AlisonPA

We really have a lack of good restaurants locally but Red Lobster is one of the best of the bunch - I love the coconut shrimp. I thought the chicken marsala was extremely good in Olive Garden - been there a couple of times but didn't like the other things I had. Carrabbas is good. Most of the other places are sadly lacking!

silvermine

down south don't forget Shoney's

AdobePinon

So, has anyone noticed that the food actually tastes the same at all of the restaurants named on that list? That is, overcooked, underheated, overiceberged, underserved, overbland, undertasty, overpriced, .....

silvermine

in the northeast a small chain Legal Seafoods is quite good.
oops see they have some in DC/Maryland,Virginia and even Florida now...

Celtic_Angel

you're totally right!!...last time we ate there , was years ago, my husbands dish ended up being just a butt load of pasta and hardly any shrimp .....Personally i like our local Chilie's, good food, affordable..kid friendly and I like their margarita's too

Sarah

Anyone down Texas or Louisiana way ever go to What-a-burger?
Mmmmm had that on the road a lot when I was travelling back in '02 and their burgers and shakes were better than any crud you get up here in boring old Pennsylvania

Celtic_Angel

yeah , a tip for most restaurants...half the portion and double the taste please..I'd rather quality over quantity...

britvic

God yes, disgusting. Denneys my fav, will not waist my money at steak houses, I do better at home.

ironporer

Another one I forgot to mention is Red Hot and Blues- which is the best chain BBQ I've ever had. Nice ambiance too, blues bbq and beer.

Celtic_Angel

Denny's i'll never go there again...last two times we went there i left feeling ripped off

NC Penguin

LOTL- you ate in a Southern style restaurant so the food is Southern style. I've eaten the chicken and dumplings in Cracker Barrel. It wasn't bad but I won't be eating it again (other things I'd rather try off the menu).

Sounds like you're forgetting that you're in a foreign country I think.




NC Penguin

NC Penguin

For me, good BBQ and chain restaurant do not go hand in hand. Ate at Tony Roma's once and it was OK but if you want good barbecue (any regional variety), you have to go to a non-chain establishment.




NC Penguin

Just Jenney

I'm ashamed to say that I'm one of those Americans who loves to eat out, and even worst, I've gotten my British husband hooked on doing it, too. Not all the above-mentioned restaurants are in our area, but for those that are we have been to most of them.

I am a picky eater and tend to eat the same dishes at each restaurant. Usually this is hamburgers, which my parents have always made fun of me for, but I don't care! I like hamburgers, I never eat them at home so why not enjoy them when I'm out? (I should clarify, however, that I don't ONLY eat hamburgers, but at "American" restaurants I usually do.) I am particularly sensitive to how the hamburgers are cooked at the various restaurants we go to. I prefer medium-rare, although I can tolerate medium if need be, but I won't enjoy it as much; to me, anything above medium-rare seems overcooked.

That being said, I am shocked that Fuddruckers is not on this list. They say they serve the "world's greatest hamburgers" -- and they do! Fuddruckers have their own in-house butcher shops, so the meat is fresh and not just frozen patties. They also bake the hamburger buns fresh, which makes a huge difference. Fuddruckers and Outback are the only restaurants I know of that will actually still cook hamburgers to order, so I tend to enjoy those restaurants more. Oh, and I love Fudds fries, too!

We used to really like Ruby Tuesday's, but they have started going downhill -- at least the local one we go to. The service is now borderline shoddy, and the food just isn't up to par. Going back to my medium-rare thing, my biggest annoyance with Ruby Tuesday's is that on their menu is specifically says, "Steaks/hamburgers cooked to order" -- but every time I try to order a hamburger cooked medium-rare, they say, "Oh, no -- we can't cook that anything less than medium." Even when I point out the "cooked-to-order" thing they say, "Yeah, it says that, but we still can only cook hamburgers medium, medium-well or well-done." But if I were to order a steak, they WILL cook it medium-rare -- what difference does it make?!?!

Same goes for TGI Friday's and Chile's (neither on the list, another surprise) -- will only cook burgers medium or more. I think at Applebee's they won't cook burgers anything less than medium-well, which is why I always end up getting the chicken caesar salad instead...

Olive Garden is very good, the atmosphere is relaxing and enjoyable, the service attentive. Sometimes we get less-than-fresh bread but since it's free we really can't complain much. The salad is very tasty but always lacking in tomatoes -- usually only one for each of us.

Bertucci's is our new favorite Italian restaurant. The menu options are a bit more sophisticated than Olive Garden, the atmosphere is wonderful, and their bread is NEVER stale -- they bake it fresh daily. Sometimes we just think about the bread and that's enough to make us want to eat there! And talk about service -- last week we went there for lunch, and I ordered a margharita pizza. When it came out, the waiter said, "Sorry, the pizza doesn't look like it's supposed to, so they're making you another one to take home with you for free." I looked at the pizza, and while it looked a little "sloppy" it was certainly edible. But he was right -- a few minutes later he came back with a box with a perfect pizza in it!

For Mexican/Tex-Mex, I've always loved Don Pablo's and have been waiting since 2001 (when I moved here) for the chain to open some locations here in Richmond. But so far, it is not to be. Their enchiladas are fantastic!

For steaks (or burgers, as it were), Outback is THE place. I remember when the chain first opened around Virginia years ago, there was a 2-hour wait to get in. Two hours! But it was totally worth it -- the food is always incredible, I have yet to have a bad meal at Outback. (And for what it's worth, I've only had burgers there twice -- I usually get the filet mignon, medium-rare of course!) And who can NOT love their cheese fries!??! A heart attack on a plate, for sure, but absolutely lovely!

~ Jenney

geordiegirl2

my favourite is claim jumpers but i do like Ruby Tuesday's and macaroni grill too.

Lord Lionheart

I think you've hit the nail on the head. American food is all about quantity NOT quality, bucket loads of pasta, mountains of salad, piles of shrimp ( which turns out to be fried batter with a microscopic shrimp in the middle).
After you have been here a while you see through the marketing of piles of deep fried endless goo and generally poor quality food. I've said it before and I'll say it again, you can't beat the food in Paris, small quantities but the quality is literaly delicious. No wonder the French don't have the obesity problems that most of the Western world have in following the US and it's pop culture and pop food.