I rarely eat at chains. We have so many good, independent, and/or ethnic restaurants in this area, I rarely have to.
But, some of the best, IMO, are Houstons and McCormick & Schmick’s.
I hate to admit, but I like chain places. Many of these are better than many independently run places… and so many times I’ve found an “independent” place that I found out later was a chain.
Hamburger Hamlet, for instance, is the best chain place. The nearest one to me is around DC… just an hour too far away to make a special trip. I’d assumed for a year that there was only one of these joints in Westwood.
Fudd’s is good, but I wouldn’t go to New Jersey for it. And I’ll have to also admit that I do like Olive Garden.
Worst: Bob Evans truly does suck. It does have a strange draw for anybody who retired before 1985, so maybe it’s a generation thing.
Oh, and another best:
Dos Molinos - there are two of these, so it’s a chain ;). Great restaurant. Margaritas so huge they should come with a diving board instead of a straw. They refuse to do anything mild, so you’ll never get stuck with anything bland.
Another worst:
Chili’s is on my shytte lyste, even though I haven’t been to one of those in years. I don’t even remember the food, but their TV spots have been consistently horrid.
Best- It’s a tie between Buca di Beppo, which has the only Italian food that actually tastes like real Italian food. The other winner is Hoss’s, a PA/OH/MD/NY chain of family-style steakhouses. Their salad bar is mediocre, but their steaks are fantastic. They’re the only chain family-type place I’ve found that will actually make your steak blood rare if you ask for it that way.
Worst-The Olive Garden and Bob Evans.
I will admit to liking the Cracker Barrel, though.
I don’t know about best and worst. Can I just do good and bad?
Another vote for Applebee’s being not worth a visit. The food is mediocre at best.
I like Denny’s for breakfast type foods served all day long. It’s almost impossible to screw up eggs, hashbrowns, and toast. Unless they don’t have Tobasco for the hash browns, of course.
Red Robin has good burgers.
Pizza Scmeeza is very yummy. But skip the spaghetti & meatball pizza. Pasta on pizza may sound good (it did to me), but it turns out it isn’t.
I like Chili’s because they have the BEST turkey sandwich ever, and a cheap-but-good appetizer (the bottomless chips and salsa). Also, I like Denny’s because, by now, I have the menu memorized and a 10% frequent customer discount card valid at all the Denny’s that I’m likely to go to. Also, Famous Dave’s, 'cause they have ribs.
Places I don’t like?
Applebee’s–the menu is extremely limited, and the feel is that of a bar. Blech.
Olive Garden sucks, but that’s because I don’t really like (pseudo?)Italian food. I will go there on my birthday, though–I love the soup-salad-breadsticks thing, and it gives my family the feeling of having bought me something special.
Lone Star Steak House and any other place that sells almost ALL beef gets my goat, too, because I really don’t like red meat. I’m not a vegetarian, I’m just rarely in the mood for it.
The OLIVE GARDEN chain is a mystery to me…usually I find them to be mediocre. But once, I had the BEST veal parmigiano of my life in one. Also, I don’t care for their (fresh) pasta-too soft for me.
My worst chain restaurant: CRACKER BARREL: the most bland, tasteless foood imaginable, and the portions are very small. A lot of people seem to like them, though!
Worst = Red Lobster - whatever happened to the Neptune Platter?
Best = Logan’s Roadhouse - can you say steak?
For Mexican food, independent and family-owned restaurants are usually the way to go. (at least here in Texas–I’ve heard horror stories about trying to find decent Mexican food in some parts of the country)
But you can also get some pretty good Mexican food at chains such as:
Ninfa’s–great food and awesome margaritas–really strong!
Posado’s–terrific food and free soft-serve ice cream!
On the Border–it’s kinda the Chili’s of Mexican food, but it’s pretty good.
Abuelo’s–a very different menu from most Mexican places.
Mexican food chains to avoid:
Pancho’s (although it was fun as a kid to raise the little flag!)
El Fenix
Campo Verde
El Chicos
Dos Gringos
Don Pablo’s (though my friends disagree with me on this one)
I like Sizzler’s. The waitstaff is attentive without being annoying; the salad bar is nice; and they once saved me & my dad late Thanksgiving when every other restaraunt was closed! He was working late, there was no good food at home, and the only option was finding something to eat out or having mac & cheese for Thanksgiving dinner.
