# 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:** 5
**Author:** ![Finagle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/b19c9b/32.png) [@Finagle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Finagle)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2012, 1:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-chain-restaurant/632389/81 "2012-08-24T01:22:46Z")
I have to agree with Applebees. Never managed to exceed sub-mediocre when I’ve gone there. The local Chilis used to be pretty good, but not enough so that I’ve felt compelled to eat there lately. Oddly, I don’t even know where the local Boston Market is – the only one I knew of locally closed many years ago, and having eaten there once, I can understand why. ---
**Author:** ![Farmer\_Jane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Farmer\_Jane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Farmer_Jane)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2012, 1:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-chain-restaurant/632389/82 "2012-08-24T01:26:35Z")
I’m glad to live in a place where there are local places everywhere. Sit down chains only happen when I go to visit a family member. I grew up eating at them - maybe that’s why I was a chubby kid - but Lord help me if I ever go back on purpose. Even “destination treats”, like Cracker Barrel, give me an unhappy and bloaty stomach for at least a day. Fast food: I don’t understand the love for Popeye’s. My students rave about it. I went there once to get a biscuit because my stomach was kicking and a biscuit sounded nice. I didn’t eat it. It was cold, kind of hard, and the lady who handed it to me gave me the Stink Eye. Maybe I had a bad experience or something, but even SEEING Popeye’s (or KFC) makes me recoil. It doesn’t even _look_ like real food. ---
**Author:** ![Pine\_Fresh\_Scent](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/43a26b/32.png) [@Pine\_Fresh\_Scent](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pine_Fresh_Scent)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2012, 1:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-chain-restaurant/632389/83 "2012-08-24T01:34:18Z")
> [@Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](#): > > H00ters. I understand the marketing and the business model–but if they were to rely solely on the quality of the food, they’d be out of business soonly. I’ll stop short of saying it’s bad, but it’s in the low rungs of mediocre. Hooter’s food is the worst I’ve ever paid for. The way-too-dry fries have no taste at all, not even a hint of the grease they were supposedly cooked in to allow salt to stick to them. It’s what I imagine eating styrofoam would be like. I’ve had better burgers at a cookout I was three hours late for, where all that was left was the forgotten patty that’s been hanging out at the back of the grill, slowly baking into a disk of almost pure carbon. I’m also not a fan of the bag of ice dunked in the half-full beer pitcher to keep it cold. Yeah, cute concept until you begin to imagine where the bag of ice might have been set during filling and making it into the pitcher. “No no no wait that’s OK, you don’t have to _dunk_ awww”. What tore it though, was the creepy children’s birthday parties held there on Friday nights as the pre-clubbing crowd (my group) filed in. What kind of parents…? I still have the deck of Hooters Girls playing cards I bought there, though. Well, I still have Miss Ace of Spades as a bookmark, anyway. ---
**Author:** ![Smapti](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smapti/32/17938_2.png) [@Smapti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smapti)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2012, 1:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-chain-restaurant/632389/84 "2012-08-24T01:44:40Z")
I’ve expressed my disdain for **Taco Time** on this board before, but i’ll say it again because the place deserves a special place in Fast Food Hell. The chain was founded in Eugene, OR (red flag) in 1960 (double red flag) by a white man (ABANDON SHIP), and I don’t think they’ve changed their recipes at **all** since then. Their food tastes like it was created by a man who read about tacos in a book and said “I can make one of those”, and whose idea of “spicy” was putting black pepper _and_ white pepper in the beef stock. Their “soft taco” is a _burrito_, their “crisp burrito” is a taquito you’re meant to dip in “hot sauce” that tastes like watered-down ketchup with bell pepper seeds in, and their fish taco inexplicably has shredded carrots and jicama of all things on it. They have the audacity to sell tater tots as a side dish and call them “mexi-fries”, their white chicken chili doesn’t taste like it’s ever even been in the same room with a chili pepper, and I can’t even stomach trying some of their offerings like the “taco burger”. On top of all of that, they have the balls to try and market themselves as an upscale fast food place, with table service and locally-sourced ingredients. A bland, uninspired burrito that’s honestly priced is just poor taste, but a bland uninspired burrito that costs $6 and comes with a side cup of ranch dressing? That’s an **insult**. Fuck Taco Time. Fuck it _raw._ ---
