What chain restaurant has the Worst food?

In My Humble Opinion
81

Another vote for Ryan’s Steakhouse. “The food is godawful… and plenty of it!” They also accomplish the nearly impossible task of making their meatballs taste like their steak taste like their chicken— I’m convinced some form of food simulation is in play (“I can’t believe it’s not organic!”)

Waffle House is bad and greasy if you stray away from waffles and bacon, but it’s like a fully clothed Hooters- nobody goes there for the food. You go there because it’s the only place open at 2 a.m. and it’s cheap and you can smoke.

82

I wouldn’t think fast food joints are fair game. I mean really, does anybody expect them to be good? That’s not to say you can’t crave it now and then, but you still know it’s crap.

That said, I think Burger King is several orders of magnitude better than McDonald’s. I’m mystified as to why it’s not as popular. Around here you can’t spit without hitting a McD’s, but you have to drive miles out of your way to find a BK.

I have to disagree with several of your nominations.

Red Robin – big fan here.

Papa John’s – Best. Pizza. Ever. I accept no substitutes!

Carl’s Jr. – The only time I can get it is on my annual trip to Las Vegas, so I have to get my fix for the entire year within the space of two weeks.

I do agree with Old Country Buffet, though. The food is dreadful, but it’s almost worth going for the entertainment value. Old people get bused in by the dozens. It’s probably their only outing from the home all month, so they make an occasion of it and get dolled up in their '70’s polyester suits, blue wigs and pancake makeup. The rest of the clientele consists of morbidly obese trailer park refugees with mullets who body check you at the buffet. One time my friend and I dragged my oh-so-proper, well-to-do, sophisticated, blue-blooded SO there as a joke. I’ve rarely seen him so mad. :eek:

I’d also like to nominate Hamburger Mary’s and Lone Star. shudder

83

I’ve never eaten at Chik-Fil-A, Bosda. Snif.

84

Dude, you just made me think about crazy-grandma-waittress-lady in a way I REALLY didn’t need.

Daniel

85

Looks like Olive Garden is leading in this thread, but for my money Applebee’s is the worst of the lot. And I used to work at one.

Somebody mentioned Pancho’s somewhere upthread. The one in downtown Memphis doesn’t even have a stove! It’s got a wall of microwave ovens in the kitchen. Seriously.

And let me give a special shout out in this thread to On the Border, where I had the worst mexican meal of my life.

86

I’ve had most of the bad food in restaurants in my whole life at Denny’s. But, OTOH, I’ve had good food there too. It’s a crapshoot. :smiley:

87

I have never had a good meal at a Marie Callendar’s, which is a chain here in California. I don’t know if they exist elsewhere. They are sort of like an overpriced Baker’s Square and always have a line of (usually over-65-year-old) people. I don’t know how it is even possible to get an omelet that is simultaneously overcooked and cold in the middle. And the service is unearthly horrible.

88

I’m surprised no one has mentioned Shoney’s yet. The worst, sub-Denny’s greasy spoon food in existance. As for Denny’s, Drew Carey aptly describes it as “The only comfort you can take from eating at a Denny’s is that you know for sure that all over America, everyone else at a Denny’s is just as unhappy as you are.”

Honorable mentions: McDonalds, Hardees/Carls Jr., Burger King, White Castle, Long John Silvers, Pizza Hut, Dominos, Papa Johns, KFC, Ruby Tuesdays, Red Lobster, Sizzler, Ponderosa. I used to work at an Applebee’s and grew to hate it then. It has just gotten worse since. Waffle House is quite bad, and I’ve learned to just avoid places with the word “Country” in the name. I can’t recall ever eating at one, but Stuckey’s just sounds terrible, and I have horrible memories of eating at Flying Js and Iron Skillets while on holiday.

Olive Garden is a particular non-favorite of mine. The either slather it in grease, drown it in butter sauce, or choke it to death with some kind of “ragu” made out of ketchup and Elmer’s glue. And the crustless, tasteless “bread” they serve with everything. They probably serve you bread with your tirami su (or “tierra miso” as their waitrons typically pronounce it.)

Also, I hate hate hate on principle those faux Irish themed sport bar & grills that are popping up like pimples on a thirteen year old. Here’s a clue for ya’: if you don’t serve at least four types of Irish whisky, you aren’t an “Irish Pub”. A tap of Guinness and another of Harp does not qualify.

Oh, and Hooters: I don’t like the food, I don’t like the hideously garish interior, I don’t like the way they encourage customers to treat the waitstaff, and I don’t like how they handle the Guinness. It’s like a McDonalds run by alcoholic marketing school dropouts.

