The Most Overrated Chain Restaurants In The US, According To The Mashed Staff
It seems like new chain restaurants are popping up everywhere, and it's pretty obvious why customers embrace these restaurants with every new location's opening. Chain restaurants offer consumers convenience and consistency — or at least that's the overall goal. It's through these efforts, that some chains have carved out loyal followings and grown to become international franchises. That said, the product doesn't always warrant the acclaim.
For every fast food or casual dining fan who praises a chain restaurant's service or must-try menu item, you'll find another person who says, "No thanks ... Pass ... Overhyped." Maybe the burgers are nothing special or the milkshakes are as thin as water. Whatever the case, some chains, despite the fanfare, aren't all that great. At one point or another, just about everyone has tried a chain restaurant after hearing about how fantastic it was and left thinking, "What's the big deal?"
The Mashed writers are sounding off and these are the chain restaurants that we think are overrated ... no matter how good you tell us the secret menu is.
Chipotle - Crawford Smith
One of the most infuriating things I see when I travel through the Southwest is the proliferation of Chipotle locations. Texas, New Mexico, and Arizona have a long tradition of making some of the best burritos and other Mexican food in the U.S., so how can Chipotle survive there? Even worse, why is it thriving, with lines out the door? I just don't understand why anyone would choose to eat at this poor imitation of a Mexican restaurant anywhere where real Mexican food is cheap and easy to find.
Chipotle is the training wheels of Mexican food. If you're unfamiliar with the cuisine, it's a safe space to get acquainted with some of the flavors and classic dishes, but once you're not a baby anymore, it's time to move on. All of the meats are like the LaCroix version of the Mexican preparations they're imitating — a faint shadow of the full flavor experience. The beans don't taste like anything, the queso sucks, and the bland guacamole isn't worth the upcharge. That brings me to another gripe: Chipotle is low-key expensive. If I'm going to eat fake Mexican food, give me Taco Bell any day. I can get like 2,000 calories for $5 and Taco Bell actually seasons its food. The next time you get a Chipotle craving, stop yourself, pull up Google, and find a locally-owned burrito place instead. Your taste buds will thank you.
In-N-Out Burger - Kirstie Renae
In-N-Out Burger is a fast-food burger chain that has achieved cult-like status among fans of drive-through fare. Lovers of the California-born restaurant hype up the quick service, simple ingredients, and secret menu. Labeled the "not so secret" menu on In-N-Out's website, this selection features different versions of the chain's generally plain burgers and fries with items like the bun-free Protein Style burger and the saucy, grilled onion-topped Animal Style burger. However, no amount of "hacked" In-N-Out menu items can overcome the one glaring problem with the chain — it's just dull.
Compared to a chain like Whataburger, which offers a near-endless list of customizations diners can make to their burgers, In-N-Out is just too plain. It's simply overhyped by Californians and diehard fans of the restaurant. While, yes, diners can get a three or four-patty burger with grilled onions and a thousand island-style sauce, that's about as far as things go creatively at In-N-Out. Nary a slice of bacon, a different style of cheese, or more sauce options in sight. In addition, there are no additional topping options such as jalapeños or avocado, and without something additional to flavor things up, In-N-Out's burgers and fries are just okay.
Now, if you prefer your burger as plain as it can get, then perhaps In-N-Out is for you, but for burger fans who like a little extra, it fails every time.
Olive Garden - Brian Boone
For many years, Olive Garden marketed itself as a place where customers could re-create a sprawling scratch-made Sunday dinner: "When you're here, you're family," the TV commercials ended. That evocative slogan was true, just not in the way the copywriters meant it. When you're at the Olive Garden, it feels like family, if you come from a particular kind of family — one headed by one or two working parents who made weeknight dinners as fast, cheaply, and unsophisticated palate-pleasing as possible and with the use of boxes, cans, and a microwave. Olive Garden's supposedly authentic, old-world-style Italian dishes taste, look, and feel like a non-calorically reduced Lean Cuisine lasagna-like thing by way of Hamburger Helper of Chef Boyardee. That's all well and good, but it shouldn't run $20 an entree.