Worst? I don’t really have a candidate, though the local Red Robin’s “family atmosphere” was scary. The servers all seemed to be on some sort of happy pills, and there were children and Happy Birthday’ing going on all over the place.
BTW, it’s interesting that so many name the Olive Garden as one of the worst. My local paper just did their annual “Best of the Valley” thing, and the Oliver Garden was named the best Italian restraunt. I guess that tells you something about my city. I’m not sure what, but it’s definitely something.
Tanaqui
Best in my experience lately is Maggiano’s Little Italy. My whole family is Italian, and we all looovvvvve the food!
Best: Having just suffered through the Pizza Huts “Chicago Style” pizza (“How much could they screw it up?” I thought. Answer: A lot.) I’m now wishing for Pizzaria Unos… if only there were one within a reasonable distance from home.
Worst: Only been there once, but Applebees. The food was beyond awful. How they’re still in business is beyond me.
That’s a fairly accurate description, at least for my local Bob Evans. A group of co-workers insisted that I accompany them to their monthly get together a few weeks ago. It was at Bob Evans. Never again.
Eric
I’ve never eaten at any chain often enough to form a “worst” opinion. Except for Cracker Barrel. That place sucked ass. One visit was enough to form that opinion.
The one chain restaurant I like very much is Fuddrucker’s. Greasy burger. Greasy bun. Greasy onion rings. Love it.
I do have a funny chain restaurant story. A long long time ago, before I met my dear Jeffy, a guy asked me out on a date. I thought he was a dingus and didn’t really want to go, but felt I couldn’t say no. (long story) Anyway, he says to me–“I want to take you someplace really special. Do you like Italian?” I said “sure!,” thinking that he would know of some excellent little hole in the wall Italian place. After all, this is New Jersey. Sopranos Land! Everywhere you look there’s an Italian place or a pizza joint. So I figured if I was being taken to a “really special” Italian place in Jersey, it would be really fantastic. You know where he wanted to take me? The Olive Garden! :rolleyes: We’re in the middle of freakin’ Jersey and The Olive Garden was the best Italian place he could think of?!? Sheesh. Needless to say, there was no second date.
I was going to stick up for Olive Garden but then I thought about it and realized I only like the soup, salad and breadsticks deal, too, so maybe I am not such a big proponent.
The chain restaurant I like the most is Naked Fish, but I don’t think they’re national. I adore their peppercorn tuna steak.
I’ll throw in another vote for Applebees as being near the bottom of the heap.
I am surrounded by small, independant Mexican food places, but Chipotle Mexican Grill makes an awesome burrito, especially with the habanero salsa.
Worst is a tie by any place that has waiters who sing birthday songs.
My favorite chain restaurant is probably Leona’s which is just a local chain, far as I know. For “fast foo” type places, probably Sbarro’s. (I’ve been a big Italian food person lately.) I also like Outback Steakhouse and Lone Star, because I love steak.
Chain restaurant we go to the most is Denny’s because it’s five minutes away and open late. The service is decent most of the time, and the food is acceptable.
Worst: Applebee’s, because they cannot cook a steak. I was probably pushing it by ordering steak there anyway…
Red Robins and Boston Pizza are near the top of my list (of course I hang out at BP’s every Thursday almost but they have good food)
Albert’s Family Restaurant is at the bottom of mine… of course though I’m biased I worked there for 3 months before being fired for ‘not pulling my weight’ when the other waitresses were either on speed (seriously) or had me do a lot of the work. They have decent omelettes and chicken fingers but that’s it.
Red Robins and Boston Pizza are near the top of my list (of course I hang out at BP’s every Thursday almost but they have good food)
Albert’s Family Restaurant is at the bottom of mine… of course though I’m biased I worked there for 3 months before being fired for ‘not pulling my weight’ when the other waitresses were either on speed (seriously) or had me do a lot of the work. They have decent omelettes and chicken fingers but that’s it.
Okay no more using that convenient little box at the bottom of threads to post… everytime I use it I get double posted…