Slightly? Try twice the price most of the time. :dubious:
I’d prefer Macaroni Grill any day. But that’s like saying I’d prefer Fuddruckers to McDonalds. It’s an unfair comparison.
And I’m going to point out that, in this thread, as in others, it’s not a good idea to make a generalization about a chain on the basis of experience with one or two restaurants in a given geographical area. I’m not saying that’s the basis for your statement, Stranger, but others here say something like, “I ate there once and it was awful.” Chains often are franchised, and, thus have little ability to control the result at every member of the chain. I’ve had bad food at Macaroni Grill. But I don’t tar the chain because of one poorly run restaurant (on one day at one given point in time). It might make me think twice about eating at that particular location again, depending upon how my complaint was handled.
For me, a chain as a whole is worthwhile when you can get much the same positive dining experience regularly when you eat at its locations, and it serves food you like to eat, that is a good value for the price you are paying. McDonalds is a good chain, because although the food is generally at best average in quality, you get the same thing every one you go to. Burger King is less reliable in my experience, so I tend not to eat in BK if I can help it, despite the fact I think the food generally tastes better (I prefer char-broiled to fried hamburgers).
With this in mind, I will nominate as worthwhile the following:
Bob Evans: almost always decent tasting food and reasonably priced. I wish I liked the Wildfire sauce so I could enjoy more of the menu, but they have absolutely the best yeast rolls you’ll ever have in a chain.
Biaggi’s Ristorante Italiano: Scrumptuous food, reasonable prices for it (not much more than Max & Erma’s). I’d get fat on the bread and Biaggi’s version of dipping oil mixture.
Panera: Good food, eclectic sandwich menu, bakery goods at the same location. Spreading like wildfire.
I might think of one more and add it later. I did think of it. Round Table Pizza. Wish they existed in Ohio. 
And as for Olive Garden, eh, it’s not bad, and it’s relatively cheap. You want quality pasta, go someplace more expensive. You want simple and easy, go to Olive Garden. Now, by comparison, Applebee’s is simply overpriced for what you get, a very poor attempt to cash in on the TGIFriday’s mania in the 80s. And I never can help wondering what “neighborhood” it is that they think you are eating in, since they are all located in typical high-commercial/business sections of the city. 
We are silly farangs (my brother, SO and I, my mother is a native and conceeded to us eating junk every once in a while).