Very odd list. I’ve only eaten at Popeye’s and White Castle, neither of which I would call good food by any reasonable definition. My dad is addicted to Popeye’s, though.
Honestly, I’ve not had the Olive Garden experience that many of you have, but I haven’t been there in many years. Perhaps it’s deteriorated.
I was thinking the exact same thing.
Texas Roadhouse, probably the best place to get a steak for under 20 bucks. Also their steak fries, or heart attack on a plate as my wife and I like to call them, are a thing of beauty - a full sized dinner plate stacked high with fries covered in shredded cheese and strips of bacon with ranch dipping sauce. Yep, that’s the type of indulgence we only allow ourselves once a year.
Also Buca di Beppo. Where I grew up that was probably the closest place where you could get anything resembling authentic Italian food.
Unfortunately the only Popeye’s reasonably near me is regulalry featured in the annual “hidden camera restaurant horrors” expose on Channel 2. It was a regular lunch haunt when I worked near one in SoCal.
I love White Castle, and make a side trip on the way to my sister’s house to stop at the one closest to me, but it isn’t because the food is good. I’m not even sure it’s really food. But it’s appealing and hits a few nostalgia notes for me.
For fast food burger chains I like **Checkers **(and liked Rally when I lived in the midwest. It’s apparently the same like Hellman’s and Best Foods. I don’t know why either needs two names.)
At a lot of the places I’ve had good food, and also bad food. The Five Guys that just opened near my house has been good half of the times I’ve gone there and the other half have served me sad soggy underfried fries. Friendly was a place my family went a lot when I was growing up. The one here is dreadful; not too clean, very slow service.
As for Chick-Fil-A, I went there for the first time about 6 weeks ago - I had a coupon. The food isn’t mind bending or original but it’s made well, and seems fairly priced. The thing that made me think “this is my new place” was how pleasant the staff was, and how clean the restaurant was. Instead of a fountain out on the floor a person comes around and asks if you’d like a refill or anything else. I hope that’s chain wide. It’s just a nice atmosphere.
I too want to know (1) why this was an exclusive poll, and (2) why you chose the places you did. Of the 19 restaurants listed, there were
2 that I have locally and am familiar with
2 that we used to have locally but are long gone
1 that we don’t have locally, but I’ve eaten at
5 that I’ve heard of but never seen or been to
9 that I don’t remember ever even hearing of before.
And I could name doznes of chains that weren’t on the list.
Bottom line: I’d say that, in my experience the majority of chain restaurants are “actually rather good” for what they are, in the sense that I’ve had a secent, enjoyable dining experience there that left me perfectly willing to go back. At least, it’s a majority if you include the “not bad at all, but there are other places that do roughly the same thing better” category.
Other: Gordon Biersch. Good beer, good food.
And, of course, with Zankou, it’s not even in question. “Rather good” is to put it mildly.
Mmm, Popeye’s.
Also Chipotle, Ruth’s Chris, El Pollo Loco, Red Robin, Benihana, Buca di Beppo, Chart House, and Outback.
With a dozen in MA, and some in VA, Not Your Average Joe’s is quite good.
Firehouse Subs is awesome.
P.F. Chang’s is awesome. I don’t care if it’s not “authentic Asian.” It’s better.
I voted for Carrabba’s, but could have written in Nathan’s, too.
Steak ‘n’ Shake: The salads are good, the burgers are good, the thin-cut fries are good, the milkshakes are good. (I wouldn’t recomment the chili, but then I’m a chili snob.) The atmosphere is bright and cheery, everything’s always clean, and the '50s-diner-theme is not too overdone.
Huh, I didn’t realize there was Mellow Mushroom outside of Baton Rouge.
Zaxby’s is good, as is Red Robin and (my vote) Popeye’s. Mellow Mushroom is good as well (cheese bread!!), but, my God(!), are they slow.
The chain started in Atlanta, GA in the 1970’s and now there are more than 100 of them.
I thought the Mellow Mushroom chain started in Athens, GA. And I’ve thought of them as a regional/college town chain. There was one in Gainesville, I saw it in Baton Rouge, and now of course the one in downtown Athens.
And if you do go to the website, it is pretty obvious it is a chain (I did that once to check on something before I went to the Gainesville place).
The first one started near the Ga. Tech campus in downtown ATL. Athens didn’t get theirs until much later - I moved from there in 1993 and the best pizza in town was DePalma’s. I don’t even think that MM was there at the time, but I remember when the Chili’s opened on Alps Road and it was packed for months.
They’ve got one in Jackson, MS, and somewhere in the Mandeville-Covington area, too. Hoping they get one on the southshore eventually.
Answer: Because I made the poll and you didn’t.
Culver’s
TGIF
Applebees
Outback