# Worst Chain Restaurant **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [August 23, 2012, 3:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-chain-restaurant/632389 "2012-08-23T15:45:23Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Missy2U](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/3bc359/32.png) [@Missy2U](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Missy2U)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2012, 6:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-chain-restaurant/632389/41 "2012-08-23T18:07:23Z")
I love Olive Garden for their salad dressing and breadsticks. Other than that, meh. Too expensive and I don’t eat a lot anyway. I hate Red Robin (I think it’s Red Robin - I don’t quite remember). It’s across the hallwayway from what used to be Panda Express inside Woodfield Mall which I think is now closed. In any event, I’ve never paid so much for a stupid Patty Melt and a soda in my life, and it wasn’t even good. Red Lobster is just not worth going to - I can get a “Top Secret Recipe” for the damn biscuits. Wendy’s is awful - won’t eat there. Brown’s Chicken - won’t eat there. Papa Johns - pizza sucks. Little Ceasars - see above. Not really liking Cheesecake Factory at all either - too expensive for what I got and the wait was stupid ridiculous. One I forgot is that I don’t understand the local love around here for Culver’s. I just don’t like their food at ALL. ---
**Author:** ![Sicks\_Ate](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/258eb7/32.png) [@Sicks\_Ate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sicks_Ate)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2012, 6:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-chain-restaurant/632389/42 "2012-08-23T18:11:13Z")
I’m surprised to see Red Robin pop up so often! I’ve never had a problem at the one near me. The thing I love about RR: Bottomless basket of steak fries. “Would you like an appetizer to start you off, sir?” “Nope! Just start bringin’ the fries!” ---
**Author:** ![tdn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/94ad74/32.png) [@tdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tdn)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2012, 6:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-chain-restaurant/632389/43 "2012-08-23T18:11:51Z")
I went to Boston Market a few months ago. I thought that they were still pretty good, but not as good as they were before they were a chain. Chipotle. I’d take Taco Bell over them any day. KFC is a crap shoot. In nice neighborhoods they suck. In dicey neighborhoods they’re really good. (That is from a sample size of 3.) ---
**Author:** ![MadTheSwine](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9fc29f/32.png) [@MadTheSwine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MadTheSwine)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2012, 6:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-chain-restaurant/632389/44 "2012-08-23T18:17:21Z")
Forgot to mention IHOP as a distant tie for second. ---
**Author:** ![It\_s\_Not\_Rocket\_Surgery](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/it_s_not_rocket_surgery/32/312_2.png) [@It\_s\_Not\_Rocket\_Surgery](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/It_s_Not_Rocket_Surgery)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2012, 6:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-chain-restaurant/632389/45 "2012-08-23T18:17:41Z")
Sit-down restaurant, more expensive: Olive Garden. The food is edible, but a lot of the dishes are $15+. No way. Plus our local one took the one item I like off the menu (Seafood Portofino) and told us to email corporate about it being gone - which I did and never heard back from them. Dishonorable mention: Smokey Bones. Even pricier than Olive Garden, and not much better. Sit-down restaurant, less expensive: Friendly’s. [I’m not alone in this assessment.](http://lifeinc.today.com/_news/2012/06/28/12442795-diners-love-biaggis-arent-so-friendly-to-friendlys?lite) Fast food restaurant, overall: Long John Silver’s. THE place to go if you want breaded fried batter that may or may not taste like fish. Dishonorable mentions: Penn Station. Like a sandwich place, only worse. Rally’s. Is it food, or some sort of grease experiment? Special awards: Worst specialty dish: Arby’s roast beef sandwich. Everything else on their menu is better than this. Biggest downhill slide: Wendy’s. They used to have good burgers and OK fries. The new burgers are not quite as good, and the new fries are terrible (and saltier than, say, a salt lick.) I blame Arby’s for buying them and bringing them down to their level. ---
**Author:** ![campp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c5a1d2/32.png) [@campp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/campp)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2012, 6:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-chain-restaurant/632389/46 "2012-08-23T18:18:52Z")
I’ve gotta say that Denny’s is FAR better than it used to be. They redid the menus, and on my last road trip became my go-to breakfast spot. ---
