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.

[Richard N Elliott]

Actually I have two:

If I want meat I go to Longhorn's;

If I don't want a steak I go to Taco Mac's;

If I don't know what I want I go to Taco Mac's because of their selection of Porters, Stouts, etc! :p

[Shawn Pixley]

I don't and won't eat in national chains if it could be possibly avoided. Their are couple of local restaurants that have multiple outlets. The last time I went to one of these (place specializing in fish tacos), the food was unfortunately very disappointing. We let the manager know. We will give it one more trybut if it doesn't improve we will move on. For a local chain, the least offensive is California Pizza Kitchen.

[Larry Browning]

I used to travel quite a bit with co-workers. There were usually 2 strategies when it came to deciding where to eat. One was to always eat a chains that were familiar (Red Lobster, Olive Garden, etc) The other was to find a local (or at least unknown to us) restaurant that had a lot of cars in the parking lot. The first group said they liked the idea of always knowing what they were getting, while the 2nd group like the idea of trying something unknown, with the possibility of having the best meal ever.(There was always the possibility of having the worst meal ever too!) I always went with the 2nd group and have never even once regretted it. On the rare occasion when the food was terrible, I always went away thinking I would never eat there again, but also glad that I had tried it. I discovered that I REALLY don't like Indian food this way! Where's the fun in life if you never take a chance?

[Mark Bolton]

Where's the fun in life if you never take a chance?

Awesome reply, right on..

[Matt Meiser]

There's a lot less risk to getting a bad meal eating local with sites like Tripadvisor now.

We've eaten at the original Buca in Minneapolis and one in metro Detroit. The latter is modeled after the original.

[Ole Anderson]

To answer the OP's original question:

National franchise burger joints: Five Guys
Sit down restaurants: Red Lobster for seafood, Logan's Roadhouse for affordable steak. My wife prefers Olive Garden, oh and Applebee's.

But to go out for dinner on a whim, locally no big franchise restaurants within 30 minutes other than Applebee's, so we hit our favorite local rib joints.

[Tom Stenzel]

When I would go on bike tours with my friends, when we went into an unknown town we would stop at the fire station. The firemen always knew the best restaurants.

When out with the family i usually try and aim at a Culvers.

If it was my choice I'll head to Al Shallal in Dearborn Heights. I love the food but I doubt if anyone would love me after I eat all that garlic!

Guys, you're all making me hungry. Two votes for Popeyes red beans and rice-I've never had it. Looks like I'll have to go on a road trip...

After I wipe the drool off the keyboard.

-Tom

[Bob Turkovich]

Which is your favorite restaunt chain and what would you order



regards Brian

Brian,

Not all chains are national. (Chick-fil-A comes to mind.) Are you only looking for those in the New England area only for your trip later this month? (For those who don't realize it, Brian is from the UK and visiting the New England area with his family later this month. Since this is the second consecutive year spending his hard earned money vacationing in the US, we need to give him good advice :D.) Based on my limited experience in New England, I had good success at the smaller, local establishments (ooh, lobster rolls!).


When I would go on bike tours with my friends, when we went into an unknown town we would stop at the fire station. The firemen always knew the best restaurants.

When out with the family i usually try and aim at a Culvers.

If it was my choice I'll head to Al Shallal in Dearborn Heights. I love the food but I doubt if anyone would love me after I eat all that garlic!

Guys, you're all making me hungry. Two votes for Popeyes red beans and rice-I've never had it. Looks like I'll have to go on a road trip...

After I wipe the drool off the keyboard.

-Tom

Don't have to go far, Tom. Haven't eaten at Popeye's either, but there is one on Telegraph just north of 12 Mile Rd...

[Larry Browning]

Let me just say this. If Brian is looking for good seafood in New England, Red Lobster ain't it! New England has some of the best seafood restaurants in the world! It would be a crying shame to go to Red Lobster instead of one of the local restaurants from Maine to New York.

[Matt Meiser]

Best places we found for lobster in Maine are the roadside shacks!

[Pat Barry]

I like White Castle. Buy em by the sack. I still can't believe they don't make turkey burgers any more. A few of those and a sack of onion chips it didn't get any better than that. Now I have to settle for burgers and cheeseburgers. They are good too.

[Mark Bolton]

(For those who don't realize it, Brian is from the UK and visiting the New England area with his family later this month. Since this is the second consecutive year spending his hard earned money vacationing in the US, we need to give him good advice :D.)

Well, born and raised about 40 miles from Boston, and living a lot of my life on the coast from RI to ME along the coast I would agree that chains are the worst decision to be made in that regard though they are still there for sure.

