Grossest American Chain Restaurant

when I was a kid, Red Lobster was where lower middle class people celebrated high school graduations and took people on first dates. I imagine it is like Applebee's or any of these other casual dining places today.

― richie aprile (rockapads), Thursday, March 11, 2010 6:33 AM (1 hour ago) Bookmark

Red Lobster was definitely a "good report card" dinner when I was a kid

No snobbery intended by my Red Lobster post. My family was in that group. The first time I ate at Red Lobster, it was a big deal. Now it's basically fast food. Times change.

Red Lobster was too spendy for my parents, who still celebrate their anniversary by going to Burger King and sharing one Whopper.

Red Lobster's still ridiculously overpriced for frozen food.

I agree with this order.

All the bad Denny's stigmas about racism and putting pork in that muslim guy's food totally skewed the results of this poll imo. Denny's food is just bland and lame and crappy. so many of these other places on this list are totally GROSS gross

when i was a little kid i wanted to go to red lobster so bad bcuz i had seen and ad for this like ten kinds of shrimp served ten different ways type deal & one of the ways was with lemon and garlic and theyd toss the shrimp as it glistened it seemed like the most fukken delicious thing ud ever taste. but my mom wouldnt take me cuz she thought these type a places were gross & unhealthy but i still think red lobster mb tastes p good.

Man, I remember being totally entranced by that ad too! Also, I vividly remember like my 9th or 10th or 11th birthday when I closed my eyes in the back seat all the way to my birthday dinner, then I opened them and we were at Red Lobster and I was all
http://blogoehlert.typepad.com/photos/uncategorized/2007/06/24/hooray.jpg

i *know* my parents took me to red lobster at some point because i remember the decor, but i don't remember the food at all. if anything says "celebration" on this list for me, it's being in college and GETTING A RIDE to the TGIF at the mall on a friday night or whatever, and sharing one of those big hot wing/mozz stick plates.

man, i remember me and my deepest crew all rolling into chili's on the last day of junior year and having serious convos re: our new lives a high school seniors over nachos and root beers

denny's is strictly a "last resort" option -- like when i'm superdrunk late at night and NEED cheese fries, or when i was in student dirtbag paper-writing mode and wanted something quick that i didn't have to think about too much. last time i went to one, it was next door to the hotel where i was staying, and it was the only food in walking distance.

i think of high school when i think of Denny's at all. although i grew up in NJ (a state well-known for having lots of diners), interestingly enough there was no diner in my hometown when i was a teenager so you had to drive 10 minutes to get to the nearest one. and right across the street from that diner was a Denny's (next to the local fleabag/crackhouse hotel LOL). so it was 50-50 on whether we'd hang @ Denny's or the diner. i think it depended on how destructive we were feeling on that particular night -- the diner was actually kind of nice & the Greek dudes who ran the joint were kind of scary, so if we were in a "don't give a fuck" mood we went to Denny's.

Denny's food is just bland and lame and crappy. so many of these other places on this list are totally GROSS gross

― go haim on em (Whiney G. Weingarten), Wednesday, March 10, 2010 7:20 PM (55 minutes ago) Bookmark

otm

Red Lobster was our special occasion spot as a kid, which always sucked for me because I didn't learn to appreciate seafood until I was a senior in high school working at a good seafood spot. And then I just learned to hate Red Lobster for reasons other than being a picky eating little bastard.

Denny's grosses me out way more than IHOP which grosses me out way way more than Waffle House. I'll rep for eggs, bacon & hash browns at WH any time.

still feel guilty for rolling into Friday's and Chili's in high school 30 deep after a school event, making them put together a big table and splitting checks.

i actually have no beef with the waffle house

horrible confession: denny's makes a good soyburger. loaded with salt and grease, of course, and i don't eat it anymore. but it's good.

cracks me up how Ruby Tuesday is trailing so far behind Friday's and Applebee's, still can't really tell any of them apart and file them in the same place in my brain no matter how many times i've been to each

i confused rt with one of those fake 50's diner ones but i think that's 'red robin'. according to the website there is 4 total in my state

I'll stan for Denny's b/c I used to hang out there w/ my friends late night in high school & have many fond sentimental memories of coffee & smoking but it's always basically been a joke how vile most of their food is. I remember that anything deep fried usually had a subtle green hue. Maybe that was just the fluorescent lamps, but still..

