# 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:** 4
**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, 7:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-chain-restaurant/632389/61 "2012-08-23T19:53:50Z")
> [@Jophiel](#): > > No, I went expecting them to be cheap and trashy. Expensive and trashy don’t cut it. White Castle expensive? 😕 For $2.58 (plus tax) you get 480 calories worth of double cheeseburgers (three of them). A quarter pounder with cheese at McDonalds is somewhere north of $3.00 here and is only 40 more calories. ---
**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, 7:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-chain-restaurant/632389/62 "2012-08-23T19:55:59Z")
> [@Motorgirl](#): > > I thought they were pretty good back when they were still Boston Chicken and before McDonald’s bought them. I think it’s when they changed the name that they started getting worse. I remember when there were only 2 or 3 of them. I had some friends that made special trips there for lunch. They’d go clear across town to eat there. I had no idea that McDonald’s bought them. ---
**Author:** ![Quimby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/22d042/32.png) [@Quimby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quimby)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2012, 8:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-chain-restaurant/632389/63 "2012-08-23T20:05:00Z")
I’m not going to stand on a hill and defend all chain restaurants because there are bad ones but I have to say the tone of the OP sounds kind of douche-y. I happen to like things I have had at restaurants like Red Lobster, Applebees, and Olive Garden to name a few and I don’t think there is something wrong with me for doing so. That said, I would say Chilis is the worst I have been in. I don’t think I ever had a good meal there so after a couple of times, I stopped going. ---
**Author:** ![Boyo\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/87869e/32.png) [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2012, 8:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-chain-restaurant/632389/64 "2012-08-23T20:06:18Z")
I vote Dennys, though to be fair I haven’t been to one in more than 20 years – after the 2nd case of food poising I got from one of their meals. (Two different Dennys poisoned me BTW.) ---
**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, 8:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-chain-restaurant/632389/65 "2012-08-23T20:16:34Z")
> [@pulykamell](#): > > White Castle expensive? 😕 For $2.58 (plus tax) you get 480 calories worth of double cheeseburgers (three of them). A quarter pounder with cheese at McDonalds is somewhere north of $3.00 here and is only 40 more calories. Last time I went, I was looking at 80-odd cents per burger plus tax. But White Castle are only ‘good’ en masse. You don’t eat one White Castle with its paper thin slice of meat and call it a meal. I’m usually 4-5 burgers in before I notice I’m eating them. Conversely, I can get one McDouble for a buck and feel like I just ate something. I don’t really care how many calories it is, I care how sated I feel after eating it and the dollar burgers from the Big Three do a much better job at that than several dollars’ worth of White Castle. They just don’t do the job and they cost too much these days to fail at doing the job. ---
**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, 8:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-chain-restaurant/632389/66 "2012-08-23T20:21:29Z")
> [@Jophiel](#): > > Last time I went, I was looking at 80-odd cents per burger plus tax. That is correct. $2.58/3 is $0.86 for a cheeseburger. > [@](#): > > But White Castle are only ‘good’ en masse. You don’t eat one White Castle with its paper thin slice of meat and call it a meal. I’m usually 4-5 burgers in before I notice I’m eating them. Here we differ. Three is enough for more. Four is if I want to feel full. Five is I’m drunk and don’t care. > [@](#): > > Conversely, I can get one McDouble for a buck and feel like I just ate something. Not going to argue about the McDouble, but that’s a particularly dirt cheap burger. That’s what I ate when I was dieting. 420 calories for a buck. I feel as full from a McDouble as three White Castle Cheeseburgers. ---
