Best Chain restaurant?

[MissChief]

A new TGI Fridays opened near my ex wife's house recently and we've been out with the kids there three times in the last month as the food is so good. The Ultimate Ribs are fantastic as is the Jack Daniels glaze. The prices are a little bit higher than Frankie & Bennys but to my mind the food is much better. Bigger portions and tastier too! Does anyone else frequent such establishments?

[hornetrider]

MissChief said:

Does anyone else frequent such establishments?

Dear God no! I could run the question past my butler if you like?

[grumbledoak]

Like the coffee chains, I don't mind them. You can do better with an independent. And you can do a lot worse, too. A nicer environment than a pub lunch IMO.

I would say the best are
French - Cote
Italian - Jamie's
Burger - GBK
I don't really do 'American' food

[Joey Ramone]

Better than Frankie and Benny's? That's like saying "better than eating out of a skip".

[The jiffle king]

"Bills" is ok for a smaller chain

[anonymous-user]

I'm a big fan of Wagamama.

[BrabusMog]

The jiffle king said:

"Bills" is ok for a smaller chain

I only found out last year that Bills was a chain, I had presumed the one in Reading was an independent - good quality in my opinion. Love the sauce at TGIs and also at Giraffe, and I think all the voucher code Italians make for good, cheap meals out midweek.

[21TonyK]

Bit of a theme for me and partially because they are relatively close to home but Bistrot Pierre takes some beating for value for money.

And not a restaurant but open to non-residents, Hotel du Vin.

[Patch1875]

Pizza express

[rb5er]

TGI's is abolute cack these days.

[Sarkmeister]

I'm generally a massive food snob, however I love Wagamama and Nandos. Cant beat them for a quick cheap (and fairly healthy ish) meal.

[craig1912]

Pizza Express for something before the football (Tesco vouchers!) and Wagamamas and Nandos
Hate TGIs and Frankie and Bennys with a passion- microwaved crap

[mat13]

The TGI Fridays chicken starter with the jack daniels glaze is one of my favorite things at the minute, so, so good!

[GrumpyTwig]

I'd just like to state that Nandos is st, terrible overpriced st and all their deserts are stodgy crap. Hate the place with a passion along with their poor excuse for 'fries' which are usually limp flaccid affairs.

Franky & Bennys I can just about manage to come to terms with and find something I'll enjoy but I think as others have mentioned Wagamamas is probably the only place I can say I've really enjoyed food.

I prefer to cook myself

[mattdaniels]

Cafe Rouge is pretty good as chains go.

[Deadlift]

Byron Burger
Pizza Express

Wouldn't go near any other chain restaurant.

[technodup]

grumbledoak said:

I would say the best are
French - Cote

Excellent. I've got a free dinner there next week.

[red_slr]

I think I would have to agree with Wagamama. Been eating the food from there for almost 20 years. Its the same everywhere you go, its always high quality, cooked fresh and reasonable value. Menu is almost unchanged in that time. Chicken Katsu Curry... every time!!

TGIs would be a close second - although it depends on branch as some are better than others. Our local is pretty good. Gets really busy though and sometimes gets a few undesirables in esp on Fri / Sat night.

Frankie and Bennys was good until 3-4 years ago when the menu seemed to start to get smaller and portions and quality fell. They also removed the herb potato from the breakfasts and we stopped going. Used to go for breki on a Sunday a few times a year.

[227bhp]

Loch Fyne.

Someone is trying to subject me to a Harvester next week, i'm not looking forward to eating that st that's for sure.

[Tickle]

227bhp said:

Loch Fyne.

Someone is trying to subject me to a Harvester next week, i'm not looking forward to eating that st that's for sure.

Loch Fyne is the only chain that I have been to in a long time

I always eat at independents or cook myself.