Do you tend to eat in chain restaurants more than local ones?

[Becky2005]

We tend to do chains here mostly because for some odd reason 90% of the local restaraunts close by 3 pm. Doesn't make it really easy to go out to eat anywhere except chains when you don't get home from work until 5 pm.

We had a few favorites that were open later but then they started closing early too & well, we were out of luck. We are still trying to coordinate going to one of them that DS requested to go for his birthday meal (which his birthday was in January) but we can only go on the weekends since they close early now & our weekends have been fairly booked since it's competition season for DD's gymnastics & cheer right now.

The other ones that are open later are $$$$$ ones. DH & I just tried a new one for lunch Saturday and it was over $75 for the 2 of us. I can't imagine taking all 6 of us there.

Although, we mostly order pizza now. THEY are open late and we have an abundance of choices.

 

[auntpolly]

Which place?

Oh, that's right! I didn't say!

Babbo! We had to have dinner at 5:15, but it was worth it!

So many good italian ones - have you ever been to i trulli? It's an old favorite of ours.

We went to cru a couple of weeks ago and that was pretty impressive!

 

[Duckfan-in-Chicago]

Who even knows anymore? There are a few big corporations that own NUMEROUS restaurants around here. For the longest time some of the restaurants I liked I thought were small local restaurants only to see two or three more of them pop up in a few years.

I know Lettuce Entertain You is somehow involved in managing some 'chain-type' restaurants like Big Bowl and Wildfire, but also Tru which is one of the top rated restaurants with one of the top chefs and top pastry chefs in the country.

 

[Mrs.Toad]

We tend to eat at more chain restaurants because the vast majority of casual, kid-friendly restaurants in our area are chains.

We prefer local restaurants, though. There are a couple of kid-friendly places we frequent, and others that dh and I like when we eat out on our own.

We love the Melting Pot though. Although it's a chain, the food is good and the experience is fun. Plus, since it's all cooked at the table, you know it hasn't been sitting under a warming lamp for 20 minutes.

 

[RickinNYC]

Oh, that's right! I didn't say!

Babbo! We had to have dinner at 5:15, but it was worth it!

So many good italian ones - have you ever been to i trulli? It's an old favorite of ours.

We went to cru a couple of weeks ago and that was pretty impressive!

Never been to either.

Where in heck do you live? Are you around NYC? How come I didn't know that? Or did I and I'm being dense.

 

[auntpolly]

Never been to either.

Where in heck do you live? Are you around NYC? How come I didn't know that? Or did I and I'm being dense.

Oh, I live near Cleveland,OH, but I get to NYC about once a month. We aren't originally from Cleveland, we've moved around quite a bit courtesy of my husband's work, and I really think I want to move to NYC when we get to the point that we can decide where to live.

You are so LUCKY! I really do love New York!!!

 

[ducklite]

It depends. We like some of the chains, like Carrabbas and Bubba Gumps for example. We've got some really good local restaurants in this area, too.

We've got a local chain of counter service Mexican places called Tijuana Flats that we really love! They are starting to expand outside of the Orlando area, if you've got one near you give them a try!

Anne

 

[rie'smom]

We tend to order out-alot. Our preference is for local restaurants.

 

[lulu71]

It's weird, now that I think about it, I like some of the chains that I've been to out-of-town that we don't have here. There is a seafood place in Florida, I can't remember the name, but it has the word "bones" in it that was decent. I also like that Giordano's pizza in Orlando and I think they have them other places.

We have a local chef and a culinary family here that have a number of restaurants that we like but I'd hardly consider them chains. Of course, we claim Emeril as our own and I'd eat at any of his places any day of the week.

 

[Micca]

We recently moved to a new city & state so we're trying out as many of the local ones as possible. As chain restaurants go, I think Melting Pot is really good. OK, I'm off to find a mom & pop Mexican place for lunch.

 

[Eric95403]

We do both, but try and hit the locals more frequent. Some of our locals have become chains though (Mary's Pizza and some of the food networks Guy Fieri's restaurants...Johnny Garlics and Tex Wasabi's Rock-N-Roll Sushi-BBQ). I'll try and throw my support to the locals when I can. We're lucky, we have some real nice locals here in Sonoma County.

 

[JVL1018]

I loooove On the Border, and I also like Chili's-we go to Applebees sometimes(my least favorite) and sometimes Fridays. Oh I also really like Houstons.
Food always tastes freshly cooked, not reheated to me.

Italian food is another story-we go to local restaurants only for that, usually a place called Sanducci's, sometimes a place called Andiamo.
Pizza is always a local place as well, no Dominoes for us.

Chinese food is never a chain, either, always a local take out place.

ETA: Breakfast out is ALWAYS at our local diner. WAY better than IHOP or any other place.
My son, Matthew, cracks me up, I think he thinks we call it Matthew's Diner because he likes it so much, but it;s the name of the place-he just calls it My Diner. LOL!

Also, I do love some Friendly's every so often, and I have a bizarre love for Denny's--I think because it reminds me of vacation. We have no Denny's around here, so the only time we ever go is on our road trips to Hilton Head.

I have a restaurant rule for vacation:
I refuse to eat at a restaurant we can go to at home, and except for my beloved Denny's (and an occasional Sonic if I can find one)that means no chains, no fast food, nothing of the sort.