The portions are huge and stodgy, so you end up feeling as though you’ve over ordered, over eaten and either wasted food or taking leftovers out which you don’t want to eat till the memories of the first portion have passed a few weeks later.
I'm not saying that as a value judgement, but if you grew up with food insecurity (I did), having a large variety of gigantic plates of high calorie food is like the absolute pinnacle of dining.
You actually see the reverse all the time when "regular people" see the portions and prices at a Michelin-starred restaurant. They think it's a ridiculous rip-off, without realizing that people go to those restaurants for _aesthetic_ reasons, rather than because they're hungry. The idea of consuming food as an art form rather than as something you need to survive is just completely ridiculous to them.
Alternatively, if I'm wish my wife, we tend to just order an appetizer/salad and one entree. The portion size tends to be about right in that case in many instances (it's still dish-dependent).
I’ve heard people say about restaurants many times, “this place is so great, they serve soooo much food.”
Though most restaurants do not provide healthy food, so I rarely eat out.
taps on % of population in obesity sign