We have a nice strip of "chains" by our office that are favorites with our team:

Chammps Americana - Not bad although it can be a huge pick-up scene during happy hour and before/after football games at Texas Stadium. I rather like a few of their entrees, particularly the specials which vary from location to location.

Bahama Breeze - The only think I like here are the cocktails and shots - they have a huge inventive menu (much like the bars at Fridays used to have back in the day). The food otherwise always seems greasy and just a bit "off" from what it should be. This is a favorite with my younger staffers... they like the steel band playing on Friday evenings - again, another big pick up scene by our office.

The Keg - Canadian steakhouse chain. Love this place... we go in there for lunch or after work snacks a lot. Good and reasonable (for our area) wine/beer list and interesting munchies that don't break the bank. Not the place I would go for a good steak (on par with Steak and Ale) but certainly great for a salad and stuffed mushrooms.

Better than Del Frisco's? The 12 oz filet mignon was a thing of beauty; so good I almost cried. :D I ate there three nights in a row (hotel was across the street). Bliss.

You need to forget Uno and hit Due at an off time, like 11:30am or 11:30pm on a Thursday. Both work equally well!

There's a Champps about three blocks from my parents. The problem is that the place is just way too noisy at all times, to the point where we got sufficiently turned off by it. But I think many of their sandwiches are very good.

The Keg to me is in that middle ground somewhere better than Outback, Lone Star, etc. but not trying to be at the Morton's, Ruth Chris level. I am very fond of the Kelowna one.

I can name at least a handful of steakhouses in Dallas that beat Del Friscos. Del got by on name alone for several years but when it comes to where the good FOOD is, Del's ain't it. ;)

Mostly Southern California
 

Worth Giving A Try:

The Original Pancake House which has a good variety of locations. This is the place to go for breakfast and only open from 6am until 2pm or so. If you like home-style food made with real ingredients...this is it.
http://www.originalpancakehouse.com/

Cafe Sevilla is a restaurant that serves Spanish Food and mostly featuring tapas. Unfortunately, they're only in Southern California.
http://www.cafesevilla.com/index2.cfm

Market Broiler features fresh fish and seafood. All locations in So Cal except one in Bay Area. Really good quality for the price you pay.
http://www.marketbroiler.com/locations/

Pat & Oscar's has fresh food served family style. Something different and not full service, but very accomdating and fun. So Cal Only.
http://www.patandoscars.com

Daphnies Greek Cafe is close to being fast greek food. The difference is everything is made to order and tastes authentic. So Cal and some N Cal.
http://www.daphnesgreekcafe.com/

Enjoy!!

Sure if I plan ahead it's no problem. But when I'm visiting Chicago and all of a sudden it hits me that I need a pie, I head over to Uno or Due. But lately it seems that others are a step ahead of me and the wait is too long.

Buca De Bepo does a great job feels like your eating in an Italian familys home back in the 60s,simple dishes

Whew, tough crowd down there in the lone star state. The food at Del's...that is, the non-beef stuff...was just, well, food. But as a born-and-bred meat eatin' Midwesterner, I can tell you the three steaks I had were superb.

Give me some names so I know what to try next time. Thanks!

The biggest problem with the "superoverload Italian pasta only costs a buck a pound" places (Vinny T's in Boston as mentioned earlier qualifies as well) is that if you're travelling on business, there's usually no way you can order an appropriate portion.

I didn't realize that they were a chain. I've been to the Indianapolis one before and I thought it was very nice.

It's been probably four years since I've been there, but when I was spending a lot of time in Nashville for work, I used to like to go to Houston's quite often.

Many of those that I would have included are listed above (as well as some I would not have listed, due to wide inconsistancies between locations). I'll add these small chains:

Lawry's Prime Rib http://www.lawrysonline.com/
(excellent prime rib, described in other recent threads)

Lucilles http://www.luciles.com/flash/index.html
(4 CO Locations, all open for at least breakfast and lunch)

I agree, Roy's is great, however, a little pricey. Flemings is new in town, and I have not tried it, friends liked it.

I also like Macaroni's and Bahama Breeze.

The only chain I can think of which seems to go along with the OP´s requirements would be Roy´s (upscale Hawaiian) I have only been to the location at the Inn at Spanish Bay. You would never get the feeling it was a chain...but it is. Il Fornaio is a California chain of Italian restaurants which almost makes the cut...but maybe I have been too many times and it feels too much like a chain.

