Sale days are everywhere with these chains. Taco Tuesday - All regular tacos .59 each. Burrito Thursday - All bean burritos .69 ea. Fiesta Friday - Fiesta Packs - $3.59 (4 tacos, 3 bean burritos). Those are just the ones I see on the local Del Taco web site.
Nando’s isn’t fast food in the usual sense; you can get your food to go but you have to wait for them to make it.
Their main thing is flame-grilled (non-breaded) peri-peri chicken - you can pick the level of spice from plain to extra hot. They do quarter, half or whole chickens, plus chicken breast burgers or pitas or wraps plus an assortment of other stuff. So if you don’t like chicken, you probably aren’t going to Nando’s.
I don’t know of a close equivalent - maybe Famous Daves or some BBQ chicken chain, although the sauce is different than your usual BBQ chicken and they don’t do much in the way of other meats (although I’m told their veggie options are good - they do bean burgers and portobello and halloumi burgers in lieu of birdflesh).
Canadian not US but…
Higher end
The Keg
Canyon Creek (only Toronto locations but I’m betting on them spreading)
Fast food
Lick’s Homeburgers
Mr. Greek
Swiss Chalet
Subway
and of course Tim Hortons
I also like the chili at Wendys
When we visit the US I always look for a couple that made the worst list. Cheesecake Factory and Olive Garden.
For the Cheesecake factory I find that there’s a ton of food, and whatever you might feel like is on the list and we split a piece of cheesecake for dessert. I can’t remember what dish I had in Las Vegas but it came with a condiment they called bacon jam which seemed to be a reduction of tomatoes, bacon and balsamic vinegar with something else. It was heavenly and I need to find a way to recreate it.
Olive Garden I’m just in it for the salad and breadsticks. Their pasta is acceptable but not exceptional but I always bring a bottle of the salad dressing home.
I’m personally a fan of Ohana Hawaiian BBQ (the California incarnation, anyway; there seem to be a few different places with the same name). Good food, good prices, big portions. Spam Musubi isn’t really my cup of tea, but that’s where you can go to get it in a hurry.
Do y’all have Landry’s and Joe’s Crab Shack up north? I really prefer seafood from places that serve only local seafood, and as I stated above, Pappadeaux is the best chain seafood. I think Red Lobster is out ov business down here due to local competition from Landry’s and Joe’s.
And I gotta plug Taco Cabana. Thanks to this thread I understand they have spread as far west as Nevada and as far east as Georgia. And everyone should try Whataburger if you’re in the south.
Is there a difference between The KEG in Canada vs the locations in the U.S.A.? I’ve eaten at a couple of locations in Colorado, and I like them just fine. Has anyone tried one in both countries that can contrast?
Roy Rodgers.
Moonlitherial, is your list supposed to be restaurants that have places in Canada but not in the U.S.? Because clearly it’s not that at all.
From their web site, it looks like they indeed have locations in Arizona, Colorado, Texas and Washington (as well as all Canadian provinces except P.E.I.).
I enjoyed the heck out of P. F. Changs back when the Atkins Diet was the rage.
The lettuce wraps were amazingly well prepared.
But, then, that was a few years ago.
It depends what is meant by “chain restaurant” in the OP. Complicating my ability to assess what was looked for in the OP is the fact that I have never seen or heard of any of the ones given as examples of “good chain restaurants”.
Anyway, by arbitrarily applying a definition of “I’ve seen them in at least 3 different states that I’ve been to, and meals cost $20 or less per person including tax and tip”, and then distinguishing between fast food/takeout joints and sit-down restaurants with table service, here are my likes/dislikes/mehs:
Fast food: White Castle, Five Guys, Roy Rogers… Even KFC. Yes, I said KFC. I actually like their mashed potatoes, cole slaw and baked beans sides, and while I typically prefer Popeye’s and Roy Rogers for fried chicken, their chicken is not bad and very consistent (especially the extra crispy recipe).
