Your secret mental list of chain restaurants that you will not frequent

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As I didn't grow up withall of these chains, I have recently realized that I keep a mental list of places to avoid based on sources of information like the opinions of my peers, the location of franchises, and the sheer cruddity of advertising campaigns. So when I am starving and am on the 5 and I see those exit signs pop up with the logos on them, I still manage to avoid:

Jack In The Box
Carl's Jr
Del Taco
Sizzler
El Pollo Loco

there are some others but I can't remember them

Am I missing anything by never frequenting these places? What's on your list?

― Airtube (nordicskilla), Friday, 1 April 2005 17:37 (twenty years ago)

MCDonalds
Taco Bell
KFC
Olive Garden
Popeyes
And any Chinese restaurant

― paulhw (paulhw), Friday, 1 April 2005 17:39 (twenty years ago)

Fuck Carrows.

― andy --, Friday, 1 April 2005 17:40 (twenty years ago)

All of them, really, though God forgive me, but I have actally been forced to eat at Chevy's.

― M. White (Miguelito), Friday, 1 April 2005 17:41 (twenty years ago)

If "will not frequent" means "will only eat at if dragged there", then all of them.

― Aimless (Aimless), Friday, 1 April 2005 17:41 (twenty years ago)

On second thought, I do eat at Burger Joint, Burgermeister, and In and Out sometimes and some of the local Mexican food chains.

― M. White (Miguelito), Friday, 1 April 2005 17:42 (twenty years ago)

all fast-food places that traffic in grease, from KFC to Long John Silvers to McDonald's to Chinese - the smell alone makes me nauseous

― milozauckerman (miloaukerman), Friday, 1 April 2005 17:42 (twenty years ago)

if i tell, it won't be secret

― hstencil (hstencil), Friday, 1 April 2005 17:42 (twenty years ago)

Most of these I don't even think of as restaurants. I guess if there's no waiters, i don't consider it one.

― ()ops (()()ps), Friday, 1 April 2005 17:42 (twenty years ago)

I'm the same oops, but I thought that everybody calls these places "restaurents" here!

I'm still learning you see

― Airtube (nordicskilla), Friday, 1 April 2005 17:43 (twenty years ago)

"restaurants"

― Airtube (nordicskilla), Friday, 1 April 2005 17:44 (twenty years ago)

Shoney's and Ponderosa, due to being forced to go to them as a kid. I think my parents would choose a hotel by its proximity to a Shoney's.

― ()ops (()()ps), Friday, 1 April 2005 17:44 (twenty years ago)

oh god I HATE Ponderosa

disgusting

any Midwesterners ever eaten in a GOLDEN CORRAL?

― Airtube (nordicskilla), Friday, 1 April 2005 17:44 (twenty years ago)

I've eaten at Golden Corral! I must admit, I am a fan of their breakfast buffet on hungover Sunday mornings.

― nickalicious (nickalicious), Friday, 1 April 2005 17:46 (twenty years ago)

you are fucking SICK

― Airtube (nordicskilla), Friday, 1 April 2005 17:46 (twenty years ago)

What's with the Chinese restaurant thing? Are there chains of bad Chinese I don't know about? I get great take out here.

― M. White (Miguelito), Friday, 1 April 2005 17:46 (twenty years ago)

I have not eaten any good Chinese since moving here

what's your secret?

― Airtube (nordicskilla), Friday, 1 April 2005 17:47 (twenty years ago)

various people at various jobs have raved about Golded Corral. It was shortly after they raved about Celine Dion's line of jewelry, the new action blockbuster, [insert other crappy thing that millions of people inexplicably like], so I knew it was crap. I think they were just won over because it was a step up from OCB.

― ()ops (()()ps), Friday, 1 April 2005 17:48 (twenty years ago)

b-b-b-but Golden Corral isn't JUST crap in the way that McDonald's or Taco Bell is crap, it is actually so revolting that I can't believe it is sold as food!

― Airtube (nordicskilla), Friday, 1 April 2005 17:49 (twenty years ago)

There's got to be good Chinese in Oakland/Berkeley, adam, surely.

― M. White (Miguelito), Friday, 1 April 2005 17:50 (twenty years ago)

find it for me. in Okalnd Chinatown maybe buy NOT in Berkeley, though I had a decent shrimp-fried rice thing from the Berkeley Bowl.

― Airtube (nordicskilla), Friday, 1 April 2005 17:51 (twenty years ago)

Bennigan's. Haven't been there in 15 years though, so for all I know they could have some jean-creaming cuisine there now.

― ()ops (()()ps), Friday, 1 April 2005 17:52 (twenty years ago)

way to make it sound enticing

― Airtube (nordicskilla), Friday, 1 April 2005 17:52 (twenty years ago)

well I do work in advertising yanno

― ()ops (()()ps), Friday, 1 April 2005 17:55 (twenty years ago)

since when?

― Airtube (nordicskilla), Friday, 1 April 2005 17:57 (twenty years ago)

I WILL GO ANYWHERE - GIVE ME AN APPLEBEE'S RIBLET BASKET AND I AM HAPPY!

― jill schoelen is the queen of my dreams! (Homosexual II), Friday, 1 April 2005 17:57 (twenty years ago)

previously frozen food, come to momma!

― jill schoelen is the queen of my dreams! (Homosexual II), Friday, 1 April 2005 17:58 (twenty years ago)

ok so my mental instability prompts me to cut out various letters from newspaper inserts. you happy now? huh??

oh Applebee's. Add that to my list.

― ()ops (()()ps), Friday, 1 April 2005 17:59 (twenty years ago)

I'm pretty sure I don't want to go to any nice restaurants with oops, now.

― M. White (Miguelito), Friday, 1 April 2005 17:59 (twenty years ago)

I had a Monte Cristo at Bennigan's the one & only time I went there. I ate it for FOUR DAYS. It was like that sandwich in The Simpsons, except it never turned green, and it came w/ jelly.

So, yeah:

- Bennigan's
- Applebee's (that commercial? w/ the football team in the rain? fuck that.)
- McD's (unless I break down & give in to the BAH DA BAH BAH BAH)
- Popeye's (for that one time I went to one to use their loo, & almost suffocated from the FRYER HEAT)
- Red Lobster (for the diverticulitis in you)
- Olive Garden (fuck an endless salad)
- any & all Chinese take-out places that serve GRILLED CHEESE SANDWICHES and FRENCH FRIES
- the D'Angelo's near the CCSU campus that's always out of A) meat or B) bread

― David R. (popshots75`), Friday, 1 April 2005 18:00 (twenty years ago)

you guys don't know how to live - giving up ENDLESS SALAD, FOREVER!? why!?!?!

― jill schoelen is the queen of my dreams! (Homosexual II), Friday, 1 April 2005 18:02 (twenty years ago)

i eat at mcdonald's all the damn time, the fish filets are amazing and perfect.

but i try to stay away from the fake-upscale chains (PF Chang, Cheesecake Factory, etc). those are shit and for some reason totally deafening to be in.

― f--gg (gcannon), Friday, 1 April 2005 18:02 (twenty years ago)

How widespread is Max n Erma's? For years I filed them in the Bennigan's/Applebee's/TGI's bin, but I think they're a cut above.

― ()ops (()()ps), Friday, 1 April 2005 18:02 (twenty years ago)

PF Chang's is gross. Why do people clamor to get in the door? It's not good AT ALL.

― jill schoelen is the queen of my dreams! (Homosexual II), Friday, 1 April 2005 18:03 (twenty years ago)

Hahahahaha, I love PF Chang. The waitresses are so flirty there.

― Airtube (nordicskilla), Friday, 1 April 2005 18:04 (twenty years ago)

I always enjoyed Red Lobster when I lived in Ohio, but you know, it probably WAS the best place in town.

― Airtube (nordicskilla), Friday, 1 April 2005 18:05 (twenty years ago)

CALIFORNIA xpost

― f--gg (gcannon), Friday, 1 April 2005 18:05 (twenty years ago)

PF Chang's - the chinese restaurant where you have to ask special for vegetables to be included. WT...F?

― dave225 (Dave225), Friday, 1 April 2005 18:05 (twenty years ago)

Are there chains of bad Chinese I don't know about?

Percentage-wise, only an insignificant amount of all Chinese restaurants in America are *not* bad. I fucking hate "Chinese" food. Unless it's actually Chinese food, which is very hard to come by.

― sunburned and snowblind (kenan), Friday, 1 April 2005 18:06 (twenty years ago)

I don't do Arby's.

― Spencer Chow (spencermfi), Friday, 1 April 2005 18:07 (twenty years ago)

Does anyone?

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Friday, 1 April 2005 18:07 (twenty years ago)

Seriously guys, I have never had a bad meal at PF ChanG!

xp - I used to.

