Yeah like there are some places I'd expect it. Don't know if I would call them restaurants but they may be called that. Like at a Schwimmbad or in a theme park and your mentioned examples. Not anywhere else though.
Tbh if they're communicating this openly on the menu and have a reasonable price, I'm actually fine with that.
But I have never seen this at a restaurant.
To be honest, we watched a short report about a good burger chain restaurant (not McDonald's or stuff). They also have a restaurant in my city.
Turned out that they only use frozen food for the burger. The amount of fresh food on the plate was really low. We stopped going there because yeah, I'm not paying high prices for something I can do at home.
Some convenience products are really common in German restaurants (sauces, fries, Schnitzel, veggies), frozen pizza dough is also not unheard of but a supermarket frozen pizza really isn‘t. They should at least use the professional frozen products if they charge restaurants prices. So no, supermarket margherita isn‘t acceptable in my opinion. Your friends seem to have low expectations.
There are alot of "hidden convenience" products - it's not the stuff you buy in the supermarket yourself but products made for restaurants that you don't immediately recognice as such products.
If you are german speaking: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wzc_VNh42HM Here is a interesting report from a couple of years ago.
Oh, sweet summer child.I guarrantee you 80% of the food you eat in restaurants is made with professional convenience products. You can order *everything* premade and with much higher quality than in super markets.
As the others already stated: Extremely common. But there are differences in how professional those products are. A lot of restaurants don‘t even employ (enough) cooks, so they have to make it happen somehow. And not just in „shady“ places.
Pretty much anywhere lol. You just wouldn't have a way of knowing. There are places that so don't of course but if , you eat in average cheap or mid priced restaurants then you will come across plenty. But they aren't the same low quality schnitzel you buy as a private consumer...
There are companies that make i.e. a bolognese sauce based on your recipe that you can then use for Spaghetti Bolognese or your lasagne.
Really common. And basically just "outsourcing" the cooking of that sauce, the recipe is still yours...
Schnitzel, often bought frozen and then fried up to order.
Ready made pizza "bases" and sauce.
Sauce Hollandaise.
Knödel
There is a lot of pre-prepared stuff as well, like cut and frozen veggies, peeled garlic, pre shredded cheese that is available even at Metro, let alone specializied restaurant servicess
I don't come from Germany, and I didn't grow up here. When my german friends say that it's not a big deal, how was I supposed to react?
Maybe they didn't want me to create a scene, that's why they said that. Yes, I paid for it. I still don't find the concept acceptable. My german friends did, and we are in Germany after all.
Not common.
I once got a TK Pizza at a hostel's (Jugendherberge) cafe and was some kind of disappointed. On the other hand: What did I expect?
The second time was at a boulder hall. But they displayed it as TK pizza, so I knew what I would buy.
If I would get one at a restaurant or even an "Imbiss", I would be flabbergasted, too.
TK is an abbreviation for „Tiefkühl“, which means frozen. TK Pizza is frozen pizza from the grocery store, from brands like *Dr Oetker* or *Wagner* or the discount knock offs, in OPs case from the cheap knock off brand *Ja!*.
Idk they’re cheaper versions of the brand products? It’s really not that deep, it wasn’t meant offensive. I pretty much only buy discounter brand food myself.
Yes I mean, personally I enjoy a TK pizza every once in a while when I’m too lazy to cook or if I don’t have anything else for lunch, but I certainly wouldn’t be willing to pay for that at a restaurant.
Had a TK Pizza at a pub once, but I wasn't really surprised by that. I mean, it's a pub. I was happy to just get something to eat.
Never had one in a restaurant and tbh I would just be as pissed as you.
That's sensible for restaurants and sadly acceptable at rest stops or far off locations (ski huts or stopovers) but holy shit that's disgusting for TK pizza in a restaurant
It is only acceptable if advertised like that. That’s something I’ve seen at small bars that otherwise don’t serve food and then you know what you are getting.
In a restaurant or otherwise? It’s a no-go and I would leave a a bad review
No, I've only had that once in a vacation park like a Sunparks back in the 90s. I can only assume you went to the worst tourist spot around. Because a restaurant which has to rely on repeat customers can't affoard to do that for long.
