What is the worst chain restaurant?

TGIF

Ate at an Olive Garden for the first time in years last week. Ghastly. And so fucking expensive.

TGIF for a sit down restaurant, Arby’s for fast food.

They all suck.

Applebee’s is nice.

I have a low opinion of Panda Express.

Cipriani

Thank you for your feedback, OP

Ruby Tuesday. It's so bad the waitstaff warns you what not to order and asks if you're hiring where you work.

If you're talking about the low-priced, family-style chains mentioned here, most of them have at least one dish that's palatable. Friday's ribs are very good. Applebee's "oriental" chicken salad was good the last time I had it (which, granted, was a long time ago). Bennigans (RIP) had a delicious Monte Cristo sandwich. You have to know what to order in these places. On the other hand, I have yet to find the magical one-good-dish on the Olive Garden menu.

Among the more expensive chains, I have not been impressed with Ruth's Chris Steakhouse. There are a lot of upscale steakhouse chains in my area, and Ruth's Chris is the worst of them - the beef I've had there was no better than supermarket quality, which is disgraceful at their prices.

Counting down to the first, “you peasants and your chain restaurants!” post, in which we’re all lectured by our superior on how we should never eat in chains, even when we travel, but rather search out that one unique, perfect, superb local restaurants amid the strip malls, chain motels and gas stations at the interstate exit.

TGI Fridays generally has awful food. I would only go in there if I wanted to have a drink or two at the bar.

I'm embarrassed to admit it but we actually went to Applebee's for the all you can eat ribs and shrimp. They also had boneless wings but they didn't interest me. It was actually palatable.

Hometown buffet and sizzler

Also what about buffet chains? We all know Golden Carrol and their questionable stuff.

Applebee’s has great special deals which somewhat make up for the crap food. If you’re going to eat a crap chicken sandwich, you want it to be inexpensive.

The last time I was at Olive Garden, I ordered the most straightforward dish that I could find on the menu, convinced that they couldn’t possibly fuck it up. They fucked it up. Their food is terrible.

Only order a steak at steakhouses. Chain restaurants like Applebees are horrible.

Ever since I worked at one in the early 00s I have avoided chain restaurants like the plague. Back in the day, the consensus among us lowly chain waiters was Red Lobster. Microwaved fish. Cocktails with no alcohol. Canned and/or frozen ingredients for everything. From what I know, nothing has really changed.

Runner up was Maggiano's, mostly because it was the same stuff as Macaroni Grill just with a few dollars added on to the price tag for the "upscale" experience.

Applebees is worse than TGIF and Chilis.

My parents love Maggianos. It tastes to me exactly like the food served in a college dorm. It's terrible.

[quote] Golden Carrol

I may have been good, but I was never referred to as ‘golden,’ but thanks.

Denny’s. It’s unbelievably disgusting. IHOP is sugary and crappy but edible.

IHOP is terrible. Taco Bell is also disgusting.

Applebees tastes the worst but Chili’s causes the most diarrhea the next day.

r24 is a genius. The reason is that Chili's has weird combinations of flavors and sauces, which when you're hungry sound delicious, but cause explosive diarrhea. Applebee's is low quality plain crap food.

Ate at a TGI Fridays a few months back for the first time in years. My god what horrible, salty, cheap ass food.

Paltrow's husband is in the biz.

Boston Market

r10 bBennigans Monte Cristo was da bomb!

Applebees is great!

Golden Corral. aka The Feeding Trough.

Heifers love it there.

When KFC came out in the 70's it was the best fried chicken I have ever eaten. At that time a chicken was cut up like a chicken should be. Now there are pieces that I don't recognize and it is poor quality. I guess it's all about cost...

- Eat N' Park

- Cracker Barrel

- Perkins

[quote]Runner up was Maggiano's, mostly because it was the same stuff as Macaroni Grill just with a few dollars added on to the price tag for the "upscale" experience.

I’ve eaten at both, R18, and that hasn’t been my experience. Maggiano’s is pretty good. Their eggplant parm is very tasty, for example. They’re extremely popular here in the Philadelphia suburbs – with locals, not tourists – and it’s not like we don’t have an Italian restaurant on every corner.

Chili's -Even their iced tea is fucked up. I went to our local Chili's twice -And got disgusting food both times. They brought me an iced tea with a soiled napkin stuffed into the bottom of the glass. Utensils were dirty. The green salad was brown and black. Board of health should have closed them down.

