To my mind, there are several GOOD reasons why a chain restaurant may well be better than an individually-owned restaurant. First: buying power: a chain has immense buying power-theoretically, a chain can get better meat, fish, produce, etc., at a lower price. Second: professional staff: a chain can train its people better. Third: a chain can enforce consistency and quality control, something a small place cannot do. Let’s face it, there are LOTS of lousey “ma and pa” restaurants out there-that serve bad food.
There is no reason that a chain place can’t be good…of course,if the bean countes take over, you will see a continualerosion of quality…take seafood: a place like "Red Lobster"buys the cheapest frozen fish it can find.Sadly, that’s why most ofit tastes like fishy cardboard. Do the chains serve bland food? Yes, in many markets, bland food is what people want. These places wouln’t exist if people didn’t patronize them. So, I’m forced to admit, people tend to like crappizza-otherwise Dominos would be out of business.
Yeah, people like it. Doesn’t mean it’s right. We used to really like public hangings.
In practice Ralph124c. your theories work out to be the exact opposite. There are some things that make great restaurants that just arn’t conducive to the chain model. A chain doesn’t give a brilliant chef a chance to innovate and shine. It can’t take advantage of local fresh seasonal produce or caught-this-morning seafood from the local fishmarket. It can’t provide the kind of ever-changing wine lists required to take advantage of the best wines.
Chains need consistancy, and unfortunately measures taken for consistancy (like using centrally produced frozen sauces) degrade the quality of food . Good restaurants need an amount of flexibility that a chain just can’t give. Most all chains will be consigned to mediocracy, which is okay when your on the road with a cranky six year old or something, but is personally offensive when presented to me as a quality thing I ought to drop twenty-five bucks for.
You just listed the good and the bad about chain restaurants.
They can be good, but most times the bean counters take over, and guess what? They suck big time.
Some chains hold the line, and provide an excellent product. Ruth’s Chris, The Keg to name a couple. Most of the other chains are constantly trying to lower costs, to max out profits. They won’t raise prices because that would make them more expensive than the other chains. The prime (oops wrong word, make that most glaring) example of this is the Outback “Steakhouse” They buy the cheapest meat they can find, and douse it with pounds of tenderizer. We discussed this in a thread a while back and this was the consensus. The last time I ate at an Outback, the steak was about 1/16" of mush from tenderizer, and the rest was as tough as the sole of my bike shoe.* I will never pay that kind of money for that crap again.
People line up to eat this crap. :smack:
*yes I used to eat there, then I woke up and realized just how crappy the food was. Sorry, but I would eat at Mickey D’s (which I hate) before I would go back to the Outhouse
I’ve gotten into some colorful arguments with my fellow urban planners, who as a whole tend to be anti-chain. I believe that, despite their percieved evil, the presence of a chain can be used as an indicator of a region’s economic health. Consider Buffalo, New York. Upscale retail and restaurant chains that are well-established throughout the United States (and often Canada) don’t have a presence in Buffalo, and probably never will. Buffalo may be the largest metro in the country without the following:
- P.F. Chang’s
- Macaroni Grill
- Morton’s Steakhouse
- Ruth’s Chris Steakhouse
- Cheesecake Factory
- Smokey Bones (at least in the East)
- Landry’s
- Houston’s
- Longhorn Steakhouse
- Tony Roma’s
- Ruth’s Chris
- Chevy’s
- On The Border
- Panera Bread
- Carrabba’s Italian Grill
- Chipotle
- California Pizza Kitchen
- Many, many more
I know Buffalonians will take issue with me on these words. “We don’t need dose chains der – we’ve got dat der Bocce Club’s, da’ LaNova’s der, da’ Polish Villa’s der, and dem Italian restaurants der on every one of dose der corners der.”
Perhaps, and the funky restaurants of the West Side too, but consider what Buffalo doesn’t have. Yes, there’s independent Italian and Greek restaurants everywhere, as well as those “bar-in-the-front-little-restaurant-in-the-back-with-bowling-trophies-in-all-the-windows-and-fish-fry-on-Friday” joints, but there aren’t many national chains. Why?
Speaking with site selection specialists, they say Buffalo doesn’t have upscale national chains not because the locals would be reluctant to eat there – after all, Red Lobster and Olive Garden in Buffalo packs them in – but because they would make more profit by opening elsewhere; they wouldn’t get a good return from their dollars spent in the metro. Thus, you’ll see upscale national chains in much smaller but economically more prosperous regions, like Colorado Springs and Wichita, but not Buffalo. A large population of Italian-Americans or a percieved pro-local bias isn’t even an issue.
