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I know we're from all over the place so I wanted to see what restaurants people have too much or too little of in their area.  I'm starting this thread because every time we get a new restaurant in town, its some crap we already have.

We currently have zero Sonics in RI but I constantly see their commercials on cable.  Regardless of how their food is, I'd like to see at least one come in so I may try it.  We currently have one On The Border which is probably my favorite Mexican place.  Problem is its quite far from where I'm at.  We also have one Krispy Creme which I believe is shutting down.  Why...well let me explain in the next paragraph.

In the too many department, we are drowning in Dunkin Donuts.  They're everywhere in Walmarts, gas stations and of course there is also their main restaurants which are around every corner.  I swear someday I'll wake up and there will be one in my house.  Tim Hortons is currently invading which I guess is good for donut competition but I doubt we need more donuts.   Other too many include McDonalds, Burger King, & Ruby Tuesdays among others. 

Far as Fast Food goes Sonic is really good and even though I live in a small town we have 1 here and 7 in the surrounding small towns, I eat there at least once a week. If for no other reason the shorty shorts the girls that hop cars wear.

As a rule I rarely go to fast food joints we have a number of Mom and Pop places I go to when out working, the food is better and often cheaper based on the amount you get. Last night for my birthday we went to J. Edwards a home grown places, really really good but not cheap.

I live in the heart of BBQ country so I find that's what I eat the most of, as anyplace you go around here there is a BBQ place, even hole in wall joints that serve up some mean BBQ. It's hard to avoid as hickory smoke is everywhere and all it does is make you hungry.

Sonic is just now getting into this area, but the commercials have been playing nonstop for quite some time now. Another new one in these parts in Chick-Fil-A. A third one just opened a few days ago. We have ONE Ruby Tuesday in the region, but it's about 20 miles from here. We had a bunch of Krispy Kremes but they have all shut down now. Of course, there is a freakin' Starbucks on every damn corner.

The following are all fast food places that we have in abundance (some are more regional than others): McDonalds, Burger King, Jack in the Box, In N Out Burger, Taco Bell, Del Taco, Subway, Quiznos, Togos, El Pollo Loco, Arby's, Wendy's, Carl's Jr. and Long John Silvers. No such thing as a Hardees or White Castle out here.

As far as "dine in" places go, the most common are Applebees, Outback, Red Lobster, Denny's, Baker's Square, Mimi's, Black Angus,  Chili's, TGI Fridays, El Torito, On the Border and Chevy's.

Oh I forgot Taco John's .... love that place it's a Taco Bell kind of place just better and they have daily specials and every Tuesday they have Taco Tuesday where you can get Taco's for 50 cents each in some stores 59 cents in others.

  http://www.tacojohns.com/ (http://www.tacojohns.com/)

If you look at Western Ky we have this anomaly cluster of Taco Johns in our area, which is good because they are great and cheap.

http://www.tacojohns.com/locations.asp?f=zip   (http://www.tacojohns.com/locations.asp?f=zip)

I was just speaking to my wife about the restaurants in our area last night.  I'm surprised there are not more of them as we are a huge tourist area.

Currently we have an Applebees, Ruby Tuesday, Outback, Taco Bell, Burger King, Hardees, Bojangles (yum!), McDonalds, Smithfield's, Pizza Hut, KFC, and Sonic.

Currently, they are building an Arby's and Chick-Fil-A. 

They only thing I wish we had more of around here is burger joints.  I'd kill for a White Castle/Krystal's, In n Out, or a Jack In The Box.  Sadly, none of those are regional here.

i live in wichita,we are a test market for chains,as well as having several chains founded here.does the black-eyed pea exist anywhere but here?or carlos o'kelly's?they both SUCK! i am a catering chef,but i don't eat what i cook at work,it's too froufrou,you know?my hubby and i rarely eat out,but when we do,we go to places locally owned,especially for mexican or steaks,none of the chains will ever get it right,especially a welldone steak!my fave chain in town is souper salad,they rock!