A close second is The Broken Yolk. It's hard to ruin breakfast food, but this place can do it! My omelet had huge amounts of ham and bell pepper in it -I ordered mushrooms and nothing else. The side of home-fried potatoes had been sitting, burning in the skillet for so long that it had a hard crust a quarter-inch thick that I literally couldn't cut through with my knife. The side of Hollandaise sauce was grey. When I complained to the waiter, he just walked away, never to be seen again. I went to complain to the hostess she shrugged and got the manager/owner. He was angry with me for being such a picky eater! And it's not like he charged me for the extra ingredients in my omelet... When I pointed out that Hollandaise sauce was supposed to be yellow, he said, "Why?" I told him that it's made with egg yolks, butter, and lemon juice and he said, "You may make it like that, but that's not how we do. Never heard of butter or lemon in Hollandaise!" Later, I wrote a terrible review on Yelp and he posted a reply saying how I had eaten my entire meal (lie -it was inedible) and then tried to blackmail him into a freebie.

In 2020, the chickens used by KFC and other fast food chicken places are thoroughly genetically modified and many are born without heads.

Right. Headless chickens grown to edible size. Mkay.

But the head's the best part !

Little Caeser's Pizza

Jqck in the Box. I mean, assuming we can call it a restaurant. I'm a junk-food gourmand, but I won't set foot in a J-in-the-B again. Gotta give kudos to their advertising department. Of all the fast-food ads on TV, J-in-the-B has the most enticing. All their advertised specials look delicious. And even though I know better, once a year or so they'll run an ad for some delicious-looking burger or something, and based on that I'll buy one and, to no one's surprise, it will be terrible, surpassing even their last heavily advertised gustatory abortion. How Jack in the Off stays in business I'll never know.

On the plus side, for some reason, J-in-the-B has the best Cokes® in the fast food industry.

Honorable Worst-Food mention: Arby's. If you ever want to be really disgusted, order one of their "beef" sandwiches with no sauce. You get gray-green, rubbery, completely flavorless "meat" that practically begs not to be eaten.

On the plus side, I've never heard of anyone getting serious diarrhea from Arby's.

I used to love Elias Brothers restaurants (Big Boy in my area. Other names elsewhere), but they've gone downhill in recent years. Slim Jim's are not as good as they used to be.

I was really disappointed in IHOP.

Denny's was OK, but the only restaurant near me closed.

Can someone please start a chain on "What is the best chain restaurant?" I'd like to know what you all like.

Sadly, I love Olive garden portobello ravioli and the fries and beyond meat burger are tgif. Applebees is terrible for vegetarians, avoid it at all costs. I just like to drink a ton of wine at these places anyway, however the biggest thing I've noticed in the last 15 years...wine at these chain restaurants used to be $4-$5 a glass, and now the same shitty wine is $8-12 a glass.

I agree, love Maggianos.

Alain Ducasse

Chili's was so good back in the late 70s/early 80s when their menu was simply burgers, fries, tacos and chili. We used to go to the original one on Greenville Ave in Dallas back then. The current Chili's are crap.

That menu is so interesting! Look at those prices!

Most chains are upping their game. Oddly, enough, except for McDonald's.

Maggianos is disgusting, you people are wrong.

Say what you will, I take my kid to TGIFriday's once in a while because she loves sitting at a hi-top in the bar area and playing the games on the wretchedly filthy touchpad. I don't mind, because I can still get an acceptable cheeseburger, chicken strips, fries, two drinks, tax and tip for $20. Alas, I have no experience with anything else on their menu.

For me, the worst chain is The Cheesecake Factory. Every single thing jumps from the freezer to the fryer and it is crazy expensive at that. The menu is extraordinarily huge, which makes choosing something impossible. That said, whoever makes their food off site does a better job than most of these freezer-to-fryer chains.

McDonalds should try to serve beef that looks and tastes like beef. They should get better rolls and better toppings. They would win back customers. They should serve real milkshakes, too.

I think Applebees is the worst of the cooked-to-order chains, but even they don't have unsupervised kids sticking their grubby little hands into all the food and flinging random pieces of whatever into the chocolate fountain like Golden Corral does. I'll forage for leaves and grasses outside before I'll eat at one of those.

R15 Golden Carroll? Is that a Trump whore - "Golden Showers Carroll"

I don't understand the hate for Applebee's. My mother and I had a ritual of going to lunch there. The prices were reasonable and the food wasn't bad. I can think of much worse places.

DataLounge is a discussion forum for gay people, not an obesity support group, OP.

