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.
As for sit-down places, hard for me to say. I don’t particularly like Applebee’s, but I do enjoy they have low-calorie menus. I only pop in there to get a beer in an unfamiliar location. Nothing on their menu really appeals to me. Everything I’ve ever had there was neither horrible nor bad, just remarkably unmemorable. Same with Olive Garden. Starchy glop that’s neither actively offensive nor particularly tasty.
I don’t understand the disdain that some people, like the OP, feel toward chain restaurants. Maybe I have an underdeveloped palate or am too easily pleased (and if so, there are worse faults to have), but I enjoy eating at most of the places mentioned so far in this thread, though I do agree that the big chain restaurants are often overrated, overpriced, and overhyped.
Red Lobster in particular I’ve heard that some locations are a lot better than others.
I happen to live right in the middle of Suburban Chain Restaurant Central - 20 or so of your favorites within a 2 mile radius of our apartment. Thankfully, I also live less than 20 minutes from some absolutely excellent restaurants, both local unique places and local restaurant group mini-chains. Unfortunately, when my parents come to visit, they will almost always go for the ‘safe’ place that is a 60 second drive. Most of these are squarely in that $10-20 entree, cuisine that won’t offend anyone type chain, and over the five years that I’ve lived here, I’ve had at least a couple of meals at most of them.
The absolute bottom of the barrel are Red Lobster and Olive Garden. If you forced me to pick the worst, I’d probably say Red Lobster, because at least at Olive Garden they have those breadsticks with little sprinkles of salty garlic crack on top. That said I have long since put my foot down, and these two are off the menu permanently. I should note that I haven’t had Red Lobster since moving here, though, because there are basically none of them in New England. Becuase we have real seafood in New England, mostly.
Hooters is terrible, but they are the only place within walking distance that does bar trivia every week, so they’re an occasional backup plan if we don’t have a DD.
(Other thoughts? Of the Applebee’s-Clone group, Chili’s is probably my favorite, probably because their pseudo-southwestern vibe lets them use at least a tiny bit of spice. TGIF is just slightly worse than Applebee’s at the bottom. Random Italian chains, Carrabba’s is the least bad, but this is the group that gets me the most annoyed because there is some truly excellent local Italian. Of the various “steakhouses”, I like Longhorn the most, but I’d never actually get steak at any of them. Finally, of the generic American sports/burger/brewpubs, I have a soft spot for both Red Robin and Buffalo Wild Wings, and this is probably my favorite category of chain overall. Possibly because most of the local sports pubs are serving the same general menu anyways, and because my local BWW and RR have pretty good craft brews on tap.)
Ruby Tuesday’s…first they ditched the stained glasses fixtures and stuff nailed to the walls in favor of the most bland decor possible, then they populated their menu with flavorless junk. They also put cheese in their rice…who the hell puts sharp cheddar cheese in rice? That’s just nasty.
I’ll second Wendy’s, as none right now stick out as consistently the worst tasting (if it tastes that bad, I won’t go back, but there’s a chance it was just a bad fluke).
Not so with Wendy’s service, or at least the Orlando locations. They can be making your order wrong, right in front of you, and ignore you when you tell them about it. But they still taste okay once you get the right order so I occasionally go back to them.
If we’re not talking fast food, I’m in the Applebee’s crowd. The last time we went, we ordered our appetizer, and it came out at the exact same time as the meal 5 minutes after we ordered - which was chicken for both of us and hadn’t even had time to cook. It had obviously microwaved and not seasoned in the slightest. Never went back.
Denny’s - horrid service and horrible food.
I remember when Red Lobster was a big deal when we got out first one. People stood in line for hours for a table. I haven’t been there in a long time though, and I can tolerate (and even enjoy) some chains. Chili’s and O’Charley’s are two.