I live in a town of 26,000 and we have four Chinese restaurants, two of which are pretty crappy.  I lost count on Tex-Mex places, but counting the two fast food ones it is over a dozen.  What we need is a good Japanese restaurant where a guy can get some real sushi!   We had one, but it was in a lousy location and shut down.

In the San Gabriel Valley portion of L A County we have most of the fast food chains Burger King, Wendy's, Taco Bell etc. and the usual restruant chains, Denny's, Applebee's, Ruby Tuesday's, don't have White Castle or Sonics (at least I've never found one here) we do have some really good individual restruants, The North Woods Inn for steak and sea food, Bahooka for Polynesian food, El Sombrero for Mexican food. There is even a great sushi place, Tokyo Lobby, haven't been there for a while, last time we went, the wife lost her appetite for teriyaki beef and steamed rice while watching Kari (our daughter) and I eat sushi and discuss the taste differences between the tuna and the sea urchin.
We also have some great family owned fast food places, the food actually tastes like food.

We have a sonic in Central PA but it is like 40 miles from where I live.  I would say we have a lot of diners in our areas but I enjoy them for the most part.  The one I eat at the most Silver Springs diner has good breakfest meals.  I go there every Tuesday before my doctor's appointments.  We also have too many Chinese resturants as well.  I mean like Mechanicsburg alone not counting the faux restaurants that in the supermarkets I would say we have about 4 or 5 Other than that we have the following:

Red Robin
Cracker Barell
Applebees
Hooters
Garfields
TGI Fridays
Longhorn Steak House
Chillis
El Rodeo
Pizza Hut
Wendy's
Burger King
McDonalds
Arby's
Taco Bell
I think we are getting a Chick-fli-a up near where I live but I am not sure.

 Here in Lawton,Michigan,we have 3 bars....all serve decent food...but I don't ever eat there,because...well...they're bars=trigger.
We have a tiny drive-up called Taco Bob's...good mexican taco joint. Another Mom and Pop joint called KaCees Ice Cream that sells lousy burgers. A small diner-The Grapevine- good breakfast specials,low cost; another diner called the Breakfast Place...eh..ok. A pizza Parlor called Dicker Doo's...preety good pizza and subs joint. That's it.

 In Paw Paw about 7 miles down the road they got a big line of fast food crap off I-94. The usual suspects...all crap.  But on Main St. in Paw Paw there is a tiny place owned by a Chinese family called Great Wall...great food,nice people,good prices!  :thumbup:

Brothers and Sisters,
 It is my great pleasure to inform you that I live in Chicago, the food Mecca of the country. Only New York rivals us in this area , but I will deal with them momentarily. Let me just say that it's great living in a city that has food from all over the world. And not just in big,touristy type restaurants but in little mom and pop-made like in the old country style joints too. I can taste the world without having to drive more than 30 minutes. This weekend I will dine at a Morraccan restaurant. I don't even know wha that means in terms of knowing what food to expect. I may have to stop at a burger joint later if the food isn't to my liking. But the fun is in the adventure of trying new foods. You could probably hit a new restaurant every day for 3 years without visiting the same place twice.

What I am about to say next is daring and maybe even controversial, but it has to be said because it's the truth. Are you ready? Here it is:


Chicago has the best pizza in the country! Period! Even better than New York's!!!


I've been to New York and I've tried their pizza. It wasn't bad. I know alot is made of the fact that you can fold a slice of pizza there, but what of it? When did folding food become cool? 
  The pizza is passable though. It's the kind of thing we in Chicago would give our sick woman and children until they were well enough to stomach real food. So I guess it's OK as an anodyne. But as pizza...COME ON!!

Yes, where I live doesn't have a Carlos O'kelly's yet, but it does have at least one Black Eye Pea, but it has been a long time since I've eaten there. I did hear the chain is changing its menu and restaurant decor and going more upscale.

