By Reagan Payne.

Food, water, atmosphere. The order matters more to some than others.

If you know it, you know: a clip comes to us from Spongebob Season 2: Patty Hype (maybe better known as “Pretty Patties.” A disillusioned, near-dying fish crawls into the Krusty Krab after crying for food or water. Yet, he looks around, horrified.

“A Krabby Patty?” Then he turns and crawls away sobbing for “Food, water, atmosphere!” 

But, atmosphere alone is never strong enough to save your experience from terrible food or flat sparkling water. Food and water, on the other hand, can absolutely save a bad atmosphere.

Some of the best meals of your life happen in places that might fail a random health inspection check. But I say: let the lights flicker, may the menus be yellowed, and stop being so damn high and mighty. Stop treating “hole in the wall” like it’s something hateful.

Family businesses sometimes don’t have the time to think of some branding scheme that might cost them $1M+ from a marketing agency. They’re going to use the same chairs, menus… basically copy a template of every other restaurant like it. But there’s a family making generational recipes (or at least teaching them to their line cooks) that want to keep your family and theirs fed. 

Those places that photograph a little too well but everything is for sure frozen? They book tables and pay Instagram influencers. And, yeah, it is all frozen AND from the same factory; ever heard of Sysco? Every city is now flooded with these places. 

Restaurants like these thrive because people care more about where they’re seen than whether they enjoy themselves or not. The high-contrasting colors on the wall and sorry excuse for food are somehow enough to make folks feel fancy. Well, folks, it’s time to ignore how a restaurant might look in your reels and find some food that will put you in your feels.

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