I have been to an In-N-Out Burger a few times since moving to California. Never again.
Why? Because if I’m going to wait 20+ minutes for my meal, I want something better than a mediocre burger and cold, unsalted fries.
You’re insane. 
I have to be very careful with any pizza places. The worst is Cici’s. There’s one I pass in The Woodlands (TX) occasionally, that I actually almost threw up on the table. (I shudder everytime I pass it. I was there alone on business…the shame of throwing up in public by yourself at the lunch hour…<shudder>.) The last time I ate at a Cici’s …until ONE MORE TIME with some friends locally.
Wilted bad salad and three bites is not a economic buffet. Never again.
And really, no pizza chains. Occasionally a thin crust at like Double Daves, but even the pics in the commercials of the chains make me feel like gagging.
No, just not a Californian - and consequently able to see how very, very naked the Emperor is. 
I forgot that one. I’ve had fries both ways. They were never cold, but they were either mealy or overcooked, more like potato stix. Their burgers are okay, not great, but the fries suck.
I’m not a Californian, either. Chicago born-and-bred.
I’m also surprised at the number of people who’ll never eat at a well-known chain again, because they think they got food poisoning at one outlet.
It’s possible to get food poisoning practically anywhere, including the upscale seafood and steak place (alright, it was a McCormick & Schmick) where Mrs. J. and I got Norovirus a few years ago and were reduced to crawling about feebly, barely able to reach the bathroom for predictable reasons. We’ve been back there a couple of times since, no problem. A chain that isn’t on its last legs is likely at least as safe to eat at as a random locally-owned place that doesn’t have food-prep/quality guidelines laid down for franchises.
That said, we avoid Olive Garden and (especially) Red Lobster unless everything else is closed and we’re starving in a strange city. Both places are expert at taking what should be good ingredients and making substandard entrees out of them.
There are also two Italian locally-owned and enthusiastically reviewed places near us that we now avoid. One had a homemade soup that magically recreated the appearance and taste of soup out of a can and other dreary tasteless food (we went back once figuring we’d just gone there on a bad night. Nope). The other joint had tables crammed so close together you wound up with someone’s butt in your face if they stopped to talk to another patron at the adjoining table. Then they remodeled and now there’s plenty of room (in a stark, unappealing way) and the food is just as ordinary and overpriced.
Our favorite Italian place (not blessed by great reviews) looks uncannily like the restaurant in The Godfather where Sollozzo and the crooked police captain got it from Michael Corleone.
I always sit with my back to the wall.
I avoid most national chains with rare exceptions. White Castle I do once a year or so when my friends band play a gig across the street. I am fortunate enough to live in Chicago where the amazing food choices are endless. Really the only cuisine I can’t get here is Indonesian rijstaffel since Moon Cafe closed down a few years back. Anything from Guatemalan to Tibetan to any number of African or even regional Thai places, I’ve got it.
One recollection of my conversation with the doctor who identified my eating at a Hometown Buffet as the probable source of the bacteria that was causing my troubles at the time is that he also said buffets generally can be potential breeding grounds for such things.
Thus my avoidance.
A couple of people upthread have mentioned Sbarro’s. I’ve only been to one (Bangor Mall) maybe two or three times over the course of two years or so, but each time we went there all of the staff were remarkable surly. I’m sure not all Sbarro’s staff across the whole country are going to be that unfriendly, but jeez. Maybe they all hate the manager or something.
I forgot to mention Roy Rogers. In the northeast, the NY-Boston buses often make their only pit stop at Roy Rogers and you don’t have any choice in the matter.
Once, I was on my lunch break in midtown Manhattan and had ten minutes to find something to eat. Inexplicably, I opted for the Roy Rogers somewhere near Lexington and 57th. Holy shit! That place was so nasty that I wouldn’t have batted an eye had I seen Han Blix inspecting the “Fixins Bar.” I ate my gray burger sans fixings (which looked like they had been sitting out for a week) and suffered no ill effects, save the psychological ones.
There is a Roy Rogers by my house, but I only ever see buses in the parking lot. They must have a racket going with the drivers.
I won’t eat at Denny’s. I worked there for some time and realized that they basically just serve frozen meals. Which I’d be okay with, if it was cheap. But Denny’s is actually pretty pricey.
Applebee’s food is terrible. I’d rather eat a good quality TV dinner than the crap they serve.
http://www.commondreams.org/headlines01/0504-02.htm
There was a big to-do when the story broke, but it was 7ish years ago, not 17, so color me confused on that one.
McDonald’s Corporate tried to deny wrongdoing, but they sent out letters to consumers claiming their fries were vegetarian and cooked in 100% veg oil:
http://news.newamericamedia.org/news/view_article.html?article_id=ecd7a2cec1dde7e6e297415a2999549b
Basically the fries are pre-cooked in beef fat before being frozen and sent to the franchise stores, where they are then cooked in 100% vegetable oil.
Here’s an image of the letter from corporate. Do a Google search for “McDonald’s vegetarian fries” and there’s plenty more.
So, McDonald’s hit my boycott list when all that came out. At that point I’d been vegetarian for a decade, and still made the occasional stop at McD’s for fries or a salad or a shake. After this, they’ve never seen another dime from me.
Although by now it’s more like a passive boycott – I’ve totally lost my taste for fast food crap like that. It’s been years since I’ve seen the inside of a Taco Bell or BK. I can get better fries from the local pub and better burritos from any of a dozen local tacquerias nearby.
Well, if you’re talking about a chain restaurant in this particular way, you’re likely prejudiced against them all, and/or the entire concept, to begin with, and not entirely unjustified, probably.