Um, no.  Sorry, but the best pizza comes from a local chain in Cincinnati called LaRosa's.  Proven scientific fact, all other pizza except my homemade ones should hide their cheese-covered faces in shame for even daring to bare the name.  And even my pizza has the manners to look embarrassed when someone mentions LaRosa's around it. 

All this city has is the big-name chains, either sit down or fast food.  Since I don't like Carolina-style BBQ, I usually stick with Bojangles when we're being bad.  (If you haven't had them, they're a Cajun-style friend chicken chain that is spicy and out of this world good.)  I do like On the Border, but Don Pablos is better, I wish we had them here.  I haven't tried any of the local Tex-Mex places because the local news stations publish the health department inspection results and that always cuts my interest cold.

Pizza huh?

Where I live is not know for being a pizza mecca, however we do have this one same pizza shop that makes a top notch pizza. Even my Chicago, LA and NY friends that have visited have said it's one of the best they've ever had.

They use homemade sausage, locally made farm cheese, fresh home grown garden veggies, home made dough, everything they use is home made, or locally made in small farm stores. And they bake in in a wood fired stone oven.  nothing they use is commercial. Granted you can buy 5 chain pizzas for the cost of one of theirs, but it's not the same.

The only thing about them is sometimes there open some times they're not. Irregular hours based on the ingredients and what they feel like doing. My sister drives 200 miles over here just for the pizza and I've know many others to drive to get it too.

There is stress about the future of the place to do the age and health of the owner, hopefully they will teach some one new the tricks they use to make such a great pizza.

The rest of the pizza places are you average run of the mill get them anywhere pizza. But it always seems that even small town have the one place that is good.

There is only one kind of pizza I simply cannot stomach: when they put the suace on top of the cheese! I forget the name of this horrible pizza chain but apparently they are everywhere around the delaware area. Anyways I have also been bombarded by sonic adds. but I have to yet see one in the entire west/middle side of michigan.

I like all the eat out places.  :smile: Also I've tried to make a complete list of such establishments, but they must be catagorized different. The high end places can't be compared to the low end. 

High End: Ruth Chris Steakhouse, Buddakan, etc.

Middle: Applebees, Ruby Tuesday, etc.

Low End: Taco Bell, Burger King, etc.

By the way Lonestar Steakhouse and Krispy Creme both went out of business here in our area. 

Some of my personal favorites are: In and Out, Carl Jrs, Taco Johns, Taco Bell, and yes even Jack in the Box. 

i miss jack in the box...and i wish krispy creme would go out of business here!!!lamars is so much better!

We have a lot of McDonalds, Burger King, Subway, Potbelly, Pizza Hut, White Castle, Taco Bell, Arby's, Denny's, Applebee's, and Green Mills around here.

We also have Eddingtons, Texas Steakhouse, Fuddruckers, Boston's, Panera Bread, and a few other themed places around here.

Places I'd love to try but none near me...

Red Robin
Sonics

Actually, I'm surprised no one has mentioned Dairy Queen. Most just think of it as a place for desserts, but their burgers and fries are really good. If I can't get anything at my normal stops (generally Subway), I go there. No lines or nothing.

True the DQ here is GREAT! The best fries in town and great burgers for fast food. It's on the other side of town from me when I'm over there about once a week I stop and get something, sometimes just a jumbo fries, there that good.

Or the other hand ... A&W and LJS has the worst fries, they alway taste like they were made last week.

Yeah, I generally only go to the local A&W/LJS here for a root beer float myself. I miss when they had them for 99 cents. That was nice.

I noticed when down South they have eat-in DAIRY QUEENS. Up north you stand outside. 

We use to have A&W when I was a kid in the 70's. You drive up and they take your order in your car. Then they had this tray what would hook on your windshield and of course you would get A&W rootbeer.

I hear CRACKER BARREL is great. Would like to eat their on time.

Anyone ever eat at SHONEY'S? Thats another one I've never tried. 

