What Restaurant Chain Do You Most Support?

[Mr. Ected]

I know some of you boycott ALL chains, and I firmly understand your disdain for the joints.

But sometimes, in a pinch, when things are out of our control, we are forced to eat out at a diner that defies our principles.

What chains do you recommend...and support with your dollars?

[Bennyboy]

1. Sizzler, Hometown Buffet

Good deals, decent food (Sizzlers salad bar is tops and Hometowns Meatloaf is so good) for a resonable price.

[grace0418]

2. Ruby Tuesday has a great salad bar. In a pinch, we'll go there.

Or Sweet Tomatoes.

[jobycom]

5. Sweet Tomatoes is great. Ruby T's has a fantastic vegetarian burger. nt

[flvegan]

19. And it's vegan if you get it without the dressing they put on it.

[grace0418]

32. Yeah, I actually kinda love Sweet Tomatoes, as much as I hate to admit it. There is one

by our local Ikea and we always seem to find ourselves stopping there for dinner after a trip to Ikea.

[jobycom]

36. They label foods "non-vegetarian," as though it's natural to be a vegetarian.

First time I saw that I smiled all day. :)

[TK421]

7. Ruby Tuesdays salad bar rocks! compared to any other chain

they have an awesome selection there....they curse me because I take all of the beets and blue cheese crumbles :rofl:

[Serial Mom]

9. And they have a pretty big Smart Menu - lower calorie options that taste good

[CaliforniaPeggy]

3. My dear Mr. Ected...

We enjoy eating at McCormick & Schmick's...it's a nationwide seafood restaurant chain. There's one close by us, and they have great lunches!

We know the staff, and they treat us really well.

:hi:

[Serial Mom]

10. Really expensive tho'! Went there only once cause of cost!

But for those that can, I guess it would be good.

[CaliforniaPeggy]

11. That's true...

It is. We beat that by taking home half of our lunches for the next day...

But yeah. My husband pays, so I'd forgotten about that...

:hi:

[siligut]

18. They are known for their pretty decent happy hour.

You can beat some of the cost by going during that time.

[CaliforniaPeggy]

25. True...

But we go there for lunch...

[Critters2]

17. Nationwide? Never heard of it. nt

[CaliforniaPeggy]

21. My dear Critters2!

Well, not in EVERY state...

I know they exist back east, in DC, for example.

I googled them once, and saw a number of locations outside of the west coast. They are more common out here, though.

[TK421]

4. Romanos Macaroni Grill...only because the portions are quite decent

and prices not so bad......service is great, too....especially at the one here, I almost took the waitress home that night, she was so nice to me, and there seemed to be a certain chemistry there.

I'm going back

[jobycom]

6. Pei Wei, Red Robin.

Both have good vegetarian options. Pei Wei does tofu very well, and Red Robin lets you make any burger with a Boca burger.

[enigmatic]

8. Tim Hortons, I guess

It's a weekend stop for us, though I wouldn't call it a full fledged restuarant.

[Kali]

12. I don't do chain full-service restaurants

but do hit a few of the drive-throughs occasionally. Jack-in-the-Box, Wendy's, McDonalds, KFC/Taco Bell are the ones nearest. Probably hit Wendy's the most, but by no means very often.

[Texasgal]

13. Olive Garden

:hide:








:rofl:

[Critters2]

20. When I was at Olive Garden recently, we had a really nice time.

I had a veggie dish (capellini pomodoro), and the service was great. The server admitted she was taking extra good care of us, because we were celebrating a wedding...the kind we can't do yet in Illinois. We had a good time, and there was nothing wrong with the food.

[EndersDame]

22. Olive Garden and Red Lobster actually give excess food away to homeless

A couple of people I work with who used to work for them have said that a Salvation Army truck would show up at the end of the night and take food. I have never worked at a restaurant that has done this

[keroro gunsou]

39. the local famous dave's does that

also, they donate out all the leftover bread products since they are made fresh daily.

the atlanta bread company i worked for did that also, but they were nice enough to let the employees have a crack at the leftovers first. too bad the food panty we donated to was so pissy about it, "sigh... leftover cookies, danish, and ciabatta again?" well duh... read the sign phool....

