Rankings Week: Best Casual-Dining Restaurants
(It’s Rankings Week on The Kelley Black Book. I need content. Lists are easy. All week, I’ll offer up some thoughts on weird lists sure to make people mad at me.)
As I write this intro, we are waiting for our Olive Garden food to be delivered. The reason we chose Olive Garden is because we had a gift card from Christmas. But it brought to mind the idea of ranking the fast-casual chain restaurants.
Now, first things first: Eat local. Now especially, but really any time you can, find a locally owned restaurant. They’re basically always as good, very often better, definitely more interesting, and more beneficial than the national chains. But ranking local restaurants on the internet is kind of silly (Unless the Herald-Leader wants to toss me a few bucks to do that? I totally can! You can reach me!), and we’ve all gone to the chains often enough. I rounded up 30 chains that exist around here and that I have enough experience with to feel okay with rankings.
And yes, a lot of these restaurants are unavailable to you right now because of the pandemic (you might have heard), but a lot of them are. Patronize them. And your local places. Help out.
Also, keep in mind that this isn’t a strict quality-of-food ranking. A fast-casual restaurant where the food is $30 a plate is almost certainly going to have higher-quality food than the place where you can get a $3 waffle. So this is more about “their success at being what they want to be.” If a greasy spoon knocks its stuff out of the park and the wannabe-fancy-ish place is only OK, the wannabe-fancy-ish place is probably still offering better food than the greasy spoon, but the greasy spoon has been more successful in its venture. Does that make sense? I think that makes sense.
(I know having any real kind of ability to speak intelligently on 30 different fast-casual restaurants is exceedingly sad, for cultural reasons in addition to gastrointestinal ones. Sorry.)
Okay, on with the top 30. I’m also offering my top order at each place, but I’m also pretty adamant about not locking into any order anywhere, so there’s nothing I get every time anywhere.
1. Ted's Montana Grill
I didn’t know much (anything) about Ted’s when it first opened in Lexington, but here we are more than a decade later, and there probably isn’t a restaurant I’ve eaten at more often. It’s a bit more expensive than most of the things here, and the half-sours they put on the table to start the meal (I call them picklecumbers) are utter garbage, but the burgers themselves are freaking miracles. I’m sad right now I’m not eating it.
My order: Canyon Creek (cheddar, bacon, jalapeno, blackberry jam, fried egg), bison, cooked medium, fries.
2. Buffalo Wild Wings
Are there better wings? Yeah. Are there better places to watch a game? Sure. But for a quick jump-in location to get some chicken, have a beer, watch plenty of sports, and have some comfort because you know exactly what it is everywhere, it really works well. Also, their garlic parmesan sauce is the nectar of the gods.
My order: House sampler (nachos, onion rings, mozzarella sticks, boneless wings) with garlic parmesan, maybe some fries if I’m feeling particularly fat.
3. BD Mongolian
I really expected Mongo’s to be too gimmicky when I first went there. My standard joke about hibachi restaurants is:
I basically expected BD’s to be the same when I first went there. Not bad, totally fine food, but not exactly breaking the taste curve. But I love me some BD Mongolian. It’s so damn good, and the fact that they opened one like a mile from my house that only lasted a few months before it closed makes me so sad.
My order: I mean, different stuff all the time. Tough to really have an “order” at a build-your-own hibachi place.
4. Old Chicago
Everything I’m hearing about Old Chicago’s reaction to the coronavirus tells me that we might not ever get a chance to eat there again. And that’d be a shame. The pizza was fine, but the calzones were real good.
My order: Craftin’ my own calzone, baby.
5. The Cheesecake Factory
QUARANTINE ACTIVITY: Finally read the whole Cheesecake Factory menu
It’s fine! Some of the stuff is good! But like the saying that when you have two quarterbacks, you don’t have one quarterback … when you have every cuisine, you don’t really have any cuisine. That’s not an insult! It finished fifth, and I know when I go there I’ll like whatever I get. I just never know if I’m going to love it.