**Author:** ![VinylTurnip](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/b2d939/32.png) [@VinylTurnip](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VinylTurnip)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2012, 8:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-chain-restaurant/632389/67 "2012-08-23T20:21:42Z")
> [@pulykamell](#): > > 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. Slate printed an [article in May of last year](http://www.slate.com/articles/life/food/2011/05/sborring.html) that fairly savaged Sbarro. And I’ve never eaten it personally and concede that the politics of their former CEO may have influenced the author’s opinion, but [this article](http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/hard-to-choke-down/Content?oid=8845058) by a columnist in Seattle’s _The Stranger_ made Godfather’s Pizza sound pretty unappealing. An excerpt: > [@](#): > > Though Pillsbury doesn’t own Godfather’s Pizza anymore, it’s still written into the DNA of the chain: Specifically, the crust of all the pizza could have been rolled out of a Pillsbury tube. It’s flabby and pale and tastes like a few drops of artificial baked-bread flavoring were added to fifty thousand gallons of the stuff, long ago in a factory far away. Ketchup would make a better tomato sauce. The cheese is kind of cheese-colored and covered over in a greasy blanket of beef pellets, “sausage” crumbles, and off-tasting bacon. I can get only a few bites down before my gag reflex kicks in. ---
**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, 8:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-chain-restaurant/632389/68 "2012-08-23T20:25:35Z")
> [@VinylTurnip](#): > > Slate printed an [article in May of last year](http://www.slate.com/articles/life/food/2011/05/sborring.html) that fairly savaged Sbarro. I’m tempted to try it again, to see what my opinion is 20 years on. ---
**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, 8:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-chain-restaurant/632389/69 "2012-08-23T20:36:05Z")
> [@VinylTurnip](#): > > Slate printed an [article in May of last year](http://www.slate.com/articles/life/food/2011/05/sborring.html) that fairly savaged Sbarro. > [@pulykamell](#): > > I’m tempted to try it again, to see what my opinion is 20 years on. I used to love Sbarro when I was a teenager. I got the great idea to try it again a few years ago…walked up to the counter, looked at my options, and said n/m. I really do no think it’s as it ws 20 yrs ago. ---
**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, 8:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-chain-restaurant/632389/70 "2012-08-23T20:44:11Z")
> [@Sicks\_Ate](#): > > I used to love Sbarro when I was a teenager. I got the great idea to try it again a few years ago…walked up to the counter, looked at my options, and said n/m. I really do no think it’s as it ws 20 yrs ago. That’s too bad. Even back then, it was pretty sub par. Breakfast there was attrocious. ---
**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, 8:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-chain-restaurant/632389/71 "2012-08-23T20:44:23Z")
> [@pulykamell](#): > > I feel as full from a McDouble as three White Castle Cheeseburgers. Well that was my entire point! 😛 ---
**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, 8:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-chain-restaurant/632389/72 "2012-08-23T20:48:18Z")
> [@Jophiel](#): > > Well that was my entire point! 😛 Well, my point was that McDonald’s dollar menu is _spectacularly_ cheap, so to judge something as “expensive” by that metric is a bit unfair, in my opinion. That’s why I was trying to go apples-to-apples with the quarter pounder with cheese on the regular menu. Seriously, my little shithole hot dog stand’s burgers can’t compete with McDonald’s in terms of price. I believe an equivalent burger (to a quarter pounder) is about $3.50. ---
**Author:** ![DeweyDecibel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d26b3c/32.png) [@DeweyDecibel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DeweyDecibel)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2012, 8:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-chain-restaurant/632389/73 "2012-08-23T20:54:47Z")
I’m going to ignore fast food (McDonalds etc) and focus on sit-down places like Red Lobster, etc. My vote is for Cracker Barrel. Horribly tacky “country” theme, even when located in the suburbs, a menu with nothing I have any interest in eating, and it tastes awful, too. This according to me and to others who like that general kind of food, but not CB’s version. You want down home cooking? Most areas have local diners with more personality. The food is often better, but at least it’s very hard for it to be worse. ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2012, 9:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-chain-restaurant/632389/74 "2012-08-23T21:01:52Z")
> [@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. Perhaps the angry mobs with torches and pitchforks had something to do with it. ---
**Author:** ![suranyi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e36b37/32.png) [@suranyi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/suranyi)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2012, 9:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-chain-restaurant/632389/75 "2012-08-23T21:48:23Z")
> [@tdn](#): > > I think it’s when they changed the name that they started getting worse. I remember when there were only 2 or 3 of them. I had some friends that made special trips there for lunch. They’d go clear across town to eat there. > > I had no idea that McDonald’s bought them. McDonald’s bought Boston Market in 2000, but they sold it in 2007. It’s now owned by Sun Capital Partners. ---
