Il Fornaio
Roy's Restaurant
Hy's Steakhouse
And while not upscale, Duke's on Waikiki Beach.

So true, Patrick. I had no idea that Maggiano's was a chain until I saw Jacketwatch's post yesterday. It probably listed all of their locations in the menu, but I didn't see it.

I am also sure that some people would be totally surprised that you can use your Marriott rewards to stay at the Ritz - might not be the same for some if they can't say they outright paid $500/night :)

Cheescake Factory - a bit pricey but the food is quite good--love the avocado egg rolls

Poquito Mas - great veggie burrito

Can someone please tell me what to order at PF Chang's? I have been there twice and both times, the food was just awful. I left thinking that the four-dollar lunch special at the chinese restaurant down the street was far superior!

I subscribe to "Nations Restaurant News," the weekly news magazine of the restaurant industry. Reading the ads in that publication has been very disillusioning and eye-opening because it is amazing how much of what is served at restaurants - chain or not - is bought from a third party...desserts, sauces, veggies, BBQ'd meats...the list is endless. So don't for a minute think that if you aren't eating at a chain, the food is necessarily "home made."

Indeed. But be sure that pre-snob days when I was open to chains (P.F. Changs, Smith and Wollensky's, Ruth's Chris, Legal Seafoods) I was constantly disappointed.

PF Changs and Cheesecake Factory. We don't have either yet in my city but in the past year I have eaten at PF Changs in Birmingham, Tulsa, Kansas City, Dallas and Los Angeles. I've fallen in love with their lettuce wraps (I am trying to perfect them at home but not there quite yet). What is Pei Wei and how is it pronounced? I just saw a sign for this today for the first time near the mall. Rumor has it that we will get a PF Changs withing the next year here in OKC.

Missypie, you are totally correct. Very similar to "designer" items (clothes, household items, generics ect) that are manufacted right next to the no-names, but sold to the designer with the big name imprint. I know because I work for such a company.

Hi Paige,

Pei Wei (Pay Way) is an offshoot of PF Changs so it includes some of their signature dishes (including the lettuce wraps and crispy honey shrimp/chicken), but you walk up to the counter to order, then find a place to sit. They still have a wait staff that brings you your food and refills your drinks. Our kids love the plate full of edamame-in-the-pod for $2.95! The Pei Wei here in Tulsa is WILDLY successful. I'm pretty sure they have a website that you can find via google.

Joy, you said..."Heaven knows that if you go to a non-chain, truly upscale restaurant and pay a lot of money, there is no fat or salt in their food and the patrons are all bone-thin."

You are right, of course, private restaurants do use salt and butter, etc, but they also cook fresh vegetables and use fresh ingredients..Or maybe I am just not adjusted yet to the land of strip malls and Famous Amos..but do come to Jacksonville, there do happen to be some fabulous restaurants here too :)

hehe seetheworld, Patrick

reminds me of a posting a while back on the a Carribean forum recommending a resort because there was no riffraff in there using credit card points to get free nights :)

Ooo I remembered another no one has mentioned...

The Melting Pot - 3 hour fondue marathons!!

At the risk of offending many, here are my thoughts on some of the aforementioned chains:

1. Maggianos = Bad
2. Bucca di Beppo = worse
3. Olive Garden = inedible
4. Cheesecake Factory = epitome of mediocrity
5. PF Changs = hit or miss
6. Morton's = Not what it once was
7. Ruth's Chris = butter on the steak; potatoes wrapped in foil--need I say more?
8. Roy's = hit or miss
9. Puck's Cafe's = inconsistent

The only two chains I have tried that have been good and consistent are:
1. Il Fornaio = Never had a bad meal at any of them
2. Oceanaire = Eaten at two and they were both amaing.

AL ((d))

I must say this is an entertaining thread, and it's stayed remarkably civil! I'm not completely condemning chains, and if you like one or the other, wonderful for you. But for me, I want to occasionally experience some joy in my dining-- not just a full feeling after the "gut-buster" special over at Claim Jumper (where I've seen platoons of morbidly obese people leave after dinner with doggie bags, moaning in pain).

