Announcement

Collapse
No announcement yet.

Mediocre chain restaurants

Collapse
X
 
  • Filter
  • Time
  • Show
Clear All
new posts

    Mediocre chain restaurants

    Against my better judgement I went to Frankie & Benny's tonight. Mrs Thistle had a voucher to get pizzas for a fiver. They were okay. I had a waffle for dessert. It was passable.

    The normal menu prices are ridiculous though for what you get. And the soft drinks are gouging. I never just order water. Except... tonight I did.

    How do these places stay open?

    #2
    You can park your car without hassle? They always seem to be near multiplexes/retail parks in provincial Scotland.
    Last edited by Lang Spoon; 20-08-2019, 22:15.

    Comment


      #3
      Originally posted by Patrick Thistle View Post

      How do these places stay open?
      Because they give people what they know, in an unchallenging atmosphere, at a price they can afford.

      Comment


        #4
        Quite.

        That could serve as a mission statement for any of them and also explains how an Olive Garden can afford Times Square rents without attracting any local customers.

        Comment


          #5
          Olive Garden nails this thread. Vast quantities of mediocrity, with enough left for lunch tomorrow.

          In Canada - and Reed and I disagree on this - it's Boston Pizza. Never great, but never quite awful.

          Comment


            #6
            Tony Macaroni shitpile "Italian" restaurants also do similar in Scotland and NI (Though only in Belfast do they have a penthouse restaurant in a mall that purports to be High End, rather than their typical off motorway ramp locations in "proper Italian restaurant" (ersatz third generation) heavy Scotland).

            Comment


              #7
              Olive Garden's salads and breadsticks are trash, but tasty trash. The rest of the menu is awful.

              The familiarity and usually lack of time having to wait for a table are major selling points. Here on the westside of LA, there are very few big chain family-friendly restaurants. When we go down to visit my parents in the more suburban area, there's something relaxing about just being able to walk in, sit down, and not really worry if there's something on the menu that your kids will want to eat.

              Comment


                #8
                Yup. Our visits are 100% kid powered. My daughter thinks it's high living.

                Comment


                  #9
                  .
                  Last edited by WOM; 21-08-2019, 02:38. Reason: Double post.

                  Comment


                    #10
                    Sometimes when I'm in a town with nothing better, or when the schedule is just wrong, I'll eat at a chain restaurant.

                    Olive Garden is horrific but well documented.

                    Applebees is not far off as bad. They somehow manage to make things on their menu sound appealing, only for it to arrive at the table and have 4 times the amount of food you'd want to eat if it was good, and 8 times what you want to eat as it's terrible .

                    I've been to one Red Lobster, which was not exactly appalling but was amazingly overpriced for the quality.

                    Chilis is better, particularly their chips and salsa. Their average soups are particularly welcome if you cycle up to their front door in a snowstorm in southern Arizona.

                    I've had one meal at Outback and their appalling Fake Australian advertising matches the quality of the food. Their feature product seems to be a deep fried onion served looking like a flower. The amount of grease is overwhelming.

                    Basically almost all US Casual Dining restaurants are bad.

                    An exception is Denny's. Denny's is everywhere, it's open 24 hours. You have to pick wisely from the menu (don't eat their steaks!) but you get good value and edible food. And the further away from the coasts you go, the more exceptional the service is. Denny's might be the place you find the friendliest, nicest staff in the world.

                    I guess Waffle House is another exception - frankly, I love Waffle House, even if it's always full of the reddest of rednecks whether you're in Tucson or Tupelo.

                    Comment


                      #11
                      Originally posted by San Bernardhinault View Post
                      Denny's might be the place you find the friendliest, nicest staff in the world.
                      I'm sure I've relayed this incident before but... The first time I entered the US from Mexico was at Brownsville TX. It was about 4:00am. I was with a guy from Austin and my intention was to take a bus north later that morning. Meanwhile we were hungry and the only obvious place to eat was Denny's. We entered and stood in line behind the "Please wait to seated" sign. In front of us was a black couple. Well dressed, quiet, but a little agitated. Clearly they'd been standing there for some time, though the restaurant was almost empty. Finally the couple walked in at sat down at a table. This caused some irritation among the serving staff, and within a few minutes a police patrol car showed up. Several minutes later, or maybe not even that long, the couple were led outside and asked to assume the position beside the police car. We left. I went back across the border and got a bus to Tijuana. It was 1973 but I've never been in a Denny's since.