My order: I don’t think I’ve ever ordered the same thing twice. So, no idea. I will split a piece of cheesecake with my wife, though.
6. IHOP
This is the best of the all-night dinery places (barely). Cinna-Stack pancakes are the best things ever created. And it is absolutely hilarious that “IHOP” stands for “International House of Pancakes,” because that’s the dumbest name of all time.
My order: 2x2x2, sausage links, scrambled eggs, Cinna-Stack pancakes.
7. Cheddar's Scratch Kitchen
Applebee’s and Friday’s and such are far more famous, but Cheddar’s does better food than them and is generally a fair bit cheaper. Why it’s not more famous, I don’t know. (Also, I think I dropped a hundred-dollar bill at a Cheddar’s about a decade ago. I don’t know, but I had it and then I didn’t and that’s the only place I had done anything with money. When I called to ask if it had turned up, the manager laughed at me. I didn’t even blame him.)
My order: Their online menu indicates the Monte Cristo might not be available anymore, which would be the saddest thing ever in life.
8. Waffle House
Waffle House exists in a different stratosphere from the IHOP/Denny’s brigade, but don’t for a second consider it a lesser place. Waffle House is a holy place that evokes the best of us, and I will accept no argument to the contrary.
My order: Sausage, egg, cheese sandwich, double waffle. Probably coffee, depending on my state at the time.
9. Red Robin
I don’t know how long Red Robin existed before it arrived in Lexington (well, Nicholasville, I guess), but the first time I ate there and discovered that they had bottomless garlic parmesan fries was one of the best days of my life. (Yes, that’s a sad sentence.)
My order: Smoke & Pepper burger, as many garlic parm fries as I can stuff down my gullet.
10. O'Charley's
O’Charley’s holds a weird place in my life. For those who don’t know, I worked there intermittently for a huge chunk of my young adult life (2004-2006, 2007-2008, 2013-2016). I quit there four different times, got fired once (I laughed at the manager and told him no, I wasn’t fired, and he backed down), and could break down the ins and outs of any location you dropped me into within five minutes.
Anyway, the potato soup is the thing that people come to O’Charley’s for, and I do not understand, because it is terrible. But the rolls and the chicken tenders and the chipotle sauce (oh my god, the chipotle sauce) more than make up for it.
My order: Combo appetizer, except no skins but extra chicken/fried cheese. Chipotle sauce.
11. Buca di Beppo
I didn’t know anything about Buca di Beppo until we relocated to Cincinnati for my sons’ birth and the older twin’s heart surgeries. My wife’s dad took us out there twice. It’s a whole different world. I didn’t know such things existed. That doesn’t mean it’s better than other Italian restaurants, just that the family-style thing was not in my realm of expertise. It’s a me thing, not a restaurant thing. But it was a strange new experience.
My order: A lot of something.
12. Red Lobster
Sure, the Cheddar Bay biscuits are amazing. But we all know that. I need to address the trademark. Lobster and crab. Here’s the thing about those foods: They are fine. But all they are is fine. A lobster roll is wonderful. Crab cakes are great. But give me a damn shell to crack and work to get the meat out of? I’m out. Not interested. If it were the best food ever, if it were filled with O’Charley’s chipotle sauce or something, maybe I’d be up for the effort. But for lobster or crab meat? Hard pass. Most overrated food. There are some excellent Red Lobster dishes, but the signature items aren’t those.
My order: Dragon shrimp, Caesar salad, probably too many biscuits.
13. Ruby Tuesday
Ruby Tuesday was never great, but it was always good enough. If I ate there, I wasn’t sad. Maybe I wasn’t over the moon, but I was also never at Ruby Tuesday looking for over the moon. I have never said “Man, I wish I could eat at Ruby Tuesday,” but at the same time I’m sad there aren’t any open in Lexington anymore. Weird juxtaposition, I admit it.
My order: Buffalo bleu chicken burger.