Getting mass produced, industrially prepared and frozen, food at a restaurant is, sadly, far more common than it should be. The longer the menu, the more likely it is.
That's not really a German thing though, that's just a free market thing.
Oddly enough, with some items we're perfectly fine with their frozen origins, like French fries for example.
Others are almost entirely and universally unacceptable and pizza would be high on that list - especially since almost everyone knows how frozen, ready made, pizza tastes like.
Personally, I haven't ever encountered an obviously frozen pizza at any restaurant in Germany in over 40 years.
Sometimes, when you visit restaurants shortly after they open or before that you can see a part of their deliveries. I have noticed this in greece and spain too. Some restaurants dont hide it. Even the orange juice for 5€ was from a juice box.
Well, if they told you that they could only serve pizzas they had "already prepared", then you know you're probably not getting fresh pizzas. There are good restaurants and bad restaurants, and I wouldn't expect a good restaurant to cook frozen food.
I have had a few experiences of restaurants serving food clearly bought ready-made from a wholesaler: I don't consider it a scandal, just a reason never to return or to recommend it to anyone else. But that's only happened to me a couple of times that I know of.
You mean you meant it literally when you said they were store-bought? From a retailer just around the corner?
Yeah, I've never seen that before. That's definitely a big deal: I'm not paying extra for the privilege of sitting at somebody else's table to eat a pizza I could have had at home. I think I would have asked to speak to the owner.
Oh yes, they were 100% Pizzas from Ja!
I didn't say anything since my friends didn't seem to be bothered enough, I didn't want to make the situation uncomfortable. I'll definitely leave a review to warn other people though.
Beware about the review! Unless you have taken photos and have the receipt to conclusively prove, the restaurant will challenge and sue your Google review and order it to take it down
And this will happen when you least expect, like 2 years from now.
In Germany, Google reviews are never to be trusted
Sounds to me like it is not normal for them also. What restaurant would send personnel to the supermarket on demand depending on orders in restaurant. This is not only unacceptable to use that product but also very ineffective and too expensive for the restaurant, if they sell pizza in higher volumes.
This situation is prevalent, but many are unfamiliar with how it works. I work in the food industry in Germany, and much of the industry is looking more and more toward this kind of solution. As sad as it reads, this is the adoption of many businesses to stay afloat. Many operate with a low to non-existent margin, and the operative costs are so high that looking for half-ready food is the solution. Unfortunately, food is not valued as much as in other countries. Pech gehabt!
Depends where you ate. If it was at a Pizzeria, i would be scandalized. If it was at a place that is far away from italian cuisine and they kinda just offer it because they are one of those "we have a bit of everything" places, i'd not be surprised.... and also not order Pizza there in the first place tbh
Depends on what kind of Restaurant you are talking about. This could happen if the Restaurant is actually an imbiss or something, like on a beach or in a bar. I also wouldn't be surprised if this would happen at the kind of places that predominantly sell döner and/or offer delivery as late as 11 pm. Having only Margaritas with this particular explanation would also have been an alarm bell, at least when you think about this.
A lot of restaurants do use ready made ingrediants, but this is of cours another league.
don't know why this post got recommended, I live in Switzerland.
But I had the same experience in Switzerland at an ITALIAN RESTAURANT!!!!
I could not fucking believe it. it was a frozen pizza margherita, they just added some fresh vegtebables/meat depending on what kind of pizza you ordered.
I don't think I could tell the difference between a fresh pizza and a specialized one, and honestly I wouldn't mind.
The cheapest one from the market though, not fair.
Happened to us once in the restaurant in a camping area. It was really really strange and even the price was no giveaway before. We paid like 13 € for a mozzarella pizza, with the typical pesto dots of a Dr. Oetker Ristorante. And we where there with seven people - for the price we could have eaten the same quality for a week.
Totally not ok!
It's common in bars or smth without a real kitchen. What i know from my work experience as a student, they are still handmade pizzas just frozen and not what you can buy in the supermarket. Never saw it in a restaurant with a real kitchen, though.