**Author:** ![Motorgirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e36b37/32.png) [@Motorgirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Motorgirl)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2012, 1:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-chain-restaurant/632389/85 "2012-08-24T01:47:46Z")
> [@suranyi](#): > > McDonald’s bought Boston Market in 2000, but they sold it in 2007. It’s now owned by Sun Capital Partners. Geez, at least McDonalds is a food company. mmm, meatloaf made by a private equity firm! ---
**Author:** ![Infovore](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/infovore/32/420_2.png) [@Infovore](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Infovore)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2012, 1:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-chain-restaurant/632389/86 "2012-08-24T01:48:53Z")
> [@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. After you mentioned this, we decided to give them another try (we’ve got one about 5 minutes from our house, and in the 12 years we’ve lived here we _never_ went. Spouse wasn’t feeling too well and wanted breakfast-for-dinner, so we took a chance. It wasn’t bad, for cheap food. The pancakes were actually tasty. I think we might go back next time we’re in the mood for cheap easy food. ---
**Author:** ![Motorgirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e36b37/32.png) [@Motorgirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Motorgirl)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2012, 1:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-chain-restaurant/632389/87 "2012-08-24T01:49:50Z")
> [@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. We used to trek over to the Newton store for lunch. ---
**Author:** ![Enuma\_Elish](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5e9695/32.png) [@Enuma\_Elish](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Enuma_Elish)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2012, 2:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-chain-restaurant/632389/88 "2012-08-24T02:14:08Z")
My vote for worst goes to: Boston Market, because they gave me the nastiest food-poisoning of my life. It happened 10 years ago and to this day hearing the words ‘Boston Market’ makes my stomach urp a little. Second worst is Sbarro. Their food tastes like paste mixed with spackle. ---
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2012, 3:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-chain-restaurant/632389/89 "2012-08-24T03:01:44Z")
> [@Sicks\_Ate](#): > > Double-dare you to do it on Google Images. It’s a WW2 German fighter? ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2012, 3:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-chain-restaurant/632389/90 "2012-08-24T03:43:03Z")
> [@Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](#): > > H00ters. I understand the marketing and the business model–but if they were to rely solely on the quality of the food, they’d be out of business soonly. I’ll stop short of saying it’s bad, but it’s in the low rungs of mediocre. I have eaten at two Hooters. One was in Tx and they had some of the best damn buffalo wings I have ever had. Then next one was in SF CA, and the same food was inedible. 😕 Red Lobster? Cheese biscuits are great and all you can eat shrimp is fun. Other than that- meh. Dennys- we have two within a short drive. One is fairly tasty- the other is ghastly beyond belief. 😕 ---
**Author:** ![carnut](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnut/32/3531_2.png) [@carnut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnut)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2012, 4:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-chain-restaurant/632389/91 "2012-08-24T04:41:18Z")
Whoo boy, where to begin? Breakfast - Bob Evans, Denny’s, Country Kitchen. They are all salt, fake cheese, and tough pancakes. Lunch - Applebee’s. Slow service and bland, cheap “treated” food. Dinner - Olive Garden, Ruby Tuesday’s, Dead Blobster. High calorie and low nutrition junk food. It is not all about sweet sauces. And quit putting chemicals on your salad bar ingredients to preserve them. That just gives me a headache. ---
**Author:** ![Gatopescado](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gatopescado/32/5711_2.png) [@Gatopescado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gatopescado)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2012, 6:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-chain-restaurant/632389/92 "2012-08-24T06:39:34Z")
91 posts and not a single mention of the horror that is\*\* Waffle House\*\*? :eek: I’ll just assume it was a given… ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2012, 9:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-chain-restaurant/632389/93 "2012-08-24T09:44:17Z")
> [@pulykamell](#): > > I enjoy McDonald’s. It’s BK that I don’t get the love for, but I don’t hate them. My least favorites are Domino’s and Taco Bell. Yeah, yeah, I know Taco Bell is its own foodstuff category and don’t compare it to Mexican or Tex-Mex food. I don’t do that. I just don’t find anything there tasty. You’ve explained why I find the “Taco Hell” nickname so strange. It’s more like Taco Limbo, land of bland. ---
**Author:** ![Ludovic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ab992/32.png) [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2012, 11:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-chain-restaurant/632389/94 "2012-08-24T11:18:55Z")
> [@Gatopescado](#): > > 91 posts and not a single mention of the horror that is\*\* Waffle House\*\*? :eek: > > I’ll just assume it was a given… I’d actually rather go to WH than to lots of TGI McScratchy chains. At least WH actually cooks their food. Although my brother may give it the nod, since once time they did _not_ cook his hamburger enough and it was frozen in the middle. Yet, it’s still better than Applebee’s. ---