                      Comment


                        #12
                        I've always found Harry Ramsden's hugely disappointing. The chips have an odd texture and are bland beyond belief and the rest of their offerings aren't much better.

                        Comment


                          #13
                          Wahaca, I like. Sorry.

                          Comment


                            #14
                            Was in LA on a 5 day stopover to the UK in November 2017 and the food there was so terrible the whole family managed to lose weight!

                            Comment


                              #15
                              On a positive note always liked the Paella in La Tasca (UK) and Wagamama usually just about covers the bases though there's better available.

                              Comment


                                #16
                                As WOM said, a lot of the time it's the kids. Frankie and Benny's are always full of families and are usually strategically placed in a shopping centre or a cinema complex (or, in the case of The Galleria in Hatfield, both). You can therefore either bribe the kids into vaguely good behaviour with the promise of a satiscraptory eating experience, or do a movie and lunch/dinner.

                                I just wish the portions were realistically sized for kids at these types of place. The Kids Menu generally runs to three courses and the amount you get for the main course is enough for me, frankly.

                                Comment


                                  #17
                                  Frankie & Bennys is the worst of the bland, over-priced soulless chains in my opinion and I avoid at all costs.

                                  I did find find it very interesting in a marketing sense the other day when I was browsing Just Eat for a day after the night before fill and there were two new takeaways popped up - a burger place called Stacks and a chicken one called Bird Box. Both were slickly marketed with great logos, photos of better than normal standard food and decent menus that were severely tempting.

                                  It was only when I looked at where the location was of these newly appeared mythical independent restaurants that had managed to open unannounced in my small home town that I realised they were both actually Frankie & Bennys operating two complete stand alone fake takeaway brands from their own restaurant.

                                  Comment


                                    #18
                                    What's that comedy show where they do a pisstake of the "family-friendly" shitholes like F&Bs?

                                    Comment


                                      #19
                                      Wagamama is fucking grim. Every culture's most popular cuisine made beiger and blander and served up in a school canteen.

                                      Comment


                                        #20
                                        Has anyone ever been to a TGI's when it isn't someone's birthday? Every time I've been the waiting staff come out with a cake with sparklers and some kid is scarred for life by the embarrassment of a half-hearted rendition of Happy Birthday To You.

                                        Comment


                                          #21
                                          TGI's is very good for a chain family dining experience. My daughters have always loved the place, my son isn't fussed.

                                          In Canada I haven't minded Swiss Chalet when not going to the millions of excellent Asian restaurants.

                                          Comment


                                            #22
                                            As for these chains being 'reasonably priced for what you get', not always so. I took my youngest to a Five Guys that was absolutely extortionate for what was pretty basic fare. I also once took both girls to an Ed's Easy Diner. Probably won't do that again. The experience was more 'New Cross in the seventies' than 'New York in the fifties'.

                                            Ask - that's not too bad. Pizza Express usually delivers as well. (I mean in the 'reasonable quality' stakes.)

                                            Originally posted by Sean of the Shed View Post
                                            Wagamama is fucking grim. Every culture's most popular cuisine made beiger and blander and served up in a school canteen.
                                            Quite. I can remember going to a Wagamama yonks ago with work colleagues. They tried to make us all sit separately so that they could fill up the trestles nearest the kitchen first. Apart from it being a stupid thing to try to insist, the entire restaurant was about 20" x 20" tops.

                                            Comment


                                              #23
                                              Something changed about 5-7 years ago with Wagamama. Originally it was mostly Japanese items and the food was well done. You look at the menu now and it's a pan asian.

                                              I guess that most of these chains have to err on the side of consistency over doing things well. You can see happening over time in London as places like Franco Manca and Honest Burger go from one place doing something very well, to a handful of places doing that same thing very well but there being occasional lapses, to full fledged chains that are all right I guess but disappointing when you remember what they were like originally.

                                              My entry for the list is Giraffe, anywhere that tries to do so much on one menu cannot do any of it well.

                                              Comment


                                                #24
                                                Five Guys has never been good value - at least over here. It's good quality, but not good value.

                                                Comment


                                                  #25
                                                  Originally posted by WOM View Post
                                                  Olive Garden nails this thread.
                                                  Not whilst Aberdeen Steak Houses still exist...

                                                  Comment

                                                  Working...
                                                  X