In and Out (a California chain) does a nice job,they never freeze the hamburg meat

I've never understood what seems to be a cult that has developed around Cheesecake Factory. They've opened one in Palo Alto and another in San Jose, and there are commonly 2-3 hour waits for tables there.

Admittedly, it's a common problem in the Bay Area, but 2-3 hours? It's just not that good, people. . .

I kind of like Maggiano's, but I'm not Italian, so what do I know. My wife, who is of Italian descent, is not a big fan.

http://www.maggianos.com/Default.asp?bhcp=1

I also like Ruth's Chris Steak House. I've never had a bad steak at one of their locations, unlike at Smith & Wollensky's.

http://www.ruthschris.com/home.asp

Greg

Oceanaire is probably the best restaurant in Seattle. It is an expanding chain that started in Minnesota.

Mastro's Steakhouse in Beverly Hills is my favorite in LA. It started in Phoenix and I believe they have opened a third location.

QL

Amen to Oceanaire!

What about celebrity chef's chain of restaurants?

Wolfgang Puck's chains:Emerils:

I dined at Emeril's New Orleans Fishhouse in Vegas on Tuesday for lunch. I've been there many times over several years dining in both the main dining room and at the kitchen table. I have to say that while the quality of the food is still as good as ever, I was disappointed in the service levels. It would have been "good" service for a TGI Fridays but was marginal for a restaurant that I'm used to "better" from.

I should not be able to hear the servers gossiping or see them congregating.

When I arrive as a solo diner, the hostess should not express visible surprise that I would prefer to sit in the dining room as opposed to the bar (she, in fact, offered me my choice of a table in the bar or the bar itself... the dining room wasn't even presented as an option).

Wine pairing for a course should arrive before the dish itself - on all three of my glasses, they arrived after the dish itself. tsk tsk.

The restaurant's main selling points are that they serve huge portions and they have a menu that offers a large variety, the former being essential to the American market.

Baja Fresh, http://www.bajafresh.com Mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm!

Copelands isn't too bad

Voila. Just a day after I made the above statement I found another chain here. I went down near Grenoble for a meeting and next door was Le Bodegon Colonial. It was a colonial African theme restaurant. This has got to really upset all the Africans who are living here now. But I digress.

The menu showed about 16 restaurants in France. It was pretty strange for France. The waitresses wore colonial getup with pith helmets. The food was a bit gamy (drumshot), but OK in general. It seemed almost Disney-like. So I wouldn't recommend it unless you have kids who want to be entertained.

I'm not sure if this qualifies as a chain but there are a bunch of them in Florida (or there used to be a few years back).

TooJay's Gourmet Deli. When I was living in South Florida, there were restaurants in Jupiter, Palm Beach Gardens, Palm Beach, Lake Worth, maybe a couple of other cities. I think they've since opened one in Orlando.

I loved almost everything on their menu, especially the pastrami and corned beef sandwiches, "specialized."

It's a chain NOW. But I went to Del Frisco's a few times when it was just a local Dallas place. Both the original location on Inwood (which is now Bob's Steak and Chophouse), plus the new location in far north Dallas on Spring Valley.

These days, I would not go to Del's. Dallas has several, local, non chain steak joints that are very, very good. My current favorite is Nick and Sam's.


In-n-Out rules. In the category of fast food burger, it reigns supreme. I wish they had them in Dallas. I don't have enough chances to eat at them when I am in L.A.

The Chesecake Factory appeal is one of two things. Massive menu with a huge, huge, variety of food. Anybody can find something on the menu that will be OK with any sort of weird dietary restrictions or any "weird" food hangups. That, and people like big desserts.

Blue Elephant (Thai). www.blueelephant.com

Enjoyed them so far.

I find Johnny Rockets good value for a quick and tasty fill -up.

Thanks for the web link. I've seen hundreds of Blue Elephant restaurants around the world but I never thought any of them were part of a chain. I wonder if these folks will try to get all the other Blue Elephant restaurants to change thier name?

One non-chain Blue Elephant that I rather like is in Antibes, France.

Thought of a couple. Fatburger. Green Field Churrascurria (one of those
words I am never sure I spelled right).

On places mentioned here:
Ate at the Keg in Burien, found the baseball sirloin quite acceptable.

Johnny Rocket's, the burgers are ok, but under no circumstances
should you get the chili cheese fries (called The Works). I'm not sure
which of the components was objectionable, but it was really horrid.

