[QUOTE=Trollhaugen]
The perfect late night, drunk, need food now place to go. They must be preserved if only for that virtue. But, I will admit, that unless one is in the above state of mind, the food is terrible. Gut bombs indeed.
[/QUOTE]
And if you’re really drunk, you can pretend it’s the booze that’s making you offer gifts to the porcelain god and not the food you ate. 
[QUOTE=tdn]
Ah. Alrighty, then. I’m guessing you found the service to be acceptable. 
I’ve actually found Applebee’s to be a real crap shoot. At one I’ve been to a few times, the food was… almost palatable. The service sucked. At the one in my neighborhood, the food inedible, but the service is amazing.
[/QUOTE]
No, as I recall the service sucked that night. My parents stopped working there before I finished third grade. Well, my mom did. My dad escaped around my first-grade year. what I meant was that the quality declined, not necessarily because of new management although that might have been a factor, but it just…did. Same with Ruby Tuesday’s. It used to be the most decent place to eat in the mall (Well it still is, but look what it has to compete with it: Villa Pizza, Panda Express, McDonalds, and a crepe stand next to Spencer’s), and my dad’s friend was the manager, but then the guy moved up to a country club upstate and suddenly the food tasted like I ordered it, couldn’t finish it, took it home, and microwaved it for lunch the next day.
Another vote for Suck E. Cheese: grease wiped on cardboard does not make pizza. Not to mention all the caterwauling, migraine-inducing noise. I only went there once because I was told to take a kid there. Never, ever again.
[QUOTE=Kat]
Cheesecake Factory don’t take reservations. No, not even for parties of 14. And no, you can’t call ahead to put your name and party on the seating list. They seat their guests in the order they arrive at the restaurant. Period.
[/QUOTE]
Ah. OK, they *are *total buttheads then, both in a general business plan way, and in a direct customer service way. Please proceed with the nuking.
I also want to vote for Cracker Barrel. We drive up and down I-95 a lot, and they have these strangely seductive billboards all over the place, so once in a while my logic functions shut down and I decide to eat there. Noisy, long waits, uniformly greasy food that’s mediocre at best. And in a microcosm of the experience, I saw an ad card on the table for Coca-Cola cake last time, and was intrigued. Ordered some, only to discover it was like cake made from a mix in texture, but with absolutely no flavor at all. Just cakey texture and sweetness - not even vanilla flavor.
I don’t care enough to nuke Outback, Applebees, TGIF, Ruby Tuesday, and so on, but as I get older, I am more and more averse to eating in such places. The food is always boring and borderline poor, and the chief feature of the ambience is a sense that everything in the restaurant is coated with a light film of grease.
[QUOTE=tdn]
I’m going to have to go ahead and add Subway to the list. I know some dopers swear by the place, but I’m guessing the quality varies from restaurant to restaurant.
I’ve only been to one, and I went there twice. Both times I was tired and so hungry I could eat the asshole out of a dead moose. In fact, that would have been preferable. So hungry, and yet both times I threw away more than half of the sandwich. It was that bad.
[/QUOTE]
Subway’s not…BAD per se (to me), but every time I ask for oil on my sandwich I say “a little bit, only half what you would normally put on” and yet it STILL comes back dripping with freakin’ oil! Do they want me to need a bypass before I finish junior year? Good God! And they need to put on more meat. Every sub I get there looks like it’s been run over by a semi.
[QUOTE=vivalostwages]
Another vote for Suck E. Cheese: grease wiped on cardboard does not make pizza. Not to mention all the caterwauling, migraine-inducing noise. I only went there once because I was told to take a kid there. Never, ever again.
[/QUOTE]
I used to love them because of the ball pit, the tube crawly-thingy, and this game where you shoot a stream of water at a target to make 2 Barbie on wave-runners race each other. But my friend’s parents took us there again in fourth grade, and all of the above was gone. It’s mostly arcade games now, and that’s probably because of the old urban legend that a baby got stuck with a heroin needle while playing in a ball pit. That or the fact that kids crap in there.
[QUOTE=Lil’ Mahoney]
I can’t stand Outback either, and though I’ve never been there, I expect the same will go for Ruth’s Chris Steakhouse judging by the billboard adverts around this area. It’s nothing to do with decor, quality or any of the other complaints; it’s the fact that they serve steaks that are thicker than the hardback, extra-large print edition of War And Peace.
[/QUOTE]
Eek! Ruth’s Chris is nothing like Outback. It is much tonier, with very good food and the best service I’ve had outside Victoria and Albert’s. Now, if you don’t like thick steaks just for the thickness, then you might not like it. But I believe they do know how to cook their steaks properly, regardless of thickness and requested doneness.
Well, I don’t go to the US too often, and we don’t have all of those chain restaurants here.
The last time I went, I decided to play ‘worldly’ and turn up my nose in culinary offense whenever my mom suggested we go to, say, Olive Garden.
It’s not that bad. 
[QUOTE=Wonderwall6129]
And they need to put on more meat.