[Chan790]

65. Many Starbucks do that with the excess pastries as well.

I used to bust on my boss about it, that the homeless population of Southington, CT might be sick, homeless, unemployed and whatnot, but they'd never be a lacking for the holiday festiveness of a stale Cranberry Bliss Bar. (My larger complaint being that we'd donate pastries but all the real food (salads, sandwiches, fruit, out-of-date coffee and tea) went in the trash.)

Also, that she was eating up the entire budget of the free dental clinic at UConn Medical Center.

[Maine-ah]

72. corporate told me no when I asked if we could do that.

they said no, because of the possibility of law suits. Probably a line of BS, but that was their excuse.

The first restaurant I worked at had a lunch buffet. A small mom & pop owned. We would drop the left overs off at the fire department.

[ShenandoahAspen]

23. I actually like Olive Garden

I don't understand why it gets such a bad rap on here. The food is pretty decent, and every time I've went, the staff has been very friendly too. To each their own, I guess.

[jmowreader]

64. How it started

One of our number spoke well of the quality of the food at an Olive Garden in New York City. The member got thoroughly ragged on because of all the places in America where there is no need to go to Olive Garden, NYC tops the list.

I agree with you: Olive Garden, as chain restaurants go, isn't bad. It's better than the Italian food in Fayettenam--we probably have fifteen Italian restaurants in this town and every fucking one of them is run by a Greek family. Isn't there one Italian person who will move here?

[KeepItReal]

14. Houstons.

Not cheap, but nice.

[siligut]

15. PF Chang's

They have great tea and vegetarian options. We like mixing our own sauce as well.

[mtowngman]

16. Carraba's - Love the calamari and the Caesar salad n/t

[ShenandoahAspen]

24. Chick-fil-A

Yeah I know it's owned by fundies and is closed on Sundays, but they have some awesome chicken! I'm practically addicted to their chicken strips.

[pokerfan]

26. Panda Express

The Orange Chicken is deep fried and very fatty with a sweet sauce. It's pretty much the fast food equivalent of crack cocaine.

[SoxFan]

27. I do chain fast-food but almost never for a sit-down meal

In other words, I;ve got no problem with McDonalds, Wendy's, and Popeye's (mmmm...biscuits), but I don't go to places like The Olive Garden, California Pizza Kitchen. P.F. Changs, Applebees, etrc. The one exception is the Ninety-Nine, which I will occasionally hit for the baked stuffed haddock.

[Tikki]

28. El Torito....grandson's fav....n/t

[BarenakedLady]

29. It used to be Denny's

They had kids eat free on Saturday (and Tuesday) nights. They changed the nights and made it only one free kid per one adult meal. I've got three. It doesn't work for me anymore. Plus they don't have liquor, so really, what's the point? :P

[Inchworm]

33. Denny's makes my tummy rumble

but mmmmmmm.

The ones in FL had beer ;)

Hi!

:hi:

[BarenakedLady]

34. Rumble?

Like out loud?

What is it that you eat there?

[Inchworm]

35. Like reeeal loud

:rofl:

Any of the skillet things so long as there's gravy and over-easy eggs.

:*

[KamaAina]

75. There used to be an ocean-view Denny's in Waikiki!

Of course, they closed it and put in yet another faux-surfer dude joint... (sigh)

[704wipes]

30. I do like Rock Bottom

But it is not inexpensive. The Kolsch is coming, may already be out.

[Initech]

70. Rock Bottom makes some great beers.

[Arugula Latte]

31. Burgerville -- and I don't eat hamburgers nor red meat.

Burgerville is a wonderful northwest "fastfood" chain. Their slogan is "Fresh. Local. Sustainable." They offer seasonal items and have things like smoked salmon on greens and veggie burgers. Their corporate conduct is excellent, as well.

[insanity]

71. I fucking love BVille

I don't eat red meat either, but I stop every time I go to Portland. Hell, I'll drive to Albany location sometimes just to get a quality milkshake (I'm in Corvallis).