I understand Brian/OP may have made a general statement with regards to "chains" or perhaps the last go they ate at small local joints and now wants to try the "American fare" that has the bulk of the country in its current state of health, but while there is still some risk, there seems to always been some pretty impressive food at any scale that is not tied to some major corporate bottom line. If I were looking for cheap that may be where Id head, but if I were looking for juicy food Id post a loose itinerary and you may get some very specific recommendations.

[Larry Browning]

We've eaten at the original Buca in Minneapolis and one in metro Detroit. The latter is modeled after the original.
Every Buca I have been to has been decorated the same way. They have lots of small rooms scattered about the building with a couple of tables in each one, and just about every inch of the walls is covered with interesting black and white photos of what I would assume are Italians eating and doing all sorts of things. I also think there is a dining booth in the kitchen so the diners can watch the food being prepared. I have never eaten at that table because they said it has to be reserved several weeks in advance.

[Matt Meiser]

Yep. We reserved that one for my daughter's birthday and took her and a couple friends. It was a lot of fun.

[Shawn Pachlhofer]

+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.

Landry's no longer owns Joe's Crabshack. I don't care for Landry's one iota. I avoid every one of their dumps at every opportunity.

Sysco is a supplier. Just like Woodcraft. Send every person from the Creek into Woodcraft for project supplies and then ask to see the results. Chances are you'll see a wide variety of finished projects that don't look anything like the raw materials they were created from.

[Wade Lippman]

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.


I sort of agree with you. I haven't eaten in a chain restaurant in years except with my in-laws who seem to love them; but my reason is entirely because they just aren't as good as local restaurants. If they were, I would be glad to eat there.

[Ole Anderson]

Best places we found for lobster in Maine are the roadside shacks!

Indeed. I recall them being referred to as lobster pounds. You tell them what size lobster, they cook it in front of you, you get an ear of corn and other goodies and take it to the picnic table. Yum!

[Matt Meiser]

Yep! Also excellent are Lobster Rolls which are basically lobster meat on a hot dog bun often sold from food trucks.

I gotta get back to Maine..

[David Helm]

Definitely in the avoiding chains camp. Eating locally not only gets one better food, but also helps improve the local economy. Eating in chains sends the money to wherever the chain headquarters is. Eating locally circulates the money locally.

[Kevin Bourque]

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.

+1

We've gone several times and its always been more food than we can eat. The service is great and the food actually tastes like homemade, not restaurant fare.

[ray hampton]

my wife and I use to go to Po Folks restaurant but they close it , the internet only show Po Folks in the state of Florida now

[Kev Williams]

I have a special attraction to Denny's-- it's was my first 'real' job, summer of '71 between junior and senior year of high school. Put in 2+ years... Haven't ate there in awhile actually. Wonder if they still have the Superbird, my favorite restaurant sandwich--

One of my kids managed a Johnny Carino's, pretty good food (especially anything free ;) ) but they went downhill after '08.

Aside from those, and I don't know how "chained" they are: Sizzler, Golden Corral, and Little Caesars Pizza. 'Caesars gets more of my eating-out money than anyone!

[Dave Anderson NH]

Brian, If you and your family like seafood and are going to be in Eastern New England try these places. You can look them up on the web.
Legal Seafood- multiple locations in the Boston area and voted best seafood restaurant in America multiple times
Jimmy's Harborside Boston
Newick's Seafood Dover, NH and Concord, NH great seafood served on indoor picnic tables with plastic tablecloths. Excellent food

[Michael Weber]

We don't eat out often but when we do locally it's generally Western Sizzling. But, if we're traveling and I can find a Red Robin then that's where I'll go. Really enjoy some of the gourmet burgers.

[Larry Browning]

We don't eat out often but when we do locally it's generally Western Sizzling. But, if we're traveling and I can find a Red Robin then that's where I'll go. Really enjoy some of the gourmet burgers.
Michael,
Have you tried Five Guys yet? They opened a new store over on Rogers Ave a few months back. Their burgers are fabulous! (Albeit really bad for you!) Warning, only get one order of fries between 2 or even three people, they come in a really large portion.

[Shawn Pachlhofer]

Five Guys. yuck.

the best thing about them is the fries and peanuts. Burgers are only so-so

[Brett Luna]

I'm not staunchly anti-chain but I do strongly prefer local eateries. One chain The Wife® and I do go to on a fairly regular basis is IHOP, when we want a place that's convenient to our shopping errands. Otherwise, we have at least 2 or 3 superior, local choices for breakfast. My wife loves Taco Bell, so I do give in on that every once in a while because, apparently, it's not all about me. She like McDonald's, too but I just about won't eat there even at gunpoint...okay, not quite but it's still damn rare. We've eaten at the new Olive Garden once. It was okay but we have no burning desire to go back. We just had a Texas Roadhouse open up here and I'm interested in trying it.

