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

What about the WhiteStar line of London Restaurants (by Marco Pierre White)? There are 8 of them, all very high end. In fact, most people wouldn't even recognize them as being part of a 'chain'. They include:

Belvedere, Criterion, Drones, L'Escargot, Mirabelle, and Quo Vadis.

See: http://www.whitestarline.org.uk/

I've eaten at the Picasso Room @ L'Escargot, where they have real Picasso paintings. It was a magical evening.

My favorite
 

Okay, this isn't your run-of-the-mill chain, but I pick Nobu. Anyone agree?? :D

http://www.noburestaurants.com/

If I run across a l'entrecote I'll give it a try. Maybe Leon de Bruxelles is a Parisien thing? There aren't any in my Department or anywhere I've lived in France. I try to stay away from the Champs thank you. If in Paris, I hang out in the 5th or 6th, or the 15th for work. Yes the R&C restaurants are usually good since they are run like a normal French traditionelle resto.

I would think that the term "chain" would apply to some sort of communality in the type of menu etc, etc.
Having dined at Mirabelle, Quo Vadis plus Titanic (closed ??) and the now closed The Canteen ( plus another restaurant whose name I cannot recall now) I dont think you could find a single menu item replicated at another of his places.

And yes Nobu would most definitely fall within my interpretation of the criteria outlined by OP.
( Now the Cheesecake Factory, good? = just a upscale Fidays IMHO..sorry :)

mike

My votes go to crackerbarrel and CARRABBA'S although I have only been to one Carrabba's location. I really dislike chain restraunts, I try to avoid them but these two are usually pretty good, although I have had one bad experince at a crackerbarrel.
http://www.carrabbas.com/
www.crackerbarrel.com/

P.S. Not sure if this counts but I also like Emeril's restraunts.

MIKESILV - Ok, I would agree with you, there is probably no commonality between these Whitestar restaurants, so they wouldn't be a 'chain restaurant'.

But, here is come compiliation lists of some Chain Restaurants:
1) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_restaurant_chains
2) http://freespace.virgin.net/john.cle...ks/restaur.htm
3) http://dmoz.org/Business/Hospitality/Restaurant_Chains/

Is Carrabbas really that good? I was just in Lansing and opted for a local italian joint. Thanks!

Can I just throw in a vote for the Keg? Have dined at both the Banff & Winnipeg locations and was thoroughly impressed with the quality of food, level of service and price.

But going more down the track of what constitutes a chain, the Conran places i've dined at in London are very popular - if somewhat pricey - when comapred to N. America (and that's before you count the somewhat sorry state of the US peso :p )

What about McDosa, the London chain of Keralan restaurants (the Radha Krishna Bhavan being my personal favourite...)

In New Zealand I've had dinner at Little India in both Christchurch and Hamilton. Great food and a nice atmosphere.