Best Casual Dining Restaurant Chain

most depressing restaurant experience -

OK, the Friendly's in New Lebanon New Hampshire (road trip emergency food stop) was pretty awful too.

we used to go to the ground round when i was little and they had nights where kids under 13 only had to pay however much they weighed

we used to go to this place where kids could eat for free if you let the manager "tickle" you

would go to at pretty much any opportunity: Cheesecake Factory, Cracker Barrel, Outback

can barely tell the difference between and always forget which one I like slightly more than the others, but would still go to if less enthusiastically: Applebee's, Ruby Tuesday, Friday's

am kind of ambivalent toward: Bennigan's, UNO, Red Lobster, Olive Garden

haven't been there in years and years and have no particular desire to go back: Denny's, Bob Evans, Sizzler, Howard Johnson's, Rainforest Cafe, Hard Rock Cafe

had a 2-year infatuation with but am over it now and would rather make pancakes at home: IHOP

have only been there like once but would like to try more: Chevys, P.F. Chang's

Why do you hate Denny's?!?!?

ugh cheescake factory fuckin sucks

cheesecake factory is awful

i ate a cracker barrel on a lark on recent road trip & it was kinda awesome (id only been once years & years ago). reminded me of caddyshack, a lot of people there are 95 years old.

these places all suck though, basically

http://www.earls.ca/images/red/homepage.jpg
http://www.earls.ca/images/red/homepage.jpg
http://www.earls.ca/images/red/homepage.jpg

xpost - i ate a cracker barrel on a lark on recent road trip

Me too except it wasn't so awesome because it was 10:30 p.m. on Valentine's Day and there is nothing on the menu for vegetarians. I ended up having kids mac 'n cheese which was pretty good but still, I think meat is really their thing.

I don't hate Denny's, but I haven't been there in forever and pretty much anytime I could go now I'd choose IHOP instead. Cheesecake Factory is on the pricey side and not all good, but there are a few dishes and appetizers that I'm nuts about so I pretty much can't turn it down, unless the wait is like 2 hours, which it often is.

I kind of love Cracker Barrel, my first and last meals before and after a long Appalachian hike (well okay, four days) were there and they were DELICIOUS. On the trail we were promising each other steaks and fat/protein sources for our poor muscles, and then we got to our destination town and the hostel was vegetarian-only. BLEARRRGH.

http://www.martinfrost.ws/htmlfiles/mar2007/bullingdon_01.jpg

Claim Jumper has decent microwave meals, but the idea of their restaurant terrifies me.

Possibly I would vote for steak 'n' ale if I could as it provided the least bad meal when I was working south of orlando a couple of years back.

EVERYONE'S A REGULAR!

At Fatz Cafe, our plan is simple: great food in generous portions served in a relaxed, comfortable setting by friendly people. Our commitment to the quality of the food and service we deliver is unwavering, and we take that commitment seriously.

But we don't take ourselves too seriously. We're not real big, and we're not real fancy. We're a medium-sized private company, led by operating partners who care about their restaurants and their communities. We've got a great team, great chemistry, and an exceptional spirit, and we love what we do and have fun doing it.

We clearly understand that any success we may achieve is driven by the level of service we provide to the folks we work with and the guests who choose our restaurants. That's what we're all about: taking care of people. Our great food and warm, friendly atmosphere may bring people in, but it's the way we take care of them that keeps bringing them back. You see, at Fatz Cafe, we have two rules:

1. Regulars get treated special, and
2. Everyone's a Regular!

EVERYONE'S IRREGULAR!

TRY ONE OF OUR SIGNATURE SOUPS AND SALADS!!!!!!!!

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http://www.normanphillips.co.uk/galleries/gallery_files/comedy_vent_acts/images/Ray%20Allen%20&%20Lord%20Charles.jpg

Claim Jumper has decent microwave meals, but the idea of their restaurant terrifies me.

