What's your opinion?

[Glenn]

A restaurant that everyone seems to love but you think is actually not that good.  And...go!

[Happybeerbuzz]

Olive Garden for sure.  I feel like almost every local Italian or Mediterranean restaurant in any town is better and local Italian restaurants are common.  

[Catt]

Anybody north of I-10 claiming to cook Cajun!

[Woody B]

Outback as well as most of the chains.

[Mobasser]

Outback Steakhouse. Last time we went there it was horrible. Won't go back.

[DitchPanda]

I agree that Olive Garden is extremely overrated. Its my sister and my nieces favorite and I don't get it. The part that blows my is the tiny little town they live in has a family run Italian place, and its far superior. Its not much more money wise and the food is roughly 37x better.

[Captain Phil]

Olive Garden is mostly for retirees and families looking for a cheap meal.  It's OK, but not that good.  I would put Red Lobster in the same category.  When the Outback Steakhouse first started, it was great.  My last few visits were my last.  The best restaurants are local.  To compete with the big Chains, they have to try harder.   Breakfast is about the same where ever you go. There are only so many things you can do with eggs, bacon and toast.  Restaurant prices are crazy these days.  As retirees, we eat out often. We have cut back substantially in the past year. It's not the money so much, we think they are taking advantage of the situation. 

[Tennessee Boy]

With the exception of Chic-fil-A,  I’m not aware of any chain restaurant around here that has enough employees to function properly.  The locally owned and operated ones are doing fine.

[TnRiver46]

One of my family members just said Capt Steve’s fish restaurant in South Carolina has terrible fish. That cracked me up! 
 

I eat ravenously, don’t think I’ve ever had much food at a restaurant I didn’t enjoy. Maybe a raw oyster when I was like 13 

[Bass Junke]

All chain restaurants have taken a steep nose dive during the past couple of years. I avoid them. Since it was already brought up a couple of times, The Olive Garden has always been a source of irritation. Massachusetts has a large Italian-American population, with that brings many privately owned Italian restaurants, often more than one in every town. When Olive Garden was really booming around here there was sometimes over an hour wait to eat. What kind of a crazy person would go to a chain restaurant pay more, wait longer, and eat frozen entrees when they can go down the street and eat authentic Italian cuisine no waiting get more and pay less? It just goes to show the power of the advertising and the media.     

[NavyToad]

Olive Garden, Applebees and many other are just serving glorified TV dinners.

I'm no connoisseur, but decent restaurant food is hard to come by - period. Plus I suffer from aging, which makes me think that the prices are outrageous. I used to ride my bike into town with a dollar and get 4 burgers and a Coke at the Snow White Grill. A $20+ breakfast for me and my wife and I leave hungry? If I'm going to pay for mediocre food, give me a cheap buffet any day.

[gim]

The only time I got to Olive Garden is when the wife wants to.  I am not a big pasta guy.

 

The only time I go to Red Lobster is when they have the all-you-can-eat shrimp special going.  Then I can do some damage.  I usually rock the Kramer lobster shirt and my wife hates it lol

 

[Skunkmaster-k]

Chick-fil-a  was a big disappointment to me. 

[TnRiver46]

2 minutes ago, Skunkmaster-k said:

Chick-fil-a  was a big disappointment to me. 

You trippin 

[Skunkmaster-k]

@TnRiver46 I don’t make the news, I just report it. 

[Bird]

Wow, thought I was the only one..... definitely Olive garden.

Wife and i love Italian and Olive garden is at the very bottom of our list.

Applebee's a very close 2nd.

[Fishingmickey]

I think a lot has to do with the franchisee or the owner. Lousy management, penny pinching and lack of give-a-hoot by the employee's are probably the main factors in the demise of the food quality at chains.

FM

[casts_by_fly]

One of the only good things about living here in Jersey is that we have a plethora of non-chain restaurants of every category of cuisine.  Most are one-off, single owners.  Some are tiny mom and pop, some are fancy chef and his buddy (who could be wife, business partner, etc).  The ones that survive more than a year are typically pretty good and will outclass any of the chains.

 

Red lobster is the biggest chain struggle for me.  My MIL loves it and I can't take it.  None of the fish is fresh or cooked well.  When that's literally the game you're in (a seafood restaurant) and you can't get that right then I'm out.  I'll order the burger or fried chicken on a salad.

[Captain Phil]

30 minutes ago, Skunkmaster-k said:

Chick-fil-a  was a big disappointment to me. 

 

Depends on what you were expecting.  I believe Chick-fil-a is the best fast food chain restaurant on the planet.   The only problem is the lines going in the place are outrageously long.  It's so popular where we live the customers block traffic.  The employees all seem happy,  The food is decent and the service is efficient.  Chicken is chicken, but at least Chick-fil-a tastes like something other than a piece of cardboard.  A month ago, I ordered a chicken sandwich at Burger King. What I got was a pressed piece of something that I'm not sure what it was.  McDonald's chicken sandwich is edible, but it's not nearly as good as Chick-fil-a.  McDonald's does have the best fries.

[MN Fisher]

Local is better

Had one local place - owner was former manager of the local Country Kitchen - when they closed that location, he opened his own place. Favorite of Nora's and mine for 30 years. Then COVID happened, his debts rose and he had to close. Now he's managing the local IHOP.

 

Just opened last summer was a Japanese Hibachi place - two locations...here in town and Downtown Minneapolis. Great food, good service...fair prices.

 

Olive Garden is decent, so is Red Lobster - never tried Chick-Fil-A and never will...reasons.

[you]

Five Guys. It's not terrible, but, compared to other folks I know, I feel like it's...

 

8 hours ago, Glenn said:

actually not that good

 

[Spankey]

I’d rather eat a bowl of cereal for dinner than go to many/all chain joints around here. Like using my grills 365 days if possible. I don’t live on top of the city (Philly) greater Philly. We got some good pizza and cheesesteaks out here. 
 

[WVU-SCPA]

Texas Roadhouse......It's not bad food,  but if you drove by the local one you would think they had 5* meals with the full parking lot and line waiting everyday.

 

Primanti Brothers for anyone in the PA area.  I ate at the original one and enjoyed it, the chain ones have always disappointed.

 

Buffalo Wild Wings-it's hard to find a good wing anymore and they always let me down.

[GReb]

Any Chinese buffet or sushi spot. 

[A-Jay]

Not really a big a 'restaurant' human, especially the past several years. 

And at this point, if I don't make it, I don't eat it.

There's a few reasons for that and at least one is not really a choice.

But when I did eat someone else's offering, 

I was never a big fan of Taco Bell.

Place was Always busy, it was very affordable,

however " Make a Run For The Border"

was never a phrase that inspired me to eat anything.

Now "Run for the Head", that seems fairly appropriate.

A-Jay