My favorite local Sicilian joint is run by a big, gregarious guy from Palermo by way of Brooklyn. No great atmosphere, simple pasta and marinara dishes, cursory wine list, yet the place is always packed. Why? The food tastes of quality ingredients, and it tastes like someone made it who enjoys making good food. Even the simplest tomato salad-- vine-ripened romas, garlic, basil, red onion, salt, pepper, olive oil-- bursts with good cheer.

I just don't get that at Olive Garden.

Al-- your ratings sound like mine!

Great-- now I'm having a huge craving for some Black Brandywine tomatoes, and the Farmer's Market outside my office is over!! Dammit...!

rjw_lgb_ca,

I agree, I think we have similar "tastes" in food. You have some good ones out there in your area too. Frenchy's, L'Opera, Walt's Wharf (Walter Babcock was my dentist while growing up in Seal Beach). Been to that dinosaur Kelly's--in Naples--lately?

AL ((d))

No, haven't been to Kelly's. I'm a big fan of Christy's in Belmont Heights-- I need to get to her ex-husband's place in Naples, Nico's (I think she still has a hand in it, as they're still very close friends)....

But as I'm still on a diet, who gets to really tie on the high-class feed bag on a regular basis?

OK, I wanna play this game too! :)

My favorite and not so favorite upscale, midscale, downscale restaurants are, listed in order of my preferences:

Il Fornaio

Legal Seafood

Maggiano's Little Italy

Outback Steakhouse

Red Lobster (just had some fab clams there - somewhere in the midwest, can't remember where!)

Fish Market

Elephant Bar

Pasta Pomodoro

In n Out Burger

Astro Burgers (in LA)

Cheesecake Factory

Sweet Tomatoes

Macaroni Grill

McDonald's Mexican Salad (not its real name, can't remember the name, but had it for the first time this last week and it was good! Better than most restaurant salads!)


The two chains that I NEVER EVER go to are:

Olive Garden, and

PF Chang

If you wouldn't take a real Italian to Olive Garden, you shouldn't take a real Chinese to P F Chang's.

Out here on the West Coast, you can get lettuce wrap in almost 80% of the standard Chinese restaurants. It usually has a bird - chicken, duck, goose, squab - meat and sometimes you can request your choice of meat. It's all chopped up fine with some veggies, mushrooms, etc. and - with a bit of plum sauce - you wrap it all up in a sheet of lettuce, just like a burrito.

Good edamame can be obtained from Costco in the frozen food section and you can take it home and cook it yourself. It is also served in a lot of sushi boat places. It's just soybeans cooked in their shell with some salt added. The Japanese do it best. Like good pasta which has to be cooked "al dente", well done edamame has to have the right "crunch".

Even the Panda Express, standard Food Court offerings, offers better tasting Asian food than the confused mess of PF Chang, IMHO.

To each his own. I also had a horrible meal at the Left Bank here in Silicon Valley and so will never go to one of those restaurants again.

My favorite kind of dining is in the one-of-a-kind restaurants. They don't have to be expensive, just have good food. That's what going to a restaurant is all about - good food, good wine, good company, good service - happy, happy!

designmr, fun thread! Thanks for starting it! :)

Don't talk to me about dieting: I've been trying to drop a few pounds, too (leaving for an Alaskan cruise this weekend). Been to Nico's and also had a good meal at the Greek restaurant in Belmont Shores (Mykonos?) the last time I was out there.

By the way, Kelly's used to serve great steaks and seafood in the kind of atmosphere (clubby bar with wood and leather) that's gone the way of the Dodo. Also, they used to make their own port-heavy pate' which is complementary with all dinners.

Ah, the good old days!

Al ((d))

Olive Garden in Canada is horrible. I hope the U.S. version is better. I've tried to get into P.F. Chang's but there's always a huge line up at any of their locations. (I hate to wait in line for anything.) I like Cheesecake Factory and Bistro Zinc (I think that's a chain as I've been to one in Chicago and one in Phoenix). In Canada, Kelsey's is pretty good but it's more medium than upscale range. Bifteck is also good.

antlori: Do you mean Le Bifthèque? My parents used to take me to one outside Montréal when they lived there. Wonderful (although I could never get into the escargots)!! There was a mini-chain of prime rib joints called Mother Tucker's (in Québec: "Chez la Mère Tucker") that was great too. Is that still around?