@@phantomhiphop Wouldn't surprise me to see someone get mad either though. People make the most trivial things an issue on the internet, so nothing surprises me anymore.
I worked at Applebee's as a Host for around 3 summers, and I can say with certainty that, compared to the reputation Applebee's has to some, our location was nothing like that. Our food was always well-cooked, and we were often told that we were one of the best Applebee's they had ever eaten at.
Same, my ex had the same complaints mentioned in the video about Applebee's always getting her sick but I've never once had that happen to me in any of the times I'd been. I'm not sure what she got when she went but I tend to just stick to the same few items, so maybe luck of the draw?
Same with my local Applebee's, I've never had an issue with their services or food, I actually think their food isn't bad, but every location is different! 🤷🏻♀️
As someone who very briefly worked at an IHOP, I can confirm that no, they do not treat staff very well at all. I was there as a hostess, and on my literal first day, they put me out front on Memorial Day weekend with no training whatsoever. It was incredibly busy and I was struggling with severe stress and anxiety. I only lasted about three days before I had a mental breakdown at the very thought of coming back to work. I still feel really bad for quitting so suddenly, but I just couldn’t do it anymore. Thankfully, I was able to find a much better job that summer!
If your employer never cared to give you training/ care about you, you should never care or feel bad about quitting. My condolences about that incident
I can't imagine hiring someone to work for me and then treating them as though they were something I tracked in on my shoe. Businesses like restaurants are all about repeat customers. Treating your employees badly is going to make customers uncomfortable and unhappy meaning business will suffer.
Hardee's did something similar to me But they fired me. They gave my schedule, then changed it the night before my shift amd didn't notify me (day off) so they could fire me for being 5 minutes early-I mean 3 hours late. Shame I couldn't prove it
COVID did in most restaurants. Their costs soared, supplies dwindled, portions got smaller, as did offerings on menus, and many dishes (recipes) were simplified. Employees left. It's no wonder that many restaurants declined. A major determinant of the quality and cleanliness of a specific location is the quality of management.
I remember at a IHOP, I was with my dad as we were eating out that day. We went in and waited to be seated, then like 10 minutes later, another group came in and was given a table. We waited another 10-15 minutes before my dad spoke up and we got a table. The waiter who got us the table was really kind and apologized to us. In the end, we left that waiter a good tip.
Those moments like that,are becoming a rare. Moments like that are becoming too rare nowdays. Especially in situations like non-white American diners in predominantly white towns and cities, having Denny's restaurants in them,are exceedingly even more rare. Sexism. People being drunk at a Applebee's and getting rowdy is one thing. Witnessing fights just because they get fed up with crappy customer service or for some other reason is another. Thank goodness you all had a pleasant experience.
My wife and I have eaten at IHOP many time in Huntsville, TX. The service was really good and polite. The food was always good and the wait times were good! Of course this is not England!
As someone who frequents a lot of these restaurants, your experience can be entirely different depending on which location it is. It tends to depend on who's managing the place.
It *completely* depends on who manages the place. Problem is a lot of chain restaurants tend to be run by real-estate moguls who are just looking for steady earners and could not care or know less about the culinary industry. They leave the day-to-day to scuzzy managers who are just trying to maximize profits, or incompetent relatives/friends who got the job through nepotism.
Also, who serves you. At a Denny's I ordered a dish that supposedly wasn't going to cost you not more than $ 14.00, to my surprise, the same dish was charged $ 27.00 couple of days later at the same place, so it looked as if the waitress decided to use price gauging, telling me that prices went up, but I wasn't convinced and left the place unhappy.
Worked at a Denny's for a few years, and the amount of food waste is what astounded me the most. I'm sure it is the same at other restaurants but it isn't something everyone talks about. It just appalling how much food just gets thrown out on a daily basis.
Even if the food is good, in my experience they consider it theft if you, the employee, take it home. Starbucks went through a phase where it served wine. When I worked at Starbucks my coworkers told me when that Starbucks phased out alcohol they had to pour dozens of wine bottles in the sink as the company would consider it theft it they took it home. When I worked at Starbucks and Dunkin I would be told I had to toss things out and if I took it home they'd consider it theft. It's such a stupid waste.