― Airtube (nordicskilla), Friday, 1 April 2005 18:07 (twenty years ago)

Also, Kenan would you please elaborate on what "actual" Chinese food might be?

― Spencer Chow (spencermfi), Friday, 1 April 2005 18:08 (twenty years ago)

oh man, back when i ate meat and was poor, arby's had this like 5 sammiches for $5 deal.

like i wrote, i was poor.

― hstencil (hstencil), Friday, 1 April 2005 18:08 (twenty years ago)

Unless it's actually Chinese food, which is very hard to come by.

I guess I agree about bad Chinese food, but, unsurprisingly SF has loads of good Chinese.

― M. White (Miguelito), Friday, 1 April 2005 18:09 (twenty years ago)

I like Applebee's too, Mandee. I would never take a date there or anything, but I love getting ridiculously overpriced blue drinks with friends.
x-post How can anyone hate Crab Rangoon? (not 'real' Chinese food) It is manna from heaven.

― jocelyn (Jocelyn), Friday, 1 April 2005 18:09 (twenty years ago)

I used to order Cordon Bleus from Arby's. I'm sure the place in France is thrilled with the association. Their beef n cheeses somehow taste better the next day, heated in the microwave. I cannot argue that the place is not gross.

xpost yeah 5 for 5 beef n cheddars in college!

― ()ops (()()ps), Friday, 1 April 2005 18:09 (twenty years ago)

Any chain buffet restaurant: Ryan's, Golden Corral, Luby's, etc.

My grandmother loves Picadilly's, so I do go there with her. Fortunately, the nearest one is in Memphis.

― Pleasant Plains /// (Pleasant Plains ///), Friday, 1 April 2005 18:09 (twenty years ago)

PF Chaing's is ok. A little overpriced and sometimes the portions are small, but I've never had a "bad" meal there either.

― Spencer Chow (spencermfi), Friday, 1 April 2005 18:09 (twenty years ago)

Kenan would you please elaborate on what "actual" Chinese food might be?

I know it when I eat it, which is not very often. It's kinda weird, and full of odd flavors that compliment each other unexpectedly. It's very exciting to eat. Unlike, say, Moo Goo.

― sunburned and snowblind (kenan), Friday, 1 April 2005 18:09 (twenty years ago)

PF Chaing's is ok. A little overpriced and sometimes the portions are small, but I've never had a "bad" meal there either.

put on a British accent and order "your finest sake" then watch what happens!

― Airtube (nordicskilla), Friday, 1 April 2005 18:10 (twenty years ago)

which ties in to the "better the next day" thing. you get 5 at once and you've got at least a few days worth of meals. PLUS a week or so worth of bowel trouble.

― ()ops (()()ps), Friday, 1 April 2005 18:10 (twenty years ago)

Has anyone ever eaten at a Carlos O' Kelly's? I'm always tempted to see if it's really Mexican-Irish food.

― jocelyn (Jocelyn), Friday, 1 April 2005 18:11 (twenty years ago)

I won't eat at Krystal, but it's more based on an arbitrary allegiance to White Castle than anything else.

― nickalicious (nickalicious), Friday, 1 April 2005 18:13 (twenty years ago)

oh I've never been to Popeye's. I hear it's great!

― Airtube (nordicskilla), Friday, 1 April 2005 18:14 (twenty years ago)

I can't believe LJS hasn't been mentioned.

― ()ops (()()ps), Friday, 1 April 2005 18:15 (twenty years ago)

I actually like Popeye's well enough.

― M. White (Miguelito), Friday, 1 April 2005 18:15 (twenty years ago)

Adam, I'm going try doing that at Rubio's in about 45 mins!

― Spencer Chow (spencermfi), Friday, 1 April 2005 18:16 (twenty years ago)

the accent/sake thing!

― Spencer Chow (spencermfi), Friday, 1 April 2005 18:16 (twenty years ago)

Rubio's is good!

― Airtube (nordicskilla), Friday, 1 April 2005 18:17 (twenty years ago)

Ask for their finest corona though

― Airtube (nordicskilla), Friday, 1 April 2005 18:17 (twenty years ago)

Restaurants in Oakland Chinatown rock. That's the thing, is a mediocre restuarant in SF can survive indefinitely by feeding befuddled Germans crappy chow fun. But Oakland Chinatown doesn't have tourists, so your steam buns better ROCK or you'll wither and fade, yo.

― andy --, Friday, 1 April 2005 18:20 (twenty years ago)

xpost
I've actually never ordered a beer there. I need to get over this American-no-drinking-at-lunch-on-a-workday hang-up.

― Spencer Chow (spencermfi), Friday, 1 April 2005 18:20 (twenty years ago)

Yeah, andy, but their delivery fees are too high and it's always cold by the time it gets here.

xpost

― M. White (Miguelito), Friday, 1 April 2005 18:21 (twenty years ago)

i drink at lunch on a workday all the time!

― hstencil (hstencil), Friday, 1 April 2005 18:22 (twenty years ago)

I need to get over this American-no-drinking-at-lunch-on-a-workday hang-up.

Haha, I nearly started a thread bout this yesterday! What is the deal?

― Airtube (nordicskilla), Friday, 1 April 2005 18:23 (twenty years ago)

wait you work in a bar

― Airtube (nordicskilla), Friday, 1 April 2005 18:23 (twenty years ago)

Why limit it to lunch? Bring in a cooler, pop it under your desk and, you know, go to work.

― M. White (Miguelito), Friday, 1 April 2005 18:25 (twenty years ago)

your steam buns better ROCK or you'll wither and fade, yo

oh, yes. That's what I mean by actual Chinese food. If you don't do steamed pork buns, you suck. Roasted pork is also a must.

I really am baffled by how people eat most of what passes for Chinese food. Why would anyone eat a plate of rice, mushy vegetables and mystery goo... TWICE?

― sunburned and snowblind (kenan), Friday, 1 April 2005 18:26 (twenty years ago)

I just ate Noodles & Co!

Oh and I LOVE Irish-Mexican places!! I go to this RIDICULOUS place called Jose O'Shea

The only thing irish about it, though, is that they have a potato taco.

― jill schoelen is the queen of my dreams! (Homosexual II), Friday, 1 April 2005 18:27 (twenty years ago)

Cracker Barrel!!!

― ()ops (()()ps), Friday, 1 April 2005 18:28 (twenty years ago)

Andy - point me somewhere

― Airtube (nordicskilla), Friday, 1 April 2005 18:28 (twenty years ago)

If I ever have a date again, I'm going to take the lucky fella to the Hard Rock Cafe.

― jill schoelen is the queen of my dreams! (Homosexual II), Friday, 1 April 2005 18:29 (twenty years ago)

when i worked in a bank, my boss and i used to drink at lunch sometimes. also, we'd sometimes take the day off and go to cubs games (ie. more drinking).

― hstencil (hstencil), Friday, 1 April 2005 18:30 (twenty years ago)

I worked on Michigan Avenue for a couple months and had a pint at the Billy Goat every day at lunch. Pint, cheeseburger. What a fine, fattening ritual.

― sunburned and snowblind (kenan), Friday, 1 April 2005 18:32 (twenty years ago)

I used to work in England.

― Airtube (nordicskilla), Friday, 1 April 2005 18:32 (twenty years ago)

eat one wimpy burger, adam.

― jill schoelen is the queen of my dreams! (Homosexual II), Friday, 1 April 2005 18:33 (twenty years ago)

mmmmmm, yes please. and a nice cup of tea

― Airtube (nordicskilla), Friday, 1 April 2005 18:34 (twenty years ago)

I had the most disgusting meal at Hard Rock Cafe. It was supposed to be vegetable fajitas, but the vegetables were obviously from the stiry fry mix because they had WATER CHESNUTS in them. Water chesnuts in fajitas.

― n/a (Nick A.), Friday, 1 April 2005 18:34 (twenty years ago)

I had "pasta primavera" at Rapid City, SD's finest restaurant... it was angel hair pasta with pale frozen veggies mixed it. Horrible.

― jill schoelen is the queen of my dreams! (Homosexual II), Friday, 1 April 2005 18:37 (twenty years ago)

Aw, poor Cracker Barrel, I love its cornbread and molasses so much...

Hate list:
Golden Corral (my first job - YUCK!!)
Applebees

and basically any seafood chain

― Sarah McLusky (coco), Friday, 1 April 2005 18:41 (twenty years ago)

you...worked...at...a...golden...corral?

― Airtube (nordicskilla), Friday, 1 April 2005 18:44 (twenty years ago)

Kenan, my Actual Chinese father likes a lot of American Chinese food. There are infinite dishes in China, and so each of the Americanized ones are probably authentic somewhere.

If you really want it "real", be sure to bring some extra MSG.

― Spencer Chow (spencermfi), Friday, 1 April 2005 18:45 (twenty years ago)

and basically any seafood chain

I think I've told the story before of what happened last time (last time EVER) I ate at Long John Silver's. The details are unpleasant, but take my word for it -- don't eat there.

