Not sure if they still have it but when the kids were young we’d play the jump the peg game on the table. That was fun.
Panda Express. I leave there more hungry than Panera. I never go. Nor to any Asian place with buckets of food in the window selling one item or two items etc. like at the mall or neighborhood strip mall.
Cava. The stock is great but not the food. Chipotle has a theme. It works. Cava just dumps a bunch of random stuff that doesn’t flow together.
The fast food type places are what they are. None of them are great and some are passable enough to stop at when traveling. The one I don’t get people going out of their way for is Cracker Barrel. It’s pretty bad but people actually seek it out like it’s going to be a great meal.
With food allergies, the one good thing about some of these places (NOT Cracker Barrel) is that I know if we get stuck, there are certain restaurants that are “safe” for me to eat at even if they aren’t preferred. Good thing I am the only one in my family that cares about food. The others just eat to survive.
ITA on Legal Sea Foods.
Roger Berkowitz sold Legal Seafoods to PPX Hospitality in 2020. It was going downhill even before the sale, IMO. It’s not what it used to be; H and I went there for a long time. I moved to Boston in 1982. My H was there earlier and went to the original store in Inman Square in Cambridge.
I heard Berkowitz on a local NPR station a few month’s ago. He’s started a new company, Roger’s Fish Co. It’s an online purveyor of seafood that ships flash frozen seafood sround the country.
Waffle House, Chick FIL A. If I’m going to have seafood, its not going to be at Legal Seafood.
I remember liking Panera when it first showed up. It quickly went downhill. Absolute garbage. Soup tastes like it comes from a can.
Cracker Barrel is awful.
It might be more interesting to flip the premise — what’s a nationally known restaurant people love to hate on but you love — maybe a guilty pleasure?
I guess I’m an outlier. I don’t think I’ve ever left a restaurant thinking, “that was awful, never going there again.” If someone is going to provide me food that I didn’t have to cook I’m pretty much going to enjoy it. So, yeah, I like Chick-fil-A. You want to go to Outback? Sure, I’ll go with you. I’m not a foodie, it’s more about the company than the food. Sorry to hear about Legal Seafood, though.
I have always wanted to try one of those famous Dick’s burgers, but I never will. Apparently they are completely unable to make them without ketchup and mustard. Yuck. Which I will not eat. Extraordinary that they can’t just make a dang plain burger. But it’s good to know that they are very mediocre anyways!
I like Panera, and Cracker Barrel is one of my favorites. It aggravates me that the closest one is 800 miles away. I wonder if some of the differences in opinion is because sometimes people find something they love at a restaurant and don’t deviate, while other people order things that aren’t great. For example, Cracker Barrel—eggs, thick sliced bacon, hash brown casserole. Best breakfast ever. However, I have no idea what the rest of their breakfast menu tastes like. It could be awful.
In addition to Olive Garden, the other one that always has ridiculously long waits, in my area, is Marie Callender’s. Overpaying for a pleasant but unremarkable pile of starch is bad enough, but waiting an hour or more for the privilege? I don’t get it.
Cheesecake Factory in Honolulu. 
Lines are snaking for what looks like a mile! I bet it’s no different than other Cheesecake Factory places without the crazy wait. But every time we visited, that place was mobbed. No idea why.
My DH likes Popeyes. I don’t get it. Bad food, dry biscuits and terrible service.
Krispy Kreme. If I’m going to take on the calories and sugar of a donut, KK (and Dunkin, for that matter) would be way down on the list. We have several mom & pop donut places that are fantastic and totally worth going off the wagon for.
Five Guys. The burgers sit so heavy on my stomach! I don’t get the attraction.
Hard Rock. Just no.
Magnolia Bakery.
It’s a cupcake, people. Admittedly a good cupcake. But there just is no cupcake that’s worth waiting a hour in line for.
I am not a banana or a pudding person per say, but their banana pudding situation is 
!!! I choose it over a cupcake!
Agree with this based on noise alone. Seems you can always hear the music/noise a block away!
Chik-Fil-A for me too. I’ve tried it 2 or 3 times and while it isn’t bad is just okay. There are other places I’d rather go if we have to eat fast food.
We rarely eat out. Mostly on vacation. When we travel we tend to stop at grocery stores and get something from their deli and produce area - subs, chicken strips, premade salads.
In Boston’s North End, tourists wait in long lines for cannoli from either Mike’s or Modern Pastry. We go one street over to Bova’s, open 24 hours, great cannoli, no lines. Family run, been there forever.