Just the breakfast buffet when they open at around 5AM in the summer. We'll set there shoot the crap, solve the worlds problems and eat and drink coffee for a couple of hours. It's really good.

Haven't done there lunch or dinner in ages.

 We usta have an A+W Rootbear drive in here in Paw Paw,back in the early 70's. Same thing...park,with the waitress and the clip on tray. Good hot dogs!
 I been to CRACKER BARREL in Kalamazoo 2 or 3 times...MAN! They make some dam good biscuits and gravy!!!  :thumbup:

This is what I don't understand, first off, these are the restaurants that are not in NYC:

Sonic
Chillies
Dairy Queen
Long John Silvers
Red Robin
Ruby Tuesday

Yet, I see commercials for these in NYC.  These places are either Upstate or in Jersey (like I have business there)

As far as restaurants, as in fast food, there is too many to count.  I live in Harlem, and the most famous street in Harlem is 125th street.  On that street alone, I can give you a count of how many fast food joint there is.

McDonalds': 5
Dunkin Donuts/Baskin Robbins: 4
Popeye's: 2
Burger King: 1
KFC: 1
White Castles:1
Taco Bell/Pizza Hut: 1
Domino's: 1
Subway: 1

We also have a place called Manna's.  It's a self service restaurant and you pay what you weigh. It has only Southern food and its successful enough to have 4 restaurants in Harlem.

And for the best chessescake hands down, go to Junior's Restaurant. Their main one is in Brooklyn, but there are two location in Manhatten (Times Square and Grand Central Station).  It's so good, a British company is thinking of bringing some over to London and possibly have a restaurant there (no lie).

The worst pizza I ever heard of was described to me by a friend who did a couple of tours in the Balkans as a peacekeeper. According to him, the normal way of cooking a pizza there included cracking an egg on top before you bake it. This apparently tells you when it's cooked. Not only did my friend find this thoroughly disgusting, the egg is virtually impossible to separate from the pizza once it cooks together.

On the subject of restaurant chains in abundance, Canadians have Tim Hortons, our  ubiquitous donut and sandwich shop franchise. When I lived in the city, there were some streets where you could pass two or three of them in just a few minutes. Just about any other major street would have at least one somewhere on it. I used to pass three of them on the way to work. They are found as stand-alone businesses, in malls, in neighbourhood strip malls, and as kiosks in Canadian Tire stores (combining two great Canadian institutions). For small towns, a Timmy's is one of those businesses that are viewed as a great achievement - they either brag about it or dream of having one someday.

Every morning, you can see the the customers lined up all the way to the door, the cars at the drive-thru lined up all the way around the building, as the cult of Timmy's get their morning coffee fix. I must confess to being a fan of the chain myself, but not to the extent that some people are. Canadians are big coffee drinkers, but there is also a strong brand loyalty there. Little wonder that Krispy Kreme's much-hyped expansion into Canada was such a complete failure.

MANNA'S!!!oh god i miss manna's!!!we had one in boston right down the street from the joke shop i worked at,i swear i didn't cook for 6 months!!!

Wait, wait, wait -- Are you talking about the Manna's soul food restaurant?  Pay as you weigh restaurant?  In Boston??? :question: (excuse my ignorance)

You know they should charge customers by their weight when you go to a buffet. I mean some people are just bigger and can eat a whole lot more. My wife is about 5ft 95lbs and eats only as much as a bird. Why should she have to pay the same price at a buffet as a man who's 6'3" and weighs 300 lbs? 

:question:

WHY? Two words .... Takeru Kobayashi.

Little Japanese guy who is the world eating champ.

Ok, I'll have to give you appause for that.

But wait he trains. He's a professional.   :bluesad:

http://youtube.com/watch?v=fml8XCTkhwA

yup,in boston!this was in the early 80's,don't know if it's still there..it was about 3 blocks from the combat zone,i met some amazing people there,and the food was incredible!