― sunburned and snowblind (kenan), Friday, 1 April 2005 18:45 (twenty years ago)

Spencer -- yeah, I guess it's a bigger country that I imagine. But still...

http://www.pjchmiel.com/photo/food/cdiner-chinabowl.jpg

fucking EW! EW EW EW!

― sunburned and snowblind (kenan), Friday, 1 April 2005 18:47 (twenty years ago)

Okay time for lunch

― Airtube (nordicskilla), Friday, 1 April 2005 18:49 (twenty years ago)

oh I've never been to Popeye's. I hear it's great!

Popeyes is THE BEST. BEST BEST BEST. I dream of spicy thighs and buttermilk biscuits. and cherry coke.

― phil-two (phil-two), Friday, 1 April 2005 18:50 (twenty years ago)

kenan, i hate to break it to you, but the chicago diner ain't a chinese restaurant.

― hstencil (hstencil), Friday, 1 April 2005 18:50 (twenty years ago)

you...worked...at...a...golden...corral?

Is this why you are a vegetarian today?

― j.lu (j.lu), Friday, 1 April 2005 18:51 (twenty years ago)

Airtube, I lived in a VERY rural area that summer and needed to save up money for college. I worked a lot of overtime, so I basically lived there (8am to 2am some days). My boss wore a Betty Boop tie and smacked all of us on the ass and called us Baby. We got a discount on the food, but since only the potato wedges were remotely vegetarian and not as expensive as everything else, my boss said that I was the exception and had to pay full price. Oh, memories...

x-post. ha ha. No, I already was at that point.

― Sarah McLusky (coco), Friday, 1 April 2005 18:51 (twenty years ago)

Cracker Barrel

Arby's

Taco Bell

Golden Corral

Western Sizzlin'

Captain D's

I went thru a brief White Castle hamburger phase last year, but then got a package of something we dubbed "dangly bits," and that cured me. I used to like the red beans 'n' rice at Popeyes on St. Charles near Garden District in New Orleans, but I ate at one in Ohio and that cured me too. It's all disgusting.

― edd s hurt (ddduncan), Friday, 1 April 2005 18:52 (twenty years ago)

Can someone explain what Golden Corral is? What kind of food, etc?

― jaymc (jaymc), Friday, 1 April 2005 18:52 (twenty years ago)

oh god j0hn just go to one!

― Airtube (nordicskilla), Friday, 1 April 2005 18:53 (twenty years ago)

Where are they??

― jaymc (jaymc), Friday, 1 April 2005 18:53 (twenty years ago)

It's basically Western Sizzlin'.

― Sarah McLusky (coco), Friday, 1 April 2005 18:53 (twenty years ago)

We'll go next time I'm over, you must see it! Are they a rural midwest/south thing exclusively?

― Airtube (nordicskilla), Friday, 1 April 2005 18:54 (twenty years ago)

All you Chicagoins are makin' me crave Al's #1 Italian Beef

― dave225 (Dave225), Friday, 1 April 2005 18:54 (twenty years ago)

Hardee's. I would rather eat at any generic truck stop than at a Hardee's.

― jocelyn (Jocelyn), Friday, 1 April 2005 18:54 (twenty years ago)

Cheney's

― gabbneb (gabbneb), Friday, 1 April 2005 18:54 (twenty years ago)

the chicago diner ain't a chinese restaurant

haha stence no. No it ain't. Hopefully you get the idea, though. Doesn't that look exactly like the average Chinese meal? And doesn't it look like flavorless slime?

http://www.ghostbustershq.com/media/snlmedia/swill.jpg

― sunburned and snowblind (kenan), Friday, 1 April 2005 18:55 (twenty years ago)

Well, from my perspective it was like the WORST school dinners you can POSSIBLY POSSIBLY imagine served buffet-style to families of 15 and more.

― Airtube (nordicskilla), Friday, 1 April 2005 18:55 (twenty years ago)

Actually Kenan, that looks like a lot of dishes in China!

― Spencer Chow (spencermfi), Friday, 1 April 2005 18:55 (twenty years ago)

I always end up eating at Popeye's when I'm like falling-down-forget-what-I-did-that-night-the-next-day drunk, and don't realize it until the noon-ish attack of horrendous ringsting mystery shits hits.

That chinese food that Kenan posted doesn't look gross, wtf?

― nickalicious (nickalicious), Friday, 1 April 2005 18:56 (twenty years ago)

I dream of spicy thighs and buttermilk biscuits.

Well so do I, but what's that got to do with chicken?

― Pleasant Plains /// (Pleasant Plains ///), Friday, 1 April 2005 18:57 (twenty years ago)

And gareth, if you are reading this - you need to go to a Golden Corral or do not call yourself a true yank-o-phile!

― Airtube (nordicskilla), Friday, 1 April 2005 18:57 (twenty years ago)

I guess I have diagnosed myself -- I do not like Chinese food. See, I thought it was just that I don't like nasty food.

― sunburned and snowblind (kenan), Friday, 1 April 2005 18:58 (twenty years ago)

arby's is faaantastic.

mcdonald's has good variety + a dollar menu (brillint we all must admit) + big mac + chicken selects.

hardees has the mosnterburger which is ruinously expensive but (despite horrible beef patties) tasty as hell.

for 20 years now i have avoided taco bell like the plague but my tastse seem to have changed so i mgith givem a try sometime.

never lj silvers cuz i hate seafood.

havent heard of golden corral or western sizzlin but they soudn good!

― mexican, Friday, 1 April 2005 18:58 (twenty years ago)

DAIRY QUEEN, so so good.

― f--gg (gcannon), Friday, 1 April 2005 18:59 (twenty years ago)

I would never eat the "seafood" at Long John's Silver's, but now the one near me is combined with an A & W, so I just want to get a root beer float and HUSH PUPPIES combo.

― jocelyn (Jocelyn), Friday, 1 April 2005 18:59 (twenty years ago)

Seriously, ass and fast food are like the great issues of ILX.

― Airtube (nordicskilla), Friday, 1 April 2005 19:00 (twenty years ago)

This has been a great day. A TRULY great da.

― Airtube (nordicskilla), Friday, 1 April 2005 19:00 (twenty years ago)

as a kid "The Sizzler." really messed with my head, like, they surely could not have really called something that??

― f--gg (gcannon), Friday, 1 April 2005 19:01 (twenty years ago)

and growing up, the A&W was the best Mexican place in town.

― f--gg (gcannon), Friday, 1 April 2005 19:02 (twenty years ago)

John, Golden Corral is the new Old Country Buffet. I thought I had explained that earlier.

― ()ops (()()ps), Friday, 1 April 2005 19:04 (twenty years ago)

I got so sick after a Sizzler meal I can't even think about that chain without wincing.

― M. White (Miguelito), Friday, 1 April 2005 19:05 (twenty years ago)

McDonald's is really the only place that strikes me with paralysis. Like, I can't imagine even just getting a cup of coffee there. But that's mostly to do with an anti-globalization attitude from several years ago that I don't feel as passionately about and yet have still somehow internalized, if that makes sense.

But I go to very few chain fast-food restaurants, anyway, just because the rarely have vegetarian options. While on tour with Canasta recently, we stopped at a Wendy's, but the idea of just ordering a salad or a baked potato made me kind of depressed. So I ended up going across the street to Burger King and I got a veggie Whopper (i.e., a Whopper without the burger, which actually isn't that bad). So it's mostly Subway for me. Maybe Taco Bell -- I used to do that in college -- but I've since been spoiled by good Mexican food in Chicago.

As for these mid-range family-style chains, a lot of 'em might be bland, but I wouldn't say no to them if I needed to stop along the highway for a bite to eat. I mean, they don't really exist in Chicago proper, so it's not really an issue. (There is that Bennigan's downtown, I guess.) One that I do sorta like, though, is Chili's, which always used to be the place my parents would take me as a kid for a special Friday night out -- and then I ended up going there in high school all the time, too. Now classic partially because you can substitute a black-bean burger for any of their various burgers.

― jaymc (jaymc), Friday, 1 April 2005 19:07 (twenty years ago)

Tell us more about this good Mexican food in Chicago that is so spoiling you!

― Airtube (nordicskilla), Friday, 1 April 2005 19:08 (twenty years ago)

coffee is the only edible thing at mcdonald's.

― hstencil (hstencil), Friday, 1 April 2005 19:11 (twenty years ago)

You don't eat coffee.

― Airtube (nordicskilla), Friday, 1 April 2005 19:11 (twenty years ago)

Wendy's used to have this fabulous greek wrap, but they discontinued it just to piss me off.