Is the waste stuff they cooked and didn't serve, stuff that went bad, or stuff the customers were served and didn't eat? I imagine it's a combination of all three, but I'd wager the majority of the waste was customers not eating everything. Denny's is known for extremely large meals. Grand Slam Breakfast was, what, 2 eggs, 2 sausages, 2 toast, 2 pancakes, orange juice, and coffee, right? If I ate that much in one sitting, I'd be in pain, and I'm a fairly fat guy.
@@ryanwhite7852I think the reason why they consider it theft is cause they don't want employees to abuse the system and purposely cook extra food to take home still quite dumb though luckily my work (five guys) isn't like that here if somthing is out of date for five guys standards than employees is around take it home normal bread said for five guys standards bread only have a shelf life of 5 days so it's still good to take home
I can't even talk about food waste. It's so upsetting. Every place I've worked threw out so much food. But the kicker at every single job was, if you get caught with so much as a roll that's going to be discarded, you'd get fired. I'm going to stop there before I get my soap box out🤣
@@Jennithebaker "You took our garbage that was totally going to be hauled away and dumped in a giant hole. YOU'RE FIRED!" Seriously, that's the abusive boyfriend attitude, except with profits. "If I can't have it, no one can!"
thank you for bringing up the point about ihop staff potentially not being treated well. i remember one time where i was sitting at my table and could very clearly hear a staff member being shouted at, F-bombs included, by who i'm assuming was a manager :( one of many awful things that happened at that location. i hope that person is doing okay now
That's not real genuine, decent customer service. Whether it's Applebee's (they're not as good as they used to be,compared as in the years past...) , Waffle House? We don't have them here in the southern part of south Texas. Or anywhere in Texas. Maybe in Alabama. And I haven't seen or experienced in being in - or witnessing - in restaurants like that. In places like that. In Denny's. In IHOP. In Arby's. In having standards whenever the employees and their employers at any Denny's restaurants behave like ADULTS. Not like teenagers or children.
I have to say that bad experiences happen everywhere at times. I know that the server is not in charge of making the food and it is not their fault. We need more sympathy in these situations because nobody's perfect ❤
When you see them put the food up at the window and the servers are all standing around gabbing, and then you get your food cold, it's absolutely their fault.
👍. Damn right they do. Nobody's perfect. It happens from time to time. Australians are quite different dining out at Outback Steakhouse than we Americans do. Not that I would know. (I've never been to Australia.) I stupidly thought they'd serve kangaroo steak or crocodile grits. Or well...umm....Ohhh.. forget it.
Fun Fact: I’ve actually been to the specific Golden Corral (featured on ABC’s KERO station) in this video. I had no problems eating over there, but this really opened my eyes about this place. It’s worth noting that the video you put on there was from 10 years ago, so they’ve most likely improved on their sanitation practices at this point.
Same here, been there a few times before and thought it was mid. My mom on the other hand, HATES that place. I showed her the review and she agreed with everything that person said, she also said the drinks taste bad. We’ve only been there because of her fiancé, who actually likes it
I’m hip; my mom ordered a new plate as the previous one was filthy. The guy brought a ‘new’ one; mom took one look, flipped it over and a gooey, smashed half-eaten brownie was jammed to the underside! GROSS!!! 🤮 (mom subsequently raked them over the coals on Yelp!)
I used to work at Chili's, I thankfully never experienced sexual harassment, but yeah, there was definite favoritism with management for some employees and our store owner did some really messed up things. It was very stressful.
The “Waffle House Avenger” is a total legend. She SWIPED a chair away that was thrown at her, and that wasn’t the worst thing she endured. She then got into boxing, damn.
I tried a local iHOP last month around lunch time. The cookies and creme waffle I tried was good, and my friend who ordered blueberry pancakes said her's was good too. The staff was also nice there, even checking on us when we suddenly stopped talking, not realizing we had our food, I guess us being there made her day better somehow. Now to be fair, it was actually pretty empty inside, so we didn't have to wait long, but since we both in customer service and have disabilities, we were fine with waiting and more understanding if we had to wait longer times.
