Best Casual Dining Restaurant Chain

ban

I don't own shit. Quit bothering me.

So I guess I must have just imagined the old-timey naughty brothel/speakeasy version of Hooter's that I dined at in Delaware?

lol where in Delaware?

I'm pretty sure it was New Castle.

dennys - all about the "Moon Over My Hammy"

i fucking hate all of these godforsaken riblet hellholes

Apart from possibly IHOP for breakfast everything on this list sucks and i have eaten in a disturbingly large number of them.

http://www.lubewings.com/images/sharonpics.jpg

Voted for Chili's.

lol lubewings.com

Ground Round

anyway, the answer is Houston's

ooooh the Ground Round where they let you THROW YR PEANUT SHELLS ON THE FLOOR AND THE FLOOR IS COVERED WITH POPCORN

ban anyone who votes in this poll

^^^OTM

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/9/93/Ocharleys.gif

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/d/d1/Bakerssquarerestaurant.jpg

Yo, where's the 99?

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/0/00/Bubbagumprestaurantlongbeach.jpg

Max's Restaurant (West/Southwest U.S.)

Is this the same as Max and Erma's?

W.C. Handjob's (U.S./Canada)

I'm sorry, but WAHT?

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/c/cb/Claim_Jumper_Restaurant.JPG
Photo of Claim Jumper restaurant in Fresno, California taken February 6, 2006.

xp - he's amusing himself. low standards.

Yo, where's the 99?

I've only ever been to the 99 once, in Charlestown. It was the single most depressing restaurant experience of my life. Their radio jingle is annoying too.

most depressing restaurant experience -

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

ugh cheescake factory fuckin sucks

cheesecake factory is awful

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

these places all suck though, basically

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

EVERYONE'S A REGULAR!

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

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

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

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

EVERYONE'S IRREGULAR!

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

NO, REALLY! TRY THEM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

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

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

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

Missing Rock Bottom Brewery / Old Chicago

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

oh wait, Houston's isn't on the list?

happy chef is hellish

chili's

I've only ever been to the 99 once, in Charlestown. It was the single most depressing restaurant experience of my life. Their radio jingle is annoying too.

-- ENBB, Wednesday, April 16, 2008 10:33 AM (1 hour ago) Bookmark Link

otm!!!

I don't necessarily think of Houston's as moderately priced or casual.

the original perkins pancake house was near my parents house in cincinnati, we went there for dinner occasionally. it was a dinky place on hamilton ave. in the 60s. by the mid 70s it was a nat'l chain.

I think there are only 1 or 2 Howard Johnson restaurants left. Ho Jo is another memory of my youth, we stopped every summer on our way to Pennsylvania for fried clams, hot dogs/baked beans, ice cream.

I was also going to vote Houston's. Ain't on the list though.

same here. we'd stop while driving to canada or new york. there was a dig dug arcade game in the foyer of the one we went to most often.

xpost

I used to have this book as a kid on "inventions" that was half just business ideas, pitched at kids as interesting ideas that worked out. so you get the invention of silly putty along with... Howard Johnson.

Apparently they were the first, or among the first, to have the idea of having the same look, menu, and training throughout a whole chain. So now you know who to blame.

http://www.highwayhost.org/NewJersey/Restaurants/Sayreville/sayreville1.jpg

http://www.faqs.org/nutrition/images/nwaz_02_img0138.jpg

i used to love hojo's as a kid

these family restaurant chains still hold sentimental value for me, mostly probly because i havent had to eat in one for like at least 15 years

what was Ground Round's brand vis-a-vis Hojo's?

i dunno, i remember being really obsessed with the ground round tho!

i loved the ice cream sundaes served in a little plastic baseball helmet.

I really miss O'Charleys spinach con queso
used to go mad on that stuff back in the day

college memories

yes! xxp

1915 Cumberland Ave
Knoxville, TN 37916

Texas Roadhouse - sucks balls to work there, but the beef quality to price ratio is great

Quality/price ratio sucks on a lot of these, so that's saying a lot. There's one Texas Roadhouse in this region and the wait is ridiculous

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

California Pizza Kitchen was my runner-up here. Scoff if you will, but CPK came to my hometown mall when I was in high school and brought barbecued chicken pizza into my life. It's never left.

But I voted for Hackney's -- is it really much of a chain? -- on the strength of their really strange and awesome perfect cube of fried onion strings.

I might have gone with Famous Dave's if I'd seen it -- I think Dave is one of the most successful Native American businessmen outside the gaming industry, and they bring decent barbecue to towns not known for it.

Should be on the list but isn't: ORIGINAL PANCAKE HOUSE

The Old Spaghetti Factory is the only place where you can eat spumoni and sit in a caboose trailer inside of a restaurant and feel special because you are higher up then the boring people who choose to seat in "tables" and "boths"... yeah! Well, I like my fake traincar and I like it just fine! So maybe the old factory's not makin' the best tasting spaghetti these days, who cares?! Not me! I'm sitting in a fucking train playing with crayons and solving the puzzle on my placemat.

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

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

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

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

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

also -

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

Wait, seriously? Please tell more about this.

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

(^^^Ban Self)

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

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

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

Does American Cafe really still exist?

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

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

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

we ate at denny's on our wedding night

^^^

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

ring the bell for Famous Dave's

Does American Cafe really still exist?

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

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

cheesecake factory is some nasty, awful shit

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

Dark horse Famous Dave's!

abstentions win in a landlside!

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

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

if you have to ask...

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

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

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

just noticed that Fuddruckers is missing. They still around?

Swiss Chalet blows all these out of the water.