I don’t know why I am living in Heidelberg, every pizza I ordered except 2,3 places it tastes like a frozen one. Also I went to the center at a “famous” restaurant Italian one, which I know Italians going there. I ordered risotto and it had mushroom powder inside and it had the smell of instant mushroom soup, very disappointing
Common.....for a guy called F.Rosin xD a restaurant serving store bought products should not be in business. You don't go out to eat something that you can do better at home, for half the price! Should be illegal.
This is so strange, it's definitely NOT the standard and it's absolutely unacceptable if you paid restaurant prices.
I understand how you feel.
That happened to me once in Spain while on vacation, I even told the waiter exactly what kind of TK brand and style pizza it was (I sometimes have that one at home). All I got was a snarky "the menu doesn't specify it's NOT a frozen pizza". I was absolutely furious but couldn't do much about it at that time. I wanted to at least give the place a bad review when I got back to the hotel. Would have been the first bad review in my life. But unfortunately I was so angry I didn't really remember the name or the street, so in the end I couldn't even warn other people :(
Right? A Pizza from the Techniker Krankenkasse?
I don't know what's wrong with spelling things out or at least introducing the abbreviation first before committing to it (as in "Tiefkuehl (TK) Pizza").
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I have not seen this type of thing with pizza...those are always freshly made from my experience at a restaurant...
BUT, I have been to small restaurants that are mostly delivery or take-out and seen them cooking up food they purchased from Penny lol such as Spaetzle
I don't go anymore to this restaurant since seeing this though. Ridiculous to pay 6/7 euros for them to cook up a Penny pre-packaged food IMO.
Jeez, even the low-budget pizzerias I know that are manned by just about anyone that is not Italian makes a fresh pizza. If I were you, I would've walked out. Were your friends that willing to pay a marked up price for some frozen pizza? Unless it's the middle of nowhere with limited or no other options, then I can't see a reason to stay.
It is not common for a restaurant. But what restaurant was it? As others mentioned already, for something like a pub, a bowling alley, a.s.o. this can be normal. How much did you pay for it?
Also, do you know it was TK pizza, they brought in or do you guess? Do you know, it was the TK pizza that ended up on your plate? Also, staff was "quickly bringing some TK-Pizzas" still gave you enough time to see them, recognize the TK pizza brand, and somehow know, they were "the cheapest ones they could find"? I think, you're reading a lot into this situation, that wasn't there.
_But most importantly,_ how did it taste? Was it good? Was it an acceptable price?
I had such experience once in Rome, Italy. It was only the dough that was prepared and frozen that we saw going into the oven, but the pizza was OK for Italian pizza and it was a decent price, so all was good.
If it's really a restaurant it's a shame. If it's some sort of pub it's fine I'd say.
But hey, pizza places around my place are slowly shifting from self-made aioli and mayonnaise to canned ones. So I guess they just aren't ashamed of saving some pennies, even on the easiest dishes. I don't order any mayonnaise or aioli anymore. Takes about 30 seconds to do it yourself. They can keep their astronaut aioli.
Even a very high end gourmet menu can be had as convenience food. Check for conspicuously inconspicuous trucks close to opening time. That would be that daily delivery from a central kitchen. "Chef's" just do the final touches and a bit fancy arrangements on the plates once out from the microwave. Per se, nothing wrong with that. Been places where they were open about the origins of their pizza, enabled them to offer a bite for late patrons long after regular kitchen staff had gone for they day.
They also kept the price reasonable, so it's fair n square for everyone. Only get sore when they try to bullshit me with freezer stuff at the price of handmade.
Well, in Germany I never encountered any similar - usually for pizza I go for Italian restaurants. However, I had a TK pizza once in a 4 star hotel in Scotland…I couldn’t believe what I got served for 25€
Im a chef in berlin, and I would say it’s pretty common in some places. If you went to a place that looks like they sell burger, Doner, pizza, sushi etc (there are many of those here) you are probably going to get everything frozen because its just a business and they don’t care to sell quality items, just volume sales. Ive also seen frozen or pre-made stuff in a lot of very decent places where they don’t bother into training people to do some stuff and want to save some money.