My story is with Chilis; my wife is a vegetarian, and ordered the veggie burgre, but got a real meat one; I tested it, cos I eat meat. When called on it, the waitress tried to insist it WAS a veggie burger. To be fair, the manager came to apologize, but, have not been back since.
Wow a definitely real burger and there is a vegetarian and a meat eater yeah instead of just getting a new one let’s be a bitcharella and complain instead of the MEAT eater just eating it or getting a new one 😂🎉❤😂🎉😂❤
@@Aldoospeo Yeah, we're not all restaurant cucks too spineless to take issue when an order is wrong. I'm sure you'd just whimper, roll over and deal with it, but some of us would realize I had my own food, and that got hers wrong. It's not like we caused a scene, we just tried to protest and the waitress argued.,
I remember having a good time at IHOP growing up. The only complaint from me was the wait time, but the food was still hot and delicious. I don't remember having a problem with the staff either. I went to one a couple months ago, and the waitress apologized for the lateness of my order. The place was packed that day, so pretty understandable.
IHOP used to be awesome, but I won’t go my local one because it always smells like sewage. On vacation, I went to IHOP and it was fine but the portions were tiny.
I went to the one by me last year and it wasn't as good as I remember.had it again this year and Louisiana was better than the one I had but still was ok .
@@DoofenSpyroDragon16 They have an actual church society based on Hello Kitty, one that doesn't discriminate to lgbt+ or race, and Nin and Boo joined the church in the recalled kids meal toys video
I can confirm the insanely long wait times at IHOP, at least for my local area. I was a doordash driver, and was consistently made to wait upwards of 45 minutes for the food that they knew they needed to make well before I even made it to the restaurant. This was consistent across four different locations, regardless of how busy they were at the time. It was so bad I began just turning down any orders that sent me to IHOP simply because I was not willing to waste that much time, I got paid by how many orders I would do, not by an hourly rate, and that just was not worth the effort.
We’ve had good experiences at most of these. Especially Popeyes and Golden Corral. We did have a terrible experience at IHOP. Bug in the salad. When my son finally got the attention of our grumpy waitress she just said we still had to pay! Nobody had even mentioned not paying. She was extremely rude.
IHOP should be free. Last two times I went there, before the pandemic, I promptly returned the eaten food via my backside in their restroom, before receiving the tab. Never again.
Oh wow! Just last week my brother and I went to an Applebees, and unfortunately he did end up vomiting after eating a chicken sandwich. I thought it was maybe just car sickness as we were traveling for a while (which it still could’ve been), but I had no idea that there was a real reputation of food poisoning. That’s awful! Love these videos so much! Always so informative and kind and well-researched. I still think you’re one of the friendliest YTber’s out there. Thanks for being you, Strider!
Chili's and IHOP were some of my favorite sit-downs as a kid. It sucks how much their quality has gone downhill. IHOP drastically reduced the menu variety, and Chili's completely changed their restaurant interior to look less rustic (they even got rid of the tile-decorated tables.) I also never had any problems at Outback before. At least where I lived. And I don't count Popeyes as a sit-down. It's fast food like KFC and Chick-Fil-A.
An IHOP opened up in my area back in 2016. The service was reasonable. About a year later I stopped there and it was very slow, as in 2 or 3 other tables had guests. The service matched the pace of the business at that time. There are better local eateries in my area for breakfast.
I've had no big issues with Chili's or Outback where I live. In fact, we go to Chili's frequently. We have had issues with IHOP. One time there was hardly anyone in the restaurant and were advised it would be a 20 min wait because they were under-staffed. We left and tried a different place instead. Another time, when we did eat there, the service was slow and there was a couple of things on the menu that weren't available. I didn't have any issue with my meal, once it finally arrived but it did feel like it took longer than it should have. The IHOP in my town plays 50's music, which gets old quick for me (pardon the pun). It's not a place we go to often anymore and it was definitely run much better 10 years ago. I also agree that Popeyes should be considered fast food, not a sit-down place.