**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, 11:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-chain-restaurant/632389/76 "2012-08-23T23:44:30Z")
> [@pulykamell](#): > > Well, my point was that McDonald’s dollar menu is _spectacularly_ cheap, so to judge something as “expensive” by that metric is a bit unfair, in my opinion. It’s not unfair, White Castle is a fast food chain competing against other fast food chains. McD’s, Burger King and Wendy’s all offer a better value on their cheap menu than to buy three or four White Castle burgers for eighty-six-plus cents a pop. I don’t know (or care) what the calorie counts work out as because I don’t order my fast food based on calories per dollar. I do know that any of those three will get me an adequately good burger or chicken sandwich for my buck versus what I get at White Castle for a buck. > [@](#): > > That’s why I was trying to go apples-to-apples with the quarter pounder with cheese on the regular menu. Seriously, my little shithole hot dog stand’s burgers can’t compete with McDonald’s in terms of price. I believe an equivalent burger (to a quarter pounder) is about $3.50. My local beef 'n burger dives compete with the chains on taste, selection (beef sandwiches, gyros, etc) and by dumping a bajillion fries in a paper bag when you order. White Castle doesn’t taste better enough than McD’s to justify costing me three times as much money to feel like I just had dinner. The fries are nothing special, either. When the WC burgers were around fifty cents and they were competing with Quarter Pounders and Whoppers instead of McDoubles, BK Double Cheeseburgers and Jr. Cheeseburger Deluxe, sure. Those days are long past. ---
**Author:** ![Ambivalid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/a5b964/32.png) [@Ambivalid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ambivalid)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2012, 12:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-chain-restaurant/632389/77 "2012-08-24T00:59:29Z")
I hate Applebee’s so much. ☹ I imagine all their entrees come shipped pre-made and frozen from from a mega-warehouse from somewhere deep in Nebraska. They then get doled out across the country. I am in the middle of a deprivation diet right now and even _now_ Applebee’s sounds about as appetizing as chewing on cardboard. And that is coming from someone who, when he first went on such a diet, sat for an hour enchanted with the deliciousness of a bottle of Tums. 😛 ---
**Author:** ![boozilu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/4da419/32.png) [@boozilu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/boozilu)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2012, 1:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-chain-restaurant/632389/78 "2012-08-24T01:07:34Z")
Visiting my parents this week and offered to take them out to dinner. After I said no to Olive Garden and Applebees, said a reluctant yes to Red Lobster, figuring I could fill up on biscuits. When we got there we were told the wait for a table was 45 minutes. On a Wednesday night. We left and went to Boston Market instead – meal was OK and at least I didn’t have to wait 45 minutes. I can’t choose the worst: Olive Garden, Applebees, Red Lobster, Chili’s. Blech ---
**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 24, 2012, 1:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-chain-restaurant/632389/79 "2012-08-24T01:09:47Z")
> [@Jophiel](#): > > It’s not unfair, White Castle is a fast food chain competing against other fast food chains. _shrug_ I disagree that White Castle is “expensive.” It’s competitively priced to similar products; they just don’t have the crazy dollar menus some other places have. (And apparently they don’t need to. Good for them.) I can understand calling Five Guys or Smashburger expensive, but White Castle? Anyhow, we’ll agree on the fries. They suck. ---
**Author:** ![Ambivalid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/a5b964/32.png) [@Ambivalid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ambivalid)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2012, 1:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-chain-restaurant/632389/80 "2012-08-24T01:16:01Z")
> [@boozilu](#): > > I can’t choose the worst: Olive Garden, Applebees, Red Lobster, Chili’s. Blech Ehhh, it’s all the same anyway. I’m convinced all those damn chain sit-down restaurants get supplied from the same damned Mega-Warehouse in Nebraska. It’s all the same, shapeless foodstuff in the warehouse; it just gets shaped into entrees once it’s thawed out back in the “kitchens”. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-chain-restaurant/632389.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-chain-restaurant/632389.md?page=5)