Food and Drinks at Chain Restaurants

Probably a restaurant. Otherwise, it would likely have said Olive Grove instead of Garden.

Probably, although when googled it said permanently closed.

not the american chain

as for the american chain, i liked the olive garden for one thing, the lunch special, the soup, salad and bread basket deal (more salad please) was unbeatable for a quick easy lunch, never ate there for a non lunch meal

the majority of the chain closed in Canada, they were apparently turning a profit, but not enough of a profit

never had anything but a mediocre experience at most chain restaurants when it came to evening dining

PF CHANG's is our favorite chain restaurant, followed by Applebees, (which is always changing its menu to incorporate seasonal stuff).
Our mostest favoritist restaurants in the US are

French Laundry in Napa

Inn at Little Washington in Va

221 Prime at Chesapeake City Md

the Cazerac in the Roosevelt at NAwlins

The cellar restaurant in Snta Fe

On Lock Sams at STCKTON cal

Fine Grobe su Mer in New Brunswick

The Waco Diner in Eastport Me.

de Starr's Steakhoue in Malvern Pa.


Theres many others around the world but those are our (collective favs) With the Laundry , The Inn, and 221 Prime,... at the very very top.

Last time I went to the Tomball Applebies, they were supercrowded. We were seated and twiddled our thumbs for 45 minutes without anybody bringing us a menu or offering to get drinks. We ended eating elsewhere. That was about four years ago.

I know that, at the various Applebees in tourist areas during tourist seasons, the best times to get a table are like 3:30 pm bfore the beach crowd drag in.

I like thir food ideas , like their seasonal sriracha glazed shrimp appetizer or the many ways they make "portion controlled" steaks.
I like Apple-bees for their cooking skills and their adherence to a calorie conscious menu. Their service, because theyre so goddamn populr in tourist or shopping areas, is often a big problem.

Ida left with 20 minutes if there was no sign of service in that time. Id say that franchise member will undergo managerial change at some time.

How did you know about them? Did you go there?

I always liked the Olive Garden salad - I often ordered that lunch special when there was an OG walking distance from work. Better than a lot of posh restaurant offerings.

Red Lobster's garlic cheese biscuits were something I'd eat a fair number of when European relatives wanted to go there. They always loved Red Lobster and Pizza Hut. I liked Red Lobster as they were one of the few chain places that had Rickards Red on tap. My dad, my uncle and I once had so much Rickards that they had to tap a new barrel. Good times (and many funny photos).

Ugh!

The first McDonald's in Rome, near the Spanish Steps, was the proximate cause of the SlowFood movement. I remember lots of anger about it. Tourists, at least american ones, tended to like it as a known place to find a bathroom.

that Olive Garden was a middle eastern shisha bar
definitely not the American restaurant

Pizza Hut is a good example: we've got about 100 of this chain here in Germany - they aren't really a success (get their pre-baked pizza dough deep frozen from France)

Olive Garden in the US does not represent itself as an Italian restaurant. They describe their menu as Italian-American, which is a very different thing (legit, but different).

It's a Turkish Restaurant in Southampton. (The Olive Garden in Zürich/Switzerland is a kosher restaurant - menu - very nice!)

Was.

According to relatives, Pizza Hut in Canada is very different from Pizza Hut in Germany. I don't get their love for it, but I don't have to like the same things other people do.

I'm not sure what your question is, are you asking me if I've been to the restaurants I mentioned?

After talking about all those chain restaurants, I thought about a non-chain in down town Annapolis. We haven't been to the Cafe Normandie in some time and I'm going to try and talk mr. G'bag into heading there tonight. Weekends in Annapolis are terrible for locals but most of the tourists are gone by Sunday night so tonight might be perfect. I do like Cafe Normandie, as well as Middleton's Tavern and the Treaty of Paris. They have maintained fairly high standards and (note to self) we really need to visit them more frequently.

My wife loves Whataburger, but hates Wendy's. Personally, a hamburger is a hamburger, and I go by how fresh it is and how clean the burger joint looks. One Tomball burger place has looked dirty for at least ten years. I don't understand why people still eat there.

Go for it...

This is interesting. I agree american italian varies and I gather can be tasty, and I know less than you as I'm not local to the US east coast. The San Francisco area, home of some friends, frequented by some italian families, has too many restaurants I haven't tried.
My friend Bonnie, who married a guy whose parents were from the Genoa area, who was well taught by his mother on does and don'ts. I helped (?) her in the kitchen once and she yelled at me to stoppppppp re al dente. Her/his al dente was beefier than mine. Well, we cooked together later and I learned a lot.