I didn't eat fast food for several years because of the lack of vegetarian options. It just didn't make sense. Then some coworkers tricked me into getting Taco Bell with them one day. I got this mexican pizza thing. Just looking at it when I opened it up at work made me feel sick the rest of the day.

x-post: McDonald's shakes are damn good, but always make me feel sick later.

― Sarah McLusky (coco), Friday, 1 April 2005 19:11 (twenty years ago)

okay, drinkable or potable or whatever.

― hstencil (hstencil), Friday, 1 April 2005 19:12 (twenty years ago)

i gotta soft spot for cafeterias like Morrison's (the Luby's of Mississippi) probably because of the grandparents. OLD PEOPLE LOVE CAFETERIAS, ESPECIALLY THOSE ATTACHED TO MALLS.

i won't eat at any place where spicy wings is the specialty and they include that somehow in the name of the establishment. hot wing cafe or wing stop junction or some such. ugh.

mcdonald's breakfast rules. had a sausage with egg mcmuffin and yummy mcdonald's coffee just this morning. it's still sitting there, down in my innards!

― andrew m. (andrewmorgan), Friday, 1 April 2005 19:12 (twenty years ago)

does anyone recall how several years ago Wendy's featured the "Superbar?" salad. pasta. sauces. breads. soup. CHOCOLATE PUDDING.

― andrew m. (andrewmorgan), Friday, 1 April 2005 19:14 (twenty years ago)

Does Wendy's not have Superbars anymore?

― jaymc (jaymc), Friday, 1 April 2005 19:15 (twenty years ago)

NOT AROUND TH... sorry, didn't mean to yell. not around these parts.

― andrew m. (andrewmorgan), Friday, 1 April 2005 19:16 (twenty years ago)

Tell us more about this good Mexican food in Chicago that is so spoiling you!

Well, I dunno, there's just a lot of Mexican places around here, and even the shitty ones are better than Taco Bell!

― jaymc (jaymc), Friday, 1 April 2005 19:17 (twenty years ago)

not for years and years they haven't.. I think having access to a vat of subpar choc pudding ruined me on it alltogether.

― ()ops (()()ps), Friday, 1 April 2005 19:18 (twenty years ago)

(xpost re Taco Bell: I mean, one grows accustomed to giant burritos filled with rice, beans, avocado, salsa (not hot sauce), etc.)

― jaymc (jaymc), Friday, 1 April 2005 19:18 (twenty years ago)

i don't think i've ever eaten taco bell

― Airtube (nordicskilla), Friday, 1 April 2005 19:19 (twenty years ago)

o dear me how could i ahev forgotten wendy's - prolly the best there is in terms of FAST food.
or fast FOOD.

ummmmm something else i was gonna say what was it...let me scroll back up here...oh yeah i don't tink i've ever eaten at burger king. what is the point?? seriously. someone tell me.

― i am HUGNER, Friday, 1 April 2005 19:19 (twenty years ago)

i gotta soft spot for cafeterias like Morrison's (the Luby's of Mississippi) probably because of the grandparents
Me too. My grandmother always took us to K&W or Picadilly's or S&S... I made my bf go with me to one though and it just wasn't the same without an old person host.

― Sarah McLusky (coco), Friday, 1 April 2005 19:20 (twenty years ago)

one time when i was a kid and the family was traveling we stopped at a hardee's and i ordered a shake. it tasted like bleach and i told my folks. they didn't believe me at first and told me to just drink it and stop complaining. then i made them taste it. it was a bleach shake! turns out they'd just cleaned the machine but didn't rinse it! they made a child drink bleach! maybe they've improved since 1978, but i'll never know. fuck you, hardee's!

don't you wanna hang out with the bleach boys, baby!

― andrew m. (andrewmorgan), Friday, 1 April 2005 19:21 (twenty years ago)

What did Hanle y call Burger King that one time that was so funny? Was it BORGER KANG?

― nickalicious (nickalicious), Friday, 1 April 2005 19:22 (twenty years ago)

HOW did you know what bleach tasted like in the first place BUD?????

― ABUSERADAR, Friday, 1 April 2005 19:23 (twenty years ago)

Most places have some redeeming qualities (Wendy's: Frosty; Subway: Veggie Patty; McDonalds: Soft Serve, Apple Pies; etc.), but some have none. One of those is Arby's. Also, I doubt I will ever order Pizza Hut or Dominos again in my life unless I have a mental breakdown and accidentally move somewhere with bad pizza options.

― polyphonic (polyphonic), Friday, 1 April 2005 19:24 (twenty years ago)

What is "Soft Serve"?

― Airtube (nordicskilla), Friday, 1 April 2005 19:24 (twenty years ago)

It's kinda like ice cream Adam.

― nickalicious (nickalicious), Friday, 1 April 2005 19:25 (twenty years ago)

bullshit polly the roast beef sandwich + cherry turnover was a staple of my yougn existence.

now BURGER KING on the other hand. seriously ppl. they dont even have a goddamn gimmick, outside of that incredibly kreepy king-thing.

― soft serve is frozen yogurt ie fake ice cream, Friday, 1 April 2005 19:26 (twenty years ago)

"ice cream Adam"! Great!

Sometimes I got to EB Games in Berkeley JUST because it smells like the Coldstone next door. Because I wouldn't actually want to go inside Coldstone and spend money.

― Airtube (nordicskilla), Friday, 1 April 2005 19:27 (twenty years ago)

You'll never grow old drinking those bleach shakes!

DAIRY QUEEN, so so good.

Speaking of shakes, I hear those Moolattes are the shiznet.

― Pleasant Plains /// (Pleasant Plains ///), Friday, 1 April 2005 19:27 (twenty years ago)

OH yeah! Pizza Hut=yuckfest

I can't believe how much fast food I ate when I was little. I remember getting 2 hamburgers and fries and a shake at Burger King. When we went to Taco Bell, I would get like 4 or 5 tacos.

x-post I always liked Burger King's burgers (as opposed to McDonald's), but McDonald's fries.

― Sarah McLusky (coco), Friday, 1 April 2005 19:28 (twenty years ago)

but Arby's has onion petals with that sauce! plus seriously, cordon bleus are better than most other fast food fare.

― ()ops (()()ps), Friday, 1 April 2005 19:29 (twenty years ago)

Burger King: Veggie Whoppers! It's amazing how good mayonnaise, ketchup, lettuce, tomatoes, and pickles are on their own! Have them add a slice of cheese if you're feeling zany!

― jaymc (jaymc), Friday, 1 April 2005 19:29 (twenty years ago)

outside of the mayo [and cheese and arg. lettuce sometimes][and pickles PLAIn but not on burgers] that is prettty much everythin i hate. meaning, i really don't like tomatoes. or at least, i don't think i do - haven't had one since i was 12 or so. so, burger king still sounds like a no-go. that said, mcdonald's beef does seem more just-frozen now-nuked than most, maybe bk is an improvement there.

― vegetarioan., Friday, 1 April 2005 19:33 (twenty years ago)

bk meat tastes like lighter fluid to me

― ()ops (()()ps), Friday, 1 April 2005 19:35 (twenty years ago)

now that ive moved and cant cook and hate shopping [its overwhelming!] fast food is like 75% of my diet folks.

― just thot id share, Friday, 1 April 2005 19:35 (twenty years ago)

I used to order stuff like that (meatless burgers) several years ago and got lots of weird looks. Then one day I decided it was gross eating a bunch of condiments on a bun.

When I was very little I was in love with Arby Jr's - until I sicked one up that is.

― Sarah McLusky (coco), Friday, 1 April 2005 19:36 (twenty years ago)

how can you be a vegetarian and not like tomatoes. (*brain explodes*)

The reason I don't order condiments on a bun is because I live in a city with real vegetarian food so why bother.

― polyphonic (polyphonic), Friday, 1 April 2005 19:40 (twenty years ago)

I am vegetarian and I don't like tomatos, because THEY ARE GROSS.

Don't they have the veggie burgers at BK? Or did they stop doing that?

― n/a (Nick A.), Friday, 1 April 2005 19:43 (twenty years ago)

tomatoes rule u r all gay

― hstencil (hstencil), Friday, 1 April 2005 19:44 (twenty years ago)

Oh, man. Tomatoes are life itself. I like 'em raw with a little salt. Just eat it like an apple and let it kinda sting the roof of your mouth.

― sunburned and snowblind (kenan), Friday, 1 April 2005 19:45 (twenty years ago)

The veggie burgers at BK are disgusting.

I don't understand what's not to like about tomatoes. I think as a kid I was weirded out by the texture, but I GOT OVER IT.

― jaymc (jaymc), Friday, 1 April 2005 19:49 (twenty years ago)

Oooh, Kenan: try fresh tomato slices dipped in a bit of olive oil, salt, pepper, and oregano.

― jaymc (jaymc), Friday, 1 April 2005 19:50 (twenty years ago)

hating tomatoes = residue of the evil traditions left to us by the british (see also: representative democracy, wigs, whigs, etc.)