14. Chili's
Our daughter loves Chili’s, almost entirely because of the little tabletop video game thing, which is dumb. But her order is mac & cheese (and they serve Kraft) and corn, so it’s not that the food is anything special for her. But as a result, I’ve eaten there a lot. And while it has changed what it wants to do about a hundred different times, it always ended up somewhere in the neighborhood of slightly above average.
My order: Triple Dipper, switching up the specifics all the dang time.
15. Olive Garden
It appears Olive Garden is operating on a limited menu during the coronavirus shutdown, because we had our choice of like eight different items for the meal we ordered. The soup was watery (that’s an exception to the norm, at least), the stuff all tasted vaguely the same, the breadsticks were a step below those of Fazoli’s. It’s aggressively American Italian food. I always feel like just the fattest of the fat kids when I eat Olive Garden.
My order: Chicken marsala, which you can’t even get right now because of the limited menu and that makes me sad.
16. Carrabba's Italian Grill
Carrabba’s is like fancy Olive Garden. Everything is slightly pricier, the lighting is about 40% dimmer, and they want you to drink about three times as much wine. I bet, if I ate Carrabba’s more, it’d rank above Olive Garden. Instead, I haven’t eaten there in probably a decade, so it lands here.
My order: I don’t even know, because it’s been so long. Probably chicken parmesan.
17. Denny's
Denny’s is good! For what it is! I’ve eaten middle-of-the-night drunk Denny’s plenty of times, and for those purposes, woo boy. But I’ve also eaten sober Denny’s plenty, and for those purposes it is definitely no IHOP or Waffle House. (Also, I miss the mid-‘90s Denny’s hologram baseball cards.)
My order: Whatever it is, I’m getting Blueberry Pancake Puppies with it.
18. Steak n Shake
I lost my virginity one afternoon (bet you didn’t see that coming in the Steak n Shake entry). That night, I met some friends for dinner at Steak n Shake (the girl from the start of this story was no longer there, but the girl I actually had a crush on at the time was, and she and I discussed my virginity loss). It was a big group, with people coming and going. Some friends showed up, ate, left. When the rest of us left, the server pointed out that some of the food hadn’t been paid for, We checked out the bill and it was the food from one of the guys who had left early, who had told the server when he left that he hadn’t eaten anything. Annoyed, I paid for his food and decided I would tell that friend to pay me back the next time I saw him. A few months later, he committed suicide. I never got paid back.
I bet you never once guessed where that story would go next.
My order: Original Double Steak n’ Cheese steakburger, fries, Oreo mint milkshake
19. TGI Friday's
Every single dish at Friday’s tastes like it is supposed to be an A+, delicious meal, but everything got turned slightly sideways and instead it’s a solid B, B-. I don’t know what it is. Every last thing there is so close, and that’s what makes it so frustrating. I want it to be so much better than it is.
My order: Legit just clicked through their online menu for five minutes and I don’t even know.
20. LongHorn Steakhouse
I know LongHorn exists. I know I’ve eaten there more than a few times. I can tell you very little else about it. I will in fact have to go look at the menu to figure out what my order is, and I say that knowing that when I see it, I’ll say “Oh yeah, I get that.”
My order: Renegade Sirloin & Parmesan Crusted Chicken. Oh yeah, I get that.
21. Bob Evans
I’m like 30 years away from being the right age to eat at Bob Evans. I’ve never minded it the few times I’ve gone there, but I also don’t really care.
My order: Brioche French Toast.
22. P.F. Chang's China Bistro
I bet I get hate for this! Chang’s has just never resonated with me. My biggest Chang’s memory is that one year, a group of us decided to go to Chang’s for New Year’s Eve dinner before going out to drink, only we made the mistake of not getting a reservation or anything. Three of the five of us showed up and were told it would be a two-hour wait. But heck, we weren’t in a hurry, so we went to the bar to have appetizers and drinks and wait. We ordered a round and an app and sat for about 10 minutes … when our table was ready. It was a very strange underpromise/overdeliver situation. So the bartender told us no worries, he’d transfer the food and drinks to our table, thanks for stopping in. I tossed him a 20 as a tip, because he had been cool.
