Anyone else sick and tired of all the chain restaurants popping up...

[bozack]

and killing the nicer local places? I don't know if this is commonplace but at least by me there are so many so called "higher end chains" from "The Capial Grill", PF Changs, Maggiano's, Ruth Chris, Morton's, and "The Cheescake Factory", to lower end like Chili's, Macaroni Grill, Boarder Cafe, on the Boarder, Fridays, Bennigans, the 99, Pizzaria Uno, Bertucci's, Bugaboo Creek, Applebee's....and the list goes on

It seems nearly impossible to go to a nice, medium priced local establishment in my area, either they are small take out joints, or they are pretty pricy establishments and even those are getting over run by the chains...

And the chains either are horrible on the lower end, with often poor service, food that is not that great, and they are dirty, and the so called "higher end" isn't even that great, I cannot count the number of times my wife has dragged me into the Cheescake factory only to suffer through a two hour wait and have them give me lousy service as well as horrible food...other places like Ruth Chris were a bit better (but alot more expensive) but still nothing to write home about, nothing like a local place where if you go there enough they get to know you and what you like.

Its not like I go out often, however things seem to be getting pretty homogonized in the area of dining out, I remember making fun of a friend of mine who visited me in DC when I lived there because all he wanted to eat was Subway and there were a ton of new and different places, that was a few years ago...but now it seems, at least in this area that this type of mentality is prevailing and eventually all we will have are these chain type places...what really got me was an article about a new capital grille they built in some upper middle class mall in my area, the piece said that the one thing the CG could bring that a good local place couldn't is "name brand recognition"...personally thought it was kind of sad that people would be so lazy that they would just seek out that which is familiar instead of venturing out to try that which is new...

oh well sorry for the rant, just wondeirng if anyone else noticed this trend and or if anyone had any family in the business who was impacted by this...I have known a few who got pushed out of the market because of chains and they weren't happy with it (obviously)

 

[mpitts]

At least all of the signs are in English.

 

[IronWing]

Hi, I'm Skippy! I'll be your server tonight. Would you like to start out with one of our famous peanut butter margaritas and an $18 appetizer?

We're still lucky here that we have lots of really good local mexican joints and a handful of other good local places. I've eaten at a chain is years, except when traveling and time is a factor. When staying in a different town overnight, the first thing I do when I get to the motel is grab the phonebook and see what they have for local restaurants.

 

[Red Dawn]

Hell I'd just like to see a decent Mexican Restaurant here in Greater Boston.

 

[I Saw OJ]

Originally posted by: Red Dawn
Hell I'd just like to see a decent Mexican Restaurant here in Greater Boston.

Hell, I'd like to see a restaurant open up that ISN'T mexican food here in central california.

 

[wyvrn]

My area of Texas thankfully has kept a lot of good local restaurants. We have the chains but you can still find authentic mexican, asian, and italian in a lot of places.

 

[IronWing]

Originally posted by: mpitts
At least all of the signs are in English.

Usually not a good sign, particulary with mexican food.

Hints you're about to get bad mexican food:
Restaurant sells liquor/beer/margaritas
Lettuce is present
Garisson Keillor is on the radio
The staff don't look related
Lack of norteño or rodeo posters
Tables and/or chairs match

 

[Cristatus]

If you think that's bad enough, you should check out the http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clone_town in England. You can hardly find anything local anymore. All you see is the major chains, and no more groceries or flower shops or restaurants, and sometimes even pubs in this country (there's either a Whetherspoon or some other similar chain in almost every major town).

It can be really annoying when you're looking for some nice flowers, or tasty food, or in some cases, freshly baked bread.

I guess this movement means that lesser and lesser people will be able to start up local businesses, but I guess the governments in the UK and US has to do something to promotes smaller businesses in these sectors, but it's not that simple.

 

[Red Dawn]

Originally posted by: I Saw OJ

Originally posted by: Red Dawn
Hell I'd just like to see a decent Mexican Restaurant here in Greater Boston.

Hell, I'd like to see a restaurant open up that ISN'T mexican food here in central california.

Move to Boston from CenCal like I did and you'll eventually pine for good Mexican food.

 

[lokiju]

Originally posted by: I Saw OJ

Originally posted by: Red Dawn
Hell I'd just like to see a decent Mexican Restaurant here in Greater Boston.

Hell, I'd like to see a restaurant open up that ISN'T mexican food here in central california.

Where I'm at just north of ATL theres so many local Mexican and Chinese restaurants its not even funny, hell we even have a ridiculous amount of local Italian places also.

I'm not complaining though, a lot of them are pretty good (of course some suck also)

 

[ShotgunSteven]

It is happening where I live. It was a huge event when we got a Boston's Gourmet Pizza, and it was a long time in coming. Since then we have had at least four new chain spots open that had no presence in the area before, two fast food and two with delusions of grandeur.

The locally owned places have picked up their radio and print advertising, making sure to emphasize that they are locally owned and not a chain restaurant.

 

[markgm]

I've noticed it too. I'm going on a cross country motorcycle trip this summer and one of the rules we set is that we won't eat at a national chain. I know that some of my favorite meals are at local joints I've found living on the East Coast.

