The Italian Dish You Should Avoid Ordering At A Diner

On the list of food to avoid ordering at a diner, you probably figure that pasta marinara — plain old "spaghetti," as it might be called in some quarters — is pretty benign. Unlike dinner rolls, which may be dry and tasteless, or eggs Benedict, which are simply too challenging for some short-order cooks to get just right, pasta and red sauce are pretty tough to mess up. You simply follow the instructions on the box to cook your noodles to the perfect al dente texture, then whip up a sauce by simmering down some canned tomatoes with garlic and herbs ... right?

Unlike some popular foods that aren't actually Italian (chicken parmigiana, we're looking at you!), both spaghetti and pasta marinara, whichever name you prefer, are both Italian in origin (though the spaghetti and meatballs combination is actually American in origin). Diner marinara, however, is unlikely to be anything approaching authentic. Due to time and space constraints, there's a chance that the sauce on your pasta was poured straight from a jar or can... which is pretty disappointing when sauce is meant to be the star! 

Now, the best store-bought pasta sauce brand is pretty darn tasty, but we've got both Rao's and Ragu at home. This makes ordering pasta with red sauce at a diner a poor value, unless you are pretty certain the establishment makes its own sauce. In other words, both pasta and jarred marinara are theoretically cheap ingredients that the diner is selling at a big markup. You'd do better to go with another quick-serve diner favorite, like Salisbury steak or an open-faced turkey sandwich.

Again, the reality that some fast-paced diners use store-bought pasta sauce is not a hard and fast rule. While Italian families in America have historically gravitated towards opening pizza joints, Italian delis, and nicer sit-down restaurants when starting a family business, there are certainly diners owned by folks who know what they are doing with tomatoes and garlic. Arguably, just about every hole-in-the-wall diner has its specialty dish, and it's entirely possible that somebody's Nonna passed down an heirloom recipe for sauce that's simmering in the kitchen as you peruse the menu. If so, you can bet that said menu will brag about it as a selling point, and you will readily know that ordering the spaghetti is a great choice. If the diner in question boasts about its gyros or its award-winning burger, however? There's probably less of a chance that it specializes in pasta and went through the effort to make scratch marinara. Of course, you could always politely ask your server if the pasta sauce is house-made.

Ultimately, you should order whatever makes you happy at any restaurant, from the humblest diner to the most illustrious Michelin-starred white-cloth eatery. Whether you ask for a grilled cheese sandwich or foie gras is irrelevant if it's not food that you enjoy. A menu item may be a bad value, financially speaking, but that doesn't necessarily mean it won't taste good or please your palate. Just approach pasta marinara with your eyes open and make an educated choice.