they are just like regular restautrants....some suck and some are good....my faves are anything from carrabbas and bonefish grill....in fact i can do dinner at carrabbas on just the bread, the mussels and the fired calamari....bonefish grill has freaking fantastic food...i had some kind of fish there that was thick and sweet and topped with crab and spinach and a white wine butter sauce that is up there with the best fish dish ive ever had at places like vallannis in philly or even le bernadin. and if its realy late and i just want something greasy to eat i love applebees little bacon cheeseburgers and the dynamite shrimp....im not crazy about the rest of their app menu but those two hit the spot.....red lobster is pretty bad although one time i did get a nice lobster basil pizza but it was never replicated again no matter hom many times i ordered it....sometimes, especially on sundays and mondays, those chains are the only places open ....its a shame for the good indepnedent restaurants that the chains get so much of the business and a lot of it they dont deserve....which is why they dont open on sundays and mondays....and i will never understand people who wait 90 minutes to eat at olive garden....i did that once to make my picky visiting nephew happy but i told him later id get him an elios pizza at the grocery store before i ever ate there again.

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In my neck of the woods we have some very good independent eating spots. But none of the Italian eateries can match Carrabbas. I used to like Applebees but the last few years the quality of food and service has taken a big nose-dive. Max & Erma's is a regional chain that used to be top notch but I'd rather grab a burger at MacDonalds these days then go there.

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PF Changs...I love everything about it. The atmosphere, the decor, THE FOOD! I'm going to be the first to tout the lettuce wraps. I get the vegetarian ones, with tofu and this really yummy soy-based sauce. They are delicious! They are also incredibly veg-friendly, which is hard to find in restaurants like Applebees and Outback. They'll also make a dish as spicy as you'd like. And they don't give you salt or pepper, you use oils, vinegars and pepper sauces to alter flavors.

I also love Panera (I know it's a lunch place) but their soups are always flavorful and warming.

Ruby Tuesday is the go-to for a salad bar.

And my guilty pleasure is...Friendly's! I love their ice cream and veg fajita quesadillas. Deliciously greasy, inexpensive and perfect for a hangover, since there are no diners for about 200 miles. (I miss you, New Jersey!)

I go to college in the middle of nowhere PA, so I'm limited to every chain restaurant you can think of. But I've actually found that I prefer chains to some of the sketchy local places I'd be afriad to walk into..

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I'm so glad I just moved back to NJ, I definitely can't live without diners. That said, for the past four years I lived in Boston, so I didn't really eat at many chains.

Some are okay, you just need to know what to get. These are not the types of restaurants where I would experiment with new foods.

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I'm wary of chain restaurants as a general rule, as they tend of have variations of the same kind of food.

However, I really love texas roadhouse; their steaks are amazing, especially for a chain restaurant. But it does make me feel like a bad foodie whenever I eat at a chain.

It should be noted that in my neck of the woods (Southern RI) good restaurants are few and far between, or out of my price range. I think this is unfortunate as there's a market here for good restaurants, Providence can't and shouldn't have all the fun.

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It's been a long time since I've eaten at one and I never could have
claimed to have broad knowledge of the menus, but my general sense is
that it's greasy food served up with as much kitch as possible.

I don't need the mob scene. I don't need the predictable decor. I
don't need the white bread, college aged staff. Whether it's a family-owned restaurant or a local dive I prefer real.

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I can't bear most of these places. They don't need my money, so I don't visit them. But I have to say, Outback's steaks and baby back ribs are awesome.

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I've eaten at Olive Garden twice and for the life of me, do not understand the fuss. It was completely and utterly boring both times, and I've never had the slightest urge to return. Ditto Applebee's.

That doesn't mask a high brow palate, however. I confess to loving a few chain restaurant entrees, including:

Cheesecake Factory Chicken Madeira -- MMMMmmm.
Tahoe Joe's grilled steak and baked potato.
BJ's Brewhouse thin, thin, thin appetizer pizza, or, a plate of their burger sliders with crispy onion strings. Finally, the crispy crumb coated and fried zucchini chips with cold cucumber dipping sauce at Black Angus -- oh yes. I want my own plate of these beauties. If you want some, get your OWN order.

Anyone of those dishes will sit just fine with me.

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I live in a Dry County so a lot of the larger chains have turn their noses up at our area for years. So what most avoid, like Red Lobster, Outback, Chilis, Applebees, etc, we were happy to get when traveling as it was a change of pace. The alcohol restriction drastically reduces the number of "casual dining" or even fine dining restaurants willing to consider opening in our area.
That said, in the last few years Outback, Chilis, El Chico and O'Charleys finally came to our area. Since then my interest in the larger chain restaurants has faded. People wait an HOUR here for Outback on a Friday night. No thanks. I've had good food at Outback, but it's terribly inconsistent. One time the potato soup was good, the next time it tasted like leftover dishwater.

Something we are desperately in need of is the Diners you find in the Northeast. Seems southern towns just aren't the hotbed for diners, though you'd think with the diner's propensity for fried food mixed with a southern tendency to deep fry anything and everything they would be everywhere. Go figure.

