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Blah, blah, blah ... Your friends and neighbors work at chain restaurants, too; not to mention that chain restaurants are not the only restaurants who close up without notice or treat their workers poorly. Get a clue.
Actually, none of my friends work at chain restaurants. All of My friends have professional careers, they don't wait tables...not that there's anything wrong with waiting tables, I just don't have any friends who don't have good careers which require a degree. My only friends without college degrees are professional athletes.
I didn't say all chains are bad, just that general style like Olive Garden, Red Lobster, Applebees, TGI Fridays, Subway, PF Changs, Outback Steakhouse, Cheesecake Factory...oh wait, they are all terrible unless they're at the high end like Benihana or Ruth's Chris.
I can get a better sandwich ANYWHERE compared to Subway.
I can get a much better chicken dinner at a local restaurant instead of the overpriced one I had at Outback last weekend.
Chain restaurants use cheap ingredients, put NO effort into the food, the servers come and go on a almost daily basis, they don't care about individual customers, they charge exorbinant prices, etc.
I do support some chains, but they're usually ones which carve out a niche, like Benihana, Cosi (a $10 healthy lunch kind of place) or Ruth's Chris. For the most part, I can eat better food, with better service, with less of a wait and I can support a local family if I choose a mom & pop place over a national chain.
And just because you have a PERSONAL problem with me (because of your antiquated views on many issues) doesn't mean that you need to give such a snarky...as usual...response. What's with your attitude? Do you own a restaurant chain?
I didn't say all chains are bad, just that general style like Olive Garden, Red Lobster, Applebees, TGI Fridays, Subway, PF Changs, Outback Steakhouse, Cheesecake Factory...oh wait, they are all terrible unless they're at the high end like Benihana or Ruth's Chris.
Well, these aren't disappearing.
Olive Garden tastes the same ... from dish to dish.
Cheesecake Factory ... come on ... I've eaten at the one in BH (LA) and the one in Mission Valley (SD) and they were great.
I thought a bunch of those were closed already, like Bennigans and Ground Round. I hope they don't close all the Big Boys, because they just remodeled the Frisch's near my parents' house and where else would I get a patty melt and a vanilla coke when I go home?
I thought they were closed also. I remember when Ground Round closed in Massachusetts. It has to be about 8 years ago. They abruptly closed in one afternoon. They closed locations while people were eating their lunch. In fact the one just up the street from Gillette stadium in Foxboro. That Ground Round told people they had to leave now, and they offered to bag up the remainder of their meal for them. Strangest thing I ever heard of. I guess that's how fast closures are done, and the employees don't even know until the very end. Very sad.
Actually, none of my friends work at chain restaurants. All of My friends have professional careers, they don't wait tables...not that there's anything wrong with waiting tables, I just don't have any friends who don't have good careers which require a degree. My only friends without college degrees are professional athletes.
I didn't say all chains are bad, just that general style like Olive Garden, Red Lobster, Applebees, TGI Fridays, Subway, PF Changs, Outback Steakhouse, Cheesecake Factory...oh wait, they are all terrible unless they're at the high end like Benihana or Ruth's Chris.
I can get a better sandwich ANYWHERE compared to Subway.
I can get a much better chicken dinner at a local restaurant instead of the overpriced one I had at Outback last weekend.
Chain restaurants use cheap ingredients, put NO effort into the food, the servers come and go on a almost daily basis, they don't care about individual customers, they charge exorbinant prices, etc.
I do support some chains, but they're usually ones which carve out a niche, like Benihana, Cosi (a $10 healthy lunch kind of place) or Ruth's Chris. For the most part, I can eat better food, with better service, with less of a wait and I can support a local family if I choose a mom & pop place over a national chain.
And just because you have a PERSONAL problem with me (because of your antiquated views on many issues) doesn't mean that you need to give such a snarky...as usual...response. What's with your attitude? Do you own a restaurant chain?
Honest to Christ, can we please just start a "my palette is too sophisticated for the proletarian chains all the rubes eat at" thread in Food and Drink forum so that everyone who wants to post this same predictable, droning crap in every chain-related thread can post it there instead?
Well, these aren't disappearing.
Olive Garden tastes the same ... from dish to dish.
Cheesecake Factory ... come on ... I've eaten at the one in BH (LA) and the one in Mission Valley (SD) and they were great.
Olive Garden is horrible. The only thing that's "good" about it is the portion size. But it's all stuff that you can get in any town in America at any local Italian joint for cheaper prices with significantly better service.
And Cheesecake Factory is HORRIBLE. The worst service I've had in years, no reservations but crazy long wait times, it has a giant menu but there's no care put into the dishes whatsoever. And I personally don't like cheesecake, so that whole part of that restaurant becomes irrelevant to me...but even so, you can get superior cheesecake nearly anywhere.
And CF is not cheap by any means.
Look at some of these prices and tell me you can't get the same dish at a local restaurant (or even other chains) for significantly cheaper:
Appetizers:
Lettuce Wraps - $12.95
Spinach Dip - $10.95
Quesadilla without Chicken...you know, a tortilla with cheese that you can get at any Mexican place for $4 - $9.95
Meals:
Plain Hamburger - $9.95
Teriyaki Chicken - $16.95
Spaghetti with Tomato Sauce - $11.95
Pasta with Chicken - $16.95
Grilled Salmon - $18.95
Steak - $19.95
Other items:
Side of Asparagus - $6.95
Club Sandwich - $12.95
Any dessert - $7.50+
Milkshake - $6.95
Soda or Coffee - $2.95!!!
Those are the prices of a higher-end restaurant but it's merely a middle class quality one. You can get everything on that menu for 25% less (or even cheaper) at nearly any other restaurant...and generally one where the cook wasn't serving food at San Quentin last week.
If I am given a pager while I'm waiting for my table, I know the restaurant is going to suck.
Maybe the reason why so many big chains are fading is because many people feel the same way I do. Many chains start off great, but as they expand they tend to lose their original flair for the job and become corporatized. I used to really like Claim Jumpers and PF Changs, but they both went way downhill. Claim Jumpers changed the menu, increased prices and decreased portion sizes. PF Changs decreased portion sizes, increased prices and went from a place with exceptional service to essentially the worst service of any chain in the business. Mom & Pop places can go downhill or be downright terrible too, but you'll notice that the best restaurants in real cities (not small town America which usually only has chains and a couple local pizzerias) are NEVER chains. Look at Yelp reviews and you can find much better meals at much cheaper prices. You can even search for a specific dish you like at a chain and find a better version of it somewhere else in your city.
If we could only get rid of all these chains.....and return to originality...what a dream!
The good part about the chains is if you find one you like or a certain dish you like and you are away from home you can get exactly what you are used to if the have a location in that area.
If we could only get rid of all these chains.....and return to originality...what a dream!
Chains exist for a reason: people like them. If people didn't like them, they'd go out of business.
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Your friends and neighbors work at chain restaurants, too; not to mention that chain restaurants are not the only restaurants who close up without notice or treat their workers poorly. Get a clue.