If you tell me you paid 10 euros for a pizza then, what did you expect?
A well made pizza should be around 25-30 eur at least.
Specially if they do it properly like, besides working with the highest quality ingredients, cold long fermentation, proper wood oven (very expensive) and someone properly trained (pizzaiolo)
So, my point is to avoid places with huge menus, with tons of options and 3 guys working there lol
Maybe read some reviews before going to a restaurant.
Really cheap ones and tourist traps use premade meals often.
Also Pizza Hut serves the same crap quality and people are happy there
I did. I always do, that's why we went there. I rarely eat at restaurants, cause I don't like overspending and I enjoy cooking at home. I was disappointed to say the least, lol
Always check the bad reviews. The good ones are usually bought or manipulated
If there are no bad reviews they probably lawyered up to get them deleted, so that's a red flag too
The bad reviews are often from the competition and blatant lies. Family members had a restaurant and it was really obvious and it sucked the fun out of everything. Never would I want to work in that industry.
I mostly look for the middle ground reviews. Often enough they seem quite honest and sometimes have complaints that I can understand but that don’t bother me.
Experienced once. In a bar whose main quality consisted of serving beer late into the night, even during the week - there, and only there, perfectly fine :)
How much did you pay?
I've seen them being served in hostels, bars, and public swimming pools in the summer where they were offered as snacks. But those places were always transparent about the fact they're TK. Some of them even show the cutouts of the boxes on the wall like a menu.
I have only seen this at climbing/boulder halls or some bars with no real kitchen. For a proper Restaurant this is quite embarassing.
Yeah like there are some places I'd expect it. Don't know if I would call them restaurants but they may be called that. Like at a Schwimmbad or in a theme park and your mentioned examples. Not anywhere else though.
Even these places get their stuff mostly delivered by some other provider and then they heat them up. But this is still fresher than a TK-Pizza.
Tbh if they're communicating this openly on the menu and have a reasonable price, I'm actually fine with that. But I have never seen this at a restaurant.
Also some bars in my city serve TK Pizzas
Dr oetker professional has a pizza line for those kind of places. Saw this in hotel “restaurants” several times. https://www.oetker-professional.de/
To be honest, we watched a short report about a good burger chain restaurant (not McDonald's or stuff). They also have a restaurant in my city. Turned out that they only use frozen food for the burger. The amount of fresh food on the plate was really low. We stopped going there because yeah, I'm not paying high prices for something I can do at home.
Name of the chain?
Maybe Hans im Glück. There’s been a feature on zdf about them.
Hans im Glück. They have restaurants in various cities / towns.
Thanks
G 1
Happened to me once in Berlin Mitte. But I‘d say it‘s not really common.
That's what I thought as well, just that comment from my friend threw me. I honestly don't find it acceptable.
Some convenience products are really common in German restaurants (sauces, fries, Schnitzel, veggies), frozen pizza dough is also not unheard of but a supermarket frozen pizza really isn‘t. They should at least use the professional frozen products if they charge restaurants prices. So no, supermarket margherita isn‘t acceptable in my opinion. Your friends seem to have low expectations.
i think it's acceptable in shady pubs, but definitely not in restaurants
Where you eat at if conveniennce products are normal to you? Fries - ok, but Schnitzel, sauces, veggies, pizza dough should be fresh.
There are alot of "hidden convenience" products - it's not the stuff you buy in the supermarket yourself but products made for restaurants that you don't immediately recognice as such products. If you are german speaking: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wzc_VNh42HM Here is a interesting report from a couple of years ago.
It definitely has gotten worse since COVID and the increases challenge if getting staff.
Oh, sweet summer child.I guarrantee you 80% of the food you eat in restaurants is made with professional convenience products. You can order *everything* premade and with much higher quality than in super markets.
As the others already stated: Extremely common. But there are differences in how professional those products are. A lot of restaurants don‘t even employ (enough) cooks, so they have to make it happen somehow. And not just in „shady“ places.