**Author:** ![Motorgirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e36b37/32.png) [@Motorgirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Motorgirl)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2012, 6:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-chain-restaurant/632389/47 "2012-08-23T18:22:31Z")
> [@tdn](#): > > I went to Boston Market a few months ago. I thought that they were still pretty good, but not as good as they were before they were a chain. I thought they were pretty good back when they were still Boston Chicken and before McDonald’s bought them. Now there aren’t any on my side of the river unless you go way out to the burbs, so I don’t know how they are these days. Wouldn’t be surprised if they were less good under McDonald’s ownership. I have a hard time picking a least-favorite chain. From my perspective they all suffer from the same ailment - mediocre food (usually not outright bad) that costs more than I want to pay for that style of food. ---
**Author:** ![BubbaDog](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bubbadog/32/333_2.png) [@BubbaDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BubbaDog)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2012, 6:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-chain-restaurant/632389/48 "2012-08-23T18:23:31Z")
> [@DrumBum](#): > > I may end up in the Pit for this but burgers at White Castle were terrible. I tried them at the urging of my Illinois born sister-in-law and tossed the bag out after one bite. > > I don’t think she will ever forgive me. I’ve always said that there are only two kinds of people who like White Castle’s burgers. 1 People who grew up eating them as a kid 2 Raging drunks I happened to have fit both those categories and love the stuff. ---
**Author:** ![StusBlues](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/dc4da7/32.png) [@StusBlues](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/StusBlues)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2012, 6:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-chain-restaurant/632389/49 "2012-08-23T18:29:05Z")
I have a very proudly underdeveloped palate: I do enjoy Red Lobster (though less so now than years ago–their scallops have descended to McDonaldshood) and Applebees (they have a cabernet mushroom sirloin that is really exceptional–no doubt someone will check in to say “Ewwwww!”) White Castle unequivocally gets my vote. Inedible. Unrecognizable as food. Honorable mention to IHOP and Village Inn, which I used to love. Now I wonder how they stay open. ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2012, 6:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-chain-restaurant/632389/50 "2012-08-23T18:37:19Z")
> [@campp](#): > > I’ve gotta say that Denny’s is FAR better than it used to be. They redid the menus, and on my last road trip became my go-to breakfast spot. I used to think of Denny’s as The place people go to only because it’s the middle of the night and nowhere else is open. But in recent years I’ve gone there and been pleasantly surprised at the quality of the food—though some experiences/locations have been significantly better than others. ---
**Author:** ![Typo\_Negative](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/typo_negative/32/484_2.png) [@Typo\_Negative](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Typo_Negative)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2012, 6:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-chain-restaurant/632389/51 "2012-08-23T18:57:15Z")
Red Lobster and Olive Garden look like 5 star restaurants when you’ve been to a **Hometown Buffet**. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2012, 7:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-chain-restaurant/632389/52 "2012-08-23T19:00:49Z")
> [@RealityChuck](#): > > Sbarros. There isn’t anyone on Earth who would eat there given the choice. It makes Olive Garden look like great Italian food. You know, the last time I remember having Sbarro’s was either in high school or early college. I remember the pizza being far preferable to Domino’s and even Papa John’s (another pizza chain I’m not fond of. Pizza Hut I can tolerate, though). I do remember it being particularly greasy, even as far as pizza goes, but at least having flavor to it. I’ve never had anything else from Sbarro’s. ---
**Author:** ![hogarth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hogarth/32/1773_2.png) [@hogarth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hogarth)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2012, 7:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-chain-restaurant/632389/53 "2012-08-23T19:02:48Z")
I’ve only been to Applebee’s once, but it was horrible. I like Red Lobster well enough. My sentimental least favourite: Swiss Chalet. Rotisserie chicken that I could pick up at a grocery store for a fraction of the price, with their patented special sauce that makes the chicken taste worse. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2012, 7:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-chain-restaurant/632389/54 "2012-08-23T19:06:39Z")
