I would go order this. Yeah. But was it as good is like really, really good pasta.

Never. No. And my mom never made pasta Alfredo. So I just don't have a mom meal to compare it to. Yeah, yeah. But I feel like if she did, it would have been exactly this good. Exactly this good. Yeah.

It would have been different, but it would have been this much good. I think that the reason we ordered from a guy is because all the moms are working in the back. Of course they are. Yeah. Yeah. There's no way they didn't have kids. The women back there in the kitchen have kids. They're moms.

Of course they are. It's on the resume. Are you a mom yet? Yeah. Yeah. How much experience do you have? Doesn't matter. Doesn't matter.

I sent two to college. That's it. Okay. Get back there. Put some pasta in the stove. Yeah. And forget about it a little too long. A little bit.

Yeah. I thought that the star of the show, though, the breadsticks. I dream of those breadsticks. So I'm going to just come out and say it. Say it. Fazoli's breadsticks are better than Olive Garden breadsticks. They just are. Because Olive Garden tastes like nothing.

covered in butter. This tasted like dough and yeast covered in garlic and butter. Okay. This is where we have a difference of opinion. Yeah. Because it doesn't matter what comes before covered in butter. Yes, it does. That's just objectively delicious. No, once you bite into something, I want to taste the inside. I want to taste what's

in there. I guess I just don't expect that much. I guess I'm just a low maintenance person. Look, I've flown high, and I always want to take flight. And Olive Garden doesn't get off the ground. I need to go back to all of garden immediately and compare these because I don't know. That's a hard thing to say.

But these were good breadsticks. These were objectively good. Great breadsticks. Do they serve breadsticks like this at high-end restaurants? Have you ever had a soft this type of breadstick? No, I feel like they tend to be like, here's like a crispy. Yes. And it's like, I don't want that.

I want doughy. It's its own category. Yeah. It's like breadsticks at a middle restaurant is its own category of food. And these were objectively, you know, they were really good. They were really, they probably were better in the Olive Garden. I'm not going to argue with you. Yeah.

I went to your house. I'm scared to. Are there threatening vibes here? It's just the men standing over me with the weapons. I'm like, oh, this is me nervous for some reason. They're very, very judicious about how they use them. Okay, you keep saying that, but they keep pulling that safety. Okay, go on.

Eight and a half out of ten. I love that. Eight and a half for those breadsticks. I'm not going to argue with that. Can, are we talking the dipping sauces right now or is that in a different category? We can jump into the dipping sauces. Are they in the good category? Not all of them for me, but because they go with the breadsticks, we can talk about them.

But let me ask you about your rating here, because are you comparing the breadsticks on your rating to every type of bread stick you've ever had or every type of bread type food you've ever served? Every type of food. I'm just using it for what word I would use to describe it. And if I would say it's good or better, it ends up in the good category. Okay, but I want to give them a 9.5 for it. this exact type of breadstick for this exact type of breadstick. Stop making subcategories of scores. All right.

I like to have my own rule. I'm a 10 out of 10 for a Michael Ornellis. Look, if I'm specifically saying restaurants in that town, in the place we went in that one mile radius that were served by a weird man who brought it to our table and also brought the extra to think. There are 10. It was the best restaurant on that corner. Really was.

That had a drive-thru. That had a drive-th. Yeah. Like you can caveat anything into positivity. I like to do that. I know. I can tell. I know.

I know. I had one of the sauces technically in good. Okay. And which one was that? Garlic butter. I also had that in good. And here's the thing. I still didn't love it.

Mostly from a texture standpoint. My rote was it's too goopy. Like it gave me an ick. You wanted it to be more drippy? More thin? I think I wanted a thinner. Yeah. Oh, I like a goopy garlic butter, I guess.

Apparently, I hate that word for it very much. No. But it's my favorite garlic butter I've ever had. That's, again, I'm not trying to make a subcategory. That's a take. I know. I went six and a half out of ten on the garlic butter. I want eight. Yeah.

It was delicious. I brought it home. Yeah. I wanted it. I'm going to put on some weird oyster things later. It was, I thought it was, do you like garlic in general? Yeah, I love garlic. Me too.

And I thought it was the right amount of garlic-y. Yeah. And I've recently had Papa John's garlic butter, and I wanted to, it just tasted like a nothing chemical, like a chemical butter with like some garlic powder in it. Look, this podcast welcomes any shade thrown Papa John's way. Okay, good. Yeah. Because it was really gross. It's F tier food.

Thank you. Oh, I feel so validated because it's really beloved in the Midwest. Yeah, it's down there, like a 3.11. It's not good. And I hate to prep on anybody who's just trying to feed the people, but it's not good. And this garlic butter felt like if I'm certain it wasn't. real butter, but it tasted like it to me for some reason. This is much better.

We can agree on that. Yeah. Okay. And then the other two sauces I thought had diminishing returns. The marinera dip, like, I love marinera. Yeah. And this was just middle of the road for what it is. Solid mid.

Exactly in the middle. Not bad, not good. Five and a half. I think I did five. Yeah. I was like, that's the basic middle. That's the chilies of mariner sauces. Yes.

And then the spicy tomato pepper. which was an interesting sauce. I think you liked it more than me. I still didn't love it. I put that the spice was nice. I don't think it was, it was creamy. It tasted like creamy in a way that cheesy does. And I was just like, oh, this is not for me.