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I think there are some great chain restaurants and some awful chain restaurants. Some of the great ones include Panera, which I eat at at least once a week, Max & Erma's, and Bonefish Grill, which I would never have thought of as a bland suburban chain, with the only NE Ohio location in a business park and the food and the decor on the upscale. Some of the awful disgusting ones include Chili's, which I found inedible, Applebee's, miserably bland, and this one chain I had to eat at while visiting family in West Virginia, Logan's Roadhouse. I don't think chains are as awful as everyone says (and I'm a foodie), but there are definitely some miserable ones out there.

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Carrabba's is a decent chain restaurant. I visit there about once a month, or at most, maybe every other month. Always a good meal and very good, attentive service. Great wood fired pizza, their grilled veal chop is simply delicious and I taught the bartenders how to make a proper Negroni. :)

Bone Fish Grill just recently opened nearby and although we have been only once, the food was very good and I must say the the service was excellent. The wait staff understood the menu and the timing of the courses was just about perfect. They really paid attention to us. Hopefully this excellent service was not a "fluke" (pun intended!) and we will go back.

And speaking of service, I think that it's a HUGE contributing factor to anytime I dine out. I can honestly make nearly any meal (or reverse engineer it to get a close facsimile) that I get at any decent chain restaurant... and for a lot less, but I go out to relax and not have to think about prepping, cooking and timing my plates. So the service better be spot on otherwise what's the point of going out?

As far as the chains reviewed in the article and having been to them all at one time or another, the only ones that I would return to are PF Changs (yes, the lettuce wraps alone!), Cheesecake Factory and Outback. Although Outback is a real hit or miss depending on the one you go to. And IMO, the regular steaks are shoe leather and the prime rib bland (can't they rub a few herbs & spices on it before roasting?), but I always end up with the NY Strip which is consistently good. They also recently dropped the seared Ahi Tuna which is a bummer as it was nice appetizer.

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So I think there's an important difference between national chains (Chillis, Aplebee's) and local chains. We actually have a damn good selection of local chains here in the Boston area that provide great, reliable, high quality food. Places like Legal Seafood, Bertucci's, Not Your Average Joe's, Toscanini, Z Square, Pressed, I can keep going, they all have pretty darn good, good quality food

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Paul Fleming's (PF) Changs is not even chinese food-its some weird suburban version of what chinese food would be like if it were made by an Applebee's cook. Just awful.

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Ruby Tuesday has milkshakes with kahlua and Bailey's. Alcoholic milkshakes...need I say more??

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Many chains like Chilis, Fridays, etc. seem to rely on the "women out for a drink" or "guys boozing it up" crowd for their income, and the food and service suffer.

Olive Garden: stick with the salad & breadsticks, and you're fine.

PF Changs has some very mediocre food, but the lettuce wraps are top-notch; I'd happily go there just for those any day.

Now how about some reviews of chains like Waffle House, Cracker Barrel, and Friendly's?

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I grew up in the NE and moved to SoCal. My husband and I remember Friendly's very fondly -- especially for their corn chowder.

Cracker Barrels are an abomination and I don't think they could exist at all if Americans didn't have such horrible palates and Interstate 10 had any alternatives.

Never been to a Waffle House.

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The Outback's tuna appetizer is VERY good. The tuna is like silk and the dipping sauce is excellent!

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I don't understand why people need to feel superior to "suburban chain" restaurants, the food is good, portion sizes are huge so you have lunch for the next day. the atmosphere is usually great for having big groups and you don't have to pay a fortune for a plate of two leaves of lettuce and a tsp of dressing thats called a Caesar Salad. These chain restaurants lack pretentiousness, which is actually quite refreshing and nice.

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It's fashionable to look down on places like Olive Garden, but I think they do what they do pretty well. The prices are reasonable, the sauces can be good, and I have leftovers the next day. And these restaurants have to be considered individually, not as a category. I've eaten at PF Chang's and wasn't impressed at all--I liked the lettuce wraps, but my noodle dish was overpriced and unexceptional. My sister's "lemongrass shrimp" tasted like they'd been dipped in furniture polish, would NOT come out of their shells, and 6 shrimp for $18? On the other hand, I've had halibut at Outback that was just fantastic.

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I really like TK Tripps. They have a calamari appetizer that is wonderful. It's fried calamari that is served as a salad with black olives, peppers, hot pepper flakes, and other things. The sauce is alight vinegarette.

I also like Olive Garden for lunch. The all you can eat salad and soup is great. The spicy sausage soup and enough breadsticks to dip in and sometimes I'll get the mussels and what a feast!

For me personally, resturants like these are great for the quick lunches with friends and also to teach children good ettiquette and social skills. My little one looks at our lunches out as treats. I'll let her pick the place and because we are in a "fancy" setting (to her), she is more willing to experiment and not always get the boring chicken fingers, or hamburger. Now at age 6, she sits nicely, knows how to use a napkin and can keep up with and engage in conversation with other adults. She loves to try new foods and gets insulted if I suggest getting something from the children's menu.

After all, being able to run to Olive Garden or wherever once in a while for a mom's night out dinner is heaven! No cooking, no cleaning, no thinking and I can enjoy my family.

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