Those high prices absorb the cost of Olive Garden's famously free and fiercely beloved sides — unlimited salad and garlic breadsticks. The salad is nothing special, merely a mix of some bagged iceberg and romaine mix topped with way too much gloopy dressing and ironically very few black olives. But those breadsticks, the ones with a devoted following. They just aren't very good. Ultra-processed white flour with the only flavor coming from a garlic butter that's obviously made up mostly of garlic salt and a cheaper butter substitute. The whole thing tastes like a bland Tuesday night suburban dinner in 1987 but at 2023's steakhouse prices.
Taco Bell - Amy Bell
I admit that I go to Taco Bell more than any other fast food restaurant, but that's only because it's one of the few places my vegetarian daughter can find something to eat beyond side orders and grilled cheese. However, I don't visit because the food is all that great. My memory tells me that it used to be better in the early 1990s, but it's only ever been a weak imitation of true Mexican food. I remember having a conversation in the late 1990s about how the seasoned ground beef had changed to have no flavor anymore except salt. So, it's been a while since I've enjoyed eating there. I abandoned Taco Bell for years in favor of Taco Bueno back when I lived in a city that had one. Then, I'd feel like I was eating semi-spicy cardboard when I ended up visiting a Taco Bell on a road trip.
It's true that Taco Bell has some things going for it, but it's mainly in the marketing department rather than its food. While we all hate the strategy, it's actually brilliant for the chain to constantly add and take away limited-time-only menu items to get people into the restaurant hoping to find something great. Unfortunately, it's rare that the new menu items are worth mentioning. I will say that I was pleasantly surprised that the Enchirito was decent considering how much the internet seemed to hate it. But everything else is usually just mediocre at best.
Chick-fil-A - Adam Swierk
Before any readers accuse me of a liberal bias with this selection, allow me to retort. Sure, I won't pretend Chick-fil-A's well-publicized history of donating to ostensibly pro-Christian charity groups — charities that, in turn, are in contrast with Jesus Christ's actual teachings by actively supporting anti-LGBTQ+ causes — isn't demonstrably disturbing. But Chick-fil-A's overrated nature really comes down to one simple issue: it's always tasted mind-numbingly average in my experience.
Frankly, despite the plethora of people who swear up and down by the restaurant's famed chicken sandwich, it skews closer to my high school cafeteria's fried chicken sandwich than the best on the fast food market. For the record, that isn't an insult, per se, since those chicken sammies were incredible for a random school lunch item. But it does illustrate, in part, why I'll choose Popeye's over Chick-fil-A — 1,000 times out of 1,000, in fact — when I'm craving a fried chicken sandwich.
In other words, I'm not punishing Chick-fil-A for its politics, my main problem lies with the bland-as-mayonnaise flavor profile found in every item I've ever ordered from the fast food chain. You may disagree, but with so many other top-drawer fried chicken-centric establishments available, I'm satisfied skipping Chick-fil-A for the foreseeable (and long-term) future.
The Cheesecake Factory - Helena Nichols
The Cheesecake Factory pitches itself as an upscale dining experience but does not deliver on its promises. With a menu the size of a phone book, it is astounding that there is so little there to order. The meal portions are massive, but somehow there is nothing on the menu that even resembles healthy or edible. Seriously, how do you get over 1,000 calories into a mediocre salad? It just makes no sense. Such portion sizes may compare to items found in Guy Fieri's restaurants, but at least he does it with pizzazz. The architecture at a Cheesecake Factory is somewhere between Italian-gaudy and Tower of Sauron, really just driving home the over-the-top glutinous, consumeristic American vibe.
What really makes them overrated is the cheesecake itself. For a long time, The Cheesecake Factory has been riding the high of offering a wide selection of these admittedly labor-intensive desserts. But at the end of the day, its cheesecake isn't worth its weight. Again, the company is relying on quantity over quality. To top it all off, the slices have gotten smaller as the prices have risen. The last slice I got there of the Caramel Apple cheesecake had just one measly piece of apple and cost more than $10. Save your money for a better dessert elsewhere.
