# Chain restaurants you boycott **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [June 22, 2009, 10:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chain-restaurants-you-boycott/500657 "2009-06-22T22:45:19Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![tr0psn4j](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/958977/32.png) [@tr0psn4j](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tr0psn4j)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2009, 4:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chain-restaurants-you-boycott/500657/61 "2009-06-23T16:42:44Z")
> [@Jackmannii](#): > > These aren’t exactly hard and fast boycotts, but the only way I will eat at a Red Lobster or Olive Garden is if I’m on the road in a strange town, it’s late, no other places are open and the only option is going hungry. I don’t know how Red Lobster can spoil so many different kinds of seafood but they manage. The Olive Garden takes mediocre to new heights. > > Also on the to-avoid list is Buca di Beppo, which is apparently dedicated to the proposition of serving huge assemblages of people who are so busy shouting, laughing and spilling sauce on themselves that they have no time to notice the food is ordinary. Also the local outlet felt it necessary to try to dragoon us into a tour of the kitchen the first and only time we went there. This doesn’t tend to reassure me, as I’m sure there’s a special signal given to the kitchen staff to stop sneezing and spitting into the food when the tour is about to start, as well as to the rodents to seek cover. > > Last night I thought briefly about giving White Castle another try. Maybe the burgers have beef content these days and are no longer thin and gray. I have heard nothing but good things about Buca Di Beppo. I’m not sure where you’re from but there are a couple here in the west coast and everyone who’s been to one has liked them. I boycott all you can eat sushi joints and one’s that smell like fish when you walk in. Fortunately, there’s no shortage of good sushi places in SoCal. ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2009, 4:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chain-restaurants-you-boycott/500657/62 "2009-06-23T16:50:07Z")
> [@John\_DiFool](#): > > I am the OP! You are hereby allowed to list restaurants you just don’t like and never visit just because the food or service sucks! Really it’s okay and was part of my Original Intent! I don’t believe you. ---
**Author:** ![Jimmy\_Joe\_Meager](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/bb73d2/32.png) [@Jimmy\_Joe\_Meager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jimmy_Joe_Meager)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2009, 4:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chain-restaurants-you-boycott/500657/63 "2009-06-23T16:52:02Z")
> [@John\_DiFool](#): > > KFC recently got added to my list … side dishes not a 1/10th as appealing as they used to be. They removed the trans fat, MSG, and most of the salt? Just a guess, I really don’t know. But I do recall that their mashed potatos and gravy used to be TO DIE FOR, but apparently they’ve recently removed that from them as well. ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2009, 4:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chain-restaurants-you-boycott/500657/64 "2009-06-23T16:54:16Z")
> [@FriarTed](#): > > I don’t boycott any restaurants. I counter-boycott Domino’s, and if I had a Chik-n-Fil-A here, I’d do the same. I like Domino’s pizza anyway and its pro-life reputation makes it even tastier.😃 I’m so sorry that you’ve never had decent pizza. I’ll pray for your tastebuds. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Carol\_the\_Impaler](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Carol\_the\_Impaler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Carol_the_Impaler)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2009, 4:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chain-restaurants-you-boycott/500657/65 "2009-06-23T16:58:59Z")
> [@astorian](#): > > I’ll be a BIT more impressed whenI hear of somebody “boycotting” a restaurant they actually LIKE. Prepare to be impressed, my good friend. I had occassion to drive past a Cracker Barrel in the last weeks. I thought longingly of chicken fried steak and cinnamon rolls and bad bad yummy things they have there. It was with sadness and frustration that I drove on and could not have what I wanted because they’re a bunch of stoopid jerks. And I don’t care about the shareholder action. If they’d changed because they grew a soul, then I’d go back. But since they were forced to be decent corporate citizens, fuck 'em. The same would be true if we had Chick-fil-a here, but they know better than to incite my wrath and stay out of my town. ---
**Author:** ![TommyTutone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c4cdca/32.png) [@TommyTutone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TommyTutone)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2009, 5:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chain-restaurants-you-boycott/500657/66 "2009-06-23T17:29:04Z")
Any fern bar and their ilk: Applebees, Ruby Tuesdays, TGIF, Macaroni Grill, On the Border, etc. There are far too many good hole in the wall joints where I live that provide a superior meal for a similar price to need to support them, and of course it kills me when I see people lined up forever at the local Cracker Barrel for dinner when there is an outstanding meat n’ three just up the road (which admittedly is really busy too, but they are the exception). ---
**Author:** ![Hypno-Toad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b2d939/32.png) [@Hypno-Toad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hypno-Toad)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2009, 5:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chain-restaurants-you-boycott/500657/67 "2009-06-23T17:33:21Z")
> [@Lemur866](#): > > It’s not so much that I boycott them, as the thought of eating at Taco Hole makes me wanna puke. So yeah. My exact sentiment. ---
**Author:** ![cruel\_butterfly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/5daacb/32.png) [@cruel\_butterfly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cruel_butterfly)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2009, 6:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chain-restaurants-you-boycott/500657/68 "2009-06-23T18:00:29Z")
> [@BlueKangaroo](#): > > I did forget to add this one. Though I see so few of them anymore, where I am. Once again, when I’m in New Mexico, that’s when the boycott becomes “active”. So, what desolate corner of New Mexico are you in? ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2009, 6:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chain-restaurants-you-boycott/500657/69 "2009-06-23T18:07:29Z")
What the heck is a fern bar? ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2009, 6:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chain-restaurants-you-boycott/500657/70 "2009-06-23T18:12:36Z")
[Fern bar.](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fern_bar) I agree. I will eat at those types of places only when forced to by my dining companions. ---
**Author:** ![DudleyGarrett](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d9b06d/32.png) [@DudleyGarrett](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DudleyGarrett)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2009, 6:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chain-restaurants-you-boycott/500657/71 "2009-06-23T18:14:53Z")
> [@silenus](#): > > [Fern bar.](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fern_bar) > > I agree. I will eat at those types of places only when forced to by my dining companions. The definition given there doesn’t really fit the examples, I don’t think. I never think of AppleBee’s or TGI Friday’s ever being considered “upscale.” They’re usually dumps. ---
**Author:** ![Snooooopy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ee7513/32.png) [@Snooooopy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snooooopy)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2009, 6:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chain-restaurants-you-boycott/500657/72 "2009-06-23T18:31:16Z")
> [@John\_DiFool](#): > > I am the OP! You are hereby allowed to list restaurants you just don’t like and never visit just because the food or service sucks! Really it’s okay and was part of my Original Intent! I don’t think the OP would appreciate you changing the rules of his thread. We should probably check with him first. ---
**Author:** ![HeyHomie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/heyhomie/32/207_2.png) [@HeyHomie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HeyHomie)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2009, 7:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chain-restaurants-you-boycott/500657/73 "2009-06-23T19:39:54Z")
Hardee’s. The monotone commercials drive me up the wall. Outback Steakhouse. I’ve eaten there twice, and both times everything I ate was bathed in burn-my-mouth spices. Never again. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chain-restaurants-you-boycott/500657.md?page=3)