Which is your favorite restaurant chain?

[Brian Deakin]

Which is your favorite restaurant chain and what would you order?


regards Brian

[Myk Rian]

Lucky's Steak House. And I order the 28oz. Porterhouse.

[Curt Harms]

Of the national chains - Chilis. Regional - Logan's Road House or Bonefish grill.

[Harvey M. Taylor]

Red Lobster hands down for me. Love their sea food. Max

[Larry Browning]

Buca Di Beppo
This is a national chain, but they only seem to be in the larger cities. I discovered the one in Charlotte, NC and have since eaten at the ones in Las Vegas, Scottsdale, AZ, and Washington, DC. I think they originated in Minneapolis. They serve family style Italian. As for what I would order, I have yet to find anything on the menu that isn't my favorite.

[David Weaver]

I'm gonna lowbrow it - used to be wendy's spicy chicken minus the mayo - and fries.

When the price range gets higher than fast food, I don't go to chains (though I live along a road that must have at least 30 chain restaurants, maybe 50). There are too many good independent restaurants here that are the same or less than chains cost and the owner is usually still in the kitchen or on the floor.

[David G Baker]

Olive garden is my favorite soup maker and Popeye's Red Beans and Rice is next.

[Brian Tymchak]

Buca Di Beppo
This is a national chain, but they only seem to be in the larger cities. I discovered the one in Charlotte, NC and have since eaten at the ones in Las Vegas, Scottsdale, AZ, and Washington, DC. I think they originated in Minneapolis. They serve family style Italian. As for what I would order, I have yet to find anything on the menu that isn't my favorite.

Did not realize Buca was a chain, much less national. We have one here in Columbus and the food is excellent!

[Mark Bolton]

Im in the none catagory, I never eat chain food. I much prefer locally owned and operated restaurants that actually prepare food as opposed to unloading pre-prepared foods which come in plastic bags or trays and are merely heated up and poured onto a plate by an ever rotating staff of low paid, unskilled, assembly workers in the "kitchen". This is the formula for most of the large chains to insure you get the exact sauce, proportions, flavor, and so on, from location to location across the country.

Looking in one of these kitchens and seeing them heating up any quantity of food in plastic bags and pouring it on at plate is not my idea of dinning out.

Personally I dont eat fast food ever either but thats more because I question the quality and it just never seems "cheap" to me when I see what you get for the price. I can go to a small local restaraunt or bar and get a great meal made completely from scratch minutes before it lands in front of me for the same money and at least Im handing the money to someone in my community.

[Jim Rimmer]

Im in the none catagory, I never eat chain food. I much prefer locally owned and operated restaurants that actually prepare food as opposed to unloading pre-prepared foods which come in plastic bags or trays and are merely heated up and poured onto a plate by an ever rotating staff of low paid, unskilled, assembly workers in the "kitchen". This is the formula for most of the large chains to insure you get the exact sauce, proportions, flavor, and so on, from location to location across the country.

Looking in one of these kitchens and seeing them heating up any quantity of food in plastic bags and pouring it on at plate is not my idea of dinning out.

Personally I dont eat fast food ever either but thats more because I question the quality and it just never seems "cheap" to me when I see what you get for the price. I can go to a small local restaraunt or bar and get a great meal made completely from scratch minutes before it lands in front of me for the same money and at least Im handing the money to someone in my community.

+1 to what he said. There is a very popular chain here along the Gulf Coast called Landry's; consists of Joe's Crabshack, SaltGrass, Landry's Seafood, Bumba Gump and many others. When you drive by the Kemah Boardwalk and see the Sysco truck servicing all of them, you wonder what the difference is from one to another other than price. Not much. I support the locally owned restaurants. If I go low brow, I'll get a What-a-burger.

[ray hampton]

I want some Popeye redbeans and rice

[Larry Browning]

Did not realize Buca was a chain, much less national. We have one here in Columbus and the food is excellent!

Yeah,
I was really surprised too when I ran across another Buca in Las Vegas I think it was. It was decorated exactly the same as the one in Charlotte. They even had the dining booth in the kitchen just like the one in Charlotte. I got curious and went to their website only to discover they had restaurants all over the country. I went to the website today and discovered they had been bought out by Planet Hollywood a few years back. I hope the food is still good, I probably have not eaten there in 4 or 5 years (only because there is not one within 300 miles of me).

[Eric DeSilva]

...and see the Sysco truck servicing all of them, you wonder what the difference is from one to another other than price.

Sysco services a *lot* of restaurants, many locally owned and operated...

Having read Fast Food Nation, I try to stay away from most fast food chains--and I'll include the plastic fern bars in that group. The most interesting part of the book to me was the effort by these chains to develop a zero training labor force. For the people that work in those places, there is no path to advancement beyond minimum wage and every employee is easily replaceable. Kind of an awful model for people trapped in that labor force.

But... locally owned and operated is no guarantee of good scratch cooked meals either--I've seen an awful lot of pre-processed, pre-made "foodstuff" being shoveled onto plates by non-chain establishments too. Remember--one of the reasons that chains are successful is that they guarantee a baseline experience. I've had great food in local places I've stumbled into. But I've also had some of the worst meals of my life.

All that being said, when reality kicks in and I need to get a quick bite, I usually find myself looking for a burger joint that is a step above the usual fast food. Seems like there's kind of a renaissance of good burgers out there--Five Guys, Shake Shack, Elevation Burger... Pretty quick, and when they are made with decent ingredients, pretty hard to beat.

[Gordon Eyre]

Cafe Rio, which is just in a few of the western states. I like their pork taco's but everything is good. The place is packed at all times.

[Mark Bolton]

I've had great food in local places I've stumbled into. But I've also had some of the worst meals of my life.

I couldnt agree more. The simple fact is, not eating at the chains is a TON of work and involves a lot of risk. And yes, a lot of disappointment when you hit a bad one.

For me its just the only option. I realize that many of these chains started small and grew into what they and its understandable that the scale of the operation commands some of their practices. That said, just like with any business, I think all too often the table gets tilted.