Totally cannot stand and will not touch Domino’s or **Papa John’s **pizza. I have given both of them several chances, including after ad campaigns touting a reworked formula. Bzzzzt. Pizza Hut pan pizza I like when brought in a pan to the table, but NOT the “personal pizzas” taken to go or the pizza they deliver (which seem just like Domino’s to me). In that vein I haven’t been to a Pizzeria Uno’s in 20+ years, but I would have no objection to visiting one again.
Sit-down: Friendly’s, Perkins, IHOP. They’re very consistent, and decent food for the money. **Cheesecake Factory **is OK, but the portions are actually too large for me: absurdly so, for a chain whose selling point is the cheesecake dessert.
I used to like **Chili’s **but after 5 or 6 very disappointing visits in a row (in different locations), they’re off my list. There are almost always better non-chain Mexican or Tex-Mex restaurants in the vicinity with a little searching. I have never liked Applebee’s, and TGI Friday’s, Houlihan’s, etc., etc., are basically the same caliber.
I think **Olive Garden **gets too much hate. You just have to realize it’s not really an Italian restaurant. It’s Olive Garden. You get some bread, some salad and pasta and sodas with table service, and it is what it is.
I’ve never cared for PF Chang’s, but then again I’m ethnically Chinese myself and am used to going to “authentic” restaurants in NYC (and SF, LA, Vancouver…). The few times I’ve gone to PFC with friends, it seemed like glorified Standard American Takeout Chinese food with little flavoring other than soy sauce and honey/sugar. They don’t even serve the food in the middle as all Chinese restaurants do (what’s called “family style” in the US), instead everybody gets an entree plate put in front of them. And IIRC they don’t even have rice bowls for the rice! So I can see how my Italian-American friends feel about Olive Garden, I guess 
I like Cracker Barrel. Sure the store full of junk is dumb, but while you’re waiting for a table it’s better than being crammed into a small waiting area with insufficient seating. Plus when the weather is nice you can go out on the porch and rock in the rocking chairs.
I like the food, I usually get catfish or pork chops, with mashed potatoes and green beans. Good basic country food.
I’m surprised that Baja Fresh isn’t getting more love. I like Taco del Mar and Chipotle’s, but I think Baja Fresh beats them both pretty easily.
Am I too easily impressed?
Do these still exist? (Besides at the occasional road stop on the Pennsylvania Turnpike, that is.)
If I had to choose one, probably Wienerschnitzel - got to have the occasional Chili Cheesectomy (the Chili Cheese Dog / Chili Cheeseburger combo upgraded to Chili Cheese Fries). The only problem is, the nearest one that isn’t on the other side of a $6 toll bridge is about 30 miles away.
Am I allowed a split vote? I would go to Five Guys for the burger, then to In & Out for the fries. (Actually, I prefer a San Francisco-area BBQ place called Kinder’s for the burger, but I don’t know if it has enough locations to consider it a chain.)
The Original Pancake House for their Apple Pancakes (which is almost more of an apple pie than a pancake) and Dutch Babies.
Oh yeah, Cracker Barrel is on my reserve list of chains I feel confident about visiting and enjoying myself. But I don’t see them very often, I have to travel at least an hour either west or south to encounter one.
As for **Roy Rogers **- I do only see thm at NJ Turnpike rest stops now. I used to see them elsewhere but not lately, I guess they’ve lost out. I used to frequent one in downtown Baltimore and another one on Route 46 in NJ when I lived near them for a few years back in the 1990s, but when I’ve gone by those places in the past few years they’ve become Wendy’s or McDonald’s.
*Chipotle *for burritos.
*Schlotzsky’s *for sandwiches.
Their Southwest eggrolls are absolutely the best. I get them every time.
My favorite fast food Mexican restaurant is Taco Bueno, by far. I worked there 30 years ago and still love it.
I’ve only eaten there once and thought they were good.
The two things that stand out is they asked every customer if they wanted ice in their drink. I just found it odd.
The other thing was they wrapped the burrito in paper and then in foil. As I don’t eat paper it was a strange way of doing it.
Hmmm, the ice thing is odd, but then, every Baja Fresh I’ve been in just hands you a cup and you do the ice and soda yourself.
Also, I’m not sure I’ve ever had a burrito to go there - I usually eat there - so I can’t comment on the wrapping.