[Brian Elfert]

Five Guys is not that great in my opinion. They charge a lot for fast food. My co-worker really loves their food.

The best chain to me is Olive Garden.

[Mike Henderson]

I guess I don't have a favorite chain restaurant but I do have a few I abhor. One is Buca di Beppo which gives copious amounts of terrible food which they call Italian. I think they try to make up for the poor quality by quantity. Another chain that falls into the "lots of tasteless food" category is Claim Jumper. They tried to make a business out of quantity instead of quality. I'm not a big fan of Olive Garden, either. Very mediocre food - little imagination - but they give free refills on their soup to make up for it. Almost any chain Mexican style restaurant in this area is poor. We have lots of authentic Latino restaurants, run by people from the "home country." Also some good Asian, especially Vietnamese, restaurants.

I have a few local restaurants that I like in this area, but they are not chains. One is Lucca's Cafe and another is Citrus City Grill, both in Orange, CA. Since we're retired, we eat out a lot and are always on the look out for a good restaurant. It's difficult to create good food - the successful chefs work hard to create a successful menu.

Of the chains, I suppose California Pizza Kitchen would be the one I'd name as serving decent food, but we don't eat there very much. The Margherita pizza is my favorite.

Mike

[Dave Lehnert]

I would have to say Skyline chili. It's a Cincinnati thing.
http://www.skylinechili.com/

Another Cincinnati favorite we eat at a lot is Frischs Big Boy. Just like to sit and be severed and not cost a lot.
http://www.frischs.com/

One restaurant I have never tried yet but have a friend who just loves the place is Cheddars.
Guess they don't advertise, just go on word of mouth advertising.
http://www.cheddars.com/

[Justin Ludwig]

Michael,
Have you tried Five Guys yet? They opened a new store over on Rogers Ave a few months back. Their burgers are fabulous! (Albeit really bad for you!) Warning, only get one order of fries between 2 or even three people, they come in a really large portion.

5 Guys!!! I try to eat there every time the wife and I come up to Ft Smith. Is usually a toss up between them and Braum's. Braum's would have to be my favorite chain hands down. They produce all their own food and are one of the greatest examples of vertical integration. Unless you live with in 300 miles of Tuttle, OK, they won't open a store in your town. It's an ice cream and dairy store that milks their own cows and has fantabulous burgers!

[Curt Harms]

I would have to say Skyline chili. It's a Cincinnati thing.
http://www.skylinechili.com/

Another Cincinnati favorite we eat at a lot is Frischs Big Boy. Just like to sit and be severed and not cost a lot.
http://www.frischs.com/

One restaurant I have never tried yet but have a friend who just loves the place is Cheddars.
Guess they don't advertise, just go on word of mouth advertising.
http://www.cheddars.com/

Your post reminded me of another option. There's a regional chain called steak 'n shake. They serve Cincinnati style chili in addition to burgers etc. Their chili is not IMO as good as Skyline but they're in a lot more places.

[Larry Browning]

5 Guys!!! I try to eat there every time the wife and I come up to Ft Smith. Is usually a toss up between them and Braum's. Braum's would have to be my favorite chain hands down. They produce all their own food and are one of the greatest examples of vertical integration. Unless you live with in 300 miles of Tuttle, OK, they won't open a store in your town. It's an ice cream and dairy store that milks their own cows and has fantabulous burgers!
Sorry, but in my opinion Braum's is not in the same class as Five Guy's. Braum's competes with Wendy's and McDonald's for hamburgers, even though they are much better than most of their competition, they don't even come close to Five Guy's. Don't get me wrong, I do like Braum's hamburgers, I will eat there, while I won't eat at most any other fast food place, like McDonald's or Burger King, etc. Braum's does Ice Cream really well, but hamburgers? Not so much.

BTW Justin, where is Hatfield, AR?

[Bill Huber]

The problem I have with all the chains is the noise level.

You have to yell to talk to someone across the table from you.

Now if I am going out for a fast food hamburger I will hit Whataburger or 5 Guys.