The Golden Trough

I don't mind it when a low-end chain is bad because you haven't spent much money and expectations were probably low. Here are some medium and high-end disappointments:

Ruth's Chris steakhouse (creamed spinach - standard steakhouse item - was not good), Outback Steak House (expensive and boring menu), Chili's (boring menu), Cheesecake Factory (huge and boring menu).

We all have to remember that while the whole idea of chains is to ensure regularity and conformity of food, the staff at different locations makes a great difference. I have been to Denny's that are pure crap and others that are great. That pretty much holds true to all chains. Locally, I usually go to a few locally owned restaurants that I know, and that know me and like my business. While travelling, sometimes you have to take a crap shoot. Often a small roadside diner will offer better food than one of the national chains.

Texas Roadhouse, aka Roadkill.

There is so much salt on each steak it makes you retain water for a week. And the beef is not even supermarket "USDA Choice" quality.

Boring menus at chain restaurants are part of the "consistency" that brings people in, even when far from home. Cheesecake Factory at least has several veggie-filled entree salads to choose from.

Go on yelp. Find the local soul food, mexican, or italian restaurant. Thai or Indian maybe as well. The end.

I feel like in the 80's when I was a teenager/college places like Bennigan's, Chili's and TGIFridays were quite good. Now, on the off chance I go to one of these places or similar (that still exist), the food us unbelievably cheap and horrible. Did I change, or did they?

But the prices are the same or more!

Buffalo Wild Wings is another disgusting place. Whoever owns it should be shot and killed.

When I travelled for work I would ask the older office staff where to eat. Secratarys and admins. Upper management would always try and come up with something impressive, but I was in the trenches and wanted a good deal on decent food. For some reason I had the best luck with Italian. So many places that had entrees ranging from the $10 range to the $30 range.

My dad always said to eat where the blue hairs and truckers ate. That is not as useful today, but it's a good philosophy.

Red Lobster. The lobster was tiny and tasteless and the shrimp had obviously sat under a heat lamp for a long time.

Another time I went their with my mom and there was an inchworm crawling in her salad. They offered to bring another salad.

A regional chain in the midwest/mid-south, Colton's. It's a cheap knockoff of Outback Steakhouse for hillbillies.

Granted I only ate there once years ago, but once was enough.

[quote]While travelling, sometimes you have to take a crap shoot.

And minutes later you'll be shooting crap.

[quote]Buffalo Wild Wings is another disgusting place. Whoever owns it should be shot and killed.

Last time I ate there I had such awful indigestion that I truly thought I was having a heart attack.

Whitecastle. I literally had to pull over and vomit.

Sambo's.

[quote]Little Caeser's Pizza

Their Crazy Bread is still good

Itchy’s Diner is disgusting

Panda Express. They’re required to engage and I just want food. Then, it’s the carbonized bits thrown in just in case you want to test your crowns. Then, the filthy soda dispenser for their buckets of jumbo drinks shoots seltzer. Finally, PE and Burger King are the only places where assholes have asked me for change at table.

Taco Bell is horrifying.

R57, Denny's is dead to me since they removed the patty melt from their menu. The patty melt! That was such a stupid decision; it was the best thing they had unless you want breakfast food.

[quote]Texas Roadhouse, aka Roadkill. There is so much salt on each steak it makes you retain water for a week. And the beef is not even supermarket "USDA Choice" quality.

The two I've been to have both played country western music so loudly you couldn't hold a conversation, and to make it worse they're constantly running around doing this silly birthday celebration that involves the entire staff singing even louder than the regular music. Its almost guaranteed you walk out with a splitting headache.

Red Robin. They used to have pretty good food when I went there growing up, but their quality has declined in recent years. I used to get their garden burger and loved it, but the last few times I went there, I noticed that the ingredients seemed to be of a cheaper quality. They also increased the price while decreasing the size of it the burger about 1/4, plus they now give you a small tin that holds about 5 of their french fries (despite their "bottomless fries" advertising). I stopped going there several years ago and opted for a local organic burger place which not only has far better food, but it's cheaper.

All is gone to shit. Sad

[quote]Taco Bell is horrifying

🙄🙄🙄🙄

R61, I worked as a cook at a TGI Friday's in the mid 90's. I can't speak for all locations at the time, but the one I worked at was very clean and organized - nothing like Kitchen Nightmares. Anything off the grill was great - steaks, burgers, grilled chicken. The grilled chicken in particular was prepared with just a simple marinade of white wine, butter, and lemon juice, then seasoned with a garlic pepper seasoning before being put on the grill. The soups and salad mix were made fresh daily. Pretty much everything there was made fresh daily by the prep cooks and line cooks, aside from some of the deserts and sauces.