Yeah, that's interesting. But I liked the heat and I liked the way that it built. Yeah. And there was like an actual pepper taste to it that I did like. I went five out of ten. It was still third place of the three sauces for me. Even with the cheesy essence. Because of the pepper and because the cheesy thing was like, I don't think it was.

Yeah. Okay. It was creamy. Yeah. It was very dairy forward, which I'm mixed on. Yeah. I'm very cautious about. Yeah.

Probably all should be. It's weird we eat dairy. I think I might have gotten a bite. I was the first one to try it. Maybe mine was just all pepper. Yeah. Because it just blasted my mouth with heat. And I like heat, but I couldn't taste it.

And I tried to go back in and I did get a little more taste the next time. So maybe it was like a piece that just had a lot of spice in it. I will also say I tried it in response to your reaction to trying it. True. So I didn't load up the breadstick. I did a very light dip. Which was the move, I think. So it was quantity control.

And I didn't even, I couldn't remember what it was when I tried it at first. I had to ask you, which one was this again? Yeah, yeah. So maybe if I'd been more prepared for the spice. Also speaking of the breadsticks, big fan of the concept of unlimited breadsticks. And it was a concept because it was not quite a reality. You know what? I'll save this and talk about it and then not good

because I feel strongly enough about it that like I'll table this. The idea of endless breadsticks. Great idea. Great idea. What a great idea. It goes in the good. Yeah. Not our world.

And like the minor table service that we got for a fast food place, the fact that they even like bring out our food. And the food is on like nice plates. This wasn't like, here's your plastic. But then like it was weirdly juxtaposed with like the black plastic tray that we had. That felt like a cafeteria. It was a cafeteria moment.

Yeah, which we didn't even really need. Not really. because I thought we were going to load it up with food and it wasn't necessary. It's nice to go to a place where you get some service and you don't feel pressure to tip a whole lot. And I like to tip. I'm a tipper. Yeah. But it's nice to be somewhere where they're not jonesing for a tip.

Let me tell you something that you didn't notice. Oh, no. No, in a good way. Oh, great. So because I suspect it was the manager that we ordered with. Okay. He reached across the electronic payment machine as I was going to tap my credit card on it. I realized it was on a tip screen, which is why it wasn't going through.

He didn't even make a big deal. He just reached over and hit the X button so that it just went straight to the like, now your card is ready. He's like, try now. He didn't say, oh, could you answer that question? Oh, it's asking you about a tip. And that never happens anywhere. There is nowhere I go now where there is a tip screen where people are like, just fly past it.

Yeah. So that just put Fazoli's in a league of its own. Yeah. He was just like, I don't have time to ask for your. He's like, I don't need your dollar. Or whatever. But if I went back, I would tip because they do do some table service. They do do.

It's nice to be in a spot where you're not like, are we supposed to leave $10? Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah. And so I appreciated that he did that. And like the guy himself, he had like, he was very down to earth. Yeah. He was a little joky. He was maybe a little sarcastic, not mean sarcastic.

But he was just, he kind of gave like uncle vibes. He gave very Midwest vibes to me of like dad jokes. Yeah. And like, oh, we're going to take. minute is that okay no i gotta get out here at two o'clock just kidding like he was like he wanted to tease and play he wasn't like too corporate yeah i'm into that yeah but that's everything in the good for me do you have anything else you know i did have the pizza in the good whatever they did with the dough to have a pretty cheap pizza and a pretty cheap place or whatever cheap is a relative term in

today's terms but you know what i mean it sat out a long time before i ate it and i'm not saying i was really enjoying it. But the bottom was still crispy. I ate the crust. And I was like, this is crust I'd eat. I don't eat a lot of pizza crust because it's usually boring by the time I get to it unless it's really good. And I was like, I actually like this crust. I tried the sauce just by itself. And it was certainly, it was very serviceable. It had flavor. You peeled back the cheese and went. I just scrape some off with my, yeah. No, I would never. That's the most disgusting thing I've ever seen you do. And I've seen him do really gross things. No, not really. No, No, no. That's the first gross thing I've ever seen.

No, but I took it with my fork. Like a normal person deconstructing a pizza, how they would do that. I put it as a seven, which is crazy. I do know that that's crazy because there's so much better pizza, but I've had a really bad pizza. I've had a lot of that pizza. And I have a feeling you and I disagree on Domino's, but we can agree on Papa John's, for instance.

There's a lot of pizza that's really mainstream that I eat, and I'm like, I'm not enjoying this. I'm actually not liking it. And that I was like, I could eat more of this. Interesting. It's weird. I'll give my thoughts. I can't wait.

Later. Controversy. I mean, they're not that strong, but I wouldn't put it in the good. I know. Yeah. I know you wouldn't. Now let's get into the negative stuff. Let's talk about everything that was not good.

I don't want to hear the news. while I'm eating. And I know it's for the employees and I know the place is empty. Is that what it's for? It's so the employees can be sad. Oh, you have to work.

Yeah. Up on current events. Oh, there was a flood in a cave in Laos. Yeah. They're saving them. They're saving them. Like, that's tragic. And like, I'm not saying don't consume the news.

No, but you don't want to go somewhere. But you're setting a tone. Yeah. Yeah. No, I just don't want to hear about it right now. I'm eating. I like to enjoy a meal. I don't want to think about, I don't know,

whatever's happening. The economy collapsing or Congress fighting or whatever. It's just not, it's never a good atmosphere. Yeah. Nobody's like, I want to sit down and relax and listen to the news as it is today. This isn't like the local news where it's like, here's some stuff that happen. It's like meant to be inflammatory. Yeah.

