There are not many chains where I live, but we do have a Ruby Tuesdays. I like their Brocolli Cheese soup and the salad bar.
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seconded on both of these.
i like both the chicken and dumplings and the meatloaf at cracker barrel. their meatloaf is pretty close to how my mom makes it at home, so that’s probably why. i like their breakfast too.
i usually don’t get an entree at olive garden. i don’t go there much, actually, but i like to hit it for lunchtime now and again and eats lots of sausage and lentil soup, salad and breadsticks. mmm.
i am not by any means a picky eater but i can honestly say there is not much at applebee’s i enjoy eating. i find myself there a lot because of the half off appetizers after 10 pm, and those are fine. it’s never a pick for lunch/dinner though.
Old Chicago… Chicken Nachos f’ing huge plate of deliciousness (Yeah, I’m a pig, so what?)
Red Robin… Whisky River BBQ Burger
Garbanzo… Chicken Shwarma Pita with extra hummus and a side of falafel & whatever the hell that cucumber dressing is called
[QUOTE=devilsknew]
Ooops, sorry, it’s the Allstar breakfast, not Grandslam, evidently confusing Denny’s and Wafflehouse terminology, although I haven’t been to a Denny’s since the 90’s.
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Waffle House here too: Allstar, plain, bacon (very crisp), plain, scrambled, whole wheat with two strawberry. Coffee.
Olive Garden: Zuppa Toscana with salad and breadsticks. If I have someone to share it with, I’ll add the stuffed mushroom appetizer.
Red Lobster: The grilled shrimp caesar salad and the gumbo in a bread bowl. I’ll also have a biscuit or two. Please, no one tell me how many calories this has; I simply do not want to know.
I’m not a big fan of chain restaurants, but I do end up at them from time to time and I can usually find something to like on the menu. Because I don’t go often I don’t necessaruly remember what I like, but I remember a couple.
At Red Robin I like their burger that has chili on it. Ridiculously caloric, but yummy. Luckily we don’t have Red Robins 'round these parts.
At TGIF I will go for something with their Jack Daniels BBQ sauce, which I find very tasty indeed.
Can’t think of others right now but will chime in again if I do.
I knew I liked hanging around the SDMB. You guys are my kinda people. Banzai Burger at Red Robin? Yes, please! Crispy Chicken Crispers at Chilis? Yum! Zuppa Toscana at Olive Garden? Oh, yeah.
I used to love the Orange Chicken Bowl at Applebee’s, but now they don’t have it in the bowl anymore. I know they have a plate, but it’s just not the same, somehow. And those remarks about the ‘healthier’ turkey burger at Red Robin - Ruby Tuesday used to have a delicious turkey burger with mushroom and cheese, it was so good; but it had like 4 bajillion calories or something. Doctors were picketing that sandwich, I think. But it was yummy.
I like the Ragin’ Cajun burger at Red Robin. It’s not on the menu anymore but they’ll make it if you ask. It’s basically buffalo chicken in burger form.
Applebees: Quesadilla Burger–nutritionally disatrous, but absolutely delicious TGI Fridays: Sizzling Chicken and Cheese–why can’t I get my boneless skinless chicken breast that juicy and tender?
2 possible reasons - they have industrial hoods and can safely produce a lot more smoke, so they get their grill really really really hot. Also I wouldn’t be surprised if they brine the chicken.
[QUOTE=Walkabout]
I can’t think of any meals that I keep going back to, but I love the Outback Blue cheese Pecan chopped salad. I don’t always order it, though, because it’s almost 600 calories, and half the daily sodium requirement.
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I really wish you didn’t say how many calories one of my favorite salads has.
Speaking of Outback, my usual order is that salad, baked potato with everything,and the Outback Special, but lately, the wood-grilled ribeye has been on my plate.
I wind up at chains for meetings on a fairly regular basis. The town where I live is also the corporate headquarters (and home of the original store) of Crackerbarrel, so that one tends to be a local one for meetings.
At Applebee’s, I like their 550 calorie Chicken dijon. Chicken with dijon and mozzerella, two thirds of the plate covered in steamed veggies and a small steamed red potato.
At Crackerbarrel, it’s a veggie plate with hashbrown casserole, turnip greens, mac and cheese and fried apples. It’s either this or breakfast. We have much better meat-and-threes locally that blow them out of the water for comfort food like chicken and dumplings, meatloaf, catfish and the like.
At Ruby Tuesday’s, miniburgers with the garden bar or just the garden bar and cheddar biscuits.
At Waffle House, a cheese omelet and an order of scattered, covered, smothered, chunked hashbrowns washed down with unsweet tea (their coffee will take the enamel off your teeth and strip the lining from your stomach. Yech!)
At Mimi’s Cafe, the Quatre Fromage quiche with sourdough toast (I take home 1.5 slices of the toast for later)
At Cheddar’s, it’s always the chicken pot pie.
I’ve never gotten the love for Red Robin. IME, I’ve eaten better burgers elsewhere and their fries suck.