I love Burger King, y'all. Y'all don't know fine dining.

HOOTERS! When you don't go there for the hooters.

I have been dragged there at least 3 times by straight relatives that think its on par with a good family restaurant. Menu sucks, on par with KFC.

Plus they discriminate, no hot men in short shorts with bulging packages taking "my order".

I saw this comment in the Costco pizza thread and think its quite relevant to this thread as well.

"Love how half of you bitches wouldn't touch a slice of costco pizza, but will and HAVE stuck your dried up tongue up some meth twink's raunchy hole..."

Anytime I eat at one of those places, I get insanely thirsty after thirty minutes. Specifically, Applebee's. Everything is so fucking salty these days.

[quote] Another time I went their with my mom

Oh, dear!

When I was a twentysomething guy, Hooters was fun for me to go to for the hot wings and to spectate the horny guys getting teased by the waitresses and then trying to conceal their tented jeans when they stood up to leave.

Chili's used to have good food back in the 90s. I'd thought it was just my local franchise that had gone to pot in recent years, but maybe the problem is chain-wide? TGI Fridays was always cheap bar food, but you knew what you were getting.

I'm actually pretty fond of Outback Steakhouse. They season the steaks right for my palate, and I love their Caesar dressing. I'd just avoid anything that comes slathered in cheese, like the sandwiches or soups.

Gay men should get an automatic discount at Hooter's.

to spectate?

I wouldn't set foot in most of these places. Phoenix is full of these mediocre chains in endless strip malls and I see the fat fucks waddling out to their cars after consuming their thousand-calorie carb bombs. No thanks.

One place that mystifies me, though, is Waffle House. Does anyone sober ever eat there? They all look so shady and ghetto. I always imagine they must be a front for drug dealers.

R89, Waffle House is fabulous!

One of my first boyfriends loved to go to Hooters because he thought it was funny that the waitresses were all ‘hot for him.’ He apparently didn’t know they flirt with all their customers for bigger tips.

The last chain restaurant I was in was July my BF wanted to go to the Cheesecake Factory. It was ok as long as you stuck to their diet menu where the portions are normal and not loaded with fatty calories. It's not a place I would normally patronize since I find all chain restaurants disgusting for all the reasons mentioned above.

I find Applebee’s somewhat better than TGIF.

"One place that mystifies me, though, is Waffle House. Does anyone sober ever eat there? They all look so shady and ghetto. "

I walked into one once. I took one look around and walked right back out. It was so seedy I couldn't wait to get out of there. And this was during the daytime. I can't imagine what it would be like at night.

It'd be great -- instead of Hooters -- if there was a restaurant with dudes in jockstraps.

All u can eat!

Cheesecake Factory is terrible. It was pretty good around 15 years but now they use some low quality cooking grease that tastes like chemicals.

R96, part of it might be due to them not changing/cleaning the oil in their fryers. Chain restaurants often filter the oil instead of replacing it when needed. That's why your fried foods come out looking dark grey-ish brown, smelling and tasting rancid, yet still under cooked.

For all the complaints about chains, I have had at least as many bad meals in local restaurants as in chains. The range of quality is so much wider. In suburban areas, for example, there are a lot of local "restaurants" that mainly function as bars. Since bars per se are often not allowed in these municipalities, the bar at the local Italian or burger joint often serves the same purpose. The food? Mediocre and microwaved.

And then there are the local places where you have to know someone to get decent service and good food. I hate that (in general, not just with restaurants).

There's no arguing with the idea that the best meals are to be had in local restaurants, but I think the worst meals are, too. At least with a chain, you know what you're getting and can choose the one or two items on the menu that you like.

Applebee's LOW CARB lunch means they don't give you the hamburger bun.

I've worked at both Chili's and Applebee's. I agree with the poster above who said that anything you order off the grill (steak, burgers, some chicken dishes) is gonna be just as good as you get in any other restaurant. The produce is fresh. For example, guac is made either every morning, or every other morning. The only thing sketchy is apps. Cheese sticks are mass-market. Buffalo wings can be either frozen or fresh, I've seen both.

I actually like Waffle House. I like them when I am on the road, the food is usually fresh and not too much. Most restaurant meals these days are too big for me to eat.

TGIF Used to be decent. They all closed in my area so I can't speak to them currently.

Applebee's always had a few things I could order, but over time, they discontinued everything I liked. Haven't eaten there in years.