Applebee's - Mary K. Cahill
If a restaurant has been around since 1980 and there are nearly 2,000 locations worldwide then the food must be good, right? Not if that restaurant is Applebee's. We aren't saying this American chain was always terrible, but after a few decades in the biz, it has become completely overrated.
Applebee's biggest issue is the menu. It lacks creativity and is low on variety. Unlike a lot of its competitors, Applebee's makes almost no effort to offer vegetarian entrees. An Impossible cheeseburger is a recent and welcome addition — but you would need to like the taste of beef to actually enjoy one and not all vegetarians do. To get the most out of Applebee's food selection, make sure you come hungry for chicken or beef because they make up more than half of the menu items.
Pub food is a crowd-pleaser, but Applebee's pub-style concept is a little all over the place. Spinach and artichoke dip is served with a side of chipotle lime salsa and a pile of bland tortilla chips. The mozzarella sticks, waffle fries, and pretzel bread sticks are no different from the processed frozen kind you could buy at your local supermarket. Applebee's is also pretty unhealthy. It's hard to forgive the fact that the Oriental chicken salad is well over 1,000 calories, even if the chicken is grilled! Instead of Applebee's on a date night, we'd rather stay in and cook at home.
KFC - Brianna Persons
Like any red-blooded American, I'm happy to take the calorie hit feasting on fried chicken. So saying I find KFC not all that special might inspire a few pitchforks my way. Sure, the Kentucky chicken titan has been an American icon up there with Uncle Sam and the bald eagle since the 1950s But the Colonel's Original Recipe has yet to wow me. For all those iron-clad secrets stored in the breading's seasoning blend, all I can taste is salt, grease, and then salt again.
Probably the moment that sealed its mediocrity for me was in 2015, after ordering a Fill Up Meal for dinner. Getting fried chicken, mashed potatoes, a biscuit and a cookie to the tune of $5? It was a deal I couldn't pass up. Big mistake. The whole meal glistened in oil (including the cookie!) since everything was tossed in a haphazard pile, and the promising load of food was no less worth my trouble. The potatoes were grainy, with brown gravy glued to the top. The biscuit resembled cardboard, and the coating on my breast piece slid off in a single moist heap. Where was all this "Finger-Lickin' Good" business I'd heard so much about?
Clearly the 27,000 locations at it around the globe show that I'm outnumbered here. But if I'm going to indulge, let it be in the spice-powered poultry Popeyes slings instead. That Cajun gravy rules.
Shake Shack - Crysta Coburn
When Shake Shack first moved to town, I held back from immediately dropping by in hopes that the initial crowds would soon thin. That was not the case. Every trip I have made to Shake Shack, the place has been packed. This wouldn't be as much of an annoyance if the food or shakes were worth the trouble. But I just don't see the appeal.
I have tried a lot of restaurant burgers in my life, and while I both appreciate and respect Shake Shack's dedication to quality, when it comes to taste (not to mention price), the burgers don't distinguish themselves in my eyes. I got the same impression from the French fries. I was excited to try the Shroom burger, but it left me with an upset stomach for hours after.
As for the shakes, I was surprised to find the texture strangely on the gritty side. I grew up going to Steak 'n Shake, and when a shake craving hits, that will continue to be my go-to. And no one does frozen custard better than Culver's. Sorry, Shake Shack. I guess you just arrived too late and offered too little.
Chili's - Jeremy Brown
Chili's Grill & Bar is a chain that has left an indelible imprint on pop culture, with everyone from N*SYNC to "The Office's" Michael Scott singing (quite literally) its praises. Sorry to say, much of that praise is undeserved.
Chili's menu promises classic American food with a Southwestern/Tex-Mex twist. However, a lot of the entrees are bland and devoid of any real flavor. The salsa has the taste and texture of V-8 juice, while the marinated grilled chicken just tastes like plain (and somewhat rubbery) chicken. On the beef side of things, steak is often cooked one way and served with beef jerky-level toughness. Pasta dishes aren't much better, often served glopped with thick, tasteless sauces and seemingly heated in the microwave. The ambiance is also a deterrent, often punctuated by music so loud, one has to shout to be heard. Credit where credit is due, however, that baby back ribs jingle is still catchy.