It's built to be like that, right? Put on SpongeBob. Or maybe nothing. Where do you sit on TVs and restaurants? Because I'm a no. I think if it's like a like a sports bar makes total sense. where people are going to watch something on purpose. I think other places weaponize it where it's like, hey, we're going to put something

loud so you don't want to stay in here. So you can go. Right, which is an instant. They know it's not enjoyable. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, I think it is only a detraction. I think it's a detraction 90% of the time.

Yeah. Yeah. Especially because they kind of build this as like a fun family place. Yeah. So why would I want my family to watch? Especially, they have. kids meals and stuff. And like the news has some pretty shocking stuff on it. I don't necessarily want my little kids watching about somebody dying or some tragic thing happening. Yeah. Yeah.

So from a vibe standpoint, get it together. Yeah. What's something you have and not good? The drink, I didn't, I had a problem with my drink. And this is going to sound really picky. Let's hear it. I wanted an iced tea. I love a delicious iced tea. I don't need it sweetened. But I do like it with a little bit of lemonade in it, which I guess is sweetened. And it's right, of course. So I made my little Arnold Palmer, as I do, I've done my whole life many places. And this one tasted really, really weird. And I really wish, when I went back to check the Soda Fountain thing, I wish I had written down what it said because it was like lemonade. But then underneath it, it said something like fruity juice.

Fruit juice drink or something. Yeah. Yeah. And it was like carbonated. It felt like a technicality. It was like, this is sort of lemonade. Yeah. This is something that will be flavored.

as lemonade type flavor. And we legally can't actually call it that. Right. And I'm not like a super skeptical like, oh, chemicals in my food person or anything like that, but it just tasted really weird. Yeah. And I feel like that's something that's the only reason I'm making such a big deal of it, it feels like it's hard to mess up. Yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Like I've never gone anywhere else where I'm like, this is off. And there I was like, what am I drinking? This is so strange. So that was a negative for me. You looked mildly upset. I was devastated. You like took a sip and you're just like. But because I'm not a dramatic person, I hit it well. I held it in.

I didn't want to upset you. You know what I mean? I didn't want my... You make it seem like my emotions are so fragile. They are. You're a fragile guy. I'm just trying to take care of you.

Sorry for being a friend. Sorry for being a best friend. So sorry. Thank you so much. You're welcome. I appreciate the apology. Not the friendship. Not the friendship.

The apology. The willingness to self-reflect and realize what you've been doing. I'm going to work on in therapy this year. Yeah. So they had three desserts. And they were all, co-branded.

Yes. They had a cheesecake factory cheesecake. They had a Great American cookie brownie and a Great American cookie chocolate chip cookie. So the company being the Great American cookie. Does cheesecake fall under your cheese version? Yeah. Okay. Good to know.

So we got the brownie and we got the cookie. We did. Which kind of don't count, but Fizzolese carries it. So we'll count it, I guess, because it wasn't the same as getting a brownie at the Great American cookie. Correct. So this was like in plastic packaging with like there's visible chocolate chips in it. The moms in the back were not baking these fresh.

No. No. They were busy. It came pre-wrapped. Yeah. I'm a brownie guy. I love brownies. Really?

I do. This is a passion of yours I didn't know about it. That looked like pity on your face. No, you were so. It really moved me how you said that. Also, come to think of it. Nostalgia for my mom. My mom.

like one of the things that like is her thing that she makes and makes well brownies brownies yeah and this one didn't taste like your mom's brownies did it not even a little no this is not good it was so sugary yeah it was so just it was too sweet and like yeah i too sweet sweet is not a capacity met easily for me and it is for me and so the fact that i don't have a sweet tooth you do have a sweet tooth brownies are not necessarily my thing chocolate's not the way i usually go i like a chocolate, but in the fact that you do, and we both didn't enjoy the brownie. Tells me it wasn't for anybody. I winced when I bid it.

You talk about me treating like you're fragile, but a brownie needs you really fall apart. But it wasn't good. Yeah. I believe the word I used was cloying. The texture was really weird. Which was a word that I nodded when you said because I didn't want to be caught not knowing what it meant. Then I'm here to educate.

It's okay. No, but it was just very like, it was so rich. How could anyone have more than one bite of that brownie? But it wasn't rich from chocolate. It was rich from sugar. Yeah. And that's a big differentiate because I love rich from chocolate. I like a deep rich chocolate flavor.

Yeah. Not everyone does. I don't. But it was just overbearing in its sweetness. Yes. I agree. And I actually thought that the chocolate flavor was only present to a degree. Interesting.

Like the chocolate chips added like a pure chocolate taste. The brownie itself tasted like more brown. than sweet. Yeah. But then, like, it was like sugar. Yep. Overcompensated. Fully with you.

I went two out of ten on the brownie. I think I did three because I, there was something about the texture that I, even though I thought it was clinging, I was like, well, at least it's soft. It's kind of, there were things about it. Mm. I didn't hate it. I didn't spit it out. I wasn't like, ugh.

I was like, I would have a bite of that and feel like, oh, I ate something sweet. But, yeah, I'm not buying that again. It was just, it was too much. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I wrote three wise in way. way like W-A-Y-Y-Y-Y-Y way way way way yes I agree no I didn't go why why why why I thought you meant three whys like I don't know what I thought oh like three wise like number three W I S E yes yes yes yeah and I thought I was going to learn a word from you too but I guess only one of us is here I don't know good words

but I'm open I'm open to learning but that's all I had in the not good was the the news being on kind of a, not a depressing atmosphere. Because again, it was like clean, bright colors. Sure. But underd, like empty. But kind of dark too. And like, and I want to say for not good, I also had, I just, this is going to sound so freaking high maintenance.

