don’t live up to the hype?
any place that hypes specific foods.
Taco (anything)
Red Lobster
Long John Silver
(anything) steak (anything)
(any) fast food place
the entire franchise theory is based on x seconds in the deep fryer @ y degrees
does not usually work out as it does in the lab.
In my younger and partying days, my friends and I always found Jim’s on South St. or Steve’s Prince of Steaks in the Northeast to be just right. Pat’s and Geno’s are the places locals go to once out of curiosity and return to the tried and true non-tourist spots.
We went to those too (I was there on weekends for a couple of years, there were a lot of late-night cheesesteaks). I don’t think this is a best-of thread though 
@TheGforceNY Agree on Magnolia & Max Brenner - don’t understand the lines for either.
I’ve always wondered about Outback & Red Lobster - I guess now I don’t need to go.
Adding my 2c:
Le Pain Quotidien has joined this list of late - they used to be very good, but the (pvt-equity-led?) expansion was a disaster for their food.
Starbucks - the coffee was the worst of their offerings (okay maybe until the blonde roast showed up)
Dunkin (Donuts or not)
I’ve never understood the appeal of the cult favorite In-N-Out. Their burgers are nothing special to me, and they make the absolute worst fries I’ve ever had. The one near us is always a mob scene though, so I guess I’m in the minority.
LOVE In n Out! At least their burgers, anyway. To me, they taste like the hamburgers of my youth, and very fresh tasting too. None near to us, so we hit them up on vacations & road trips when available.
You have to order the fries extra crispy or well done.
I’m going to add Shake Shack to the cult question.
That’s what they say @bbqboy! Usually just concentrate on the cheeseburger, with a few fries on the side.
I’ve never been to one, but my husband, who is a burger fiend, was not impressed.
YES, love that one too, fries are delicious! I’ve only been once, in Scottsdale.
Long John Silvers isn’t all That bad. Every once in awhile they have online coupons - $14.99 for an 8 piece fish family meal. The coleslaw and hush puppies are decent. The fries not so much. Blot the fish with paper towels and douse with malt vinegar. Tarter sauce on the side and a dab of butter on the HP’s. We don’t make a beeline for this place but when passing through on the way home and I find an online coupon…
Long John Silvers cleared out of this area a couple of decades ago, but I did enjoy it then, occasionally. Haven’t been since.
Agreed – The I/O fries are bad.
In contrast, Five Guys fries (the “small” portion is enough for 2-3) are worth our attention. It’s a quirky affectation to some, but we like the Five Guys practice of the blackboard crediting the farm that grew the potatoes in the sacks you see. And the “free” peanuts seal the deal.
2nd . In and out. Worst fries of all time . Something happened along the way .
We really like Five Guys. We discovered them by accident outside of Portland OR. Now there’s one about 30 minutes away from where we live, and the peanuts are a fun addition.
I have a soft spot for Outback. I used to take my late grandmother there for the “shrimps” she loved. Outback has since moved to the category of pleasant memories that trying to relive would only spoil.
Starbucks consistently makes the worst coffee ever. Burned. Credit to them for always being the same, but if you can’t drink coffee black then the coffee isn’t very good.
Dunkin’ Donuts is an entire business I don’t understand, but then I don’t eat donuts. Or doughnuts. Not either one. The coffee is better than Starbucks but that’s a pretty low bar.
Subway is sliding into the memory category also. They just don’t measure up to what I remember from twenty or thirty years ago.
I took the Wifeacita and her unfortunately late mother to one in the Rio Grande Valley of Texas. Outback was about as good as it gets down there.
I ordered prime rib medium rare but it came out still kicking and mooing.
MIL couldn’t believe I ate it but hey, the redder the better. 
We were given a gift card to Red Lobster and with careful ordering it can be quite acceptable.
Our orders were boiled lobster and grilled mahi, both were fine.
Have we been back? No. 
The two near me are gone. I would go on occasion but they switched from cod to pollock and I quit going.
One of the nearby locations fried when it was ordered and I don’t think most could take five minutes out of their busy lives for freshly cooked fish. 