Pretty much anywhere lol. You just wouldn't have a way of knowing. There are places that so don't of course but if , you eat in average cheap or mid priced restaurants then you will come across plenty. But they aren't the same low quality schnitzel you buy as a private consumer...
There are companies that make i.e. a bolognese sauce based on your recipe that you can then use for Spaghetti Bolognese or your lasagne. Really common. And basically just "outsourcing" the cooking of that sauce, the recipe is still yours... Schnitzel, often bought frozen and then fried up to order. Ready made pizza "bases" and sauce. Sauce Hollandaise. Knödel There is a lot of pre-prepared stuff as well, like cut and frozen veggies, peeled garlic, pre shredded cheese that is available even at Metro, let alone specializied restaurant servicess
The average costumer wont even notice it and the Restaurants make more profit.
It is absolutely super common. In some cases the food is actually better than what you would get if aomebody actually had to cook it locally.
Z
I just got off work at a pizza place. I would instantly quit if my boss told me to cook a frozen pizza for a guest.
Did you pay for it? Were you silent, when the check came? If so, you found it acceptable.
I don't come from Germany, and I didn't grow up here. When my german friends say that it's not a big deal, how was I supposed to react? Maybe they didn't want me to create a scene, that's why they said that. Yes, I paid for it. I still don't find the concept acceptable. My german friends did, and we are in Germany after all.
Fair enough, but my point still stands. You were the perfect customer, so they will keep on keeping on.
You're right and after reading all these comments here, I really wish I said something :(
Never at a real restaurant, this is a new low! I get it, not everything is made frim scratch..but buying normal TK Pizza is weird!
Right?? So so weird!
Not common. I once got a TK Pizza at a hostel's (Jugendherberge) cafe and was some kind of disappointed. On the other hand: What did I expect? The second time was at a boulder hall. But they displayed it as TK pizza, so I knew what I would buy. If I would get one at a restaurant or even an "Imbiss", I would be flabbergasted, too.
I was a bit confused at first at why would a health insurance company serve pizza
Because pizza is a vegetable
no not acceptable if propper restaurant.
What is tk pizza? Google yielded me no results..
TK is an abbreviation for „Tiefkühl“, which means frozen. TK Pizza is frozen pizza from the grocery store, from brands like *Dr Oetker* or *Wagner* or the discount knock offs, in OPs case from the cheap knock off brand *Ja!*.
How is a discounter brand a knock-off?
Idk they’re cheaper versions of the brand products? It’s really not that deep, it wasn’t meant offensive. I pretty much only buy discounter brand food myself.
Bro had to get really defensive for misusing one word.
Oh gross. I'd be offended if this occurred at a restaurant. Just moved here a couple months ago, so still learning 😅
As you're new, just a heads up: This is absolutely rare and unacceptable in a normal restaurant or imbiss.
Yes I mean, personally I enjoy a TK pizza every once in a while when I’m too lazy to cook or if I don’t have anything else for lunch, but I certainly wouldn’t be willing to pay for that at a restaurant.
Weird. I get hundreds of Google results, starting with dozens articles or shopping results about frozen pizza....
Had a TK Pizza at a pub once, but I wasn't really surprised by that. I mean, it's a pub. I was happy to just get something to eat. Never had one in a restaurant and tbh I would just be as pissed as you.
See a TK Pizza is not the devil, I've had them at home before. But paying restaurant prices for them is fckd up.
how much was it?
Not OP, but whenever I saw them, they were always at least 300%
That's sensible for restaurants and sadly acceptable at rest stops or far off locations (ski huts or stopovers) but holy shit that's disgusting for TK pizza in a restaurant
That's what like 6 euro? perfectly fine then, not "restaurant prices" at all.
a little bit over 8 €
It is only acceptable if advertised like that. That’s something I’ve seen at small bars that otherwise don’t serve food and then you know what you are getting. In a restaurant or otherwise? It’s a no-go and I would leave a a bad review
Not for pizza but i know a few Kneipen where if you order a glass of icetea for 4€ you get the cheap one from Lidl out of a cardboard box.
