My work sends me to lots of small towns (30K - 75K). I'm tired of almost all the chains, but I don't mind sitting alone in a restaurant as I usually have my nose buried in a book. I'll research restaurants online as much as possible (not a reliable method for small towns), and will ask for recommendations from clients and hotel staff. Even with these, it's a crapshoot.

But I admit that in lots of towns I'll skip local fare altogether (I defy you to name a decent restaurant in lots of the towns I visit) and stop at the grocery store on the way to the hotel. I tend to get lots of ready-made salads - the kind that are in plastic bowls and contain dressing/crouton packets. In my luggage I always carry a couple of plastic utensil packs from my hometown restaurants.

Room service, when available, is usually worse than the local restaurants.