Chili's … I've never once had a good meal there. Even their hamburger sucked (I couldn't finish it). It's complete crap. And the restaurants are frequently filthy. The service is as bad as the food.

I ate at TGIF last week. Shits were fired several hours later

R95 Hooters has the best wings. If they also had half naked men flirting with me for tips, I'd be in heaven.

Wings suck to begin with R104. Fatty with not much meat. You can have the same flavor with other parts of the thicken like drum sticks or chicken breast strips.

So Hooters did a press release that due to high demand requests they were opening up a male version of their restaurants. It will be called Roosters. Then at the bottom of the article... April Fools!

So not only are they really sexist, they are assholes.

Well, someone else DID open up a male version, don't know if it made it or not but of all places it's in Texas.

Wrong r105. Breast is white meat and will never be wings.

Coffee House at Sears

Don't be so literal R107. You can fry up some chicken strips just like you do wings. Toss them in the same Frank's Original Hot sauce they will taste the same if not better.

IHOP is gross and I’ll never understand people that go out of their way to eat there. Anything besides plain pancakes is just not worth it.

Fast food: White Castle. The concept of a seafood slider just makes me 🤢

I have to echo TGI Friday’s being pretty disgusting last time I went. Totally underwhelming.

But other chains I generally enjoy. I don’t go out of my way for them usually, but in a pinch when I’m not feeling adventurous? Well, hello Nandos!

R3 Well maybe the food at Arby’s ain’t so great, but their gift cards do appear to be quite useful.

R40 Haven’t we already established that you don’t go to Arby’s to eat, but rather just to load up on gift cards for later on, when you are back on campus and need some twink cock.

Worst: Applebee’s

Best: Junior’s Cheesecake

Is Junior's a chain now?

R106, there was a place called "Tallywhackers" in Dallas. I went there once. The wait for a table was HUGE. It was marketed as gay, but it was mostly women. I think it closed after only a year or maybe two. I have no idea why. I went WELL after it opened, and it was so busy it was insane. The guys were hot. I have pictures. The food was okay, but my meal gave me horrible heart-burn. Drinks were expensive.

Not sure why they closed.

Whatever is left of Old Country Buffet is surely fighting it out with Olive Garden for the worst.

R115, "It was marketed as gay, but it was mostly women. I think it closed after only a year or maybe two. I have no idea why."

You just answered your own question.

R32 - KFC was started in the 50s as Kentucky Fried Chicken - Harland Sanders sold his interest in the 1960s

Hold on there buster! Just wait one doggone minute. You mean to say KFC is the same place as Kentucky Fried Chicken!!???

[quote]Hold on there buster! Just wait one doggone minute. You mean to say KFC is the same place as Kentucky Fried Chicken!!???

You ARE kidding, aren't you? What did you think KFC stood for?

To be fair, most of these places are refreshingly honest about the fact they serve swill to the masses. Not like anyone waddles into Golden Corral expecting fine dining.

That's why Olive Garden wins the "worst" title hands down. They actually want you to think that their food is authentic and tastes like real Italian food. This commercial about their cooking school in Italy seals it:

R119, there are still some locations that still use the old Kentucky Fried Chicken signs. There's one out in Streetsboro, OH last time I was out that way. It was weird seeing it again. I believe they switched to KFC to downplay the word "fried".

There's a newer Chipotle knock off called Hothead Burritos, which sucks. Whereas the Chipotle burritos will sometimes tear as their being prepared, the flour tortillas at Hothead are super rubbery to the point where they're difficult to even eat. It's like they wrapped it in a huge dental dam. The meat and toppings are flavorless. And their signature hot sauce literally just tastes and looks like corn syrup with red food coloring added, flecked with red pepper flakes - it's disgusting.

A Panda Express opened near me a few years ago. I tried it once, but was completely unimpressed. The food was all dried out, and the sauces were awfully sweet.

Asian Chao on the other hand, their Bourbon Chicken is like crack. Plus if you skip the rice or noodles, and just ask for double the mixed vegetables, it seems relatively healthy.

R123 "...wrapped it in a huge dental dam."

Ohhh! I miss the 90's.

Bless your heart, r120.

Simply bless it.

I concur with r124 - that bourbon chicken is quite addictive - and an order of fried rice with the juices ladled over it just adds to the madness....

The real answer is ALL Chain restaurants. The quality decreases as they multiply. That’s why you have to stuff your face at the original location before they open more. Usually 3 locations is fine, after that forget it.

Also agree about the Ruth’s Chris poster - worst overpriced food.