[Justin Ludwig]

Sorry, but in my opinion Braum's is not in the same class as Five Guy's. Braum's competes with Wendy's and McDonald's for hamburgers, even though they are much better than most of their competition, they don't even come close to Five Guy's. Don't get me wrong, I do like Braum's hamburgers, I will eat there, while I won't eat at most any other fast food place, like McDonald's or Burger King, etc. Braum's does Ice Cream really well, but hamburgers? Not so much.

BTW Justin, where is Hatfield, AR?

Maybe you got a bad burger at Braum's. I agree 5 Guys is much better, but Braum's burgers sure beat the fire outta any other fast food chain I've tried.

Hatfield is 15 miles south of Mena. It's a "no stop light" po-dunk town who's only claim to fame is Hatfield Lumber (pine 2x material). We're about 90 miles due south on Hwy 71.

[Larry Browning]

Maybe you got a bad burger at Braum's. I agree 5 Guys is much better, but Braum's burgers sure beat the fire outta any other fast food chain I've tried.

Hatfield is 15 miles south of Mena. It's a "no stop light" po-dunk town who's only claim to fame is Hatfield Lumber (pine 2x material). We're about 90 miles due south on Hwy 71.

We have a Braum's in Alma which is only about a 10 minute drive from my house. Just about every Sunday evening we go get an ice cream treat there and ever now and again we get a cheeseburger and fries when cooking at home is not practical or we just get lazy. But to me, it is just not all that good, The basic ones I do on the grill are way better, and Five Guy's is way better than what I can do.

But anyway, if you happen to be up this way sometime, give me a shout before you come and we can get together to talk some woodworking, or I can give you a tour of my shop.

[ray hampton]

skyline may be in cincy BUT it not cincinnate , cincy is Goldstar Chile

[Justin Ludwig]

But anyway, if you happen to be up this way sometime, give me a shout before you come and we can get together to talk some woodworking, or I can give you a tour of my shop.

Sounds good, Larry. I come up from time to time for some disc golf at Ben Geren Park. I hear Alma has a decent course so that sounds like a good excuse for me to try it out.

[Brian Deakin]

A huge thank you to everyone for your help ,advice and suggestions

I totally agree with the principle of eating at independant restaurants when ever possible

On this holiday we have eaten at

Side street cafe Bar harbor excellent
Ruby tuesday very good
The lobster Dock Booth bay harbor very good
Guinness and Porcelli's (http://www.tripadvisor.com/Restaurant_Review-g60709-d621365-Reviews-Guinness_and_Porcelli_s-Bar_Harbor_Maine.html) Bar harbor poor
Jordon pond Acadia national park acceptable but eexpensive only 2 scallops in my clam chowder $16
Brodies pub near Peabody disapointing


On previous vistis to the USA we have enjoyed food at Olive grove ,5 guys, In and out burger, Shake and Shake and TJ friday , 22 years ago we went to Legal seafoods in Boston and had a superb meal

The reason for the question about chains was two fold one time constaints of finding food on route and two teenage children who can be impossible to please

regards and thanks Brian

Ps We have visted the USA 8 times on holiday starting 24 years ago with our honeymoon and have brought the 2 children to the US. on 5 occasions

[Tim Morton]

A huge thank you to everyone for your help ,advice and suggestions

I totally agree with the principle of eating at independant restaurants when ever possible

On this holiday we have eaten at

Side street cafe Bar harbor excellent
Ruby tuesday very good
The lobster Dock Booth bay harbor very good
Guinness and Porcelli's (http://www.tripadvisor.com/Restaurant_Review-g60709-d621365-Reviews-Guinness_and_Porcelli_s-Bar_Harbor_Maine.html) Bar harbor poor
Jordon pond Acadia national park acceptable but eexpensive only 2 scallops in my clam chowder $16
Brodies pub near Peabody disapointing


On previous vistis to the USA we have enjoyed food at Olive grove ,5 guys, In and out burger, Shake and Shake and TJ friday , 22 years ago we went to Legal seafoods in Boston and had a superb meal

The reason for the question about chains was two fold one time constaints of finding food on route and two teenage children who can be impossible to please

regards and thanks Brian

Ps We have visted the USA 8 times on holiday starting 24 years ago with our honeymoon and have brought the 2 children to the US. on 5 occasions
if you are still up here in New England and make it over to Vermont, let me know where and i can recommend some good places to eat. Ditto for the coast of Maine.

[Brian Deakin]

We are currently in Cape cod and will be heading to Boston Sadly will will not be visiting Vermont

regards Brian

[Zach Dillinger]

My wife and I try to not eat at chains when we travel. We just like to try different things. But, sometimes, nothing beats a country fried steak, okra, green beans, and fresh biscuits from Cracker Barrel...