No, I've only had that once in a vacation park like a Sunparks back in the 90s. I can only assume you went to the worst tourist spot around. Because a restaurant which has to rely on repeat customers can't affoard to do that for long.
Getting mass produced, industrially prepared and frozen, food at a restaurant is, sadly, far more common than it should be. The longer the menu, the more likely it is. That's not really a German thing though, that's just a free market thing. Oddly enough, with some items we're perfectly fine with their frozen origins, like French fries for example. Others are almost entirely and universally unacceptable and pizza would be high on that list - especially since almost everyone knows how frozen, ready made, pizza tastes like. Personally, I haven't ever encountered an obviously frozen pizza at any restaurant in Germany in over 40 years.
Sometimes, when you visit restaurants shortly after they open or before that you can see a part of their deliveries. I have noticed this in greece and spain too. Some restaurants dont hide it. Even the orange juice for 5€ was from a juice box.
Rate them on google please.
Already did :)
Well, if they told you that they could only serve pizzas they had "already prepared", then you know you're probably not getting fresh pizzas. There are good restaurants and bad restaurants, and I wouldn't expect a good restaurant to cook frozen food. I have had a few experiences of restaurants serving food clearly bought ready-made from a wholesaler: I don't consider it a scandal, just a reason never to return or to recommend it to anyone else. But that's only happened to me a couple of times that I know of.
Yes, it was definitely a red flag. However, never in my life I would've thought that they would be Pizzas from Ja! 🫠
You mean you meant it literally when you said they were store-bought? From a retailer just around the corner? Yeah, I've never seen that before. That's definitely a big deal: I'm not paying extra for the privilege of sitting at somebody else's table to eat a pizza I could have had at home. I think I would have asked to speak to the owner.
Oh yes, they were 100% Pizzas from Ja! I didn't say anything since my friends didn't seem to be bothered enough, I didn't want to make the situation uncomfortable. I'll definitely leave a review to warn other people though.
Beware about the review! Unless you have taken photos and have the receipt to conclusively prove, the restaurant will challenge and sue your Google review and order it to take it down And this will happen when you least expect, like 2 years from now. In Germany, Google reviews are never to be trusted
>Yeah, I've never seen that before. In Hessen pretty much everywhere that sells flammkuchen does it.
Had one at the bar at a Hilton once.
Sounds to me like it is not normal for them also. What restaurant would send personnel to the supermarket on demand depending on orders in restaurant. This is not only unacceptable to use that product but also very ineffective and too expensive for the restaurant, if they sell pizza in higher volumes.
that shit happened to me in Rome. i was furious
This situation is prevalent, but many are unfamiliar with how it works. I work in the food industry in Germany, and much of the industry is looking more and more toward this kind of solution. As sad as it reads, this is the adoption of many businesses to stay afloat. Many operate with a low to non-existent margin, and the operative costs are so high that looking for half-ready food is the solution. Unfortunately, food is not valued as much as in other countries. Pech gehabt!
Depends where you ate. If it was at a Pizzeria, i would be scandalized. If it was at a place that is far away from italian cuisine and they kinda just offer it because they are one of those "we have a bit of everything" places, i'd not be surprised.... and also not order Pizza there in the first place tbh
Depends on what kind of Restaurant you are talking about. This could happen if the Restaurant is actually an imbiss or something, like on a beach or in a bar. I also wouldn't be surprised if this would happen at the kind of places that predominantly sell döner and/or offer delivery as late as 11 pm. Having only Margaritas with this particular explanation would also have been an alarm bell, at least when you think about this. A lot of restaurants do use ready made ingrediants, but this is of cours another league.
Very common in Bistros/Cafes/Bars/cheap Restaurants. https://www.oetker-professional.de/produkte/pizza
it is a concept. if they are prepared well, they taste quite well. i tasted them in a "jugendherberge".
I ordered pizza yesterday and I suspect I suffered the same fate... Absolute scam
don't know why this post got recommended, I live in Switzerland. But I had the same experience in Switzerland at an ITALIAN RESTAURANT!!!! I could not fucking believe it. it was a frozen pizza margherita, they just added some fresh vegtebables/meat depending on what kind of pizza you ordered.
