Favorite Chain Restaurant

Ah, Margarita's! My parents would journey to Mystic, Connecticut every couple of months to go there back in the day, when like Taco Bell was the only other Mexican option around.

 

Other than an occasional team trip to Pizza Hut, I'm not sure I ate at a national chain pizza place the whole time I lived in Trenton. We were within walking distance of two local places, and a few others were less than a 5 minute drive away. Hell, even some of the local bars made a decent pizza.
Now, though, in a different part of the country, it's reversed. There are a half-dozen chain places within a 10-minute drive and almost no local places. So you take what you can get. My preference is Papa John's. I like the thicker, doughy crust. A lot of the others are like eating the greasy cardboard box.

 

And why would anyone eat chain pizza in Trenton when you had Papa's and Vino Brothers and DeLorenzo's?

Sad thing is all 3 are gone. Papa's and DeLorenzo's moved and I think Vino Brothers closed shop.

 

Thank god for Yelp and Trip Advisor!
Found some great local places with those apps.

 

People always hate on Dominos and I never quite understood it. Worked there in high school, yet somehow remained a fan the pizza and cheesy bread.

 

New Jersey is unique in a few regards. In one, The prevalence of diners with quality food makes most chains that have a waitstaff irrelevant. And Pizza and sub/hero/hoagie places in the NJ/NY/Pa make chains the Pizza chains also irrelevant. Most towns in the Philly and NY suburbs have excellent takeout with 5 minutes of most people.

 

This thread made me think of a trip to cover a game at Southern Miss about 12 years ago. I was supposed to fly in and out of New Orleans, which meant at least a couple of awesome meals.

But a connecting flight got cancelled, so I have to fly to Jackson instead. Rental car reservation was messed up when I land so I wind up in a city I know nothing about much later than anticipated. I didn't want another unpleasant surprise so I ordered Papa Johns to my room. At least I knew what I was getting into.

These days, I'd have used Yelp to find a good steak, cold beer and maybe a titty bar to salvage the night a bit.

 

Ruth’s Chris steakhouse. Not the best steak you’ll ever have, but in my experience
it’s the best steak for the money.

 

Morton’s cost about the same and I’ve found that it’s better, in my limited experience.

I have not been to a delFriscos but have been to Sullivan’s, their lower price point version. Sullivans is not cheap at all, but I’ve found its very good.

 

Sadly, we lived closer to Nino's and another mom and pop shop (Dominic's, I think). The latter is apparently out of business. The former is still going strong, and is where I spent more money after school playing Super Mario Bros. and Street Fighter 2 than I ever did on pizza.
Somehow, despite living about a mile from the place, I never once ate a DeLorenzo's tomato pie. I don't know if my parents thought that was too fancy for us or what, but we never set foot in the place.

 

I'm always surprised how well Yelp works. Like, between the photos and the reviews, it seldom lets me down.

 

I did delFriscos in Nashville, and it was very good. Did the Stockyard in Nashville, too, and it was incredibly good.

Check 'em both out if you're there. But the Stockyard was off-the-charts fantastic.

Anyone else been there? Is it still around?