Big mouth. :D

Thanks for ruining it for me ;) :p

Actually, there aren't many options on those menus that aren't on the original menu. It's just the way they're made. Fries with that sauce? Oh, now that sounds good.... Where's a drool smiley when you need one?

A North of the Border Entry
 

My vote goes to Swiss Chalet, Canada's woeful attempt to emulate Boston Market. I once tried their quarter chicken meal. What was preseneted on my plate looked like it was once a diseased hummingbird. Then I tried dipping it in the sauce. The sauce tasted like a bad form of liquid toothpaste.

To Me ...
 

Dupe Post- Sorry!

To Me ...
 

Sitting in any of the following are interchangeable for mediocre food, weak drinks and bad service by a ditsy teenage girl:

- Bennigans
- Chili's
- TGI Fridays
- Applebees
- Ruby Tuesdays

Hi guys,

I understand that RT, TGI etc. may not look very favourable once you have gotten used to dine at high class restaurants all along. However I wonder if this disgust aims at the entire kind of restaurant, or if there are brands that range in the same price class but would be considered better?
Outback seems to be one of these places and I agree on that, but what other places do you recommend?
Personally I find it sort of hard to find new good restaurants in the US (while restricted by budget and not in larger cities). Somehow I find it less hard in Germany, which makes sense as I can simply judge better what a place will be like, it also is much easier to just walk around and find a place - in the US you usually need to plan a ahead and go by car. I have had bad experiences with "family" restaurants - these usually stand for meshed potatoes out of the bag, hamburger patties from K-Mart and mediocre service. Actually I just had breakfast at Grandma Something's Pancake House - there was nothing there I couldn't have had at Denny's.

So, are you just glad you are able to avoid dining at any place that comes at less than 20$ for dinner or do you actually have recommendations (if important: northern Chicagoland)?

Tossup for me between Applebee's and Bennigans's for BORING menu and so-so food (at best). I'd put Ruby Tuesday's there as well, but for the fairly decent salad bar. O'Charleys might also be there for me as a regional "bore", but my last couple of times there, I've been pleasantly surprised...at least to a mild degree.

And yes, Swiss Chalet, north of the border would also make my personal "BORING" hall of fame. Some of the Canadian chains are pretty good...at least for chains. But I've always wondered what the appeal of Swiss Chalet is. And if we're going international....lets not forget Garfunkel's in the UK.

I fully agree - wretched food, bovine service and they all reek of that sickly sweet potpourri stuff they sell in their tchotchke shop. YUCK! Grand MIL loves it so we go on occasion when traveling with her.

Funny, upon running across this thread the first one that came to mind was Ruby Tuesday. Used to be a more varied menu, but last time I was in there (not much other choice at that location) I was really pretty surprised to see how sparse it was. If you want a burger it's fine, lots of burgers. But that's about it.

A lot of similar casual chains have pretty lame food, but they do have a slightly more varied menu at least. I avoid most of 'em.

I think Ruby Tuesdays tops my list.

Non-worst ones
 

I can't help out much with northern Chicagoland (although my in-laws there would probably say something about Steak 'n' Shake, I don't think it competes with Ruby Tuesday's). If you find yourself in New England or the Mid-Atlantic states, though, Friendly's has a reasonably broad menu and good ice cream and should be doable for under $20 a person.

Have to agree with Swiss Chalet. As a kid, i loved the place to go with family. Now, my wife can make a better chicken anyday and I wonder why I go there. I always get nostolgic and go once every couple of years and I ALWAYS wonder, why I go and why the menu has never changed.

Quite right. It isn't Howard Johnson, I don't know why I mutated the name into this.

Problem is I can't for the life of me remember the real one.

Can anyone help? It's a ubiquitous chain. They are everywhere. Have red lettering, serve sandwiches (some hot, some cold), donuts and coffee.

I ate an insipid tuna mayo sandwich there. It was a wretched experience necessitating far too many napkins as the sandwich sprang a leak and continuously dripped water. Now I finally understand why North Americans call them subs... :(

Donuts and coffee plus red lettering - sounds like Tim Horton's. Ads for Tim Horton's are on the dasher boards of most NHL rinks north of Chicago. Just a WAG, as I have never eaten at a Tim Horton's.

That would be Tim Horton's...Canadians are crazy for that particular coffee (our "crack" of coffee)-the rest of the "menu" is incidental to most. A visit to Tim Hortons is similar to McDonalds in this way, you always know what you are getting. Trust me on this, you wish you owned a Tim Hortons outlet in Canada or the northern U.S.=big moneymaker.

Regarding the comment of Swiss Chalet emulating Boston Market...I'm willing to bet that Swiss Chalet has been around a lot longer than BM. I don't think they are similar.

I'm not fond of SC either but you can get a ful sized meal for a reasonable price...and its fast. I think that is the draw...particulalrly with the older folk.