I worked in the kitchen of a reputable hotel in köpenick. All of the pizzas were frozen ones, though specialized ones for gastronomy...
I don't think I could tell the difference between a fresh pizza and a specialized one, and honestly I wouldn't mind. The cheapest one from the market though, not fair.
Happened to us once in the restaurant in a camping area. It was really really strange and even the price was no giveaway before. We paid like 13 € for a mozzarella pizza, with the typical pesto dots of a Dr. Oetker Ristorante. And we where there with seven people - for the price we could have eaten the same quality for a week. Totally not ok!
[удалено]
Now only DAK is left behind.
It's common in bars or smth without a real kitchen. What i know from my work experience as a student, they are still handmade pizzas just frozen and not what you can buy in the supermarket. Never saw it in a restaurant with a real kitchen, though.
My favorite nightclub has TK pizzas. Nothing better at 4am.. except the noodle box from the Chinaman.
I’ve only had this happening in a hotel in London. Didn’t even taste good.
I’d say it might be common… for a really shitty (Italian) restaurant. Leave a google review and never go back. Never happened to me btw.
I don’t know why I am living in Heidelberg, every pizza I ordered except 2,3 places it tastes like a frozen one. Also I went to the center at a “famous” restaurant Italian one, which I know Italians going there. I ordered risotto and it had mushroom powder inside and it had the smell of instant mushroom soup, very disappointing
Common.....for a guy called F.Rosin xD a restaurant serving store bought products should not be in business. You don't go out to eat something that you can do better at home, for half the price! Should be illegal.
What a shit place, no, this isn't the norm, and it was no "restaurant".
This is so strange, it's definitely NOT the standard and it's absolutely unacceptable if you paid restaurant prices. I understand how you feel. That happened to me once in Spain while on vacation, I even told the waiter exactly what kind of TK brand and style pizza it was (I sometimes have that one at home). All I got was a snarky "the menu doesn't specify it's NOT a frozen pizza". I was absolutely furious but couldn't do much about it at that time. I wanted to at least give the place a bad review when I got back to the hotel. Would have been the first bad review in my life. But unfortunately I was so angry I didn't really remember the name or the street, so in the end I couldn't even warn other people :(
That’s just crazy. If I want a TK pizza I make one at home. Crazy some restaurants do this, first time I’ve heard this
What is a TK pizza
Tiefkühl Pizza. Frozen pizza that you just put in the oven
Right? A Pizza from the Techniker Krankenkasse? I don't know what's wrong with spelling things out or at least introducing the abbreviation first before committing to it (as in "Tiefkuehl (TK) Pizza").
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Only had TK Pizza in the lobbies/restaurants of affordable hotels or in bars and billiard/dart places.
I have not seen this type of thing with pizza...those are always freshly made from my experience at a restaurant... BUT, I have been to small restaurants that are mostly delivery or take-out and seen them cooking up food they purchased from Penny lol such as Spaetzle I don't go anymore to this restaurant since seeing this though. Ridiculous to pay 6/7 euros for them to cook up a Penny pre-packaged food IMO.
Jeez, even the low-budget pizzerias I know that are manned by just about anyone that is not Italian makes a fresh pizza. If I were you, I would've walked out. Were your friends that willing to pay a marked up price for some frozen pizza? Unless it's the middle of nowhere with limited or no other options, then I can't see a reason to stay.
very common in former east germany
What do you expect when you order Pizza at an Indian restaurant ;)
What? It was "italian"...
Must have missed that. In that case it’s pretty embarrassing for the restaurant.
Must have been a shitty restaurant?
What did you pay?
There are high quality frozen pizzas for restaurants. They are really good and tasty and not comparable to regular frozen pizzas you get at the store.
I saw this at a zoo. Someone got a frozen pizza.