If a lot of the issues with IHOP is that staff always seemed to be under worked and really hate being there, perhaps they're a serious issue with how IHOP treats their employees that we don't know about. Also I am so surprised Applebee's is so far up on this list, because my family's been to four different Applebee's and they all had terrible staff with bad attitudes. The only time we got good service was when my aunt work there.
Want a fun fact? In my country, Mexico, those two were seen as prestigious when they arrived. Same with Olive garden. People literally considered Applebee's the place for a fancy date! Can you believe it?
I remember one time my dad worked for Applebee's. I won't say where as he no longer works for them. Roughly fifteen years ago my dad worked for them and the power went out. I remember we had to drive to his work and Pack A Bunch of the Food in my Dad's Car and Left the windows down overnight Just to try to keep them cold. The very next day we come back to Applebee's. To return the food back to the fridge after they fixed it. I don't hold my dad responsible as he was just following orders. But I no longer eat at applebee's and neither does my dad. I may have grown up being fed applebee's, but i'm old enough to know it's not the same as it used to.
Never had a bad experience at IHOP; always great food and service. I tried to go to Applebees once but we were ignored by two different waitresses for 45 minutes before I told them where they could stick their restaurant. The 30 people waiting for tables didn't seem to mind though.....🥴 On the flip side, I loved Cracker Barrel!
Hi strider. Regular viewer here. As a server at waffle house I can confirm that with the fights at night unfortunately a lot of people can't seem to control their alcohol. As for the crazy prices I will say that part of the reason especially when it's a to go, is because there's a 20% to go charge. 10% covers the basic to go supplies such as plates and utensils and the other 10% goes to the server that takes the order. Thought I'd share this.
Absolutely agree 💯 Also, I can't imagine getting Waffle House to-go and expecting it to be as good as freshly cooked. Eggs, waffles, bacon, biscuits, hash browns, etc are not easy, or recommended, to reheat! Stuffing all of it in a Styrofoam box or plastic container that traps the steam is just adding for everything to be soggy. There's a reason most fast food is served in waxed paper and paper bags. People need to be more realistic. The same problem can be found when getting the breakfast items from Cracker Barrel delivered/to-go. 😅
Josh I can honestly say I wish I had your optimism and bright personality. It’s always nice to see someone so happy and friendly and with a sense of humor
Thank you for warning about Applebee's food poisoning reputation, Josh! It concerns me that this kind of stuff is still super common, even after various infamous food poisoning outbreaks in the 90s and 2000s. My local Golden Corral, Shoney's, and Popeyes are clean and high-quality, though, so it may just depend on location. As for IHOP, I had an unpleasant experience at one, it was super filthy, and the waitresses were rude. I can't blame them for being rude considering IHOP doesn't treat their employees right. The one bright side of the IHOP experience was that the chocolate pancakes were still delicious. Jack In The Box also has a bad reputation for food quality and cleanliness as well. I only ate there once, and it was okay. Still, you think they would've learned from their infamous 1993 E Coli Outbreak, which is one of the worst and most tragic food poisoning outbreaks ever. I did hear Jack In The Box was better during the 1970s, and looking at the 1970s era buildings, menus, and commercials, I believe it.
Worked as an assistant manager at a Jack in the Box until this year. It was a nightmare at times. The manager would spend more time smoking outside than actually working. Which led to the rest of the staff to do the same, and I mean the rest of the staff, as in the minors as well. He literally told them it was ok as long as they kept the cigs and vapes hidden under the table so customers couldn't see. Besides the unethical part, this made it impossible to keep the staff in the kitchen. It was almost daily that I would catch someone throwing the raw patties onto the grill with gloved hands and then immediately try to return to the assembly line while keeping the same gloves on. Sometimes, I was too slow, and they would touch the veggies, which led to me having to toss them and quickly get more ready during a rush. Then, when the patties were supposedly done cooking, nobody ever wanted to do the final check cause "it wastes time." Which would lead to them throwing half cooked patties into the hold as they hit the wrong size on the grill. It made me concerned about what happened when I wasn't working, cause I was the only person in that store who cared about food safety. I didn't think I would have to tell people they had to wash their hand if they sneezed directly into them, but at Jack in the Box, apparently, that wasn't obvious to many people.
