Applebees and Chili's replacing waiters with Tablet PCs

[OttoVonBismarck]

Applebee's indeed has to be the worst major casual dining chain, almost everyone I've ever spoken to dislikes it. Even worse, and I can eat at fairly mediocre places when this isn't true, they mostly have shitty beer and anything made with spirits might as well be kool-aid.

BW3 actually has bad food (maybe worse than Applebee's since they basically make wings with everything else an afterthought and their wings are worse than cheap pizza chain wings) but the fact they always have a decent beer selection means BW3 is indeed one of my "travel restaurants" if I'm away from a major city or even just stranded out by an airport or something.

Applebee's and Chili's both sort of exist at the bottom rung of this type of restaurant. Above them I'd put Ruby Tuesday which isn't great but isn't awful, Olive Garden and Red Lobster which are the same, and then some actually decent casual chains like Longhorn Steakhouse, IHOP, Waffle House, O'Charley's etc.

I think I put Waffle House / IHOP in the "decent" category because they specialize in lower brow food but execute it really well. It's nothing fancy but in all reality some foods don't really get done well by chains at all, but waffles, pancakes, omelettes etc are pretty easily done very well by a big chain restaurant.

[frunk]

What I've noticed is that despite attempts to homogenize all of the product from a given chain, there's still variety in how good a restaurant is from location to location.  Our local IHOPs are terrible, but I liked them in Indiana and Ohio.  Applebee's, Chili's and TGIF are generally lousy, but occasionally I'll hit an ok one.  I like BWW primarily because they're one of the few chains that have genuinely hot sauces, although I'm annoyed that they stopped free refills on their now way overpriced non-alcoholic non-soda drinks.

[derspiess]

BW3 actually has bad food (maybe worse than Applebee's since they basically make wings with everything else an afterthought and their wings are worse than cheap pizza chain wings) but the fact they always have a decent beer selection means BW3 is indeed one of my "travel restaurants" if I'm away from a major city or even just stranded out by an airport or something.

The new B-dubs that opened up near me has a pretty boring draft beer selection.  Best thing they had last time I was there was Sam Adams.  They ought to at least dedicate one tap to a local beer.

And their carribbean jerk (grilled) chicken sandwich is pretty decent.

[Neil]

I ate at an IHOP in California.  The food wasn't bad, but the portion size was ridiculous.

[11B4V]

Longhorn Steakhouse

CRAP

[Razgovory]

IHOP does have crepes.

[Ed Anger]

IHOP does have crepes.

And Bob Evans too.

[Razgovory]

He didn't say ALL jobs have to go.

You're right: according to Seedy the optimal amount of labor is a single employee. 

"Yup...not too much longer, and before you know it, technology and profit maximization will ensure that the entire McDonald's corporate landscape will be reduced to the point that it will only be CEO Donald Thompson and a single employee at each restaurant.  Subcontractor, of course."

Your Jew kung fu is very powerful but I think my Jesuit kung fu can defeat it. 

It's no longer Jesuit Kung Fu when you turn to the dark side.

[Eddie Teach]

Applebee's and Chili's both sort of exist at the bottom rung of this type of restaurant. Above them I'd put Ruby Tuesday which isn't great but isn't awful, Olive Garden and Red Lobster which are the same, and then some actually decent casual chains like Longhorn Steakhouse, IHOP, Waffle House, O'Charley's etc.

Chili's isn't that bad, I'd hardly rate it below Olive Garden and Waffle House. I don't go there much though, as you can get just as good a burger from Five Guys for half the price.

[sbr]

I kind of like Olive Garden. 

[Ed Anger]

I kind of like Olive Garden. 

You stuff the unlimited breadsticks in your pockets, don't you?

[Jacob]

He didn't say ALL jobs have to go.

You're right: according to Seedy the optimal amount of labor is a single employee. 

"Yup...not too much longer, and before you know it, technology and profit maximization will ensure that the entire McDonald's corporate landscape will be reduced to the point that it will only be CEO Donald Thompson and a single employee at each restaurant.  Subcontractor, of course."

Your Jew kung fu is very powerful but I think my Jesuit kung fu can defeat it. 

Only because you decide to battle over what Seedy said, rather than the substantive point Joan made.

[Admiral Yi]

Only because you decide to battle over what Seedy said, rather than the substantive point Joan made.

Nope.  I agreed with his substantive point.  If I say the capital of Australia is Canberra, and you don't take exception, has my Jesuit Kung Fu defeated your Mermaid Kung Fu?  Of course it hasn't.

The issue was the relationship between his point and Seedy's screed.

[jimmy olsen]

What I've noticed is that despite attempts to homogenize all of the product from a given chain, there's still variety in how good a restaurant is from location to location.  Our local IHOPs are terrible, but I liked them in Indiana and Ohio.  Applebee's, Chili's and TGIF are generally lousy, but occasionally I'll hit an ok one.  I like BWW primarily because they're one of the few chains that have genuinely hot sauces, although I'm annoyed that they stopped free refills on their now way overpriced non-alcoholic non-soda drinks.

At least in my experience TGIF is way better than Applebees or Chili's

[fhdz]

For the last few years, two of my favorite restaurants in Ann Arbor have used tablets rather than menus.

Did you notice whether their wait staff levels stayed the same, declined slightly, or declined significantly?

They stayed pretty much the same, since they were pretty much doing the same job.

Makes sense to me.