Yeah when I was in college the local Denny's was the only place open to go drink coffee at in the middle of the night but I don't think I ever actually ate anything there. I was at one last summer and it was pretty awful.

I have never been to an Olive Garden but the idea of unlimited breadsticks appeals to the carb fiend within.

stevie d - I'll be back sometime in the summer, dunno when as I haven't booked my tickets...I'll try to let you guys know when I do get back

olive garden breadsticks are kinda gross - really soft and pliable and almost kind of mealy. I like the unlimited butter biscuits at red lobster better. xp

Long Poop Silver's

gotta say the great thing abt growing up in the state w/ the most 24-hr diners per capita was that i could avoid dennys & its ilk--late-night high school eats/hanging out was always possible at weird/fun greek-owned places

Yeah in high school we were all about the diners. Long Island probably has almost as many as Jersey. Upstate New York? Not so big on diners. :(

I used to have sort of this romanticized idea of Denny's from road trips as a kid, until my car broke down in the middle of Oklahoma a few years ago and I was stuck at one of those comfort inn type hotels for three days. The only thing close enough to walk to was a Denny's. So, I figure I had eight or nine straight meals there. Never again.

Man, the Denny's near where I grew up was totally the post-football game go smoke cigarettes spot in high school.

I remember coming back from school one Christmas, going out to a party, and having like four different people come tell me that Denny's had stopped allowing smoking.

This was considered big news in my home town back then.

ditto for us and Perkins

did anyone ever explain what the hell Claim Jumpers was

What is the best one for being vegan at?

Ruby Tuesday has a salad bar, some of the other ones might too.

What about for hot food? (I secretly don't really like salad)

you should probably just bring a bag of trail mix or something

Claim Jumpers, by the way, is a

My old boss took us to Claim Jumper's once, so much worse than most of the other choice for two main reasons:

1. Way, way, way more expensive than yr standard Applebees/Chilis shit but almost exactly the same
2. Ridiculous portion sizes even compared to other American chains

― you gone float up with it (jon /via/ chi 2.0), Tuesday, March 2, 2010 6:22 PM (1 week ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

did anyone ever explain what the hell Claim Jumpers was

I not only know what one is, I know exactly WHERE one is.

If a sufficient number of people respond to this post - meaning 10 separate individuals - I will go to the Claim Jumper, photodocument, and post about it here.

OR

We could do an LA FAP at a Claim Jumper.

Just sayin'.

post response one: you should go

Also, I still cannot stop reading this as "Clam Jumpers"

has anyone ever been to a Clam Jumpers?

go to Claim Jumpers.

Stuckey's ruled

The "Clam Jumper" joke was one with GREAT staying power among several of my friends who have come out to visit us here in the Golden State. It still comes up from time to time.

GREAT staying power

unlike their food amirite

http://www.poisonappleshirts.com/ohsofat/061609claimmark.jpg

^^^LOVES Clam Jumpers

is that dude eating a penguin burger

imo this thread just jumped the clam

dude is creepy

none of these places mean anything to me now that chili's has reformulated its chicken fingers but before i could not play so aloof. ruby tuesday's is just a graveyard with self-serve pudding though

the worst is going to one of these in a brand new super wal-mart dress barn asphalt colony and looking out the window at big piles of dirt while you eat your buffalo bbq sliders.

dudes, the count is at two.

Just sayin'.

Denny's makes a great milkshake
that alone should've kept it from losing (winning?) this poll

these are all the same restaurant

― mark roflr (Shakey Mo Collier), Tuesday, March 2, 2010 3:40 PM (1 week ago) Bookmark

I've eaten at all these chains, and the only one I will never go back to is Claim Jumpers.