@@scarffoxandfriends9401 That is less on Jack In The Box as a whole and more on the godawful management and ownership of the particular one you worked at. Though corporate definitely deserve some blame for letting such a situation develop.
@planescaped I didn't mean for my comment to come across as me being upset with the whole company. It was just directed towards that specific store. I'm now a manager at the Gas Station across from it, which is linked to a full sized grocery store. Whenever I talk to customers, how's work going? Everyone is either happy or, at the very least, has a "ehh it's work" attitude. But if someone comes in with a JitB shirt, they just go on a rant on how much they hate being there. Not even just in terms of hating the work, like they physically hate just being there cause of the toxic environment.
I remember watching an episode of "Undercover Boss" that featured a Shoney's. It is true; it was revealed they used canned food, as well as a microwave...😕😕
I can confirm things about Golden Corral myself. The one I always used to go to in Florida was decent a few years back, but fell off HARD a few years after. The staff was terrible, ALL of the food was either cold and or missing. Literally half the containers you get the food at was empty and there werent even that may people in the resturant. The excuse we got from the main manager there was "it's most of ours, and my first day here" which I honestly didn't believe for a second.
Every time I go to Golden Corral I get sick...and not the ate too much kind of sick but the some rando put their head under the sneeze guard and sneezed all over the food sick.
@@evilrollo "Every time?" Why did you return? Damn! Is it that hard to figure out? If I got sick _one time_ after some restaurant (which has never happened) I'd never return.
Honestly the Bloomin Onion while hardly Australian is pretty tasty especially as I usually hate onions at least in raw form and the sauce they pair it with really helps.
It does really depend on who you get. Imo it’s my favorite place to get fried chicken, it’s so crispy and juicy. For the service, yeah… if you’re in a trashy area, expect that for the service. I’m sorry your experience was bad.
I have had varying experiences with iHop. The one by my college was always delicious with amazing service. The one in my hometown on the other hand, once accidentally served me scoops of butter instead of ice cream.
Wow, the local Popeye's is pretty good. I mean, sure the actual style of food is something of an acquired taste to my town's more northern palate, but it's definitely higher quality than whatever trash KFC is serving (except coleslaw, the one thing the local KFCs, yes we have multiple, beat them on), still prefer Church's Texas Chicken though.
I think Popeyes chicken is just plain garbage. Apparently so did most of my town because a Popeyes has opened here twice and both times they closed down at least the second time it lasted over a year and a half. KFC is barely hanging on but that's what happens when a local place blows them out of the water. Our local mom and pop grocery has a world class deli that serves the best fried chicken. They've been voted best so many years in a row everyone else stopped trying
Honestly, I am a big fan of breakfast and also a night owl. IHOP has been a life line. All of the IHOPs in my area are clean, remodeled, and look contemporary. During the pandemic & lock down, my local IHOP changed out two windows at different ends of the restaurant and turned them into pedestrian walk up windows: 1 to take the order and pay, the other was for order pick up when ready. They remained open 24 hrs the entire time and never disappointed. All the grocery stores, Wal-Mart's, etc in my community reduced their business hours down to 1 shift (8hr to 12 hr) a day so when I was up at night time if I hadn't had the opportunity to go grocery shopping IHOP was really the only place I was able to get something to eat until I made it to the grocery store (Frankly Speaking - I felt like it was safer to go to IHOP and get food to-go than actually spend an hour in a grocery store walking around in an indoor closed environment.) I'm not going to say that I've never had a bad experience at an IHOP but the good definitely outweigh the bad times experiences.