― hstencil (hstencil), Friday, 1 April 2005 19:51 (twenty years ago)

I've had several discussion with my friends who don't like tomatoes. There's no reasoning with these people!!!
Really though, I can understand how someone can find them to be gross. Everybody likes tomato sauce though, right?

― ()ops (()()ps), Friday, 1 April 2005 19:53 (twenty years ago)

For fast food, I'll pass on Chick-Fil-A. For pizza, no Domino's. I hate most of the sitdown chains like Golden Corral, O'Charleys, Chili's, Applebees, Fridays, etc. I still like Olive Garden and Red Lobster okay, but even that's starting to pale.

Tonight in Tupelo to see Sin City — I foresee a Captain D's 3-piece fish dinner in my future.

Tomato-hating is a disease, and my daughter has it too, and all we can do is be sympathetic and supportive (even though it's a hideous mental deformity).

― Curious George Finds the Ether Bottle (Rock Hardy), Friday, 1 April 2005 19:54 (twenty years ago)

I love fresh, ripe tomatoes, but last night I had one of those ick tomatoes on an ick iceberg lettuce salad that was COMPLETELY bland. Those make me sad. :-(

― Sarah McLusky (coco), Friday, 1 April 2005 19:55 (twenty years ago)

for some reason (="twice-yearly insatiable craving") i was in a mcdonald's the other day and there was this homeless guy sitting in the corner. every 15 seconds he would declaim very loudly (but not yell), "MY DADDY'S MOUSTACHE." it was so regular and said with the exact same inflection every time that it was like a tape loop.

the restaurant was really full but there was this really-defined border of empty tables around him.

― s1ocki (slutsky), Friday, 1 April 2005 19:55 (twenty years ago)

I think it's mainly the texture of tomatoes. Tomato sauce, ketchup, anything where the tomato is pureed into goo, is fine with me. Raw tomatoes I don't like but I could eat if I were really really hungry and there was nothing else. But stewed cooked tomatoes, those fleshy watery chunks of grodyness...ewww.

― n/a (Nick A.), Friday, 1 April 2005 20:00 (twenty years ago)

if you harbor fond memories of visiting Chuck E. Cheese as a youngun', let me warn you not to taint those memories by patronizing one today. i can't even begin to express how terrible it is. poor kids. at the VERY least, they kept the skeeball machines. and there's beer.

― andrew m. (andrewmorgan), Friday, 1 April 2005 20:01 (twenty years ago)

i get the bi-annual crave too.

― ()ops (()()ps), Friday, 1 April 2005 20:22 (twenty years ago)

Del Taco
Jack In the Box
Panda Express
Boston Market
KFC
McDonald's
El Pollo Loco
Burger King

However, I lapse once in a great awhile. But the one I will never lapse on is Carl's Jr. The food is terrible, absolutely awful. And they have the most annoying ad campaign I've ever seen.

― Gear! (can Jung shill it, Mu?) (Gear!), Friday, 1 April 2005 20:27 (twenty years ago)

if cj's is the same as hardees: that is so true. intensely worthy of boycott. and they're really not worth it for the SIX DOLLAR monsterburger either. breyers ice cream, maybe.

― wajt do they take me 4, Friday, 1 April 2005 20:29 (twenty years ago)

is Del Taco just california?

― Airtube (nordicskilla), Friday, 1 April 2005 20:31 (twenty years ago)

Carl's Jr ads are not only annoying, but they're pretty repellent overall. I remember one where these two cool dude white guys were at a restaurant chowing down on some burgers, when suddenly the waiters began singing some happy birthday song at another table. of course, the waiters were a mixed bag of ethnic minorities and obese women and people wearing glasses. Who the hell'd want to go to a restaurant like that?? Not you, cool white dude.

― Gear! (can Jung shill it, Mu?) (Gear!), Friday, 1 April 2005 20:36 (twenty years ago)

arby's has really changes the quality since the 80s

i like a new chain called "the habit"

― charleston charge (chaki), Friday, 1 April 2005 20:38 (twenty years ago)

I think del taco is in AZ too?

― ()ops (()()ps), Friday, 1 April 2005 20:39 (twenty years ago)

Yoshinoya ("just say no"). The chicken bowl sauce is disgustingly sweet, and both the chicken and beef meat seem to be the lowest quality. I do like the Japanese style red pepper, though.

― nickn (nickn), Friday, 1 April 2005 20:53 (twenty years ago)

I can't completely trust someone who doesn't like tomatoes.

― M. White (Miguelito), Friday, 1 April 2005 20:56 (twenty years ago)

I loved that Carl's Jr commercial. I didn't notice the racial subtext at all.

― Spencer Chow (spencermfi), Friday, 1 April 2005 21:23 (twenty years ago)

And I tend to be oversensitive about such things.

― Spencer Chow (spencermfi), Friday, 1 April 2005 21:24 (twenty years ago)

I also think Carl's Jr chicken sandwiches are excellent. The Grilled BBQ one is basically the healthiest fast food sandwich you can order straight from the menu.

― Spencer Chow (spencermfi), Friday, 1 April 2005 21:25 (twenty years ago)

Carl's Jr = Hardees, in case anybody didn't already know that.

― Curious George Finds the Ether Bottle (Rock Hardy), Friday, 1 April 2005 21:27 (twenty years ago)

"MY DADDY'S MOUSTACHE."

my roommate found a set of ceramic beer stein things at a thrift shop with a bearded dude on them holding a stein and it says "My Father's Moustache." the top of the mug is normal except for this kind of sippy hole in it, which we could only assume is for when your drinking a frothy brew, the froth gets on your upper lip to give you a moustache. asking around about it he found out there was some kinda chain pub/bar place that it came from. never heard of them before.

― andrew m. (andrewmorgan), Friday, 1 April 2005 21:31 (twenty years ago)

i will NEVER give up SONIC!

― jill schoelen is the queen of my dreams! (Homosexual II), Friday, 1 April 2005 21:34 (twenty years ago)

i've never seen a sonic before!

― phil-two (phil-two), Friday, 1 April 2005 21:35 (twenty years ago)

Maybe I'll sneak an order of Sonic onion rings into Captain D's with me tonight. OH GOD MY ARTERIES.

― Curious George Finds the Ether Bottle (Rock Hardy), Friday, 1 April 2005 21:39 (twenty years ago)

I had the black bean burger last week at a Chili's in Kingman, Arizona, and surprise! It was amazingly tasty. I didn't really see that coming at all.

I generally like most of the big chain restaurants like Chili's, Chevy's, Marie Callender's, etc. Not something I would eat if I had better options, but perfectly decent. The lower echelon (Coco's, Denny's, Olive Garden, etc.) I will settle for, but unhappily.

The meat-centric ones (Outback, Sizzler, etc.) I avoid altogether.

― polyphonic (polyphonic), Friday, 1 April 2005 21:45 (twenty years ago)

sonic onion rings and a cherry vanilla dr. pepper! YUMMMMMM!

― jill schoelen is the queen of my dreams! (Homosexual II), Friday, 1 April 2005 21:46 (twenty years ago)

I refused to eat tomatoes until I was 20. But then I was in Sweden and had very little money and had to maximize my purchases, so any extra bit of food counted. There was a little stand that sold cheap cheese sandwiches, and I always left all the vegetables in them, with reluctancy. I still don't like tomatoes, but I can usually tolerate them on a sandwich or whatever (although I love chicken & tomato pizzas). I would never eat a raw tomato though.

I will not eat at Burger King or McDonald's or Arby's. BK and McD's is the blandest shit ever, and Arby's is just nasty. I used to be able to eat anything when I was a teenager though. I once ate 4 (maybe 5, I can't remember for sure) Big Macs in one sitting *shudder*

― Lingbertt, Friday, 1 April 2005 22:01 (twenty years ago)

Growing up, our family house had tomato vines covering each wall. In March (southern hemisphere, New Zealand), we would pick about 50 tomatoes a day. Ate 'em fresh, made tomato sauces, stewed 'em, had tomato sanwiches every day for a few months. Even now (in New York, where they're crap and tasteless), I eat at least one fresh tomato a day, and include them in most meals....ate 3 as fruit this afternoon...

― paulhw (paulhw), Friday, 1 April 2005 22:48 (twenty years ago)

I never eat at a restaurant with a dirty front door. Twelve years of food-service experience has taught me that if the glass isn't clean, the kitchen won't be either.

― Remy Ulysses Fitzgerald (x Jeremy), Friday, 1 April 2005 22:54 (twenty years ago)

wow, that's great

― Airtube (nordicskilla), Friday, 1 April 2005 22:55 (twenty years ago)

no kitchen is clean, even in the fanciest restaurant.