> [@BubbaDog](#): > > I’ve always said that there are only two kinds of people who like White Castle’s burgers. > > 1 People who grew up eating them as a kid > > 2 Raging drunks > > I happened to have fit both those categories and love the stuff. I generally want to agree with your statement, but I have to say, I’ve had European friends come over and visit who have no experience with White Castle and are not particularly lushes, yet they enjoy the stuff. I suppose it helps if you have a looser definition for what a hamburger should be, although I don’t consider White Castle burgers hamburgers in the traditional sense–they kind of have their own category. Just like Taco Bell isn’t Mexican or Tex-Mex food, White Castle isn’t really a hamburger, but its own squishy gooey mess, aka a slider. I don’t make a habit of them, but I do love them about once every two months or so. Surprised by the Long John Silver vote. I would put that as one of the best fast food places out there, although they are very much disappearing from the Chicago area. ---
**Author:** ![dzeiger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/46a35a/32.png) [@dzeiger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dzeiger)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2012, 7:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-chain-restaurant/632389/55 "2012-08-23T19:11:31Z")
I never really understood the Red Lobster hate. Most people I know that go there tend to get things like snow crab legs or, well, lobster–stuff that’s generally just steamed. I’ve been to a fancier crab place, and other than offering their king crab claws with the shells pre-scored by a laser, and a “special dipping sauce” that I didn’t much care for, it was pretty much the same steamed crab legs I get at Red Lobster, just more expensive. And yeah, if you’re on the coast or something where you have real fresh options, sure some local place is probably going to do the fish better. But here in Dallas, the scallops or the salmon aren’t generally going to be any less frozen than they are a the mom-and-pop seafood place down the way. ---
**Author:** ![Jophiel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jophiel/32/66_2.png) [@Jophiel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jophiel)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2012, 7:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-chain-restaurant/632389/56 "2012-08-23T19:18:37Z")
> [@Ellen\_Cherry](#): > > You went to White Castle’s expecting the burgers to be _good_? 😕 No, I went expecting them to be cheap and trashy. Expensive and trashy don’t cut it. ---
**Author:** ![Ludovic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ab992/32.png) [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2012, 7:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-chain-restaurant/632389/57 "2012-08-23T19:21:30Z")
Sbarro’s isn’t horribly bad pizza, but it’s always overpriced, even when simply in a mall. It’s even more overpriced when in an airport, obviously. ---
**Author:** ![August\_West](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/august_west/32/18069_2.png) [@August\_West](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/August_West)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2012, 7:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-chain-restaurant/632389/58 "2012-08-23T19:25:07Z")
There’s a reason every entree at a place like Chili’s, Applebee’s, or the like is drenched in “Jack Daniel’s Wild Potato Sauce” or “Loopy Froot Loops Garlic Sauce”, or whatever the hell they’re smothering their food in this week. It’s because the food is HORRIBLE! Please note that I am only extrapolating this from the commercials, I haven’t eaten in any of those types of places in better than 10 years. ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Miskatonic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mr.miskatonic/32/310_2.png) [@Mr.Miskatonic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Miskatonic)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2012, 7:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-chain-restaurant/632389/59 "2012-08-23T19:37:35Z")
Sbarro’s reminds me too much of cafeteria pizza in high school. Red Lobster - Yeah, I had a girlfriend who made fun of them by saying “let’s go someplace classy like Red Labstah” in a hilarious;y grating accent. I haven’t been very impressed. Dennys - I haven’t been in a few years. It wasn’t horrible last time I went but they’ve never messed up breakfast as long as you don’t order scrambled egg. Everything else, however… Boston Market - just got too pricey for what they offer. $9 for a half sandwich & side? Every one I have been in recently seems like a humidity factory to boot. Wendys - Seems to be going downhill fast. They used to be damn good. I am only rating the food, as service can vary from location to location (“no, I mean we’re going to the GOOD Dennys!”) Right now I am liking Joe’s Crab Shack and am glad they have expanded into the Philadelphia region. ---
**Author:** ![shiftless](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e9c0ed/32.png) [@shiftless](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/shiftless)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2012, 7:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-chain-restaurant/632389/60 "2012-08-23T19:52:11Z")
I want to nominate Golden Corral but they’ve just introduced cotton candy on their all you can eat buffet. I’m betting they cook up cotton candy just as well as the finest chef and the chocolate fountain gives them a huge edge over the fancy, schmancy places. Pictue it, all you can eat cotton candy, with a chocolate fountain. Go ahead, you know you want to. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-chain-restaurant/632389.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-chain-restaurant/632389.md?page=4)