But I just don't love the things where you have to take the tray and take all your dishes yourself and with all your gross food particles on it. Self-bussing. Thank you. Yeah. It's not my favorite part of the dining experience. I like to eat out because I, I, I, don't enjoy cooking and cleaning up very much.

So when I'm doing part of it, I don't love it. I do relate to that. I do think that with the types of plates they offer being like nicer is a porcelain or whatever. Yeah. To me comes with an implication of you can leave it on the table. But I'm also a, I have heavy napkin use. I'm that kind of guy.

And I hate leaving that behind for other people. Yeah. Because it would gross me out if I were in their shoes. So I'm like, well, I want to throw those away. Yes. And if I see a bustray of any kind of like a bin, the Midwest part of me, there's no world where I'm going to risk being a tiny bit in play in case I'm not supposed to leave it. You're like, I got to clean the whole table. I practically clean the table and mop the floors because I was so nervous.

You know, like there's, I can't, there's no world where I can do it. So it's not a negative that it's so bad that that happens. Right. It's just not my favorite part of a dining experience. Totally. It's not something I love. Totally get it. everything else is kind of in the middle.

So we're going to jump into the things that were just there. So for me, the pepperoni pizza, what I said to you was for something so bad, this tastes good. Yes, you did. And I want to point out, you took all the pepperonies off my slice because I don't eat them and put them on yours. So you had a double pepperoni pizza. I had a double pet pizza. You had a pepless pizza. Peplice pizza.

And also the presentation of this was wild. I've never seen this before in my life. It's called a double slice. And when you ask. You can buy a double slice or a whole pizza. And you're like, is it just mean two slices? And the guy's like, yeah, he undersold it. And then he just like did this with his hands, which in some cultures is calling you a pussy.

Oh. Oh. That's just a thing. I didn't invent it. He just lost points in his Yelp review. I'm going to write later. But I thought he was, which I did think was a little. condescending like this is what pizza looks like I was like yeah I know but he was the shape of

pizza he's like in two pieces together would look a lot like this yeah but they weren't they were they were 69ing each other they were 60-9ing each other there was the crust at one end yes and then like along the like side of a slice of pizza goes up against the other piece of pizza it was a yin yang pizza on the other end why how do they make them like that I don't know because the crush how does the crust end up on both sides here's the thing all it means is that they touched your pizza. Like, oh, they rearranged it. They rearranged it.

Is that what you think that they turned it? There's no way they cook it like that. Oh, I thought they did. No. And I was really blown away. If the cheese melted together, it's because they did that process while they were still hot. Is that what it is? Probably, yeah.

It's a cool trick. It's worth going to Fazollies just to see it. I don't think so. It's not worth driving maybe an hour and a half. But if you have one like on the next block, check it out. Yeah. And so it was, it was an interesting. presentation.

Yeah. The pizza, you know what good quality food feels like in your hands, in your mouth. Like you can tell on your feet on your feet the way you do it. Yep. You can tell. Yeah. And I knew the moment I bit into this, I was like, this is like cafeteria grade or homemade, like, self oven. I think DeJourneau is better than this for sure.

Yeah. This felt like that level of. Sheep. Yeah. So when I say for something so bad, it was the best performing version of that trash level of pizza. Because when I looked at it, I thought this is going to be so disgusting. Yes. And then I ate it and I was like, oh, I guess not.

Well, and there was that Yelp review where they felt scammed and poisoned by their pizza. Right. And so it's like, I read that before we went today. So my brain was dreading the pizza, but I knew. we had to get it. Okay. And so objectively bad. From an ingredients standpoint, everything felt cheap.

The cheese for someone who is genuinely like afraid of cheese was a haunting shade. You have men standing behind me. I have wheels of cheese behind you to keep you in line. Yeah. You just have like you're like an Italian restaurant that like cooks in the parmesan. That's it. Yeah. In the wheel.

Yeah. Sending one to your house to threaten you. And so I wrote objectively bad yet tastes good. And the crust crisp is the trick here. It was good, right? So just like the right amount of like browning on bottom. So you get some crisp with the doughy. And I'm like, you nailed it.

This isn't even close to the best pizza crust I've had. No. But for with the tools you have at your disposal, you did this well for what this is. They did such a good trick because they really bring down your expectations. in every way. And then you get it and you're like, surprisingly good. But if they were like, our pizza is amazing,

you'd be like, okay, we need to talk. That's my strategy as a human being. It's just a good life strategy. They look at me and they're just like, he doesn't have a lot to offer. And they talk to me and you're like, oh, I tolerate it. Totally my experience with you. I was like, this guy maybe.

Oh, actually. Yeah. I gave it a four and a half out of five, which is to say low end of average. Yeah. should have been a one. Should have been a one. And it got three and a half whole extra points from executing.

And this weirdo gave it a seven, like a psychopath. You're welcome to like what you like. I think the pepperoni brought it down. I got to tell you. You didn't taste pep. I'm saying you brought it brought it down on yours. No, absolutely. The pepperoni was like my north star of like powering through.

I'm just, I'm too, I give too much grace for pizza, maybe. Yeah. I'm working on it. Like some people, you don't have to. I give too much grace. No, it's all right. I need to set better about me. I need to change.