I’m shocked by the Outback Steakhouse. Because where I live the Outback Steakhouse’s are damn near gourmet. Like I’m not used to eating “fancy food” but the ones that are near me have actually amazing quality food and actually really juicy steaks and burgers. The potatoes were delicious and the blooming onion is consistently amazing. (Also, unrelated, fun fact, the Outback near me has a 6’11 waiter)
We had lunch at Outback in Naperville, IL. The server was very good and got our orders to us in a timely manner. Unfortunately, our steaks were over seasoned with salt, garlic and some type of hot spice. We took them home and fed them to our dogs.
I say this all the time but this guy just knows when to upload. I got myself a hot chocolate and I was looking for something to watch on this cold day.
I worked for a smaller local sit down restaurant for 23 years. I did everything short of bartending and management. I've been more tolerable for some mistakes when I do go out. I love these videos keep up the great work.
One of my cousins used to work at an Ihop near where I live, and she said there were days where it was pretty testy to work there. She never went a day without being told off by customers for something stupid like not getting their refills on time. It was so bad for her that she eventually quit because she just couldn't handle it anymore.
I feel like one of the biggest issues with IHOP is that they are forced to be a 24/7 location instead of having hours based around their current staff. The manager having to cook is a very common occurrence, and often said manager has zero professional cooking experience. To make the situation worse, cause they get stuck making all the food (which is supposed to be made by a team, not a single inexperienced person) they aren't able to maintain what is happening up front. As an example, at my local IHOP, the host was a high schooler. They would give all the customers to their 2 friends, meanwhile the 3rd waitress who wasn't part of the friend group wasn't given any customers. This led to a fight among the staff as there were 14 tables with customers, and the 3rd waitress wasn't assigned to any of them. Shortly after that, the manager at that location left, which I only know as he became an assistant manager at my job and my God, he was the single worst manager I have ever dealt with, I didn't even work the same department as him and I hated being around them. So many people just started venting how much they disliked him, which led to him not keeping the position.
Two things about Popeyes. 1. Popeyes is as much a sit down restaurant as McDonalds or KFC. You can sit and eat there, but it's typically a fast food place... that's probably why the service sucked. 2. Popeyes chicken is delicious if you like your chicken spicier and juicier than KFC of Chick-Fil-A, which I do.
I was surprised that Popeye’s was even included since most people consider it fast food instead of a sit-down restuarant. Also, you gave the exact reason I choose it over KFC. In fact, Popeye’s has my favorite spicy chicken sandwich of any fast food joint.
To me Popeyes is weak and tasted too much like buttermilk. KFC is just plain trash. I go to my favorite local spot and so does most of my town. Popeyes has opened up twice in our town and both times closed down from lack of customers. At least the second time it went a year and a half
As for the dishwashing comment about the Golden Corral, that is so true. If it was busy enough that there where no plates, I am not surprized there was a messy pile waiting to be cleaned. They have to be somewhere.
This is about IHOP. I used to work at IHOP where I live and I had only worked there for 2 years being underpaid and also overworked. There was others in the same position as myself who would slack off and go outside and smoke, sometimes even shoot up "drugs". I sent an anonymous email to corporate down in California to let them know what was going on and that is when I was still working there. The whole time while I was working at IHOP I State bonded with meant that IHOP would be paid as long as I would be working there and that would only be lasting for 2 years.
They shut down the Denny's where I live (in Vernon, Ct). They did this rather suddenly with no advance warning. The employees were just abandoned with no compensation. I was surprised because it wasn't from a lack of customers. The place always seemed packed (certainly for breakfast) but I wasn't sure about nights as I never went at that time. No restaurant has gone in that location to take it's place. There was an old saying that "Nobody ever starts out going to Denny's but it's just where you end up." Because it was open 24 hours. But they stopped 24 hour operation during the Covid pandemic and never went back to it even after the epidemic was over.
I used to eat at Applebee’s when I was a little kid and I remembered how long it took for our food to arrive in our table. My dad just orders Applebees from Uber eats nowadays.
As someone who goes to Outback on occasion, the service and food are fantastic, staff are really friendly caring and the food is cooked well. I was surprised to see it on this list, I went to golden corral twice and both times were good.
The Chocolate Thunder From Down Under is pretty frickin’ good, and usually they’ve made some of the best burgers I’ve had in my life. But I can see the obvious controversy.
