What is the highest ranking chain that you’ve never eaten at (or otherwise visited)? #13 - Sonic
Next four would be: #29 - Hardee’s (if you insist on keeping it separate from Carl’s Jr.) #44 - Bob Evans #47 - Longhorn Steakhouse #55 - Carrabba’s Italian Grill
Amusingly (to me anyway), the only reason Long John Silver doesn’t make the list is because I ate at one in Singapore.
What is the highest ranking chain you’ve never seen in person (but may have heard of)?
I have no recollection of ever seeing Longhorn Steakhouse, but looking at their locations map it is likely I’ve actually seen the one in Orlando.
What is the highest ranking chain you never even heard of?
Longhorn Steakhouse again.
Jack in the Box is largely a West Coast chain. Looking at their web site, they’ve got a handful of restaurants west of the Mississippi (mostly in North Carolina, oddly enough). When I was a kid in the 70s, they expanded into Chicago, but they haven’t operated here in at least 20 years.
Chik-Fil-A and Waffle House are Southeastern chains. Whataburger is only in southern states, running from Arizona to Florida.
I’ve seen Panera Bread in larger cities but never stopped there. My town just got a Five Guys and a Chipotle in the last few months though, so hopefully Panera is soon to follow, I’ve heard good things.
For BellRungBookShut-CandleSnuffed’s corollary I’ve been to
#399 Maggie Moo’s, Just had a smoothie but it was good. #400 Spaghetti Warehouse, Olive Garden food in a different atmosphere.
Cheesecake Factory is nominally a national chain (see their map), but in a lot of states, there’s only a few, usually in big cities (for example, there’s only one CC in Minnesota, in Edina).
For the lowest eaten at: #388, Hot Dog on a Stick, if getting just lemonade counts, if not then #356, Pomodoro (if it’s what’s commonly known as Pasta Pomodoro.)
I don’t understand why Carl’s Jr/Hardees are different entries when it’s the same restaurant. They have the same commercials and signage and everything.
The Carabba’s Italian went out of business here because nobody went there. We ate there twice and weren’t impressed either time. It’s the only one I’ve ever seen.
I’ve only been to SoCal once, 22 years ago, for a month, so while I must have seen one while driving by one at some point, I don’t actually remember seeing it.
#15. Jack in the Box. Regional, nowhere near me. We’ve started getting commercials for it lately, which if the timing of the Sonic finally appearing is any indication, means we’ll get one in about six years.
After that I get to #32 Carl’s Jr. (isn’t Hardee’s similar?) and #37, Red Robin, which is the first one we have in town that I haven’t been to.
#75, Famous Dave’s Legendary Pit Barbecue, is the first one I’ve never heard of.
Carl’s Jr. was originally a West Coast chain; Hardee’s Midwestern and Southern. Carl’s Jr. bought Hardee’s some years ago. I’m pretty sure that the menus are similar now, if not identical.
> 1. What is the highest ranking chain that you’ve never eaten at (or otherwise visited)?
#39 Church’s Chicken. Most I’ve seen are in really rough neighborhoods. I won’t hesitate to go to a neighborhood with a bad rep to visit a good restaurant or someplace that was recommended to mme, but I wouldn’t head there to visit a fast food chain.
For most Dopers, I thought it would be #11.
> 2. What is the highest ranking chain you’ve never seen in person (but may have heard of)?
#112 Ninety Nine Restaurant & Pub - this is exclusing other chains higher up that I’ve never seen or heard of.
> 3. What is the highest ranking chain you never even heard of?
#68 Zaxby’s
A twist: the chains at the bottom of the list I’ve been to:
272 Bakers Square
285 First Watch
300 bd’s Mongolian Grill
316 House of Blues
321 Texas Steakhouse & Saloon
336 Grandy’s
357 Cheeburger Cheeburger
360 Ground Round Grill & Bar (they’re still around?)
369 Le Peep
384 Roly Poly (a case of unfortunate placement; it’s between Dress Barn Woman and Lane Bryant at the Golden Gate Plaza in Mayfield Heights, Ohio).
Are you thinking of Sonic, which is infamous for airing commercials in areas hundreds of miles away from the nearest Sonic? In the Buffalo area, Ruth’s Chris airs commercials during local talk shows, among the local commercials for basement waterproofing services, attorneys and auto dealers, even though the nearest location is in Pittsburgh. Go figure.
The Cleveland area’s first Sonic opened in Streetsboro a couple of years ago.
Buffalo probably has the lowest ratio of relative chains relative to the regional population. Of the top 100, the Buffalo area only has 42; for 101-200, Buffalo has 7. Many prominent chains (Wendy’s, Domino’s, Pizza Hut) have only a token restaurant or two in the area. The region’s first Chipotle just opened today, years after most other similarly sized metro areas in the country landed one. There’s a crapload of local chains and very prominent local restaurants that have been offered the opportunity to go national, but they universally refuse to do so, fearing they’d lose their authenticity cred among locals.
A good piece of advice is: stay away from buffets, especially Ryan’s. If I never eat there again, it will be too soon. blech I only wish I could say I kept on driving. In my defense, we had a coupon and were trying to keep it cheap. I now understand that nobody would actually eat there were it not for the coupons.
As for me:
Never eaten at: (it pains me to have to get all the way to) #31 Popeye Chicken Addendum: I have only eaten at Cracker Barrel under duress. I feel it necessary to stipulate that I would never choose this myself.
Never seen: #39 Church’s Chicken
Never heard of: #41 Whataburger
BTW, since when is 7-11 a restaurant? A chain of quicky marts, okay. But how does nuke-yourself frozen burritos and 432 oz drinks make it a restaurant?
On the flip side:
Lowest I’ve eaten in: #397 Big Apple Bagels (once…I don’t really remember much; color me unimpressed)
Non-relevant aside:
I grew up passing the old A-Frame IHOP along the 5 on the way to San Diego to visit my aunt. My dad, having worked in an IHOP as a teen, never trusted the cleanliness of said establishment often referring to it as the International House of Ptomaine. I didn’t get the reference until much later in life and had no idea he actually did have the acronym correct. It was such a disappointment to not get the opportunity to eat there. Alas, there was always Sambo’s. I adore breakfast.
