I grew up going to On The Border and Olive Garden, and thought they were good.
IHOP. Going there when I was a kid was such a treat, I would always get the huge pancake with the face on it that would take up the entire plate. The last time I went, which was several years ago, the serving sizes were so much smaller than before and nothing tasted all that great.
I used to love all their wacky pancake flavors, like the New York cheesecake or whatever. Tried it again as an adult and it was disgusting and way too sweet to be eating first thing in the morning.
Chain restaurants have been garbage since COVID. (TBF they weren't exactly stellar before.)
You can tell that many servers and cooks moved onto other careers during the pandemic. It seems like servers now are way too inexperienced with little help.
Really just restaurants in general. Covid put so much stress on any restaurant that was already running on a thin profit margin. I feel like I’m general portions have gotten smaller or lower quality, prices have gone up, and the little extras are gone.
Five guys used to be amazing, but really felt like it fell off a cliff in my area. I'm also just eating out less. It's so damn expensive and the food quality in general seems to be way down compared to the mid 00s to mid 10s. Maybe my tastes have changed, but I swear to God if we had a time machine, the food in like, 2011 would taste way better at many restaurants.
Chili’s and Golden Corral.
Golden Coral has seriously dropped off since the late 90's.
Applebee's used to be our go to late night spot, half off apps and solid drink specials, they have since only made half off apps a limited time thing once or twice and the overall food quality seems to have dropped a lot.
I always used to say "Applebee's: when you want to pay $20 for food you can microwave at home"
I used to go to Chipotle almost every day at lunch in high school. Their steak was always fresh, always had a kick, and was consistent every time. Today, chipotle is overpriced, cold, stale food 5/6 times you go.
Subway in the 90s was kinda awesome. It was fast and wasn't a burger place and it had the old brown and yellow subway wallpaper everywhere.
Then they kept expanding locations and the meat and cheese slicers disappeared.
Then they ran $5 footlong.
Then they kept running $5 footlong.
And kept running it. And the quality kept dropping and dropping so they could keep the price peg.
Now, it's disgusting and costs way too much.
You couldn't pay me to eat subway, now.
I feel like if you don't like the sandwich you got at subway isn't that kinda your fault since you're the one who built it?
No idea man. I've refused to eat there for about 15 years.
The bread smells like plasticsizers, the meat reaks of nitrates, the lettuce smells like chlorine...it's like bad prison food--is that my fault?
Growing up our absolute main spot was The Old Spaghetti Factory, and sometimes we would hit Applebee's or Chili's.
Now I'm lactose intolerant so can't eat a lot of the stuff at OSF, plus it all upsets my stomach now, their quality has gone downhill.
Applebee's and Chili's were probably never that good but tasted a lot better in my kid brain than they do now.
Have you tried lactase supplements? I became lactose intolerant as an adult and swear by these to still enjoy a lot of dairy products
I've definitely tried the Lactaid pills and they're very hit or miss for me, even if I take up to 3 with the first bite of food!
Weirdly though, I can drink Lactaid milk. But their eggnog messed me UP.