[Arugula Latte]

73. They should open one in Corvallis ... college town and all.

I bet it would do great. :hi:

[keroro gunsou]

37. honestly

i don't pay that much attention to restaurant boycotts. i know i'm a bad du'er and i need to be punished.

anyhoo, i am malignantly loyal to a select few places, due to either having worked there in the past or have received stellar service. those places are red robin, chipotle, chili's and famous dave's.

tgifridays makes the cut, barely. friday's is too... loud for me, and the service/quality is rather variable. having said that, the good times to outweigh the bad ones.

i think of the 5, i like, chipotle the best. here's why:

in the case of chipotle, the manager of the one i go to knows me and my friends by name and sight, so the second we walk in, he's got chips and drinks lined up and he's specially grilling me some onions for my burrito. normally they have a pepper/onion mix, but i mentioned to him, in an off-handed way that they should offer them as seperate items in the burritos because there are some picky eaters out there (like me). the cashiers love us, we consistantly order the same thing every time. personally, think they've programmed their register with keys just for us. i cannot praise them enough, short of saying they get my money consistantly.

chili's is the same, awesome service, and the staff puts up with us pretty good, considering we're all gamer and computer geeks, we're not the most socially adept people on the planet. they don't mind us ordering the refillable soda and chips and the occassional sampler and us sitting there for hours talking. granted we're not the high roller big spenders, but we are nice and polite and very good tippers. hell, half the time we're there til close, and offer to let the servers who put up with us join us. even the manager's pulled up a chair to join the discussion on some of their slower nights.

i do miss going to denny's though. back in the day, they were the ultimate hangout place, til they got all pissy about the hanger-ons. admittedly, we'd be there through 2nd and 3rd shift, but we never were loud or out of line and we did buy stuff, not just a coffee and some cheap dessert, we ordered plenty. the manager was sad to see us go when they were forced by their masters at corporate to crack down. never been to a denny's since.

[Duer 157099]

38. I would support Chipotle's if there was one nearby

They seem to be a pretty conscious company

[Awsi Dooger]

40. I support Original Chicken Sandwiches on Monday and Whoppers on Wednesday

Two for 3 bucks. Perfect after my round of golf. :)

[OmahaBlueDog]

41. We have a local chain called Lazlo's I really like

In terms of national chains, I have kids, so fast food from Sonic and Mickey D's make frequent appearances. My personal fast food fave is Taco Johns.

In terms of Casual Dining: Old Chicago, Chili's, Carraba's, Olive Garden (yes, I know...), and we just started going back to Fuddruckers and we'll likely be back.

[Lindsey]

42. PF Changs and The Cheese Cake Factory...n/t

[OmahaBlueDog]

43. Cheesecake Factory is where you go after riding day 1 of an MS-150

'cause you can handle a lot of calories, and what's leftover gets burned on Day 2 of riding.

[csziggy]

44. Waffle House and Steak & Shake

Otherwise, we mostly go to local restaurants. Maybe once a year or less we go out to Ted's Montana Grill, but I don't know if they are a chain.

Of course, in the last six months we've only eaten out twice.

[greenbriar]

50. oh goodness I miss waffle house

scattered covered chunked smothered and diced

yummmmmmmmm

[csziggy]

55. I love their BLTs!

But that it is my favorite place to "eat out" says something about our lifestyle, doesn't it?

[Amerigo Vespucci]

45. Vole In A Cup

Because it's a big cup and for three bucks, you get a lot of vole. Add fries and a shake and you're still under 5 bucks. Plus I like the convenience of the drive-up window.



:toast:

[drmeow]

46. Consumer Reports just did a report

on chain restaurants - they had readers rate their last two trips. If you are looking for recommendations, that might be a resource to check into.

As for me - I don't have a preference although there are ones I really dislike or have gotten really bad food or service from that I won't go back to (at least not that specific restaurant). We do end up at Appleby's more regularly than I like cause its the only chain that's less than 1 mile from our house.