Domino’s / Pizza Hut / Pappa John’s and pretty much any other national pizza chain. I feel sorry for people who imagine that’s pizza. It amazes me they survive here in NJ where there are literally about a dozen other better options within a ten mile radius. My husband brought home two Dominos pizzas once. The stuff smelled like dog food. I didn’t bother tasting it after that.
I never quite got the Olive Garden hate until I went there a few months ago and ordered some kind of combo plate with stuffed mushrooms, calamari, and…fried zucchini, I think. Completely uneatable. I have since been back (at someone else’s request), and stuck with the chicken alfredo, which has always been fine.
Chilis is fine, IMO. I don’t think I’ve ever had a bad meal there. Good burgers, good salad, good sandwiches. One of the better chains I’ve frequented.
Is Red Robin still around? I once ordered a chili cheeseburger there, and was given a chili burger with a little grated cheese on top. And the chili had beans in it. To top it off, it was overpriced. Never went back.
On the low end of the scale, Cici’s Pizza has about the worst food I’ve ever eaten.
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.
I don’t have too much of a problem with most of the places listed (e.g. Sbarro’s, Wienerschnitzel) if you are selective in what you order. (There’s nothing particularly bad about a slice of Sbarro’s stuffed pizza or what I call a “chili cheesectomy” - chili cheese dog, chili cheeseburger, and chili cheese fries - at Wienerschnitzel.
My vote goes to Little Caesar’s, although Panda Express comes a close second.
Me too. Had some good meals at the Red Lobster in Fort Dodge but was disappointed at the one in Ames.
I also love Olive Garden (except for the breadsticks), Bucca di Beppo (sp?), Ivar’s, McDonald’s fries, Wendy’s junior bacon cheeseburger, and had some nice smoky ribs once at Applebee’s. Village Inn pies and garlic mashed potatoes are worth the 30 mile trip.
The worst chain food I’ve eaten was Perkin’s – overpriced and bland.
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.
Both my wife and I independently developed a hatred for Applebee’s before we met. One time we went together, it being the first time either of us had gone in years, and… nope. They still sucked. Haven’t been back.
For fast food, I’m going to say White Castle. Now I understand the allure and kitsch value to them but they’re just not worth it any more. Eating 12 questionable mini-burgers when they were thirty-odd cents each is one thing. Today they’re pushing a buck each and 12 White Castle burgers sure as hell don’t warrant a $10 price tag based on taste or substance. I’d be better off buying ten value menu dollar burgers from one of the standard joints. Aside from people going solely because “It’s White Castle!”, I don’t know how they stay in business. It should also go without saying that the non-burger/fries menu there is completely dire.
White castles are almost a buck now?? I love the little suckers, but when I can get a doubel cheeseburger from MickeyDees for the same price, the crave factor gets tossed out the window!
Nobody has mentioned Jack-in-the-Box, have they? I don’t bring it up because I don’t like it..quite the contrary, I’m a fan and was stoked when they finally opened one up around here. However, many people I have talked to who were eager to try it for the first time seem to be un-impressed.
And +1 vote for Perkins…if I had remebered Perkins before I automatically said Applebess, it would have been my first choice. Bland is the word.
Olive Garden. I want to like this place. It’s relatively cheap, and in theory their food looks pretty good. But every once in a while we go back, and it’s always bland, mediocre, and tastes like they warmed it up in a microwave.
Applebee’s. Same deal.
Denny’s. Ugh.
Fast food restaurants:
Taco Bell. Ugh. I used to like Taco Bell, back in my college days, but they’ve since gone to the world’s blandest dishwater-tasting beans, horrible tortillas with no flavor, and plastic cheese. Haven’t been back in years.
Boston Market. Everything tastes the same.
Jack in the Box. I don’t know how it’s possible to ruin a burger and fries, but they manage.
I pretty much second everything Kiros said back in Post #23. Of the chains around here, the one that gets the most love from us is Red Robin. The local one has an excellent staff and cooks that aren’t thrown by my semi-annoying requests.
