Favorite Chain Restaurant

Had dinner with in-laws last night ..whole family, all 7 of us.
And some consideration I have to say Cracker Barrel is far and away my favorite chain restaurant. It's not even close. When we travel I like to try new, local places, but if we are out of luck ..it's Cracker Barrel, breakfast, lunch or dinner.
Breakfast, which you can get anytime, is awesome! My all-time favorite meal there is the blackened catfish with collard greens, hashbrown casserole and either fried okra or green beans (usually okra).


Texas Roadhouse is a distant second.


What's your favorite chain and why?

 

Chuy's and Shake Shack.

Chuy's tortillas are amazing and they make some really good sauces. Shake Shack is just the best fast food burger.

 

I'm a big Pei Wei fan. I could eat Chinese food every day and their vegetables are (with rare exceptions) fresh.

 

Try not to do chain restos anymore. For awhile it was Denny's, sometimes Chili's, and when I wanted to dreg it, Golden Corral, just to guzzle as much food as I could for 10-12 bucks.

I used to love the chicken fried steak at Cracker Barrel. Every so often in Gotham I'll go to Chevy's on 42nd.

 

For me, In-N-Out.

 

If we're adding fast food ... Taco Bell.

 

I was driving through Victorville on the way to Vegas last week on opening day of the newest Cracker Barrel. You can see the restaurant from the highway. At 10 a.m., the line went around the building. Three days later, on the drive back, at 5:30 p.m. the line was around the building.

 

Cracker Barrel is a good place to go every once in a while, but outside of breakfast the food kind of sucks.

 

Had to cover CIF-SS wrestling finals at Victorville. Kind of a hike from Long Beach. It rained hard. My wipers went out 30 miles from Victorville. That was a tough final 30 miles.

 

I'm partial to Not Your Average Joe's - step up from the Chili's or Applebee's level to me, plus you get $15 for your birthday there. I'm a sucker for fries, so Red Robin is also good for that reason. Fast food, Taco Bell and McDonald's are guilty pleasures. There are some others that I'll go to based on the discounts and coupons I get - Moe's has $5 burritos after URI wins and a free burrito on your birthday, b.good has a very entree for your birthday, Dunkin Donuts have 87 cent iced coffee after a Pats' win, etc.

 

The wife used to wish we had a Cracker Barrel in southern California, then last year we hit a couple on road trips and realized the memory of it was probably better than the real thing. I couldn't tell you if the quality of the place went down hill over the years or if our standard for eating out simply changed.

 

Claim Jumper.