― hstencil (hstencil), Friday, 1 April 2005 22:57 (twenty years ago)

I'm wondering if the tomato-haters have only had the kind of bland crap I hear a lot of the US has. Commercially grown, overlarge, beefed up veggies that look good but have no taste! My parents went to LA and said all the "fresh" food was bizarre, it tasted of nothing.

I guess we're spoiled here. Fresh fruit and veg is usually just that, and tastes great. Chinese food... ok Kenan I dont get yr problem, cos you talk about slimy goo (which yeah, sounds ick) but then post a pic of a fairly standard looking veg and tofu stir fry. It wasnt even gloopy!

Still - chinese places that do fries? Diners thart do chinese food? Dudes no wonder y'all think chinese is crappy.

― Trayce (trayce), Friday, 1 April 2005 23:04 (twenty years ago)

I also love that this thread is predominantly USian. It says so much.

We have chains here, but I'd say 80% of the ones we have are US ones anyway (BK, McDs, TGIFs etc). And I wouldnt set foot in any of em, yeechhh.

― Trayce (trayce), Friday, 1 April 2005 23:06 (twenty years ago)

all the chinese takeout places in new york also sell fried chicken. the ones in brooklyn probably make most of their money from it!

― phil-two (phil-two), Friday, 1 April 2005 23:08 (twenty years ago)

Trayce, most of America is now a shopping mall where we feed at the trough of corporate processed food.

I don't get the LA thing. California has great produce. I am a tomato fanatic and even in winter there are good hothouse and romas to be had for $.

― M. White (Miguelito), Friday, 1 April 2005 23:10 (twenty years ago)

oh phil, oh phil.

― hstencil (hstencil), Friday, 1 April 2005 23:11 (twenty years ago)

The difference between the delicious red heirlooms I get at Berkeley Bowl and the white, bevampired suckers I see presliced at Subway is shocking.

― polyphonic (polyphonic), Friday, 1 April 2005 23:11 (twenty years ago)

what, what?

― phil-two (phil-two), Friday, 1 April 2005 23:12 (twenty years ago)

you know, you know

― hstencil (hstencil), Friday, 1 April 2005 23:12 (twenty years ago)

white, bevampired suckers I see presliced at Subway

Even if you bread and fry them, they are insipid. Bad tomatoes are not edible.

― M. White (Miguelito), Friday, 1 April 2005 23:14 (twenty years ago)

I love all tomatoes, but some are sweeter than others. Some are added for acid and texture as opposed to flavor.

― Spencer Chow (spencermfi), Friday, 1 April 2005 23:18 (twenty years ago)

Of course I like sweeter ones if I'm just biting into one.

― Spencer Chow (spencermfi), Friday, 1 April 2005 23:19 (twenty years ago)

We have chains here, but I'd say 80% of the ones we have are US ones anyway (BK, McDs, TGIFs etc).

Don't you mean HJ?

― Pleasant Plains /// (Pleasant Plains ///), Friday, 1 April 2005 23:20 (twenty years ago)

Tomatoes grown in a garden do taste much much better than those you can buy.

― ()ops (()()ps), Friday, 1 April 2005 23:24 (twenty years ago)

If only 'cause you can pick them, wash them and eat them before their screams have left the air.

― M. White (Miguelito), Friday, 1 April 2005 23:27 (twenty years ago)

does anyone recall how several years ago Wendy's featured the "Superbar?" salad. pasta. sauces. breads. soup. CHOCOLATE PUDDING.

You make me weep with bittersweet rememberances. The Superbar was MY ABSOLUTE FAVORITE dinner to get in my high school days, when my dad had to work late and my mom picked me up and then took me out to eat somewhere for dinner. I loved loved loved it. The salad, pasta, breads, soups -- everything. And my favorite dessert of all time, their strawberries & bananas thingmabob. It would be such a good day when we were able to eat at Wendy's because of their Superbar. But now.... If there is somewhere where Wendy's is still serving up their Superbar, I WILL DRIVE OR FLY OUT THERE TONIGHT.

Chain restaurants I avoid:

Blackeyed Pea (health regulation problems at every single local one out there)
Old Country Buffet (bland bland bland bland bland bland bland -- and I usually like buffet places)
McDonald's (everything I get from there makes me feel ill)
Church's Chicken (waaaaaaaaay too greasy, plus ditto what I said from McDonald's)
most of the Luby's Cafeterias here, though there are two local locations (one near my house and the other downtown) that are actually -- *shock* -- GOOD, so I don't avoid Luby's wholesale
Taco Bell (unless I'm desperately broke & hungry)
Long John Silver's (I don't have a problem with the grease -- I have a problem with the SALT)

Everything else I can find at least a few menu items to really like. I even like the roast beef from Arby's, even though I know what it really is (their salads are pretty tasty too, BTW). My favorite fast food places are Wendy's and Chick-Fil-A, though. And Bill Miller's. And a Bill Miller's that serves breakfast is the best fast food place to get breakfast from.

― I am that unhip, naive nobody you always avoid. (Dee the Lurker), Friday, 1 April 2005 23:44 (twenty years ago)

I haven't eaten at a McDonald's or Burger King or KFC in many years. I do like the big veggie combo burrito at Taco Bell, though, and we have a great mini-chain here in Portland called Burgerville that specializes in local seasonal food and has at least some vegetarian stuff.

― Douglas (Douglas), Saturday, 2 April 2005 00:01 (twenty years ago)

Don't you mean HJ?

Haha, very perceptive PP! Yeah most of them are Hungry Jacks (pretty much the same menu) but we do have a few BKs as well - at the airports mainly. There is a BK and an HJ at Melb airport! Seems a bit daft.

― Trayce (trayce), Saturday, 2 April 2005 00:07 (twenty years ago)

jesus, i'm not above eating anything - i've significantly cut back on the greasiest fast food in the past few years just for health reasons, but speaking ill of Chik-Fil-A and Wendy's is blasphemous! I would have never made it through college without those two fine establishments.

also, Arby's chicken fingers are fire.

and bad Chinese food is always, always good, tiny pieces of chicken, rice and broccoli coated in some vaguely sweetish sauce = you can't go wrong

― Josh Love (screamapillar), Saturday, 2 April 2005 10:27 (twenty years ago)

I haven't eaten McDonald's, Hungry Jacks/Burger King, KFC for so long I really can't remember the last time I did.

― kate/thank you friendly cloud (papa november), Saturday, 2 April 2005 10:39 (twenty years ago)

those new KFC snackers are good - the buffalo ones at least, the BBQ are pretty nast.

― Josh Love (screamapillar), Saturday, 2 April 2005 11:04 (twenty years ago)

Basically all of 'em...especially the burger joints. Always prefered indie greasy spoons, diners and lowrent pizza parlors to Mac, BK, Wnedy's et al. Suppose I could stomach Red Lobster or Friday's in a pinch. Subway is OK but the bread's weak, I like Blimpie better.

I have fond memories of family car trips in the 60s with food stops at Howard Johnson's (east) and Stuckey's (south), do these kind of regional chains still exist? Probably the food was just as bad as McD's but seemed better cause you were sitting down, waited on etc.

― m coleman (lovebug starski), Saturday, 2 April 2005 14:46 (twenty years ago)

i don't really eat "fast food" that often anymore. but wendy's roxors now! if you get a combo meal you can replace the fries with salad! you can buy a fruit-and-yogurt plate too, and while i'm sure i don't wanna know what the fruit has been treated with, it doesn't taste bad at all!

also: light lemonade!

― jody von oy (Jody Beth Rosen), Saturday, 2 April 2005 16:12 (twenty years ago)

who goes to wendy's for a salad and yogurt?

(you, i guess)

― s1ocki (slutsky), Sunday, 3 April 2005 01:08 (twenty years ago)

s1ocki, I found an album at the Goodwill today called "Your Daddy's Moustache"! Maybe that's what your pal at the restaurant kept going on about.

― Sean Carruthers (SeanC), Sunday, 3 April 2005 01:43 (twenty years ago)

those new KFC snackers are good

AMEN!!! and at 99cent, a good value at twice the price

― phil-two (phil-two), Sunday, 3 April 2005 01:58 (twenty years ago)

who goes to wendy's for a salad and yogurt?

if you can't be with the one you love, love the one you're with.

― jody von oy (Jody Beth Rosen), Sunday, 3 April 2005 02:07 (twenty years ago)

i seriously don't understand how anyone can eat at popeye's. that shit smells like battered-up DEATH, yo.

my job has pretty much turned me off of all non-regional-burger-chain fast food. i work with a guy who seriously BRINGS IN MCGRIDDLES when he works the morning shift. and he works in an enclosed space with other people!! the aromas all that sugar and fake flavor conjure up make me want to vomit.

