I vote for Bahama Breeze. I only recently realized they were a chain.

BB, Red Lobster and Olive Garden are all owned by the same company (so in a sense part of the same chain). The food is mostly dismal but has a few bright spots (the Talapia in a bag at Red Lobster is superb, for example, but just about the only good thing on their menu).

In 'N Out, Pappadeaux, Corner Bakery, CPK, Cheesecake Factory, P.F. Changs are my faves - other than at In 'N Out, I can usually also find something fairly healthy at each one, too!

Legal Seafood!!! Had it for the first time in Boston and it was great. Up until then I did not enjoy seafood and with the exception of Legal Seafood I guess I still do not really like seafood. They really are THAT WONDERFUL. Must try the seaweed salad! Drinks can be a little high; but overall it is well worth it for the money.

At at the Texas Roadhouse restaurant in Des Moines....

http://www.texasroadhouse.com/

Suprisingly good! Steak was good to very good, ribs were very good to excellent.

Reasonably priced, too.

I still like Applebee's--I was in a restaurant today at ONT on my way to SEA. I had a great meal--delicious chicken salad!

El Torito's in California

Applebee's - California
Spaghetti House - Hong Kong
Maxim's - Hong Kong

Had Steak and Shake for lunch today.

Mmmmmm.......

Been a while since I've had a good meal at one of these. A visit to the one in Santa Clara this spring was pretty dismal....right down to the torn and frayed upholstery on the booths! I recall them as being pretty decent in the 70s and 80s, however.

Another chain I don't think has been mentioned as generally being good is J.Alexander's Steak Houses. I think there are about a dozen or two around the Midwest and South. Mrs. Cyberdad and I have yet to be disappointed. Also on the subject of steakhouses....I'd agree with Texas Roadhouse belonging on the list of good places. DSM, indeed has a good one...as does MEM and JAN. I'd also include their similar competitor, Logan's, as a good chain.

I regularly eat at a J. Alexanders in Cleveland and agree that it's pretty good. I've never had a steak there, but the seafood I've ordered has been well prepared.

I have no complaints with the food at Logan's, but the atmosphere gives me heartburn: too bright, too noisy, too many servers running willy-nilly, too focused on table turnover, I hate them having a server go table to table selling gift cards all December-long.

There is something specifically wrong about each chain restaurant. By definition, they're run by people who are more concerned about things like food cost and adhering to whatever their regional manager says than they are in your overall experience. I've never been impressed by franchise restaurant I've been in (high end steak houses included). Personally, I would rank Burger King/Wendy's above the chains everyone has talked about here. At least they help me when I'm hungover. :p

If more of the business travel set actively sought out independent restaurants, then we wouldn't be faced with the generic mass manufactured crap that chains sell.

Houlihan's! Yes, we're 2 San Francisco foodie snobs and were a bit peeved that Houlihan's was the only restaurant in the Buffalo Marriott. We were there to see family and decided to bite the bullet, since it would be too difficult to coordinate anything else. Very, very pleasantly surprised w/the quality of all of the food, especially the grilled Ahi salad and other seafood choices (yes, in Buffalo!!!) You learn something new every day... :)

Miller's Ale House in Florida ^

Yea! In post #332 someone finally got the point of the thread. I started this thread in hopes of finding a decent chain restaurant that bucked the supposition you made that they are more about business than providing a good meal. There are clearly a few such restaurants that do well, but the vast majority is quite poor.

This business traveler does NOT eat at chain restaurants. Unless I'm hung over in a place like Japan and faced with raw squid or a cheeseburger for breakfast. :D

Of all the chains I know about, the only one I actually seek out in any city is P. F. Changs. In the case of Asian food, I prefer knowing what I'm going to get without surprise.

Thanks for the recommendation on The Smokehouse...I'll check them out.

I love the beef-n-cheddar croissant at Portillo's too...and another Chicago-area joint called Brooster's Chicken...my god, I can't get enough of their chicken.

When visiting my parents who now live in Canada, Earl's and Montana's are the two places we usually go out for a nicer meal.

Unlike most people, I just don't have much of a problem with Chili's and TGI Friday's. I rather like Friday's, to be honest.

P.F. Chang's and In 'N Out are reliably good, but I've eaten a couple times at Applebee's and never liked the food there.
We've eaten there twice recently and at both locations, the food and service were very good.

I think P.F. Changs is delicious. Their lemon scallops is one of my very favorite things, snobby or not. They don't have one here in San Francisco, but they are in the suburbs all around us, so we make the odd pilgrimage just to go there on ocassion. And being from Dallas we know our chain restaurants. The entire Papas line is good, from burger to seafood to barbeque.

Great American Restaurants, group of about 6 in Northern Virginia. Best crabcakes at a chain restaurant, all food/service is great, prices very reasonable.

Noodles, Inc.!