[Shawn Pixley]

I spoke imprecisely earlier. I don't patronize restaurant chains except Starbucks. Mostly I patronize them when I travel; especially internationally. When you are jetlagged, you can find most Starbucks will have at least someone who speaks english (I can converse in German, have a travelors command of french & castilian spanish and can get by a little in japanese) and the standard terminology is used for "Latte, cappiccino, etc..." It makes mornings easier...

Tangential comment: one of our favorite restaurants just changed hands. They were located next to a cineplex. They used to sell wonderful mexican food. When the cineplex moved the clientelle went as well. They sold the restaurant to someone else. The food went downhill. We are on the look for a new place. Should be easy around here.

[Josh Rudolph]

Fast food - Chick-Fil-A

Sit down - No favorite...We like to try the places featured on Diners Drive-ins and Dive's. Combining that with user reviews from Yelp, we are usually very pleased. It does take a little pre-planning, but with smart phones, it is pretty easy. My favorite so far has been the Glassed Onion in Charleston, SC. Any place that has a daily changing menu based upon meat and vegetable availability is always a leading choice for me.

[Brian Deakin]

I entirely agree with the sentiment of supporting the local eccomony and for the reasons set out in the artical below refuse to enter a Starbucks in the United Kingdom

http://www.bbc.com/news/business-19967397

regards Brian

[Bert Kemp]

Brian, If you and your family like seafood and are going to be in Eastern New England try these places. You can look them up on the web.
Legal Seafood- multiple locations in the Boston area and voted best seafood restaurant in America multiple times
Jimmy's Harborside Boston
Newick's Seafood Dover, NH and Concord, NH great seafood served on indoor picnic tables with plastic tablecloths. Excellent food
I'll add that if you travel northeast in New Hampshire to Maine via Rt-25 stop at the Bay Haven Lobster pound in Cornish Maine WICKED GOOD!!! seafood.

[Bert Kemp]

Let me just say this. If Brian is looking for good seafood in New England, Red Lobster ain't it! New England has some of the best seafood restaurants in the world! It would be a crying shame to go to Red Lobster instead of one of the local restaurants from Maine to New York.I second that we do have the best seafood, I see Newick's was mention and I said Bay haven Lobster Lb in Cornish Me., Johnsons Steak and Seafood is good also . Murphy's and Browns in Seabrook.
But really Just drive US RT 1 anywhere along the coast of Maine, New Hampshire, RI, CT and stop at just about any non chain place and your gonna get good seafood.In CT Jimmys, or Turks if you can't get into Jimmy's in West Haven. I've had seafood in just about every place you can imagine from NY to the tip of the Gaspe Peninsula and back really haven't found a bad place."DON"T GO TO RED LOBSTER lol when in New England. I'm in NH now anyone want to go out for seafood lets do it and if you have an MC even better we'll ride.

[Mike Null]

Our favorite restaurant here in St. Louis is Brio. It's Italian, based in Columbus, Ohio and always busy. it's attractive, well situated and has killer lasagna. They are also affiliated with Bravo restaurants. Their people are well trained, very courteous and professional. It's also clear that they have a good executive training program in place.

I am also partial to Cracker Barrel for my pancake fix. If I go to a fast food place it's usually Steak n Shake but they are a very sloppy operation. If you want seafood around here you're almost forced to Red Lobster. For pizza, we're fans of Cecil Whitakers and the St. Louis thin crust. My son's barbeque ribs beat any restaurant.

I can't think of a single locally owned restaurant here that I can say is outstanding. One exception to that is Sam's Steakhouse. Great steaks and drinks but pricy.

Maybe I'm not Italian enough to appreciate the "authentic" Italian restaurants on "the Hill" but I haven't found one that's calling me back.

[Michael Liechty]

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. The barbacoa is outstanding too

[David C. Roseman]

My wife and I try to not eat at chains when we travel. We just like to try different things. But, sometimes, nothing beats a country fried steak, okra, green beans, and fresh biscuits from Cracker Barrel...

Don't forget their warm apple dumpling topped with vanilla ice cream for dessert. :) Whatever one thinks of Cracker Barrel, there's nothing quite like it. Ask for two spoons, because it's too big for one person to finish and still walk to the car.

David

[Mike Henderson]

I saw this review of Olive Garden's "Never Ending Pasta" (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/what-olive-gardens-never-ending-pasta-pass-distracts-eaters-from-realizing-2014-09-09?dist=lcountdown) offering and thought about this thread. It's an interesting story.

Mike