Why? They're supposed to have a "California Gold Rush" theme. That sounds fun.

Missing Rock Bottom Brewery / Old Chicago

I'd take local casual dining or even a local chain over these 99% of the time, but sometimes you're in a place where one of these is the best option, walkable from your hotel, or middle-of-the-road enough that everyone in your group will go there. I have a friend who had been to virtually none of these before because his family just didn't go, so he went through a phase of wanting to check them all out.

Red Lobster is still shorthand for "a classy restaurant" in much of the small-town midwest and some of these places are responsible for diversifying the menu at other, local establishments. Acting all elitist about this shit is expected, more than anything else, because that's the niche these places are now in.

Claim Jumper's premise is basically entrees so big you'll need Alice's "Eat Me" cookie to be as big as your food.

http://www.mnhs.org/places/other/roadside/images/adhcmar.jpg
Happy Chef

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/c/cd/JoesCrabShack.jpg/800px-JoesCrabShack.jpg

Famous Dave's Famous Dave's Famous Dave's nom nom nom

http://www.jimsrestaurants.com/images/JIMTOP.jpg

if Dave's so famous why haven't I ever heard of him?

http://www.pantagraph.com/content/articles/2007/03/28/go/eats/doc459d3c4dc22e69358806141.jpg

http://images.citysearch.net/profile/5d/60/9293026p1.jpg

famous dave's is pretty good for chain bbq.

i'm voting for perkins, for that time after a show when we convinced the waitress to grind up a chocolate chocolate chip muffin into a chocolate (oreo?) shake.

Members of an orchestra playing in the vicinity stopped in the restaurant and asked Bob Wian if he could dream up something different than just a plain hamburger. “Why not,” Wian mused.

As if his hands were guided by an unseen force, he cut a regulation hamburger bun into three slices, and inserted not one but two hamburger patties into place. It was then garnished with a special and very delectable relish he had prepared. Wian handed the innovation to the players and anxiously awaited the decision.

“Wow,” they chorused. “This is it!” and it was. Other customers saw him preparing it and asked for one. They agreed with the musicians. Wian had made a better hamburger.

http://www.hiwassee.us/midtown/content/images/IMG_0558JocksJills10th.jpg

i think i'm going to be sick

On the Border Mexican Grill & Cantina cause they make fresh tortillas.

i'll pick bob evans because i went to one near oak lawn il with my grandparents all the time when i was a kid and it brings back good memories.

lol @ at the passion on the fast food thread vs the rage on this one

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/a/a8/Parnellos_Pizza.jpg/452px-Parnellos_Pizza.jpg

http://www.pofolks.com/images/cateringpic.jpg
GOT A CROWD TA FEED?

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http://www.pofolks.com/images/steakandchicken.jpg

Bennigan's for the monte cristo alone

http://img27.picoodle.com/img/img27/4/4/16/f_4836995770cm_1549fcd.jpg

Your username seems especially apropos there.

lol @ at the passion on the fast food thread vs the rage on this one

-- Jordan, Wednesday, April 16, 2008 1:31 PM (15 minutes ago) Bookmark Link

Seriously, people can talk about how (mostly local) fine dining is good or overrated in a somewhat civil way, they can romanticize or at least talk about fast food with the offhand admission that it might not be healthy or whatever, but with the middle-tier of chain restaurants people just whine about them because they're seen as somewhat aspirational.

Also, it's missing Buffalo Wild Wings, if we're going to include wing sports bar/diner fare

OH YEAH i just tried the monte cristo for the first time a week ago. the only bummer was that when I took half of it home there wasn't enough raspberry jam or sauce or whatever left to eat w/ the other half.

i was at buffalo wild wings last night.