― maura (maura), Sunday, 3 April 2005 04:14 (twenty years ago)

and the worst part of it is that my office is above this amazing market filled with retail outlets of all these new york-area bakers and other food purveyors. it's just like adding idiocy to insult to injury, you know? how hard is it to take an elevator downstairs so as to avoid consuming some processed crap that has 239842094823 grams of fat in it?

― maura (maura), Sunday, 3 April 2005 04:17 (twenty years ago)

McDonald's
Chili's
Subway
Long John Silver's
Jack in the Box
White Castle (just because I'm Southern and they're bland to me and Krystals aren't)
T.G.I. Friday's
Kentucky Fried Chicken
Boston Market/Rotisserie Grill (and since they're now owned by McDonald's that makes them worse)
Bennigan's
Miami Subs (ever since they went Miami Subs Plus...yeesh, it all went downhill there)
Wendy's
Zaxby's
Golden Corral
Western Sizzlin'

― What we want? Sex with T.V. stars! What you want? Ian Riese-Moraine! (Eastern Ma, Sunday, 3 April 2005 11:28 (twenty years ago)

I like subway. I could totally live off it forever and never get sick of it.

― kate/thank you friendly cloud (papa november), Sunday, 3 April 2005 11:40 (twenty years ago)

Captain D's = Classic
Long John Silver's = Dud

― Curious George Finds the Ether Bottle (Rock Hardy), Sunday, 3 April 2005 13:27 (twenty years ago)

Captain D's = Classic
Long John Silver's = Dud

So damn true!

― What we want? Sex with T.V. stars! What you want? Ian Riese-Moraine! (Eastern Ma, Sunday, 3 April 2005 14:40 (twenty years ago)

Subway is just fine compared to all the other fast food slop. They have good (and free!!!) toppings. I get cucumbers, green peppers, spinach, and sometimes pickles.

― Je4nne ƒury (Jeanne Fury), Sunday, 3 April 2005 14:49 (twenty years ago)

Their bread tastes like cardboard, the lettuce tastes like Easter basket grass, their commercials are the most annoying, and you know what? People used to call those sandwiches about a dozen different names, depending on what city you were in. Now, everyone just calls a big sandwich a Subway. I preferred "Dagwood".

So fuck a Subway.

― Pleasant Plains /// (Pleasant Plains ///), Sunday, 3 April 2005 15:29 (twenty years ago)

Spinach! Je4nne, I'm jealous.

PP, such a hater! Are you sure your name isn't Reid Fleming?

― Curious George Finds the Ether Bottle (Rock Hardy), Sunday, 3 April 2005 15:42 (twenty years ago)

McDonalds
Denny's
Sizzler
Red Lobster
KFC
Olive Garden

― Orbit (Orbit), Sunday, 3 April 2005 19:06 (twenty years ago)

Hardee's

― latebloomer: AKA Sir Teddy Ruxpin, Former Scientologist (latebloomer), Sunday, 3 April 2005 22:08 (twenty years ago)

Perkins
Applebee's. Though I often have no choice in the matter.
Little Caesars.
Pizza Hut as a restaurant sucks, works fine for delivery for me though.

"Trayce, most of America is now a shopping mall where we feed at the trough of corporate processed food"

which is why the premise of the thread kind of irks me, it's hard not to eat fast food when often its close to being your only option!

it is sad in a-merry-ca :-(

― latebloomer: AKA Sir Teddy Ruxpin, Former Scientologist (latebloomer), Sunday, 3 April 2005 22:15 (twenty years ago)

I used to go to Wendy's and order a Bacon-Double combo with a root-beer and put mayo on my fries. Now, I can't imagine my body tolerating such an experience. Does that mean I'm getting old?

― Star Cauliflower (Star Cauliflower), Sunday, 3 April 2005 22:29 (twenty years ago)

probably. i want a salad now.

― latebloomer: AKA Sir Teddy Ruxpin, Former Scientologist (latebloomer), Sunday, 3 April 2005 22:31 (twenty years ago)

Get one learning how to cook.

― Trayce (trayce), Sunday, 3 April 2005 23:59 (twenty years ago)

McDonalds: egg and cheese biscuits in the morning--fantastic. Manna from heaven. Their coffee's not bad either

Pollo Loco on the banned list? that's just stupid

Johnnie Rocket's chocolate malt -- an elixir for your soul

― PickWhatsGood, Monday, 4 April 2005 00:28 (twenty years ago)

chain restaurant i like frequenting: ranch 1. a little pricey, but the food is generally fresh and relatively un-processed. and the fries are awesome. i'm told the regular grilled chicken sandwich has a lot of calories, but i'm not going to think about that.

― jody von oy (Jody Beth Rosen), Monday, 4 April 2005 00:35 (twenty years ago)

Amory Subway gots spinach! I never noticed it before! (This thread made me hongry for a Krab & Mayo heartattack.)

― Curious George Finds the Ether Bottle (Rock Hardy), Monday, 4 April 2005 01:00 (twenty years ago)

shoney's

― roxymuzak (roxymuzak), Monday, 4 April 2005 01:02 (twenty years ago)

not much of a list

― roxymuzak (roxymuzak), Monday, 4 April 2005 01:03 (twenty years ago)

shoney's OTM...ewww!

― latebloomer: strawman knockdowner (latebloomer), Monday, 4 April 2005 02:55 (twenty years ago)

after like 10 bad experiences in a row: IHOP

― ryan (ryan), Monday, 4 April 2005 02:57 (twenty years ago)

I like Denny's and IHOP, though I like Denny's a LOT more because their food is more reasonably priced. There's not a single Hardee's or Sizzler in town, nor do I really remember ever seeing those chains. Red Lobster is ok but not my favorite place to go. Olive Garden helped introduced this city to the concept of nice-looking Italian restaurants and I still like their food. (Better that than yet another helping of Mexican/Tex-Mex.) Pizza Hut is good if you go to the more suburban/rural locations; oddly enough, the more central the Pizza Hut location here, the greasier and nastier the pizza from the Pizza Hut tastes. Little Caesar's isn't half bad and is a rather good thing if you take advantage of the monthly customer appreciation day special. El Pollo Loco might taste good to someone who wasn't reared on the food I was raised on, but if you've always had authentic versions of that which El Pollo Loco is attempting to sell, you recognize just how terrible that food is. We've ONLY JUST NOW gotten our very first Johnny Rocket's (and it's at a location that makes it clear that it's for the tourists, i.e. the Riverbloodywalk). Subway's bread smells really suspect, but in a real pinch their subs will do. I really like Burger King's breakfast menu items. Etc., etc., etc.

Basically, it's fast food and those so-called "bad Chinese restaurants" (though the ones I go to are actually really good!) that ends up delivering me from a pit of endless Mex/Tex-Mex/barbecue options. God, there are times when I would rather choke on my own vomit than have another breakfast taco or another helping of carne guisada or another serving of rice and beans or another tortilla, even if it's homemade. I guess that's why I appreciate fast food a lot more; because this food isn't a part of my heritage, hasn't been made for me at home an innumerable amount of times, isn't something my grandparents even KNEW how to make, I feel more at home with what you guys consider sub-par variations of those themes than you guys might.

Ok, end of outburst. Me go disappear once more.

― I am that unhip, naive nobody you always avoid. (Dee the Lurker), Monday, 4 April 2005 05:58 (twenty years ago)

Oh, and Chipotle. Fantastic. And owned by McDonalds. Don't you just hate that your fucking hypocrites???!!!!????

― PickWhatsGood, Monday, 4 April 2005 06:04 (twenty years ago)

Spunkinburger.

ok, so i made it up, but if it DID exist.. no fucking way!

― g-kit (g-kit), Monday, 4 April 2005 07:20 (twenty years ago)

Aw, poor Cracker Barrel, I love its cornbread and molasses so much...

no, not poor cracker barrel. it's disgusting! and a large percentage of their vegetable dishes either have meat in them or are cooked with meat items, which is totally pointless. lukewarm canned veggies aren't going to be improved by dumping some grade d ham bits and grease over them.

― lauren (laurenp), Monday, 4 April 2005 09:54 (twenty years ago)

lukewarm canned veggies aren't going to be improved by dumping some grade d ham bits and grease over them. Uh...that's the only way to improve lukewarm canned veggies. Just because you may not eat meat doesn't mean there's "no point" in cooking vegetables with meat. That's how one cooks vegetables. There's almost no vegetable known to man that isn't improved by cooking it with a ham hock. Hello!@

― PickWhatsGood, Monday, 4 April 2005 14:43 (twenty years ago)

it depends on what you find palatable, i suppose.

― lauren (laurenp), Monday, 4 April 2005 14:45 (twenty years ago)

I guess Cracker Barrel mostly just has a place in my heart because it's where my family would always go on road trips (and then we'd pick out tapes to switch out and get maple candy from the gift store).

I used to think Subway was the greatest, until I had a job really close to one and ate there all the time. Then one day the white tomatoes and ick lettuce shreds really got to me. That said, I like mine with jalapenos.