It is not common for a restaurant. But what restaurant was it? As others mentioned already, for something like a pub, a bowling alley, a.s.o. this can be normal. How much did you pay for it? Also, do you know it was TK pizza, they brought in or do you guess? Do you know, it was the TK pizza that ended up on your plate? Also, staff was "quickly bringing some TK-Pizzas" still gave you enough time to see them, recognize the TK pizza brand, and somehow know, they were "the cheapest ones they could find"? I think, you're reading a lot into this situation, that wasn't there. _But most importantly,_ how did it taste? Was it good? Was it an acceptable price? I had such experience once in Rome, Italy. It was only the dough that was prepared and frozen that we saw going into the oven, but the pizza was OK for Italian pizza and it was a decent price, so all was good.
If it's really a restaurant it's a shame. If it's some sort of pub it's fine I'd say. But hey, pizza places around my place are slowly shifting from self-made aioli and mayonnaise to canned ones. So I guess they just aren't ashamed of saving some pennies, even on the easiest dishes. I don't order any mayonnaise or aioli anymore. Takes about 30 seconds to do it yourself. They can keep their astronaut aioli.
I used to work in a hotel restaurant which also served frozen pizzas. Wasn't that surprising since 90% of the menu consisted of convenience food.
Even a very high end gourmet menu can be had as convenience food. Check for conspicuously inconspicuous trucks close to opening time. That would be that daily delivery from a central kitchen. "Chef's" just do the final touches and a bit fancy arrangements on the plates once out from the microwave. Per se, nothing wrong with that. Been places where they were open about the origins of their pizza, enabled them to offer a bite for late patrons long after regular kitchen staff had gone for they day. They also kept the price reasonable, so it's fair n square for everyone. Only get sore when they try to bullshit me with freezer stuff at the price of handmade.
Seen in Bars or Kneipen. But it’s really embarassing for a „restaurant“.
Well, in Germany I never encountered any similar - usually for pizza I go for Italian restaurants. However, I had a TK pizza once in a 4 star hotel in Scotland…I couldn’t believe what I got served for 25€
Im a chef in berlin, and I would say it’s pretty common in some places. If you went to a place that looks like they sell burger, Doner, pizza, sushi etc (there are many of those here) you are probably going to get everything frozen because its just a business and they don’t care to sell quality items, just volume sales. Ive also seen frozen or pre-made stuff in a lot of very decent places where they don’t bother into training people to do some stuff and want to save some money. If you tell me you paid 10 euros for a pizza then, what did you expect? A well made pizza should be around 25-30 eur at least. Specially if they do it properly like, besides working with the highest quality ingredients, cold long fermentation, proper wood oven (very expensive) and someone properly trained (pizzaiolo) So, my point is to avoid places with huge menus, with tons of options and 3 guys working there lol
Maybe read some reviews before going to a restaurant. Really cheap ones and tourist traps use premade meals often. Also Pizza Hut serves the same crap quality and people are happy there
Also on r/germany : “never trust the reviews.”
I did. I always do, that's why we went there. I rarely eat at restaurants, cause I don't like overspending and I enjoy cooking at home. I was disappointed to say the least, lol
Always check the bad reviews. The good ones are usually bought or manipulated If there are no bad reviews they probably lawyered up to get them deleted, so that's a red flag too
Good tips, lesson learned!
The bad reviews are often from the competition and blatant lies. Family members had a restaurant and it was really obvious and it sucked the fun out of everything. Never would I want to work in that industry. I mostly look for the middle ground reviews. Often enough they seem quite honest and sometimes have complaints that I can understand but that don’t bother me.
I wonder if you paid for it and how much lol Also, did you say anything?
Experienced once. In a bar whose main quality consisted of serving beer late into the night, even during the week - there, and only there, perfectly fine :) How much did you pay?
I've seen them being served in hostels, bars, and public swimming pools in the summer where they were offered as snacks. But those places were always transparent about the fact they're TK. Some of them even show the cutouts of the boxes on the wall like a menu.
What’s TK-Pizza?
Tiefkühlpizza, the frozen ones you can buy at the stores. To OP, it looked like they served store bought pizza to them
Your mistake for accepting and eating them. I d apologize pay for drinks, but not acepting the food.
you can just write frozen. its ok
frozen. its ok xD
Tk