I went to Outback a while back and their food was good (their baked potato was great) just a bit too pricey, though. I had no idea about the backstory of the restaurant.
Service was good. I don’t remember the steak being the worst or the best, but otherwise they were alright. Also my parents seem to like it since they do sometimes go l there.
I was never a fan of Denny's over the years. The one that was close to my house (which is gone now) gave us our worst dining experience. Pretty packed around New Year's a handful of years back, but we got a table not too long afterwards. Waitress came by after around 5 minutes, saying she'd be right back to take our drink orders after checking on another table first. She never came back and we eventually left after not being serviced at all. We just went across the street to Bob Evan's instead, which was a far better choice.
10) Funny story… I was once given my chicken strips kids’ meal faster than ANY fast food restaurant on a quiet day! Why? I was a very very hungry child. I don’t remember feeling sick afterwards, so it must’ve been a surprisingly decent Applebees back then. 9) I’ve visited a Waffle House one time for lunch. The food was meh, and I remember my anxiety going up for whatever reason? 8) Last time I went to a Denny’s… it was okay. Also, what the heck?! Some people (and companies) clearly forget an important moral lesson like the morons we are often seen as! (Major kudos to the guy standing up for those unfortunate customers btw!) 7) I definitely noticed the difference between a Chili’s at a small town and a Chili’s at a bigger suburbs. I’m pretty sure the smaller towns have better quality because better efforts? I dunno. I was in middle school back then. 6) Never heard of it… and that sounds like a good thing for me too. 5) I once heard on the news media about a guy putting rat poison on a lot of the food. I can’t tell if it’s true, especially nowadays. But that’s just messed up! 4) I blame a group of streamers in a monthly podcast for making the name “Outback Steakhouse” hard to take seriously because of their hilarious dark humor. 3) Ugh! No! Popeyes = Barf!!! Just… no! 2) I used to hate Panda Express because i couldn’t find anything good, mostly because I am such a picky eater. But that changed when they apparently changed the fried rice recipe and added apple pie “egg rolls”. Try adding those with a surprise handful of fortune cookies 😂 1) That explains my love for pancakes, including the cupcake pancakes, were declining. Also, I can’t resist making a Thomas reference with that one story “Just LOOK what you’ve done to my breakfast! Now I shall have to order another… at another place!”
I never understood Applebee's hate. Applebee's is one of my fav restaurants. Although it probably doesn't help that I only ever order the mozzarella sticks for the appetizers and the chicken tender plater for the main dish. I literally never order anything different😅 I haven't had any issues with food poisoning, but I can never finish the food in the restaurant, I always end up getting a box and eating it later, lol.
I know right? I remember eating there for my friend's birthday and the people there was super nice and got our food out in a decent time (there was 5 of us in total and one of my friends is a big boi that ordered a lot lol). Their bottomless appetizers was a big hit back then as well despite me not being able to eat all of that lol
@zeospark9715 Yeah. That and I haven't had issues with the service. The food shows up at a decent time (hell, the last time I went, the food came pretty fast). And the waitresses are always really nice. That and they always show up just as I need a refill (I swear they're psychics or something XD)
That sounds like the food my 6 year old would order. Our Applebee's was so bad it closed permanently after multiple violations. It's been almost 20 years since I've been in one plus the nearest is in the next state an hour and a half away
I think Dennys is the championship fight circuit of restaurants! Over here in Oaktown the Dennys in the bay area is notorious for having outbreaks of groups brawling. I think it's because of the ' all you can eat waffles ' dinner. First of all, everyone probably needed ' more waffles ' and there were too many butts ❤😂
As someone who works as a dish washer at a place with an automatic dishwasher, I can confirm that sometimes it’s not as efficient. A cycle is around a minute long, and sometimes certain dishes need to go through more than once. Sometimes we have to scrub, rinse, or scrape food off of dishes, containers and utensils.