North Carolina restaurant chains
 

Here in NC, the 4-restaurant (chain?) Lucky32 in Greensboro, Cary, Raleigh and Winston-Salem is excellent. http://www.lucky32.com/
and the five Rocky Top Hospitality Restaurants (I've enjoyed Michael Deans) http://www.rockytophospitality.com/facilities.asp
are a nice change of pace from the Ruth Chris, Angus Barn or 42nd St. Oyster Bar that business travelers frequent in the triangle area. My favorite local chain were the restaurants run by Giorgios Bakatsias, til he got busted for tax problems. When he is not womanizing, he is one fantastic cook. His George's Garage http://www.ghgrestaurants.com/garage/garage.html and Cafe Parizade http://www.ghgrestaurants.com/pariza...estaurant.html in Durham are the remaining restaurants and are both outstanding.

-outoftown

a few more places
 

cheap filling food:
in and out
del taco (esp. the one in barstow, ca)

sit down ordering:
p.f. changs (decent and less chance of bichi bichi)
cpk (consistent and great with a good local/season beer)

PERHAPS the China Grill NYC or Vegas locations, the Chicago China Grill restaurant is terrible, just went last night

Crappy Service and WAY too much $$ for the quality:

Mid 30's waitress calling my wife (mid 40's) "baby" as in "Oh I'm sorry baby, I'll bring the drink you asked for", didn't listen well to our questions about the menu, brought out wrong entrees, poor & incorrect pacing of items ordered. Acoustics in the restaurant stink, not easy to hear your partner.

Lamb Ribs - could have been a stellar item but they put the plum sauce on way too early so it burnt rather than caramelized.
Lobster pancakes - very good item.
Drunken Chicken - so f'in dry, not good at all.
Duck Fried Rice - decent fried rice with good amounts of duck in it.

For the above & 3 drinks, I can think of MUCH better places to spend $150. Won't be back.

Stimpy, for shame! There are Flunch, Melodine (both same owner), the lunchstands in Lafayette Gourment (great!), the Crespi restaurants (La Pizza) and dozens more. France also has excellent Routiers, most of which are parts of chains. Just because they're chains does not mean one must accept US prefabricated food. We do not want to talk of Quick and the other French McDonds imitations because there are so many McDo with decent beer to be had in France, all with the genuine US stale grease smells.

Another vote for Culvers! Consistently decent food and the frozen custard doesn’t hurt either! :p

I guess I rate those as low end in comparison (like Hippo) with US mid-level chains. But I don't really know as you will never find me in one of those places. There are soooooo many non-chain restaurants in every town in France. Why go to a chain? If you are stuck in muggle-buggle suburban US, you often have no choice.

One of the great joys in life is a strawberry shake at Culver's (that is, after I have a butter burger and I sample the flavor of the day!) :)

PF Changs
J Alexander
In and Out
Steak and Shake
McDonald's Fries (when cooked properly and not oversalted)
Culver's

Culver’s, really? From the same forum that looks down at Applebees? :p I ate there once and it seemed mediocre. I guess the ice cream and custard must make up for it, but I don’t have a sweet tooth.

:) I wouldn't set foot in Applebee's but love Culver's!

I like PF Chang's, because they offer brown rice and In and Out burger, so yums!

Sit down:

P.F. Chang's
Maccaroni Grill

Fast food:

Fudrucker's
Five Guy's
Chipotle

Then there are the high priced steak chains, which are always good: Capital Grille, Morton's, Ruth's Cris, etc.

OK, here they are:

Nobu
Houston's
Wagamama
Curry House

I could do more but four is enough

My votes would go with PF Chang's, Bonefish Grill and Cheesecake Factory. Those 3 are great for solo dining at the bar (or in the case of BFG also at communal tables).

I'm a fan of Texas Roadhouse. I find the atmosphere to be hokey and often obnoxious (and I'm really annoyed they have Shiner Bock signs and no Shiner Bock) but I think the food is of decent quality. Plus, the prices aren't bad. And who can say no to unlimited peanuts?

Higher end/Sit down
McCormick and Schmick's-love the bar menu for happy hour, Alaskan crab legs in the summer and the mussels.
The Melting Pot-fun experience unless the table next to you decided to bring 3 children under 5. Young kids, sharp objects, boiling liquid and raw meat are always a good combo.

Casual/fast food
Panera-good soup/salad lunch
Five guys-good greasy diner style burger
Le Pain Quotidien- good yuppie breakfast

McDonalds
Teriyaki Boy
Famiglia Pizzeria

High-End:
Capitol Grille
Fleming's

Casual/Take out:
Friday's (the ones by me arent bad)
Pei Wei (owned by PF changs - DELICIOUS)
Five Guys
PJ Welihans (PHL area)

If you live in Middle America or Southern California, there is little else than chains. I know of a handful that I would call fairly good, but I know of hundreds that are awful. Usually the more they advertise the worse they are - Applebees, Olive Garden, Red Lobster, Marie Calendars to name but a few of the offenders.

My favorite chain is right here in Portland, Oregon - Burgerville! What other burger chain made Gourmet Magazine?