**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, 11:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-chain-restaurant/632389/95 "2012-08-24T11:31:39Z")
> [@Gatopescado](#): > > 91 posts and not a single mention of the horror that is\*\* Waffle House\*\*? :eek: > > I’ll just assume it was a given… I was going to mention it, but I’ve been told that Waffle House is _extremely_ variable, with some places being awesome, and some really sucking, depending on who’s doing the cooking. My few experiences with it have been less-than-favorable, but not outright objectionable. I’m reserving judgment on it, personally. ---
**Author:** ![Ellen\_Cherry](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ellen_cherry/32/3600_2.png) [@Ellen\_Cherry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ellen_Cherry)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2012, 12:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-chain-restaurant/632389/96 "2012-08-24T12:23:07Z")
I don’t understand the hate for Cracker Barrel. We almost exclusively get the breakfast, though. They had some pancakes with granola in them or something one time and they were fantastic. Oh and I forgot! I went there once for Thanksgiving (long story) and it was great! Maybe they’re better in the South? ---
**Author:** ![Bass\_Chick](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/43a26b/32.png) [@Bass\_Chick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bass_Chick)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2012, 1:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-chain-restaurant/632389/97 "2012-08-24T13:20:58Z")
If you like soggy and salty gobs of fried batter, I highly recommend these: - Captain D’s Seafood - Lee’s Famous Recipe Chicken \*\* Edited to add: \*\*Golden Corral because they have the buffet where too many grimy hands can touch the food. Kids and chocolate fountains should be outlawed. ---
**Author:** ![Max\_Torque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e9bcb4/32.png) [@Max\_Torque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Max_Torque)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2012, 2:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-chain-restaurant/632389/98 "2012-08-24T14:47:34Z")
Put me down as another Applebee’s hater. It used to be somewhat passable. For years now, though, it’s been way below average, with way-overpriced drinks. Every six months or so, someone suggests going there, every time I go along with the group, and every time I’m disappointed all over again. I wish that wasn’t the case, because Applebee’s is the closest restaurant to my house, so it’d be very convenient if they just had decent food. > [@Small\_Hen](#): > > Oh, I forgot one - **Panda Express**! Purveyors of chinese food flavored grease. Back when I used to drink myself into oblivion nightly, I would occasionally crawl out of bed the next morning and drag my hungover ass to the Panda Express in search of Chow Mein and a diet Pepsi. Oddly enough, though, those experiences didn’t cause me to hate the Panda. I still eat there, albite rarely. But every time I do, I wonder what drove me to it. Your Panda Express food had _flavor_? Wow. My family and I went to one for the first time last year, ordered a bunch of food, sat down to eat it, and it tasted like a big bland nothing. The little Torqueling hated it and was very hungry, so we tossed the lot of it and went to Subway. ---
**Author:** ![ralph124c](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/8797f3/32.png) [@ralph124c](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ralph124c)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2012, 2:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-chain-restaurant/632389/99 "2012-08-24T14:52:25Z")
My take: -Dead Lobster: everything tastes like old grease -Long Jon Silver: it may be fish, but tastes like grease -Chipotle: enormous quantity of tasteless rice and beans -Taco Hell: I can only say -ugh! Now the good places: -Waffle House (and its imitator Huddle House): damn good breakfast and excellent fresh coffee -Olive Garden: salad and sop is excellent, watch the salt though. They used to have excellent veal parmigiano-but stopped offering it (cost?) -Cheesecake Factory: excellent steak diane-as good as I’ve ever had ---
**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, 2:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-chain-restaurant/632389/100 "2012-08-24T14:53:03Z")
> [@Max\_Torque](#): > > Your Panda Express food had _flavor_? Wow. My family and I went to one for the first time last year, ordered a bunch of food, sat down to eat it, and it tasted like a big bland nothing. The little Torqueling hated it and was very hungry, so we tossed the lot of it and went to Subway. Their Orange Chicken is reasonable, but that’s all I’ve ever ordered from Panda Express. Subway, on the other hand… the smell alone puts me off. I don’t know what it is about it, as I like other chain sub places like Jimmy John’s and Jersey Mike’s, but Subway just has this putrid smell to it. I’ll put it up there with Domino’s and Taco Bell on the wall of shame. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-chain-restaurant/632389.md?page=4) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-chain-restaurant/632389.md?page=6)