With the food I put my body and everything else. Yeah. What's something you have in Just There? Okay. So just there to me, well, can we talk about the cookie? Yeah. The cookie was very, it was a cookie. Yeah, and it was from the Great American Cookie.

And I'm like, we'll see about that. American Cookie. It should be called American Cookie. It wasn't great. It wasn't bad. I don't have a sweet tooth and I enjoyed it. Yeah. I had two bites.

I didn't. need anymore. It was fine. I put it was much more tame than the brownie in terms of like the sweetness. There was no like overload. Doe very soft. And I mean that in almost a negative way. Like falling apart, no structure. And I love like a soft cookie cookie. But like this coming out of a plastic packaging. Yeah. Is not going to be that soft in that same way. Because it was in plastic almost like, oh, it's really warm or something. It wasn't like, oh, what a gooey experience. There's microplastics in this. Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. Yeah. Oh, yeah. Yeah. You're eating like a third of a credit card in this one cookie.

It was like, it was so strange because I was like, I'm not enjoying this and I'm not not not enjoying it. I'm just eating it. Yeah. Yeah. I went 5.8 out of 10. For the cookie. For the cookie. I did five, exactly.

Yeah. It was very much a middling cookie. Yeah. But you had to get at that point eight. I had to go at that point. Specific. And I also think it's, it was the contradiction from the brownie. Yeah.

And then another thing that was just there that I didn't expect. But you did and vicariously found very fun posh lady in the drive-thru. Yeah, there was. I looked up and behind you in the window was a lady with just in a nice, very nice car. Either a range rover or Mercedes, like one of those like, yeah. It was something like, yeah, it was, it was a, I live in the suburbs and I have a nice SUV car. She definitely had filler.

Her lips were done. Big designer sunglasses, not even that sunny out. So they were a statement, really expensive hair coming through the facilities drive-thru. And I just loved that for her. And all I saw of her was because she had tinted back windows, so I never saw her face. Of course she did. But I just saw her hand like this out the window as she's ordered. Yes.

She's eating, she's definitely eating her pizza with fingers. Yes. You know what I mean? Not hand. She has chewed away a butler at some point in the last week. For sure. For sure. Yeah.

And I just am thinking to myself, where is she taking this food? What is her life? Yeah. Does she have a whole batch of children waiting in her? McMansion, you know, like, just, I was fascinated. Is this how she connects to her childhood, rags to riches, but you can't leave the rags behind? She grew up in that small town just dreaming someday. I'm going to get to that facilities.

Yeah. Oh, God. You're seeing right now my character arc. I've lived my dream. There's nothing left for me. I can retire. She's you in 30 years. I don't know how old she was, but.

She might have been about my age. I don't know. I don't know. I feel like the hand that I saw out of the car was wrinkly, so I assumed it was like a 70-year-old. Not my age. No, she was, I bet she was mid-40s. Okay. And had seen a lot of sun. And I don't mean that in a judgmental way. She's living her life. She looked great. Yeah. Okay. She just didn't look like she belonged there. I thought like maybe she drove through the drive-thru an accident on her way on her way somewhere better. Where am I? What is this? What is this place? Spaghetti from a window. Oh, get it away from me like that. But good for her. Maybe she slums it every once in a while just to keep herself real, you know? Anything else in just there for you. The bathroom was just there. No hook for the purse.

That seems like a big deal. Put the hook on the door. Why can't we put hooks on the door? Because men design the bathrooms and they don't carry purses. Yeah. I mean, I love a hook. What do you put on your hook in the bathroom? I don't want to say.

You hang up your pants. My shirt. Just make some space. You just stripped down completely in the bathroom. No, but I will go shirtless. Stop it. Not in a public restroom. If I have to dump.

Are you being funny? If I have to, all right. So, all right. We're going to get into it. Oh my goodness. So I do not take a two. away from home. I just, I will hold it, but I need my bidet. You got to connect to the Wi-Fi. I get it. No, no, no, but just like. No, like bodily. I want to feel comfortable.

I also need a bidet. I want to say that. We're posh. Yeah, yeah. We're basically that lady in that CV. If I have to use a restroom away from home for a two, it's an emergency. I'm the same. And this happened to me a week ago. I was at a Trader Joe's. Oh, no. And I felt like a, hey, buddy, this is not going to go well for you if you wait until home. And so I'm like, okay, I run to the restroom. Oh, I'm terrified for you. There is a hook. And I'm like.

They do have hooks. I was going to say. They have hooks. And specifically, it was right before going to a musical at the Pantages. Okay. So I'm wearing a nicer button up shirt that goes down a little longer. And like in back. I understand.

And so I'm like, well, I'm taking this off and hanging it up because I don't want this anywhere near the sin that I'm about to commit. Because you're afraid it will hang down and get caught in the crossfire? I don't want it to like if it goes low enough that it covers my butt crack. Oh, I'm devastated by this conversation. Wow. This is something men do. I, no, I am not proclaiming this is a thing other people do. As always, when you speak, you are speaking for all men.

Does it travel up? I can't. I'm trying to imagine. No, it's not that it travels up. It's that like, I don't know, it just ends up in your, like, around your butt crack or whatever. I wish I didn't know this about you. But it is, look, I say this. It becomes a splash zone when there's not a bidet involved.

It's a very tenuous situation. I'm going to say this as well. I don't do this because I've ever had it happen. I've never actually gotten like Duky on the bottom of the back of a shirt I was wearing. But I also. Yes. live preventatively. I think that's just smart.