Carraba's and Houston's

as a boring vegetarian i will rep for chili's because they've got tasty black bean burgers and the pretty good 'quesadilla explosion' salad (lol). ruby tuesday also used to have a good veggie burger, but i haven't eaten there in years so no idea if they still have it or if it's any good anymore. i'm surprised how many of these i've never heard of before

Yeah, the Chili's black bean burger is definitely part of why I voted for it. Also pretty nostalgic, since it was the main place my parents took my brother and me for a special restaurant meal when I was a kid (I'd get the Old Timer burger), and it was also a good meeting-place in high school, when we wanted something a little better than Denny's or IHOP. I've been known to stop at the Chili's in Rolling Meadows after going to IKEA.

apparently the only place in berlin our ambassador eats is a tony roma's. i think i read this from juan cole.

^^ yes fuck now that i think of it, it was in juan cole's really long and impassioned defense of the pageant contestant going on about kids not having maps!!

out of the one's I've actually experienced, Houston's probably had the best fare. Also, Cracker Barrel is pretty dope.

yeah it reminds me of caddyshack, a lot of people there are 95

I can eat a whole rack of Famous Dave's in about 20 minutes.

Have very happy memories of deep fried clam strips a la HoJo, but haven't been to one since I was 10. Baker's Square used to be fantastic when it was Poppin' Fresh, the 'punk Embers' that used to be on Hennepin will prob also resonate with everyone of a certain age from Mpls, and I've been on more Perkins trips with butthurt 14-year-olds hoping for denied seat in smoking than I care to remember. Croissant sundaes bleurgh, Wishing Well hooray. My mom also used to take us to Chi Chi's and Mr. Steak.

i wish there was a cracker barrel or an old country buffet in downtown manhattan

Bob Evans, because I'm confusing it with Bob's Big Boy.

This poll is all over the place! The difference between a Coco's and a Hard Rock Cafe can be enormous. (Or 15 variants of that example, at least).

also -

we used to go to this place where kids could eat for free if you let the manager "tickle" you
-- dell, Wednesday, 16 April 2008 18:36 (1 week ago)

Wait, seriously? Please tell more about this.

Anyway, another vote for CPK for awesome salads. Even though, again, this poll should be broken down into like 4 or 5 different polls.

(^^^Ban Self)

i have a horrible soft spot for those never ending bread sticks at the olive garden.

CPK has always had soggy wet pizza every time I've eaten there. but their frozen pizzas are alright.

we ate at denny's on our wedding night (because the hotel didn't have room service after 11pm and it was the only place open). it was gross.

Does American Cafe really still exist?

The 99 in Charlestown has been the site of a mob murder or two over the years. I can't really imagine going to it. On the other hand, I have spent my share of time at 99s in Danvers, Marlborough, etc. and usually find them to be OK.

Of the places actually on the poll I may have had the best meal at Chili's. Bertucci's is known to do the job as well......def. NOT Friday's.

Is P.F. Chang's worth going to under any circumstances?

we ate at denny's on our wedding night

^^^

little-known fact: legal grounds for divorce in 14 states

ring the bell for Famous Dave's

Does American Cafe really still exist?

It does! For now. I'm completely addicted to their spinach con queso.

The TGI Friday's in West Orange, New Jersey is the single worst restaraunt I have ever been to in my life. Avoid at all costs.

cheesecake factory is some nasty, awful shit

Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.

Dark horse Famous Dave's!

abstentions win in a landlside!

I was in Minneapolis last weekend for the first time in almost two years, and I bought a copy of Mojo magazine and drove to the Famous Dave's in Linden Hills and sat there with a pulled pork sandwich and fries (no drunken apples this time) and enjoyed the hell out of it.

I just noticed that Fuddruckers is missing. They still around?

if you have to ask...

I worked as a waiter in a Ground Round once. Peanut shells everywhere.

A Fuddruckers opened on the main drag in Madison last year and closed about nine months later, unmourned.

Eazy, that Dave's is the one my mom goes to.

just noticed that Fuddruckers is missing. They still around?

Swiss Chalet blows all these out of the water.