Chain Restaurant Thanksgiving Dinners Ranked From Worst To Best

Denny's is one of those chains that is perfect for late-night subsistence or budget-friendly all-you-can-eat pancakes. Its Thanksgiving offerings may be kind on your wallet, but it might not even mildly compare to a tasty home-cooked meal. Denny's offers a turkey dinner with savory stuffing, gravy, and cranberry sauce. The feast is pretty massive, as it also comes with a dinner roll and two sides. Diners can choose between Denny's classics like wavy fries or hash browns. Or, they can go more traditionally Thanksgiving with sweet corn. 

While the generous meal deal might sound tempting, those who have experience celebrating the holiday by eating at Denny's don't suggest that others try out the experience for themselves. One Trip Advisor review describes the meal as unappetizing, with unsatisfying portions and a dry turkey. Also, more than one review mentions that rather than a traditional dinner roll, their meal came with garlic bread. "In the description, it says roast turkey, and it was not really roasted at all — mostly fried," one Facebook review reads. "The dressing — gross. The only good thing that came out of it was the wavy-cut fries." For a similarly priced turkey dinner, Redditor u/Cat-attak suggests that diners opt for a Boston Market Thanksgiving meal instead. We can't disagree, which is why Denny's turkey dinner had to be put dead last on our list. 

Those of us who aren't skilled bakers might be familiar with Marie Callender's for its consistently good pies worthy to bring to any potluck or Friendsgiving celebration. The chain of restaurants and bakeries also offers a three-course single-serving meal on Thanksgiving for less than $30 that is tempting for its price and the fact that you don't have to clean up the dishes after eating it. The meal starts with a choice of a soup or salad, either a turkey or ham dinner with sides, and a slice of pie. The side offerings include apple-sage stuffing, yams, cranberry sauce, mashed potatoes and gravy, vegetables, and cornbread, and you can buy larger feasts to serve more than one person. 

While the food itself isn't bad, those who have tried out the Thanksgiving feast don't believe it to be worth the money. "Everything was good, though honestly it seemed to be almost exactly like the Marie Callender's frozen food that you can buy at the store," one Trip Advisor user wrote in a review. That customer added that they probably would've been happier buying the frozen turkey dinners and microwaving them at home, making it sound like a less-than-festive experience. 

Another Trip Advisor review agrees that the family pack Thanksgiving meal isn't worth the money, especially for the portions. "Food quality is almost as same as other local market Thanksgiving dinner package," the user wrote. "The side dishes are very small portion and not too flavorful too."

Nearly the entire marketing ploy of Cracker Barrel is its menu full of comfort food. It is easy to assume that they have the market cornered when it comes to turkey smothered in gravy, mashed potatoes, and macaroni and cheese. The chain even has a turkey lunch special every week that comes with dressing, sweet potato casserole, cranberry sauce, and either a buttermilk biscuit or a corn muffin for about $10. 

It's also available to enjoy on the turkey-centered holiday, but some Cracker Barrel enthusiasts claim that's actually the worst day of the year to order the dish. One Reddit user claims the chain was so busy it ran out of turkey, and the ham alternative wasn't satisfying. The sides didn't make up for it either. "Now, every business is different and the Cracker Barrel here is usually very good, just not that time," they wrote. 

Others who got to enjoy the meal on a better day at their local Cracker Barrel were major fans of the meal. "I am not one to eat stuffing but theirs was so good. The entire meal was perfect," one Trip Advisor review reads. "Turkey, ham, stuffing, cranberry sauce, candy yams, mashed potatoes. A [truly] great dinner and service." The inconsistencies on Thanksgiving are the main reason Cracker Barrel isn't higher, but it's worth going on any given Thursday to try out the same plate regardless. 

Ruth Chris Steak House is one of the more upscale chain restaurants out there. For Thanksgiving, they opt to make turkey the star of the show instead of beef on its massive menu. Oven-roasted turkey, sausage and herb stuffing, cranberry relish, garlic mashed potatoes, pumpkin cheesecake — it just keeps going. It's pretty much guaranteed that anything coming out of the kitchen at a Ruth's is going to be delicious. One Yelp reviewer who at the prix fixe menu was in awe at everything on their plate. "Roast turkey cooked to absolute perfection like no turkey we'd ever tasted before, a buttery brown gravy that blew our minds, perfectly tart and sweet cranberry relish, AMAZING herb stuffing with a bit of apple in it, and we opted for the mashed potatoes and sweet potato casserole on the side," the review reads. "All just tasted exquisite, perfectly cooked and so full of flavor." 

As expected for a fine dining restaurant, you're expected to pay a high price tag to dine at Ruth Chris Steak House for Thanksgiving. "It's probably a little more expensive than it should be, but at the end of the day, it's fantastic food and a great experience," one Open Table user wrote in a review of their holiday meal. "We probably wouldn't come back every year, but it's certainly something we will do again."

Buca di Beppo is usually the kind of place you go to for family-sized portions of spaghetti, garlic bread, and other Italian-American classic dishes. It is one of the more underrated chain restaurants to enjoy a stellar Thanksgiving meal, even though it's not something they serve on a regular basis outside of November. They serve sharable portions of the basics like white meat turkey, roasted garlic mashed potatoes, gravy, spicy Italian sausage stuffing, and cranberry sauce. The added bonus is that they also still serve up their traditional Italian-inspired dishes like penne alla vodka, chicken carbonara, and meatballs to mix in with the Thanksgiving dishes. Leftover stuffing and spaghetti? We can't think of how it could get much better than that. 

Buca lends itself naturally to a family-style dining experience, so it makes sense that the chain can seamlessly turn out a tasty Thanksgiving meal. "It's a very intimate family meal type dining experience, perfect for this occasion," u/MikoRiko, who previously worked at a Buca di Beppo, wrote in a review on Reddit. Additionally, as pointed out in a Trip Advisor review, it's a very affordable way to feed a lot of people on a budget, and you'll still probably end up taking home leftovers. "This made being away from the rest of my family on Thanksgiving not so bad after all," the review reads. 

Fogo de Chão is a high-end Brazilian steakhouse that knows a thing or two about perfectly executed grilled meats, and their take on a Thanksgiving dinner is no different. For the holiday, they serve the classics like roasted turkey au jus, sausage and apple dressing, sweet potato casserole, and cranberry relish. However, to add that Brazilian flare, you can add fan-favorites like pão de queijo or picanha steak to amp up the meal. 

Fogo de Chão's quality is what undeniably earns it the top spot, but it is a high-end chain whose prices reflect that quality. "Have been to Fogo de Chao many times before the was my second time having Thanksgiving dinner there," one Trip Advisor user wrote in a review. "The turkey is moist and not dried out but the gravy is the real star. As for the rest of the meal the usual choice of meats all of them were moist and not over cooked." Fogo de Chão also has the added appeal of a dazzling dining experience that also makes it feel like you're celebrating a special occasion whenever you dine there, including during the Thanksgiving holiday.