I don't want to put a stamp of approval on it, but I have to. And I will also say so many people came in and out of that restroom for the duration of all I was in there. Oh, it was it a single soul? It was not. How brave of you. But kudos to the Trader Joe's on like Vine in Hollywood, closest to the pantages. Yes.

Because the cracks in the stall. Sealed. You couldn't see anything. Oh, that's always such a blessing. Safe. Small blessings. We all feel safe at Trader Joe's. Yeah.

Whatever you need there. Yeah. Maple Leaf sandwich cookies. Oh. So good. Anything with the word maple in it. I'm going to go to the bathroom at the Trader Joe's tonight on my way home. Just an honor of you.

Thank you. Thank you. In that experience. Okay. Well, that is all of the aspects of our time at Fizzoli's. Plus my theory about shirt. at a public restroom. Wait, we forgot something really important about the breadsticks.

Yeah. Because. Oh, yeah. I wanted to go off. When you went up to get to go boxes. Yeah. They gave you more breadsticks. I asked, can I get a call?

Oh, okay. Yes. So what I did want to say, how can you advertise unlimited breadsticks if. And look, they had a sign on the wall next to the soda machine, not a sign, but like in the mural, in the artistry, in the wall. A declaration. A declaration of unlimitedness. Of you sit back and will bring food to you. That was part of the promise.

And when you're saying unlimited breadsticks and it's up to us to ask for more, like they should be doing rounds occasionally to be like, do you need more breadsticks? They did that zero times. So by the time that, like, I did want more breadsticks, we were starting to pack up to go. And I went up and I was like, can get two more breadsticks? And then I also asked for some to go containers. Yes. And she put two in a bag, gave them to me. I brought them to the table.

Then you came and asked for lids for our sauces. Asked from our red sticks. And they said, no. You can't have them if you're leaving. But you didn't bring them to me when I was here. Yes. Now, I want to share everyone at home that we're okay. We've recovered.

I mean, I don't know if I have. It's going to take a few therapy sessions to get through this. But that did happen to us. And it's our reality. And I just think it's important. Then we talk about it. And we get out on the table in an authentic and real way. Don't silence us.

No. We deserve to be heard. And I'm going to put that in my Yelp review with a lot of ellipsies and exclamation points. No, you're right, though, because they did really kind of sell it as something that they bring to the table and never once did we see more breadsticks. Right. And we ate those breadsticks. Oh, yeah. Because they were delicious.

They were good. They were the best thing. So that was a bummer. Yeah. Did the guy give the breadsticks to you or this girl gave the red sticks to you? Same lady. She just didn't like me. Well, she also knew we were at the same table.

So she thought that by us both asking, we were gaming the system. And I'll be honest. Yeah. I asked you to go get them because I was trying to game the system. Oh, and see, and I do want to say, I did say, I understand why they wouldn't let you take them if you're leaving. I did give. I was like, I get it. But I was still sad.

And I want to say, there weren't that many people in there. Who were they saving these breadsticks for? They couldn't just throw a couple of our way. Come on. Yeah. Yeah. But they were within their rights. Or we'll just be like, okay, we'll sit.

We could have done that. But we had places to be. We're important folk. We'd have come here and talk about taking your shirt off to shit in a traitor Joe's. We had a really, really important work to do. important. Sabrina, this is your first time on the fine dining podcast.

We need to give Fizzoli's a score to put up here, but before we do that, yes. You haven't been on it before. No. You're not as calibrated as I am. I've been on a journey to go to all of these places.

When I score a place, I know it's relative to all of these. I don't expect you to have 150 examples of places and how they score. Thank you for that. But if I could ask you for two, I want to hear about your worst restaurant experience and your best restaurant experience

as we jump into the Calibration Station. Calibration Station, comparing this meal to the best or the worst. Calibration Station, chugga, chuga, chugger, chugger, choo-choo-choo-choo. Great. Sabrina, whichever one you want to start with, I want to hear about your worst restaurant experience ever, your best restaurant experience ever. Something you would call a zero or something you would call a 10. Okay, so I'm going to get the worst over with because I just

really hate talking badly about anyone. And I really try to find a place. This is, I mean, really, I hate this. I tried to find a place that was out of business. And I thought some of these places have to be out. I don't want to affect their bottom line. I didn't want to upset anybody. And somehow the two places I thought of are chugging along stronger than ever. So I am just going to have to put somebody on blast. I'm picking one because the experience was so terrible. Look, your partner works in PR. You can handle the negative press. We're going to spin it. We're going to spin it later. And we're going to get these people more. more business than they never had.

It was a promise. No. So the one I picked was my friends call it the Corral Cafe. It's not called that. In Burbank? It's called the Coral Cafe. And I don't like Coral Cafe. It was, so it was one of my friends would go there to write, which is such a strange thing to do in a diner already.

Yeah. And he called it the Coral Cafe, which means I don't even know if he's ever been to this place. But he told us, we have to go here. You guys are going to love it. My husband and I really love diner food. I'm a big diner fan. We'll talk about this after. Love that.

And I love a road trip with diner stops plan on heaven. So we like diners a lot. And I love breakfast food all the time. Like what a perfect plan. We had had this great night out. We thought, well, I'll all go to Coral Cafe. And he said, you have to the three, there were three guys in me. And he said to the guys, you have to get these steaks, which is already can be a little

suss at a diner. And I got just an veggie omelette or something. And my food was very disappointing. The server, it was one of those things where we were the only people in there. The server was nowhere to be found, you know, just from start to finish or like, this is rough. The table wasn't clean. You had to wait for them to come clean it. Like, all bad.

