There are far too many. Sometimes it comes down to draft beer cost and selection for me. Also I know they're prepackaged but Chili's southwest egg rolls sometimes just call to me.

Yea, I don't really hate any of these chains. It does get grating after a while when that's 90% of what there is out there. It's kind of like living in an apartment where everything is from Ikea.

I had a coworker going on about Cracker Barrel being a classic American institution and I'm like, I have never eaten at one in my life.

They're fine. They imitate old country stores like Olive Garden imitates Italian restaurants.

And Olive Garden doesn't really imitate well. I thankfully am not far from the North End in MA or other actual Italian restaurants elsewhere. Chains do get to be unappealing after a while. Regional ones are different.

I'm not saying I wouldn't eat there and be fine, but I'm not going out of my way to get Cracker Barrel. We have too many chain restaurants. I eat at them. I get the appeal of consistency and affordability. But, man, at a certain point, the whole country starts to feel like a series of mid chains.

It’s made travelling in America less interesting. There’s so much natural beauty but 80% of every city is the same chain stores and businesses as every other one.

That and Cracker Barrel serves crap I wouldn’t let my dog eat. So it’s got that going for it.

it Olive Garden but for hillbillies

🤣

I was at a giant shopping center the other day that had nearly every chain store imaginable. There was a Target and a Walmart. It was sort of convenient, I guess, having everything in one sprawling complex. It also felt completely soulless.

I live in a place where if I leave my little hiding spot that kind of thing repeats itself every five miles or so. The great state of interstate exit is the largest in the country.

I sincerely believe that this is where a lot of conservatives' directionless rage and scapegoating comes from. We've traded away culture and aesthetics for convenience, and we've done it so gradually that we now struggle to understand why nothing seems pleasant or fun anymore. We're just bored.

At least I can go to the good Arby's

The irony of all these people following marble statue accounts pining for the architecture of medieval Europe…

Part of the reason I love Long Island so much. The chains are there, but plenty of unique places to eat with their own charm.

Well… in defense of chain restaurants, this is a whole country of mid people.

I do love their pancakes but I don't go out of my way to go there

Yea, it's fine. Like most chains, it's fine.

I’m a really big mark for Chili’s. I think it’s better than fine.

I prefer Chili's to most of the other chains. But I also feel pieces of my soul evaporate every time I think about ranking food chains, to be a bit dramatic about it.

I have an 8 year old. Something fun, cheap(ish), and tasty enough is what you need to get through a Friday evening when you’ve been cooking all week. I understand the soul crushing nature of , but sometimes, fuck it, give me a big mouth burger and a sugary marg.

I mean, yea, I eat at these chains. They're mostly fine. Some are a little better than others. It's just a bit much that they've become our dominant food culture.

In the industry we used to refer to it as the *Sea of Sameness*

It's strange going from metro Seattle to mass America on trips and going from 3% chains to 97% chains. There are a few national chains I'd like access to as a guilty pleasure, but it's too much work to get to them here. But if I visit my mom in Indiana, you have to make an effort to avoid them.

My Indiana parents visited Maine and said it needs an Applebee's.

The United States of Generica

On at least two occasions, Cracker Barrel was the only option on a dark and lonely road. Hours of night driving would’ve been treacherous if those CB’s hadn’t been there. Cracker Barrel was a life saver. It wasn’t the meal quality, but location, location, location.

there is a reason they call it the cracker barrel and its not because of some old guy with a barrel full of saltines. its because they cater to crackers and when you are done you are soon going to need some sort of receptacle