I used to like Wendy’s (for a fast food joint) but the quality has definintely gone to shite since Dave Thomas died. The last burger I got at one was so bad it was inedible. Never again. Arby’s is passable with their premium sandwiches, but the meat product they put on their roast beef sandwiches is indefiniable and leaves a nasty aftertaste. (I really used to like those, though.)

Good chains: Culvers (WI/N IL), In-N-Out (SoCal; “Those are good burgers, Walter,”), Rockfish (southwest), Paradise Bakery & Grill (Phoenix area, and there’s one in Sky Harbor Airport if you’re passing through), Ruth’s Chris Steakhouse, Houston’s (even though I used to work at one), and Legal Seafoods. I’ve had mostly good experience with Outback Steakhouse, even if I find their menu titles to be some of the most obnoxious ever, and the “Bloomin’ Onion” is a culinary nightmare of breading and grease. The one in Cheyenne, WY, though, was terrible…but then, so is most everything else in that pit.

I have a childhood fondness for A&W Drive-Ins, and since I haven’t been to one in decades, I can maintain that haze of nostalgia. Winsteads (a Kansas City area chain) hasn’t fared nearly so well; I ate at one ten years ago or so and noticed a prounounced decline in quality…or maybe just a more mature sense of taste.

Stranger

89

I have had good meals in a lot of the places mentioned - in fact mostly good meals. Some not mentioned:
Burger Chef. Burger King is a step down from McD’s, but Burger Chef is a step down from BK. A stepdown from dog crap, actually.

In’n’Out Burger - blasphemy, I know, but I’ve been twice and will never, never go again. The worst french fries in human history.

Now some seconds.

Long John Silvers - haven’t been in years, thank goodness.

Taco Bell. I think I had a good churro there once, at 2 am. Besides that - yeck.

Dead Lobster. My wife and daughter know to go without me.

Dominos and Pizza Hut. I don’t want to do a taste test to see which is worst. There is so much good pizza out there, why eat that crap. Having lived in Champaign Illinois with Papa Del’s, the best pizza in the world, I have some taste.

I have had one good meal in a Baker’s Square. But they went down hill rapidly. We had meetings of a group I was in there, since the place was always so empty.

Has Friendly’s gone down hill? When I lived in the East, 8 years ago, there were some that were okay.

90

like a pirahna brother said, it depends. The southwest (California, New Mexico, Texas, Arizona, Colorado) has abundant Mexican food. There are some good places where my folks are in Manassas, Virginia as well, but only in the last 5 years or so.

NYC has gone from having almost no good Mexican food to maybe slightly more than almost no good Mexican food in the 15 years I’ve been here. There are dozens of serviceable burrito joints and a handful of lunch or dinner places worth going to, but it’s still not possible to get hueveos rancheros for breakfast, or good green chile sauce on anything. Disappointing to say the least.

And I would like to 10th or 11th Pizza Hut. It might be good slurping it down fresh out of the oven, but otherwise it never fails to disappoint.

91

I’ve changed my mind about The Olive Garden. As long as you stay away from anything with a red sauce you can have a very pleasant eating experience. I especially like the pasta e fagioli soup and the Chicken Castellina entree. The stuffed mushroom appetizer is also pretty yummy.

92

For those of you who have never experienced the “joy” of going to Ryan’s, my two local Ryan’s restaurants fit this description exactly. Usually they lean more towards the trailer park clientele than the blue hairs.

If you want blue hairs, go to K&W Cafeteria or any of the big chain cafeterias, a rare sight is someone under 50 eating there.

Soul Brother Number Two, here’s a link to the Chick-Fil-A location finder.

link

D. Pirahna

93

Another nomination for Olive Garden. I had the second worst meal of my life there. I will eat the soup, salad, and breadsticks, though. Nothing else.

I can’t believe no one has mentioned Chi-Chi’s, a midwestern chain of Mexican restaurants that serves the most unbelievably bland “Mexican” food I have ever had. Mexican food for Iowan tastebuds. Their “hot” sauce wouldn’t pass for mild in an authentic Mexican restaurant.

94

My list (a couple of which migh be blasphemy to some):

Denny’s
Little Caesar’s
White Castle (ugh!)
Taco Bell
The Original Pancake House (bad food, slow service)
Every “take ‘n’ bake” pizza place I’ve ever tried
Baker’s Square (not bad…just dry)

And, during our trip to England, Little Chef. Worst food I’ve had in years!

