Dining at Chain Restaurants

[canyonwalker]

On our trip to Colorado a few weeks ago we ate a number of meals at chain restaurants. That's unusual for us as we prefer non-chain restaurants. There are a lot of good ones in our area; so many, in fact, that a lot of chain restaurants which are mainstays elsewhere in the US are MIA around here.

Take Olive Garden, for example. If a visitor told me, "I'd like to eat at Olive Garden," my first thought would be, "OMG, I can think of at least 5 Italian restaurants within a 3 miles of my house that are better than OG, depending on what you want." And my second thought would be, "OMG, I don't even know where an OG is around here." I'd have to open a map app and search! (Answer: There isn't one on the whole peninsula between here and SF, an area where 2.5 million people live. On the other side of the bay are three.)

That said, I understand why people like chain food. We eat at chains occasionally for a few of the same reasons. The biggest one is that chains are predictable. Going in you know what the menu will be, you know what the price range will be, you know what the food is going to look and taste like, and you know what the decor and level of service are going to be. Especially when traveling, where you generally aren't familiar with any of the local alternatives, that's significant.

Comments

[some_other_dave]

I think I remember going to an OG for a work lunch at some point. I don't remember when that was, though, and it could have been quite a long time ago. I wonder when they left the South Bay Area? (Or indeed if they did; my memory is definitely less than perfect!)

[canyonwalker]

The nearest one to here is over in Milpitas. I think it's near/at the Great Mall... which makes sense as a place where gener-American restaurant chains would be.