Restaurant chains you wish you had near you

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Sinsear

Diamond Member
Jan 13, 2007
6,439
80
91
I would like a Waffle House.
And a Chik-Fil-A.
Arby's too.

Long Island is deprived of these fine dining establishments.
 

Nebor

Lifer
Jun 24, 2003
29,582
12
76
There are no restaurant chains within an hour's drive of here. The locals keep out the chains. Louisiana corruption at it's best.
 

Angry Irishman

Golden Member
Jan 25, 2010
1,883
1
81
I live in Guam....so......

Chipotles

Red Robin

Panda Express

and a shitload more independent ma and pa establishments. there are some good spots to eat on island there could just be more.
 

zerocool84

Lifer
Nov 11, 2004
36,041
472
126
Chipotle burritos are worse than Taco Bell and Del Taco's burritos. I seriously don't get why they are liked so much. Sure they're big but they're 99% rice with practically no meat inside. I like rice in my burritos but when there's nothing else in the burrito it sucks. Plus the rice was tasteless and the guacamole was bland. I would get a Del Taco Macho Burrito any day over a Chipotle burrito or even the 99c burritos from there.
 

QueBert

Lifer
Jan 6, 2002
22,553
834
126
Chipotle burritos are worse than Taco Bell and Del Taco's burritos. I seriously don't get why they are liked so much. Sure they're big but they're 99% rice with practically no meat inside. I like rice in my burritos but when there's nothing else in the burrito it sucks. Plus the rice was tasteless and the guacamole was bland. I would get a Del Taco Macho Burrito any day over a Chipotle burrito or even the 99c burritos from there.

Chipotle makes your burrito right in front of you, thus meaning it has to be moar bettar! At least that's what morons think. My friend told me "it's fresh because I watch them make it right in front of me!" I asked "do you know how long the meat and rice and other shit have been sitting there in the server dishes?"

I knew somebody who worked there, it's not really any fresher than Taco Bell, as with Subway a lot of the ingredients wind up sitting out for a long time.
 
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Nebor

Lifer
Jun 24, 2003
29,582
12
76
I would kill both of you to have a Chipotle in my town. I'm not exaggerating. I would take your lives. Complaining about how someone makes your food when you're telling them how to make it? What is wrong with you?

Chipotle is what I miss most about living in civilization. I miss it so much that I now keep a photo blog of every time I go to Chipotle when I'm out of town.
 

QueBert

Lifer
Jan 6, 2002
22,553
834
126
I would kill both of you to have a Chipotle in my town. I'm not exaggerating. I would take your lives. Complaining about how someone makes your food when you're telling them how to make it? What is wrong with you?

Chipotle is what I miss most about living in civilization. I miss it so much that I now keep a photo blog of every time I go to Chipotle when I'm out of town.

I live in So Cal, honestly I can't think of a Mexican chain I don't like more. If you had Green Burrito (not the bullshit ones that merged with Carl's JR) you'd be saying "Chi-what-le?" Albertos is better, Taco Bell & Del Taco are better. Miguel's JR is MUUUUCH better. It's not a bad place to eat, but if you're anywhere with a wealth of Messican places I don't see why you'd pick there. Hell in SD I go to Cotijas and for the same price I get a burrito that tastes better and is *no lie* around 3 times as big. Plus they make fresh Watermelon smoothies.

Hell Chipotle's rice isn't even close to authentic, for that alone I tend to avoid the place. White Rice + tomato sauce, dunno what the fuck they think rice is suppose to be, but it's definitely not what they make. Not that it tastes bad, it's actually pretty decent, but when I go out for Mexican food, I want Mexican food. It's pretty sad when Taco Bell's rice is authentic and this shit ain't.

I am not at all sold on the whole "wow they're making it in front of me how I ask!" thing. Every Mexican place I eat at makes it how I ask, yeah I can't see them doing it 2 feet away but so what?
 

Nebor

Lifer
Jun 24, 2003
29,582
12
76
Well I'm from Texas so there's not a lot of different Mexican style places to eat at since we don't have much of a Mexican presence in the state. Chipotle is great!
 

Mr. Lennon

Diamond Member
Jul 2, 2004
3,492
1
81
I live in So Cal, honestly I can't think of a Mexican chain I don't like more. If you had Green Burrito (not the bullshit ones that merged with Carl's JR) you'd be saying "Chi-what-le?" Albertos is better, Taco Bell & Del Taco are better. Miguel's JR is MUUUUCH better. It's not a bad place to eat, but if you're anywhere with a wealth of Messican places I don't see why you'd pick there. Hell in SD I go to Cotijas and for the same price I get a burrito that tastes better and is *no lie* around 3 times as big. Plus they make fresh Watermelon smoothies.

Hell Chipotle's rice isn't even close to authentic, for that alone I tend to avoid the place. White Rice + tomato sauce, dunno what the fuck they think rice is suppose to be, but it's definitely not what they make. Not that it tastes bad, it's actually pretty decent, but when I go out for Mexican food, I want Mexican food. It's pretty sad when Taco Bell's rice is authentic and this shit ain't.

I am not at all sold on the whole "wow they're making it in front of me how I ask!" thing. Every Mexican place I eat at makes it how I ask, yeah I can't see them doing it 2 feet away but so what?

Are you really comparing Chipotle to Taco Bell? There is a reason why you can get a full meal at Taco Bell for under $2 bucks.

http://www.chipotle.com/en-US/fwi/animals/animals.aspx

You are paying for quality ingredients at Chipotle. God knows what the fuck is in the meat at Taco Bell. I bet Del Taco probably uses meat 1 step above dog food.