I wish there was a McCormick and Schmidt near us - I ate there once and thought it was very good and in both of the Consumer Reports stories on chain restaurants (they also did it about 4 or 5 years ago) they get top marks.

For fast food - Baja Fresh is definitely the top choice followed by Quiznos.

[lutefisk]

47. Rubio's. Who doesn't like a fish taco?

Unfortunately, the nearest one is over 1000 miles from me...

[AwakeAtLast]

48. We frequent Texas Roadhouse

Mr. AAL loves his steak, so we go at least twice a month.

We would love to have another option, though. The larger town near us is not the hotbed of good service, so that is about the only place we can go to get it.

We have enjoyed Ruby Tuesday's and Macaroni Grill and Houlihan's closer to Indianapolis, but it is a longer drive. Gas prices, you know!

When I have visited my parents we went to a Rafferty's that was good, and there used to be a great restaurant called Darryl's that I think was a chain. They made their own crackers!

[Kat45]

59. I love their loaded sweet potato.

It's like a dessert unto itself. :9

[AwakeAtLast]

76. So does he!

I'm not a sweet potato person - I like a baked potato with cheese and bacon, although I only order that once in awhile. He can eat everything on the menu and not gain an ounce. I gain weight looking at the menu x(

:hi:

[LynneSin]

49. It's official - I'll be rotting in hell with 'the gays'

I ate at Red Lobster this weekend (Leviticus also says that animals in the sea without fins are also an abomination).
(oh a :sarcasm: smilie for those who don't get the joke)


I live within walking distance of some really excellent seafood restaurants but hell - they don't have those great cheesy biscuits like Red Lobster.

[Moondog]

57. They have a nice seafood / cheese fondue served in a bread thingie.

Not kosher, but I'm not Jewish ....

[Initech]

63. Those biscuits are the only reason I really go to Red Lobster.

[Auggie]

51. In the S.F. Bay Area, Amici's Pizza and Taylor's Refresher

They're local. Maybe that's why they're so good.

[Raffi Ella]

52. Golden Buddha Chinese Restaurant

:9

[NewJeffCT]

53. Friendly's

Kid-Friendly, and kid's meals are $4.99 and include the meal, a veggie side dish, a drink and a desert.

Plus, they are based in Wilbraham, Mass, so are pretty local.

[begin_within]

54. Togos

togos.com

[Pool Hall Ace]

56. You are not going to believe this but

I first read your post as "What Restraint Chain Do You Most Support?" :rofl:

Now that I've put on my bifocals, I'll answer your question by saying Starbucks. :hide:

Oh, I also love Ledo's Pizza! :yum:

[Burma Jones]

58. Panera Bread and Clyde's

Although I wouldn't classify the Clyde's Restaurants as a chain in the spirit of this post.

I do like the occasional Five Guys burger, but I do not take the family there.

[Throd]

60. Carl's Jr. or In-n-Out Burger

[KG]

61. Chili's or Applebee's

[Initech]

62. In N Out, Chipotle, Del Taco

There's a few other ones I like as well - Pick Up Stix, Pei Wei, Jack In The Box (especially for breakfast) and even Chili's.

Oh and Del Taco makes the best drunk food ever.

[La Lioness Priyanka]

66. once every other year i go to red lobsters.

[TheMightyFavog]

67. Culver's

Born in Wisconsin, and the Frozen Custeard is decadantly good. Especailly if the flavor of the day is Death By Chocolate.

[AngryAmish]

68. You have my complete agreement

Every Culver's is clean. Every Culver's is owned by an owner-operator. The burgers are fresh. And everyone there is Wisconsin-nice even when in other states.

The place just puts a smile on my face.

[keroro gunsou]

77. culver's

has slacked off ever since going national. they homogenized everything and made the custard cheap as hell.

for my money, i'll go to kopp's.

[tigereye]

69. local Eat N Park, Mad Mex, and Applebees (but only because my son loves

it - the food usually leaves me underwhelmed.)

[hippywife]

74. None.

There's better food to be had in my own kitchen. :hi:

[Kool Kitty]

78. Panera, Chili's, Five Guys,

and IHOP.