[/QUOTE]
Noooooooo!
The meat, you see, was the problem. It had the consistancy of wax paper. Seriously. And it didn’t really taste like meat. Or wax paper.
As a meekly-offered defense of Ruby Tuesday’s, at least they try. They’ve modified and upgraded their menu and selections over the past couple of years (Bison, veggie, and turkey burgers, for example, as well as sliders), and the salad trough is the best you’ll find at any of the restaurants mentioned in this thread.
[QUOTE=tdn]
Noooooooo!
The meat, you see, was the problem. It had the consistancy of wax paper. Seriously. And it didn’t really taste like meat. Or wax paper.
[/QUOTE]
oh. Well, I wouldn’t know, seeing as they only gave me one piece and made up for it in tomatoes. But I guess I’m lucky it was skimping, then…
[QUOTE=AnonymousCowherder]
Carlos O’Kelley’s – At least they give you a proper clue before you even walk in the door that this Mexican restaurant will suck.
[/QUOTE]
The name is horrifying enough to keep me from ever setting foot inside.
[QUOTE=chaoticbear]
Hah! That’s my bf’s favorite tex-mex place EVER. I’ve been there once, and was underwhelmed, but it wasn’t awful.
[/QUOTE]
Yeah, I don’t actively seek it out, but when I’m driving around Tempe and am feeling a bit peckish, it’s where I usually head if I’m by myself. It’s always satisfying, though not spectacular.
However, I adore Chipotles. Where’s the hate coming from there?
But I have nothing to contribute to a thread about eateries I hate, because the only one I loathed, Bahama Breeze, is no more.
You guys could save a lot of warheads by just taking out Darden Restaurants.
I like Chipotle, just wish they’d open up here. Had my worst meals in North America in Applebee’s in Niagara Falls. Reminded me of Ahhnolt in Twins “I like nooked food”. Olive Garden isn’t that exciting but isn’t inedible. Cracker Barrell was fairly shitty. I find it strange how much these bland/revolting chains thrive in North America with upwards of 30 of them in lots of towns you visit. It’s strange there’s such a huge market for chains yet there seems (imho) to be a dearth of normal quality one off restaurants.
[QUOTE=Diomedes]
My vote goes with Tim Horton’s. While they have decent coffee, and their donuts aren’t that bad, I’d love to see an entire nation start weeping simultaneously.
[/QUOTE]
I remember when the first Tim Horton’s was on its way to Columbus, Ohio. People were already talking about that place like Christ would be serving donuts on opening day, and it wasn’t even built yet. That’s when I realized it must be the antichrist. I never set foot in the place.
Went to the mall today and was surprised to see that Sbarro’s pizza was still there. It’s terrible even by mallfood standards. Velveeta and ketchup on a cardboard box would be more appealing.
[QUOTE=AnonymousCowherder]
Culver’s - This Midwest chain is exporting Milwaulkee to a town near you, clientele and all. Plenty of dairy, greasy meat, and fried goods without the beer or the authenticity. And ice cream with eggs in it. Gross. I wouldn’t be caught dead going into one a second time, but I’m afraid many regular patrons will be caught dead after going in the 5th or 6th time. For the sake our nations arteries, nuke this butterburger chain before it escapes the Midwest.
[/QUOTE]
Oh, no, I love Culver’s. Good frozen custard and good ice cream DO have eggs in it – you can’t make the premium stuff without them. It’s not a brat and brew joint, granted, but that isn’t it’s purpose. It’s frozen custard!
(In the northeast now…no frozen custard…must make some…)
[QUOTE=vivalostwages]
Olive Garden, Spike’s and Farmer Boys—why eat at such places when you could eat somewhere else and not feel like crap later?
[/QUOTE]
Farmer Boy is a chain?!?? I had never encountered one until I moved to this part of Oh-Hi-Oh, and I just assumed it was a local speciality. (I’ve never eaten there. It frightens me.)
Everyone I work with knows NEVER to invite me to CiCi’s. In addition to it having crappy food, as was mentioned up-thread, it infuriates me to see how much food they throw away. Yes, yes, health department regulations and all that. BUT… a corporate decision was made to go with their concept (a variety of pizzas served on a counter under heat lamps where it can’t be held at a safe temperature for more than 20 minutes).
The first time I went to one, my eyes just about bugged out of my head when I saw servers taking virtually-untouched pizzas off the counter and dumping them in a dish bin.
[QUOTE=AnonymousCowherder]
Culver’s - This Midwest chain is exporting Milwaulkee to a town near you, clientele and all. Plenty of dairy, greasy meat, and fried goods without the beer or the authenticity. And ice cream with eggs in it. Gross. I wouldn’t be caught dead going into one a second time, but I’m afraid many regular patrons will be caught dead after going in the 5th or 6th time. For the sake our nations arteries, nuke this butterburger chain before it escapes the Midwest.
[/QUOTE]
NOOOOO!!! Culvers has the best fast food hamburger in the Midwest. By a longshot. A longshot.