 

[ElFenix]

Originally posted by: Red Dawn

Originally posted by: I Saw OJ

Originally posted by: Red Dawn
Hell I'd just like to see a decent Mexican Restaurant here in Greater Boston.

Hell, I'd like to see a restaurant open up that ISN'T mexican food here in central california.

Move to Boston from CenCal like I did and you'll eventually pine for good Mexican food.

you probably mean cali mex, as there is little authentic mex mex in the US, especially where there are long-standing mexican communities. chicago probably has the most authentic mex mex nowadays due to all the mexicans there being relatively recent immigrants.



at least in houston a lot of the chains are locally owned :laugh: (well, brinker is from dallas and that is close enough)

 

[DrPizza]

I have to agree with the OP, to an extent. I'm fortunate enough to live in a rural area. The chains seem to want to be in higher population areas. We have some restaurants with exceptionally good food in this area. I can't recall ever having an exceptionally good meal at one of the chains. It seems that at the chains, the goal is to get you in and out of the door as quickly as possible so they can seat someone else and make more money.

 

[mpitts]

Originally posted by: ironwing

Originally posted by: mpitts
At least all of the signs are in English.

Usually not a good sign, particulary with mexican food.

Hints you're about to get bad mexican food:
Restaurant sells liquor/beer/margaritas
Lettuce is present
Garisson Keillor is on the radio
The staff don't look related
Lack of norteño or rodeo posters
Tables and/or chairs match

Living in Atlanta, I never have a problem finding a good mexican restaurant.

 

[XZeroII]

Chains are not necessarily a bad thing. It's variety that I like.

 

[mugs]

Originally posted by: XZeroII
Chains are not necessarily a bad thing. It's variety that I like.

Same. I enjoy food from chains. I enjoy food from non-chains. We have plenty of non-chain restaurants here, but they're all Italian.

 

[KK]

Originally posted by: mpitts

Originally posted by: ironwing

Originally posted by: mpitts
At least all of the signs are in English.

Usually not a good sign, particulary with mexican food.

Hints you're about to get bad mexican food:
Restaurant sells liquor/beer/margaritas
Lettuce is present
Garisson Keillor is on the radio
The staff don't look related
Lack of norteño or rodeo posters
Tables and/or chairs match

Living in Atlanta, I never have a problem finding a good mexican restaurant.

Yeah, Although I was sad to see On the Border close out here in conyers.

 

[HardcoreRobot]

chains were local somewhere, once

 

[oboeguy]

YES!!!!!!!!! I totally agree with the OP and I didn't even have to read the post. I've been b*tching about this for years. I die a little inside every time I see "Chipotle" or whatever other worthless, standardized-food chain restaurant show-up in Manhattan. OP, really, I completely share your sentiments.

 

[toolboxolio]

I like Pollo Tropical for there boiled yucas and fried plantains.

It's the only chain I can think of that doesn't have a 100% chain-style menu.

When I was in Gainesville, I would make it an effort to goto mom n pop shops whenever I ate out. It was the best and surprisingly cheaper eating than going to chains.

If anyone is in gainesville and likes some nice spicy food... goto Steamers next to the post office that is near campus.

 

[Sukhoi]

Man same thing here. I live in very newly developed parts of town. It's a huge commercial area that has all been built in the last 5 years. And every single restaurant (there are tons) except maybe this one real expensive steak place is a chain. It's sad.

 

[Exterous]

I guess I'm pretty lucky where I am as its pretty easy to find both. I like alot of the "chains" - Bennigans, Red Robin....but I can just as easily go hit a mom and pop italian/mexican/chinese food place

It probably has to do with the shops downtown being to small for any self-respecting chain restaurant to move into - heck, one burrito place is so small that if someone is sitting at their one table you have to ask them to move in order to get out with your food

 

[mercanucaribe]

The homogenization of America marches on. Placelessness makes everyone's life interesting and rich.

http://repository.upenn.edu/dissertations/AAI9532202/

http://www.geog.nau.edu/courses/alew/ggr346/text/chapters/ch1.html

A highway strip shopping center is visually the same whether it is located in Los Angeles, California, or Buffalo, New York. A fast-food chain restaurant looks and feels the same in Miami as it does in Montreal, Canada or Capetown, South Africa. The North American landscape is rife with placelessness, which is not necessarily bad but is an important concept to understand.

 

[Vic]

Originally posted by: ironwing

Originally posted by: mpitts
At least all of the signs are in English.

Usually not a good sign, particulary with mexican food.

Hints you're about to get bad mexican food:
Restaurant sells liquor/beer/margaritas
Lettuce is present
Garisson Keillor is on the radio
The staff don't look related
Lack of norteño or rodeo posters
Tables and/or chairs match

Sign of good Mexican food: all TVs in the place are tuned 24/7 to futbol via Mexican satellite.

Sign of good Asian food: you're the only round-eye in the place.


To the OP: there are plenty of good local restaurants here where I live. Chains are just more visible, with big signs, prominent locations, and lots of advertising dollars to spend. You just need to open your eyes, look around/ask around, and then actively support your local restaurateurs.
You have to take initiative in this life. People who whine about the "homogenization of America" are in denial over their own involvement in it. Fsck "awareness," making a difference begins with your own actions. Most people go to chains simply because they're familiar with the brand name, and unwilling to take a chance on a place they've never heard of. Take the chance.