I have never tasted more of lamb food in my entire life. And the three guys got kind of sick from the meat that they ate and really felt sick while they were eating it. And then my husband the next day was like, I'm not, this isn't good. I think that there are certain types of food. Look, I love a diner. Me too. There are certain types of food that you should not even entertain in a diner. And I think steak is one of them.

But steak and eggs feels like it should be a go-to diner meal, doesn't it? Steak and eggs is kind of the exception of when I would get steak and a day. That's what I got. It didn't work. It didn't work. But even then, I'm wary about it. You should be. Steak and eggs, I would get at like a slightly more upscale breakfast.

place? Right. Yes. A diner, I'm not trusting with steak. A diner, I'm probably not doing spaghetti. Which is so funny because my other one that I was choosing between, the meal was spaghetti that led us down so very, very much at another diner. And I think in a diner, I'm not doing tacos. Okay, no, never. Never. That's an insane thing to even propose. Yeah. A diner should not serve tacos. A diner should just serve a specific type of food. Yeah. And just own it. Yeah. You know what I mean? And it should have really good breakfast. Or like a chalmain. Some diners get crazy and they're like, oh, we got to stop with that. We have a section of Chinese food. Yeah, but you

shouldn't. If I have to flip your menu more than like three times. I mean, yeah. If it's a cheesecake factory menu, I'm worried. I'm worried at a diner. Cheesecake factory can pull it off. A diner cannot. Yeah. And I'm an big like Anthony Burdine like, oh, you have to try things. But he also talks about how bad some of this food is in these places. And you know, it's not, you're risking your life and you're hoping it tastes good enough to make it worth it. And if it doesn't, not good. Yeah. Can I move on a better one now? Because that was horrible.

Okay. I really struggled with this because I've been to a lot of really great. I've been very lucky. And I've gotten to eat. Going out to eat was like something I didn't get to do growing up. So now that I'm a grown up and, you know, have my feet under me a little. When I splurge, I really like to splurge to go out to eat, brag. So this is hard to narrow down.

And I thought of a lot of really cool ones. And then I settled on one that's kind of just classic and maybe boring. And maybe it's even been said here before. I don't know. But Muso and Franks. is my 10 out of 10. Have you been there? No. And it's weird because it's...

Maybe one person's mentioned it. Really? Yeah. It's a perfect experience because it's, I don't eat steak. It's like the old Hollywood feeling one, right? Hollywood like steakhouse, you know, whiskey feeling. It's all old Hollywood, which I am a sucker for old Hollywood stuff. If there's Hollywood history there, already I'm sunk. I'm big into it.

And so I love that aspect of it. But every time we've ever gone, it's impeccable service from the moment you make your reservation. Like we went for our anniversary one year and they brought a card to the table of here's the date you were here. Thank you for joining us on your anniversary handwritten card. Like those kinds of touches. The little extra mile. Yes. And, you know, that's already an amazing experience in itself. But they have food that is, they have a really pretty diverse menu of stuff that's, it all feels kind of classic, but they have like a classic menu where they have like lobster thermidor and think, you know, Welsh rare bit and things like that. I've never heard the word thermidor in my life.

I'm teaching you so many words today. What does it mean? I have no idea, but I really want to try it someday. I think there's a joke in Brooklyn Nine-Nine where he's like, extra thermidor on my lobster thermidor. He's like, what is it? He's like, I have no idea. I don't think anyone knows what it is, but they serve it. And that's cool. They have like these really throwback meals, but they also just have, they do the classics really well. And I've never had a meal there that I wasn't constantly eating and going like, like telling my husband like, hold on, be silent for a second because I want to live in this. They do scallops really well, which is one of my absolute top favorite foods of all time. But the other thing is the service is just so amazing. And it's the kind of place where you'll say to the server like, he'll be like, what drinks are you thinking of? And you'll say, well, I'm kind of craving this, but I'm not sure. And this looks good too. And he'll go, oh, what you want is this. And he's right.

And it's something you've never heard of. And suddenly it's your new favorite cocktail. Yeah. So for me, every time, and I've been there multiple times. And every time it's been a 10 out of 10 experience. Amazing. Highly recommend. Well, somewhere between a steak that made three people sick and a drink that you never knew you wanted that probably had Thermidor in the name.

Yes. Lies today's meal at Fizzolese. So we are going to put it to the Chili's Test. To me, this was an experience. where I had low expectations and high expectations at the same time because I love Italian food. I think fast food Italian conceptually sounds frightening to me. It doesn't sound like something that they're going to land the plane, so to speak. And look, there was turbulence.

I do think they landed the plane well enough to where I think this place is firmly in like average territory. Is it good? the best thing there is the breadstick, which is kind of easy to pull off and scored like an eight. Was it so good of a breadstick that like if I'm driving on the highway and I see a Fazoli's, I'm going to be like, hold up and stop and get some. You're going to cause a pile up. I'm not. The only place whose bread I've actually done that for was the roles at Texas Roadhouse. Okay.

They're very good. Good tip. Never been there. Fizzolese doesn't hit that on any of the things that they achieve. What they did achieve was reminding me of a nostalgic dish I had. That was nice. I liked the interaction with the uncle manager. The vibes were fine.

It was good company, pleasant conversation. That doesn't factor into the score, though. And kind of everything I ate, like nothing was better than I expected it to be. a couple things were worse than I expected it to be. And dessert was the worst part. Yeah. Is weird. I thought this place was very average.