― Sarah McLusky (coco), Monday, 4 April 2005 14:56 (twenty years ago)

My wife just got back from running some errands and brought me a Sonic fresh lime slush. Mwah!

― Curious George (1/6 Scale Model) (Rock Hardy), Tuesday, 5 April 2005 17:31 (twenty years ago)

David R. way upthread mentioned Bennigan's Monte Christo sandwhich, which as a young dude I thought tasted great! but i had one for old time's sake recently (well, 4 years ago) and it was disgusting! never again. i did have my first underage beer at Bennigan's, though. it was a beck's dark. and i just had one, so as not to push my luck.

― andrew m. (andrewmorgan), Tuesday, 5 April 2005 17:55 (twenty years ago)

It seems surreal to me that Bennigan's used to be the hep place to hang out. It reminds me of how T.G.I. Friday's was the place to be at in Memphis back in the early seventies. That was where this album cover's photograph was taken:

http://www.bluedark.com/images/bigstarradiocity.gif

I'm not trying to sound too-cool-for-school, but I'm having a hard time picturing Applebee's as the ultimate meat-market.

― Pleasant Plains /// (Pleasant Plains ///), Tuesday, 5 April 2005 18:04 (twenty years ago)

ok all the mcd's haters still need to at least recognize the brilliance of the dollar menu. i mean you can get like a double cheeseburger, mcchicken sandwich, side salad, fruit and yogurt parfait and 2 apple pies for like not even 6 bucks! which is like the price of ONE hardees burger w/ fries. (1 monster burger alone tops 6 bucks i think)

― chepa food,, Tuesday, 5 April 2005 19:25 (twenty years ago)

Is it fair to assume that items that cost $1 at US McDonalds are the same items that cost 99p at UK McDonalds? If so, it's an Apple-scale rip-off!

― caitlin (caitlin), Tuesday, 5 April 2005 19:35 (twenty years ago)

America's farmers are subsidized by the government. We pay for it in TAXES.

― absolutego (ex machina), Tuesday, 5 April 2005 19:42 (twenty years ago)

Who do you think *our* farmers are subsidised by?

― caitlin (caitlin), Tuesday, 5 April 2005 19:44 (twenty years ago)

ok i have nothing more to sya but im REALLY fcking hungry so what should i get at wnedy's in a half hour when i get off work. i'm not familiar w/ their menu outside of the double bacon cheesburger i order every time i go there (tho i did get that chicken sandwich thing they'v been advertising; it was overpriced)

― the omniptopteron, Tuesday, 5 April 2005 19:52 (twenty years ago)

s1ocki, I found an album at the Goodwill today called "Your Daddy's Moustache"! Maybe that's what your pal at the restaurant kept going on about.

OMG!

― s1ocki (slutsky), Tuesday, 5 April 2005 19:57 (twenty years ago)

I find french fries pretty revolting anymore, so if I go anywhere fast-foodish, I have to find a place that will sub a salad or baked potato or something. Wendy's is pretty good for that.
I'm also occasionally seduced by the McDonald's breakfast — if you're gonna to unhealthy, might as well go big.

I hate Hardee's, though. I also find Quizno's pretty lacking.

― sugarpants: kind of blurry, kind of double (sugarpants), Tuesday, 5 April 2005 21:37 (twenty years ago)

the one thing i go to mcdonald's for anymore is the egg mcmuffin. so simple, so perfect, so comforting. perfect on a really cold day.

― jody von bulow (Jody Beth Rosen), Tuesday, 5 April 2005 22:08 (twenty years ago)

i've tried making my own at home and it's just not the same.

― jody von bulow (Jody Beth Rosen), Tuesday, 5 April 2005 22:09 (twenty years ago)

i hear that jody, but i've found the trick is to do it really unnaturally. like just nuke the hell out of it. microwave the egg in the bottom of a wet coffee cup - add one slice of processed cheese, and i've even found that same kind of small circular ham slices. it's actually pretty close.

― Kim (Kim), Tuesday, 5 April 2005 22:51 (twenty years ago)

I still mostly avoid all fast food outside of the occasional In-N-Out Burger, but I have to admit a hankering for the scary deep fried stuff at Chick Filet.

― Elvis Telecom (Chris Barrus), Wednesday, 6 April 2005 16:05 (twenty years ago)

no! they're creepy christians!

― jody von bulow (Jody Beth Rosen), Wednesday, 6 April 2005 16:08 (twenty years ago)

I don't tend to have a huge problem with chain restaurants--they are not the first place I would pick, but if nothing else is available there is usually something edible, if not delicious to be eaten. Even so, sixth-sense bristled at my mom's suggestion to eat TGI Fridays today, but we went anyway.

Can anyone here convince me that restaurant does not = a modern torture chamber? The midget host with the childlike voice, the chipper rapping and dancing bboy server, the flahing lights that made me feel like I was going blind . . . . I literally could barely see the whole time I was in there . . .

Maybe I should have ordered the burger but I thought it would be more healthy to get the Chile Verde Chicken Enchiladas. I have never tasted food that was so obviously frozen then thawed in the microwave before (except for food my mom has served me, ha ha) . . . . and there were no fesh produts on it . . .. no lettuce, cheese, sour cream, tomaotes, everything was just a tepid yellow blob of fit-for-space-flight chicken with a sickening hint of lime. I couldn't even tell what was the chicken and what was the tottilla.

Even the ice tea made me nautious. I stopped eating about half way through the meal. I thought my mom's fish and chips would be better--how can you mess that up? But the battered fries and fish both tasted equally indistinguishable--I have never tasted such bland fried food in my life. I went out to the car early to lie down--my mom strangely had no problem with her meal, and struggled with eye and stomach problems for the entiretly of the 45-minute drive home--in short I wished I were dead. I got home and slept it off and have now recovered, but what is that? I haven't been that sick in ages.

Is there anything redeeming anyone here can say about TGI Fridays?

― Mary (Mary), Tuesday, 19 April 2005 02:47 (twenty years ago)

No. You have been to the last level of hell. Would you like a moist towelette?

― Curious George (1/6 Scale Model) (Rock Hardy), Tuesday, 19 April 2005 02:49 (twenty years ago)

macaroni grill .... i have decided that the food there just sucks. i used to respect it. not really any more.
m.

― msp (mspa), Tuesday, 19 April 2005 03:38 (twenty years ago)

I like it!

― Samuel Glickstein (nordicskilla), Tuesday, 19 April 2005 04:01 (twenty years ago)

burger king has taken itself off the list, no matter how shitty their service/food is.

― lemin (lemin), Tuesday, 19 April 2005 04:13 (twenty years ago)

TGIF had the best fries anywhere when I would eat there about 10-15 years ago. I've learned to get grilled meat sandwiches when I go to places like these, harder to fuck up, and if they cut corners it's obvious.

― nickn (nickn), Tuesday, 19 April 2005 05:38 (twenty years ago)

1. Angus Steak House
2. Aberdeen Steak House
3. Any other Steak House with a red colour scheme and a branch close to Shaftesbury Avenue.

― Madchen (Madchen), Tuesday, 19 April 2005 09:01 (twenty years ago)

those places look fucking vile

― Ronan (Ronan), Tuesday, 19 April 2005 09:04 (twenty years ago)

I've only had TGIF once. Never again.

― Ian Riese-Moraine. To Hell with you and your gradual evolution! (Eastern Mantra), Tuesday, 19 April 2005 09:05 (twenty years ago)

tgif's food is palatable enough. actually it varies by location. the one down the road from my college was pretty good, but when i went to the one in times square about five years ago, yecch.

i like pizzeria uno, but i haven't been there in years.

― brody the country girl dalle (Jody Beth Rosen), Tuesday, 19 April 2005 10:39 (twenty years ago)

I've learned to get grilled meat sandwiches when I go to places like these, harder to fuck up, and if they cut corners it's obvious.

i just keep thinking of the scene in fight club ... "may i advise the lady against getting the clam chowder?"

― brody the country girl dalle (Jody Beth Rosen), Tuesday, 19 April 2005 10:43 (twenty years ago)

I haven't been to macaroni grill for years, but I liked it back then and surely it has to be better than olive garden.

― ()ops (()()ps), Tuesday, 19 April 2005 16:31 (twenty years ago)

yeah... it's probably better than og... but we've gone twice recently and both times it was ass. og can make a good pitcher of sangria. pasta e fagoli + salad + sticks = splendid meal.
m.

― msp (mspa), Tuesday, 19 April 2005 17:10 (twenty years ago)

pasta e fagoli + salad + sticks = splendid meal.

it's not a good meal unless it's pronounced pasta FAZOOL!

― brody the country girl dalle (Jody Beth Rosen), Tuesday, 19 April 2005 21:58 (twenty years ago)

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