95

<raises hand>

I’m scared at how many of these places my family goes to regularly, especially Hometown Buffet (same chain as Old Country Buffet, IIRC).

And I still get urges to hop down to Olive Garden and get some seafood fettucini…

96

Ew. Applebee’s. Even when I ate meat, I couldn’t find anything I liked.

And TGIFriday’s, oh I have a story about TGIFriday’s.

So, a few friends and I go into TGIFriday’s at a mall; we had been shopping for hours. We are informed that there is about a 45-minute wait to get in, so we bite the bullet and wait (we were poor high schoolers, nothing else could really be afforded, and no one wanted McD’s). We wander around for a while, and finally the stupid little vibrating thingy goes off. Eventually we get in and sit down. I order a veggie burger, everyone else orders something. One person asks what the soup du jour is and the waiter responds that it’s chicken noodle, so she orders a bowl of that. After a very long wait, we eventually get our food, me my veggie burger, others their sandwiches and such, and the bowl of soup comes. But it is not chicken noodle. It is a red substance. The girl assumes that it’s tomato, and is like “ok, I like tomato that’s fine.” But NO. It was not tomato soup. IT WAS A BOWL OF MARINARA SAUCE.(???) We call the waiter back, he apologizes, and she orders something else.
I have been to a more decent TGIFriday’s, which was in Boston, but that one experience will taint my opinion forever.

I must say that I like Friendly’s regardless of how gross it is. My friends from back home always get together there, as it’s the most convenient restaurant around (I grew up in the middle of no where). And I like the ice cream. It holds too many memories. And I like grilled cheese.

I like Pizza Hut too, but I blame the Scholastic Read-A-Thon from elementary school, by which we could win a personal pan pizza. I am addicted to reading. And pizza. I also like the cheese sticks. It’s way better than Domino’s. And far better than the pizza from the local places near my house. And I’d still prefer it, as the popular pizza place from where I go to school takes about 2 hours to deliver a pizza. ITS ABOUT A MILE AWAY (…and the girl who works there was mean to me over the phone)!!!

97

A few of these places are good if you know what to order.

Olive Garden - Soup Salad and breadsticks - excellent lunch

Burger King - The Angus Steakburger is the best FF hamburger ever

White Castle - the chicken rings are the only edible thing on the menu.

Red Lobster - I only go during the all you can eat shrimp and get nothing but shrimp scampi. Honestly, I’ve rarely tasted any place that has as good scampi.

Applebee’s doesn’t have bad food, but they have horrible service. They seem to train their servers for stupidity (ok, it was only twice but twice bad service is enough for me)

For all over bad menu items with no hope of finding anything good - Taco Bell. As a person who’s not that fond of real Mexican food, fake Mexican food is just disgusting.

98

I can’t imagine going to Pizza Hut if I lived in Austin (I lived there for about 5 years). So much good pizza there - Mangia, Brick Oven, Pizza Nizza and my favorite - Conan’s. Oh, how I miss Austin and it’s food.

99

Red Lobster isn’t bad for the most part. heck, around here (Tennessee) there isn’t much beter than that. The seafood isn’t perfect, but the cook it as well as all but the most expensive places.

Not really, no. I’m still not sure where I can get good mexican. All the places around here give the distinct impression of being trendy suburbia restaurants as likely as not to serve pasta as mexican.

Actually, I’ve had MRE’s. I think they’re pretty good, overall. Not much for taste, but filling, nourishing, and gives a good texture.
O’Charley’s, for the record, isn’t bad overall. Their steak cooking skills very widely by chef, however. Mostly, I stick to the pasta dishes or sandwiches; those are pretty good.

Cracker Barrel is great, and I’m sorry anyone had a bad time there. Their breakfasts (served all day!) are lovely affair, and while I don’t always wolf down the specials, the grilled catfish is awe-inspiring. Plus, it’s pretty cheap.

my vote goes to Steak n’ Shake. It’s much like Mc’Donalds, but tends to be a bit more sit-down. The food is better, but the prices are horrendous and it regularly takes them 30 minutes or more to whip up a burger and fries. I can go to a deli and get a fresh one, larger portions, and tastier food for the same price in 10 minutes.

Sonic Drive-in was strange. I like the style, but the food made me slightly ill so I never went back. It wasn’t really special as far as taste or content went, too.

100

This was going to be my nomination. Not because it’s bad, but because the pretention is so overpowering, and yet the food is distinguishable only by color and texture, not by taste. I mean, if you close your eyes and can’t tell the difference between the faux-Thai dish and the faux-Cajun dish, something is wrong.