[development] Question about Drupal performance

From the admin staff on a web host I am using I got a message saying: "Personally I'll recommend Drupal when pigs can fly, because I believe it is just that ... a pig. Slow even when I tried it on my dedicated server... its very full featured, but it is hardly peppy, at the best of times... and, I'm not aware of many Drupal sites on the platform -- there are definitely better choices performance wise at the current juncture." Can you comment on this, please? I am just going to setup some more Drupal site and got a bit frustrated. - L