I don't think it's even as high a score as Chili's, the epitome of average. But it's close partially for novelty. I went 4.91. Oh, wow. Controversial. Yeah. Okay. never has such an average rating felt so controversial to me.

Let me take that knife out of your back. Thank you. Call the minimum. This is to me, I'm biased. And it's just because of the weird way that I am, which is I just love to love things so very much. And I really tried to stay objective because you kept saying stay objective. Compare it to the best. Compare it to Moose Zone Franks.

And I really am trying. But here's the thing. I loved the idea of Fazzolis. It sounded so fun. Comfort food. Italian food to me is comfort food. Unless you mess it up, I'm going to enjoy myself. Yeah.

And I really did enjoy the food. I really loved the breadsticks. I could have eaten 10 more. I really actually enjoyed my fetichini. I loved, they loaded it up with the veggies. I thought this was going to be the kind of place where the veggies felt very frozen. There were a few thrown in. And I don't know if you ever into Lil Tonys, but it's like that kind of vibe where it's like, these are a frozen veggie.

I think Little Tonys is so bad. I absolutely love it for no good reason. It's just a fun place that we go. It's so close to me. It's, I don't know. The food isn't that good, but I love it there for some reason, which is explaining a lot about me, I think in this explanation. Can I, I am going to say a compliment about Fizzoli's pasta. Yes.

I took it to go. I ate half of it. Yep. I took the rest to go. And you're looking forward to it. I don't know if I'll go that far. Oh, okay. But a lot of the time when I take food to go, it's kind of like the appearance of like,

I don't want to waste it. Really? And oftentimes I'm like, I don't think I end up making it. Sometimes I do. Oh, wow. I know I will make this and eat it. Okay. See, that's high praise.

Yeah. If that's your baseline is I'm a very like, don't waste food person. Yeah, I don't like it. Especially if there's meat involved. If an animal gave itself for my meal, I won't let that go to waste. I love that about you. Yes. So here's my praise is I'm really looking.

forward to having my leftovers when I'm hungry again. They were really good. I didn't care for the dessert, but I didn't need it. Right. I feel like it was a wash that, oh, they brought our food out, but we're cleaning up after ourselves. That kind of washes. It was clean.

It was uninspired. It's very middle of the road, but the food was good enough for me that if it, what I asked myself is if there was a Fazuli's near me, would I run through it? Because I don't go through a lot of drive-thrues. Run through it is such a funny way to phrase it. Would I strip naked, run through it in streak or fashion, grabbing my food, on the way. And the answer is yes. I would absolutely do that. I'm kind of sad now that there isn't one near me. And I had high expectations. So I fully expected to be very disappointed because

the things you dream of in childhood are never as good as when you finally get them. Also, I did think I had been there before. Yeah. I thought I hadn't, which was devastating. But I gave it a 5.78. I think it was the higher end of average. So here's the thing. For what it is, for what it is, for how fast it was. So this is not a dictator. And so your score plus my score puts Fazoles up on the Chachky of Mediocrity at a 5.35. I got it over Chili's. I did my part. Oh, I'm so happy. Which does mean in a fair world, even though I think less than Chili's, Fizzoli's is authoritatively and definitively better than.

better than Chili's And you know what that's fair? My score was so close anyway. It was a 4.91. Yes. Like it's right there in that conversation. Yes. And you're going to find some things that you might love and find novel about it.

You know, that's, I think, enough reason for it to be. I mean, I think the speed really goes a long way. Yeah. So I need to go somewhere next week. So I'm going to reach into the You Must Bowl. to determine where I'm going next week. Oh, I'm so excited for you. What a gig. I will be going to...

Smash burger. Smash burger. Ooh. For the September Ger tournament. They are the number seven seed in this year's September Ger tournament. So we'll see how they do. I'm so excited for you.

Thank you. I've never been there. Sabrina, thank you so much for doing this. Thank you for having me, Michael. I had the best time. This was a delight. It's been a really fun day. It really was.

Thanks for making my childhood dreams come true. I mean, not even realizing you did because you didn't realize it because you lied about had you even been here. And they say like you could hide your own Easter eggs. That's me. I forgot that this was going to be so exciting. This is straight up like you got Mandela affected into thinking that you had been to Fazolle's. Go ahead and tell people where they can follow you and see your work and all that. You can find me on Instagram at Brina, as in the end of Sabrina, 7-Eleven or at Sabrina.

and Carmichael.com. Amazing. All my new works there. And you can follow this show on Instagram and TikTok at Fine Dining Podcast. You can join my Discord to chat with me. I'm very accessible. You can tell me I'm wrong for my opinions. You can tell me I'm right for my opinions.

He's never wrong. Do you shit with your shirt on? I want to know these are the important things. And then if you really want to support the show, I do have a Patreon where you get an exclusive episode, the extended Yelp from Stranger segments, interviews with my guests about their preferred dining rotations, the places that they find themselves loving and going to over and over and over again. Amazing. And then anything else that I feel like throwing up there, there's also

discounts for the merch in my store, which I do have shirts for the show. Very cool. If you feel like checking that out at Fine Dining Podcast.com. In the meantime, that is it for this week. That's another one in the books. I'll be back next week covering Smashburger. Thanks so much for watching. Have a fine day.

We may have gotten a couple of dirt in the... Though the journey can never stop Now from the bottom down to the top We got a new and more And everything's unlocked And that's because chillies Do things up on the charge, yeah There's a box

And we will see you next a week And next a week, baby