I agree that Chipotle is nowhere near authentic, but they still make a great tasting burrito IMO.
 

novasatori

Diamond Member
Feb 27, 2003
3,851
1
0
Hungry Howie's Pizza

there is one across the bay, but its too far to be practical, their pizza is really good and $5 on Mondays
 

Born2bwire

Diamond Member
Oct 28, 2005
9,840
6
71
Hungry Howie's Pizza

there is one across the bay, but its too far to be practical, their pizza is really good and $5 on Mondays

Man, I didn't know Hungry Howies was that popular. We had one near me for a short time. MMmmmmmm... garlic crust.
 

KMFJD

Lifer
Aug 11, 2005
30,031
45,261
136
Boston Pizza? Probably one of the worst family restaurant chains I've been to. It's airline food you know. Literally. Comes in bags and they just heat it on site. :\

Wish we had a Nando's Chicken here. Portuguese style BBQ chicken with spicy piri piri sauce. Yum.

Seriously? Boston Pizza is shit beyond shit....


/Oporto's
 

Spoooon

Lifer
Mar 3, 2000
11,563
203
106
Well I'm from Texas so there's not a lot of different Mexican style places to eat at since we don't have much of a Mexican presence in the state. Chipotle is great!

Where in Texas? Freebirds is much better than Chipotle in my opinion.
 

Feneant2

Golden Member
May 26, 2004
1,418
30
91
I would trade every single family restaurant in town for a Cheesecake Factory. The selection in restaurants here is beyond poor and the 'best' dessert in town is some piece of crap cake called a Chocolate Eruption which is sold from about 25 restaurants including gas stations, greek food, pizza places, chicken places, etc, etc.
 

DrPizza

Administrator Elite Member Goat Whisperer
Mar 5, 2001
49,601
166
111
www.slatebrookfarm.com
Within a 25 minute drive, there are a grand total of 1 chain restaurants - McDonalds. And, I don't eat there. And, I couldn't name a single chain that I would want easier access to. Within that same 25 minute drive, there are numerous smaller hole in the wall types of restaurants. Pretty much all of them have great food, higher quality food than most chain restaurants, and quite often, far better value. For $5, I can get a monster sized cheeseburger, made with *real* cheese, not that American processed cheese crap, a huge plate of fries, pickle, tomato, etc. - all I can eat.

For breakfast, I could go to Spragues - if most of you ate a breakfast (or many of their dinners), you'd WISH it was a chain restaurant and available locally for you. They raise their own free-range turkeys - their turkey dinners are awesome. They're one of the largest maple syrup producers in the area. With breakfasts, you get unlimited pancakes - and they have many types available - all with REAL maple syrup, not that HFCS flavored crap. And, it's cheap.

To put it simply, why the fuck would I want a Pancake house, waffle house, or other such monstrosity to compete with a place like this. Ditto more fast food burger joints competing with the mom&pop places (who, given the smaller population in this region, would likely not be able to survive such competition, despite having better food & prices.) And, I certainly don't want a Red Lobster competing with my "home of the 1 pound lobster tail."

We have guests from other states/more civilized parts of this state, and I always hear them raving about how much better the food is in these types of restaurants & how they wish they had restaurants like these in their area instead of all the chains.
 

twinrider1

Diamond Member
Sep 28, 2003
4,096
64
91
Chipotle burritos ....they're big but they're 99% rice with practically no meat inside....

That. Exactly that. And dry too. I don't get the appeal. Around here they had a "free burrito if you dress up like a burrito day." People were lined up around the building! Even if I liked them, I wouldn't wait that long for one. Not to mention how much they spent on aluminum foil (You buy foil lately?).


I want ZANTIGO! Their chilitos were amazing. They just killed Taco Bell. Sadly, Taco Bell bought them out. I guess there are a few left in Minnesota.
 

nageov3t

Lifer
Feb 18, 2004
42,808
83
91
For breakfast, I could go to Spragues - if most of you ate a breakfast (or many of their dinners), you'd WISH it was a chain restaurant and available locally for you. They raise their own free-range turkeys - their turkey dinners are awesome. They're one of the largest maple syrup producers in the area. With breakfasts, you get unlimited pancakes - and they have many types available - all with REAL maple syrup, not that HFCS flavored crap. And, it's cheap.
it's only a 6 hour drive, count me in for 2 :awe:
 

evident

Lifer
Apr 5, 2005
12,014
626
126
Anything I would want would never come here as far as chain resturaunts because I am in such a rural area, but here they are -

Nobu
In N Out
Jack in the Box

I would really like a real italian place around here though, no one around here does it any justice. Doesnt have to be a chain or anything, just something italian.

goodness. every other restaurant in the philly suburbs is italian. so friggin sick of them, even if some of them really are good
 

bobdole369

Diamond Member
Dec 15, 2004
4,504
2
0
Bojangles I missed too - Love that place.

I never got Chipotle. It's just a stupid burrito. There is nothing great about them. In fact they don't have much but a shitton of rice in there. And no sauce bar so you gotta trust the idiots making your food to know and they never get it hot enough.

Church's is ghettofabulous, Browns even more so. KFC is trying to be more than it is, which is ghetto chicken. Thank god nobody mentioned Dominoes pizza or really any chain pizza place. Local mom and pops all the way.

Waffle House was fine until that guy got shot in the head at the most local one to me. Brains on the window and it was on the news.... Srsly never going in there.