Toledo just got their first Starbucks outlet last year, even though there are six within a short drive of my house in Cleveland. Harrisburg, too, also just joined the Starbucks club last year. El Paso still doesn’t have a non-affiliate Starbucks, but little Las Cruces, 40 miles to the north, has one. Try to find a venti seven-shot three-shot-decaf one-and-a-half-pump sugar-free amaretto hundred and seventy degree two percent seven Nutrasweet with whip extra caramel extra sprinkles caramel macchiato with a twist of lemon* in West Virginia. Some small towns and cities, believe it or now, welcome chain restaurants, almost as an act of civic boosterism; they’re finally on the map and noticed by the outside world.
- Thanks to Tierce for the longest feasible Starbucks order.
Yeah, Rick and even sven pretty much nail it in my opinion.
As my tastes have changed, I have learned to value fresh ingredients in my food. And the freshest ones tend to be the locally produced ones. And it’s the local chefs of the independent restaurants that have the best access to, and the most experience with, the local ingredients.
The local restaurants are also more free to vary their menu to meet the chef’s abilities and take advantage of the available fresh products. They also have more leeway to reject what their suppliers are sending if it doesn’t meet their standards.
I’ve had lots of good, and a few great meals at chain restaurants. But my truly memorable ones have been at independent restaurants.
I think a lot of it depends on what, exactly, you’re looking for when you go out to eat. I typically don’t go out looking for a memorable meal. I usually just want something fairly pleasant to put in my mouth in a fairly pleasant atmosphere, and not have to do the shopping, cooking, or washing up. If it’s not the most fantastic food ever cooked since the invention of fire, I don’t really much give a rat’s ass. After all, the stuff I fix at home isn’t all that spectacular, either. A lack of greatness doesn’t automatically equal unredeemable crap, imo.
I’ve had good results with both Chili’s & Applebee’s - But I always sit at the bar and only order the chicken caesar salad (unfortunately the bar is also a smoking area but if you go during the non-rush hours it’s usually empty).
As for Cracker Barrel, I don’t visit the local establishments but if I’m traveling I’ll opt for their breakfast over a stop to the Flying J (or any other truck stop) any day.
My votes for the vomitorium award go to the following:
Fast Food: McDonalds - should change their slogan to “you can eat here without teeth”
Sit down: Red Lobster - horrible excuse for seafood - even worse service. If you live in the midwest and think this is your only shot at fresh seafood, do yourself a favor and stick to the Friday night perch fry at any local establishment.
Pizza: Domino’s - pure crap
Honorable Mentions: Denny’s, Waffle House, Long John Silvers, Taco Bell, TGI Fridays
Fazoli’s-Real Italian, Real Nasty
Steak and Shake, Even though I’m a regular customer
Old Country Buffet is only good if someone has knocked out the o,r, and y on the neon sign.
I don’t know where you people are eating, but I don’t seem to have half the problems you guys do.
Applebee’s:
The two I’ve been to are good, clean and relatively cheap. The food isn’t amazing, but it’s better that a lot of places I’ve been.
White Castle:
Sooooo much better than McD’s
Domino’s:
It depends so much on which one it is. I have had okay food and terrible food.
Cracker Barrel:
I’m not sure what else is around whoever said it was expensive, but here, it’s about the cheapest place you can go. My parents and I have eaten there for well under 30 dollars. You can’t even do that at Denny’s or IHOP. And the stuff I’ve had has been far from flavorless
I will agree with everything that has been said about TGI Fridays, the Cheesecake Factory (God, I hate that place), the Olive Garden (ick).
We used to eat at Wendy’s a lot. Sometimes two or three times a week. But they messed up our order enough times that we got annoyed, and then we started the Atkins diet and stopped eating out pretty much entirely.
But last night, around midnight, I got pretty hungry and I was itching for a burger and fries. Wendy’s is the only place near us that A)Is open that late and B)Accepts debit card.
Oh. My. God. That shit is vile. How did I used to eat that? What was wrong with me? I was sick for the rest of the night. shakes head Never again. Ever.
You may add Krystal to this list as well. They make more money at 2AM than at 2PM. (This is no exageration.)
I have to stand up for Hardees “thick burgers”, the ones I’ve had around these parts have been very very good.
Oh and as an aside to the guy who couldn’t find decent mexican here in Knoxville: try Monterys on Merchants Road. Excellent mexican food made by real mexicans who speak no english…mmmmmmmm tasty.