My experience is that no fuss food can be fantastic (I have really fond memories of things like hot dogs, pastrami sandwiches, breakfast burritos, and cheesesteak sandwiches) but fancy restaurants were mostly disappointments. Following tourist trails in an American city I definitely can see how someone could not come anywhere near anything tasty.

> I guess we have different definitions of substance and flavour. I can't imagine anything being more boring than Cheesecake Factory.

It’s the exotic factor. If you’ve never really had a real cheesecake, it is a novel experience. Once was enough, but I enjoyed it.