Five minutes later, he showed up at our table, effusive in his thanks, and said our next round of drinks was on him. The five of us each got drinks that were like $5, $6 apiece. So, yeah, best 20 I ever spent.
My order: Chang’s Spicy Chicken.
23. Logan's Roadhouse
Like Old Chicago, it sounds like Logan’s might have roaded its last house as a result of the pandemic. That’s probably for the best; it used to be a genuinely decent little steakhouse, but in recent years, I’ve only ever stopped there for the rolls. They’re good, though.
My order: Some number of ribs.G
24. Frisch's Big Boy
I used to have this idea that I’d be some prankmaster at the University of Kentucky, and my dream prank was to steal the Big Boy from one of the Lexington locations and put it out front of the main tower on UK’s campus. It was (a) a wildly stupid prank idea, (b) freaking impossible to even picture pulling off, and (c) again, a wildly stupid prank idea. I’m very glad I never tried it.
Anyway, when you want a cheap and easy breakfast buffet, it’s fine, I guess.
My order: Breakfast buffet
25. Texas Roadhouse
Like Logan’s, Texas Roadhouse is there for the rolls. Also, I went there once on a first date, and I don’t remember what I got as my entrée, but I got potatoes and rice as my sides, and the server made fun of the starchiness of it all, and then I never got another date with the girl I was there with, and a small, dumb part of me always wondered if me ordering a bunch of starch and getting mocked by the server was part of the reason why. And yes, I know that’s an enormously stupid thing to think.
My order: Grilled pork chops.
26. Golden Corral
About once or twice a year, I’ll find myself wanting to go to Golden Corral. It always sounds like a decent idea for like a minute. I’ve been once in about 10 years, and it was exactly what you’d expect it to be. No one part was that objectionable (except for the chocolate fountains, which, gross), but altogether it just makes you so sad. So sad.
My order: I mean, it’s Golden Corral. My order is “fat.”
27. Outback Steakhouse
Haven’t eaten at Outback in like 15 years. Have eaten there maybe twice ever. It’s in the Applebee’s level of quality at like twice the price. No.
My order: Don’t even have one.
28. Cracker Barrel
Remember when I said I was like 30 years away from being Bob Evans age? I’m like 50 away from being Cracker Barrel age. It’s not a place you go until you’ve aged into it.
(Quick story: I worked at Cracker Barrel for one day. I was in college, and I told them I could work 20-25 hours a week. They brought us in for training — “here are our standards, try some of the food,” etc. — and they gave me the rest of my first week’s training schedule. They had me down for 52 hours of training. In one week. Again, college kid. I told them I couldn’t work that many hours. The manager was like “Oh, I’m sorry,” and took off one four-hour food-running shift off the schedule. I was like, “Uh, still no.” The manager got very serious with me and told me the schedule from that point was immovable, that I just needed to suck it up, because that’s what it took to work there. I said “Okay, thanks!” And then I never went back. I wonder if they still expect me to show up.)
My order: Chicken n’ dumplins.
29. Applebee's
I ate at Applebee’s all the damn time in college, because (a) I didn’t know better, and (b) half-price is half-price, man. And now I’m a real adult, and I haven’t eaten there in a long, long time. And the last time I ate there, it was only because some friend’s church (I think?) was having their fundraiser night. I haven’t eaten at Applebee’s just to eat at Applebee’s in … man, I don’t even know.
(Wait! I remembered later! Laurie and I ate there when we were in Cincinnati. Gift card.)
My order: I don’t know what I do get, but I will tell you that I don’t get the damn Quesadilla Burger. Just a travesty in all ways.
30. Hooters
I mean, I like pretty girls. And I like wings. But if I want to eat wings, I’ll eat at at least Buffalo Wild Wings, if not better. And if I want to spend money to see pretty girls who have to be nice to me, I’ll probably just go to a strip club (and I freaking never go to strip clubs). Hooters is like the worst of all the worlds in that venue.
(And here’s a weird Hooters story I shared on Twitter.)
My order: Lots-a-Tots and however many wings I feel like in the moment.