Not been overfond of Cheesecake Factory - the portions aren't all
that great (anyway, you don't get that much of anything you'd
actually want to eat); the service, well, I've gone with a large
Flyertalk party, so let's draw a discreet veil over that occasion,
and otherwise it's merely okay; the food mediocre at best (what was
that London guy thinking, or did he have olde English tastebuds?).

Copeland's isn't bad, if you order stuff that doesn't come with a
gloopy congealed sauce.

And I did, once, have a bad steak at a Ruth's Chris - the worst of
several in Vegas, the worst of several at R's Cs.

I have tried Copelands outside of New Orleans and it just isn't the same. It seems more pre packaged tasting when it is franchised. The orginal is right here in my backyard.

Al Copeland has come up with his own knock off of Cheesecake Factory, which I think is light years above the traditional Cheesecake Factory. His restaurant is called Cheesecake Bistro. There are two in New Orleans so it is a chain :D

* Pappas Bros (technically a "chain" with a location in Houston as well - part of the Pappas family that also includes Pappas BBQ, Pappadeaux, and Pappasitos) but the food is wonderful and the service is a 9.5 on a 10 scale.

* Bob's Steak and Chophouse

* Nick & Sams

Those are my three favorites. Have also been fairly pleased with Kirby's as of late.

Out of the formal chain, I've been to the Blue Elephant restaurants in Bangkok, London, Paris, Brussels, Copenhagen, Lyon, Dubai, New Delhi and Malta. I have not yet eaten at the ones in Bahrain, Beirut and Kuwait.

Someone should open a thread here regarding good Thai restaurants around the world.

Thanks for the suggestion for next time I'm in/around Antibes. Finding good Thai restaurants in some parts of the world is not always a piece of cake.

I have a weakness for IHOP's classic french toast.

Copeland's traditional downfall is when he can no longer be hand's on in the restaurant. Beyond Copeland's itself (which gets bad the further away from NOLA you get), Popeye's had the same problem -- great in NOLA, progressively worse outside the city.

Another "Find Dining" experience would be the Brennan Family of NOLA. With Commander's Palace, Brennans, The Palace Cafe, Dickie Brennan's Steakhouse, and one or two others, plus locations in Houston, LAX, and LAS for various restaurants.

Note: I know that there are actually two "Brennan's" out there with different oweners. The fact is that they both grew up in the same house, and they both are specialists in Cajun and French Cuisine.

stimpy,

if you want a good steak chain in France, go to L'entrecote. Allright the menu is not diverse, but honestly their entrecote with the peper sauce is AMAZING! I am just salivating thinking that in a couple days i'll go and enjoy it!

Also i can think of a lot of midrange chain restaurants in France, Hippopotamus is one of them (personally i don't mind it)
Buffalo Grill (decent restaurant, not great but decent)
Le Bistro Romain (overpriced imo except to eat the unlimmited carpaccio of beek)
Courte Paille
and i almost forgot one of the most famous Leon de Bruxelles (moules et frites)
etc...

synd

I'm not a big fan of Pappadeaux, but I wish that Pappasitos was the brand that had been exported north instead.

I will look for L'Entrecote, but somehow I doubt it will be as good as a mediocre steakhouse in Texas. I guess I have a different opinion of what is mid-range. The Buffalo I would put in the low end. I didn't realize Le Bistro Romain was a chain? And I haven't heard of Leon de Bruxelles. Are there any in Bourgogne? I will look for Courte Paille. Perhaps since I don't watch much TV I'm not aware of chains that advertise.

A side note about the Blue Elephant... their cooking school in Bangkok is a "must do" for anyone with an extra day on their hands. We toured a market (and rode the tuk-tuks back with our wares) and then went upstairs and each prepared four different dishes for our lunchtime feast. All in all, our five hours of combined classroom and hands-on was rewarded with a wonderful lunch in the dining room where we ate both our own individual creations (you each cook single portions of the four dishes) along with several others the manager brought us to taste. You also leave with an apron and a basket full of spices and curry pastes.

stimpy,

well courte paille could be considered as the same level as buffalo Grill, but honestly try l'entrecote and tell me what you think.
Leon De Bruxelles, are pretty much everywhere, there is one on the Champs, but you go there to eat Moules (Mussles is this how you spell it?) & Frites.

other than that i don't know if you could consider this a chain, but they have really good food are the restaurants of the Relais & Chateaux.

synd