From my experience with IHOP, our particular location has very nice staff members and the food quality is actually good and makes up for the wait time. Most of them don’t seem to be too overwhelmed either, but hey I’m just talking about one location out of several others. Very nice list btw, I expected most if not all of these restaurants to appear tbh
I move around a lot, and yeah Ihop is good, I would’ve had no idea that a single person even hated IHOP. However, sometimes their are long wait times, that’s true. Still the employees have always been friendly (that goes for most restaurants), so I’m surprised to even see them on this list, especially as #1 since their recent biggest controversy that went for the entire chain was changing their name to IHOB for a few months.
Same here. I only really remember one visit but the people were nice and we didn't wait long. But it is true I've only been to one location, so it could be different elsewhere.
I've actually never been to a Denny's. As a black woman I think I'm lucky in that respect. Thank you PhantomStrider and Nostalgia Critic for not only good content, but also for helping me avoid Denny's. My mother and I went to our town's local Golden Corral. It certainly lived up to its reputation. The food was mediocre, even the chocolate fountain! When you screw up with chocolate from a fountain, you KNOW you screwed up! I also remember going to a Shoney's restaurant on my way to visit my grandparents. The only thing I remember was winning a Beluga toy from a claw machine.
I'm kinda of shocked to see Panda Express so high on this list. Every time I've gone to my local Panda Express, the food was so fresh that more was being cooked as I was ordering. The staff was very friend, and pretty quick with service, I barely waited for 10 minutes, and it was during lunch rush hour too. Not to mention, the locations were clean and spotless, one of the employees was always making sure something/anything was wiped down with disinfectant. The only "bad thing" I had to say was sometimes they pack in more food than the styrofoam containers can handle, but even then those containers rarely burst open. But, I also take into considerable that I live in Seattle, and the Asian population is denser here, so maybe that has to do with the Panda Express locations I've been to are cleaner and more well maintained. That or Seattle has a much higher food standard then New York does. Because I know my local Panda Express in New York years ago could be a little hit or miss at times, especially since in was located in a Mail's Food Court.
The ones here in Texas dad and I have been to have been STELLAR as well, to the point that when I saw it make #2, I was about to go to WAR with Strider.
I actually enjoy my local IHOP. I’ve only been there a couple of times and DoorDashed it once, but the food was always great and the service inside always seemed personable.
I've been to a Denny's exactly once in my life, back around 1990. It took us a little while to notice that people who were seated after us were having their orders taken before us, and then a table that was seated after us got their food before we even ordered. When the server finally came to our table, we just stood up and left. Two of our party of 5 or 6 were black. At that time, I hadn't yet heard the rumblings about racism.
At our Denny's they solved the racist problem by having the wait staff treat everyone like crap. We got up and left a near empty restaurant after nobody taking our orders for over a half hour and from what I hear it's still just as bad. The employees park out front to keep it from looking abandoned
You wouldn't DARE consider that Denny's had bad experiences with POC diners. Not to mention other good restaurants. I have no trouble at all finding videos and TikToks of blacks who don't want to be in a restaurant where they see other blacks inside. Why? They KNOW that their peers cannot behave themselves and THEY DON'T TIP. Blacks on video say this and the evidence confirms it. Shame me all you want but, all the shaming language in the world cannot change that. The magic word, rayssssissmm, doesn't work because we all know the dirty truth behind it. Deal with it.
Maybe your group was just talking a lot. I've noticed recently when I go anywhere with a group the wait staff tends to give you a lot of time, especially if folks are just chatting and not looking at menus or menus down etc? Idk maybe all Denny's are racist? In my area it seems like all types go there and are fine
@@beargillium2369 Of course I'll never know for sure why we were ignored, because I can never know what was going on in the server's head. I'm just sharing a personal experience related to the topic.
A lot of restaurants that people hate is depending on location. Not all will be the same, but at the same time, it's annoying, but it's a reality we live in. I love Chili's, but that's my location. But when I visited my best friend, his dad hates Chili's because of the food quality. So just keep in mind that not all restaurants locations be the same. Restaurant food quality is like gambling
I think of raising canes when I think of fast food gambling. One will have the best chicken you’ve ever had, and the next will serve you cold raw chicken and get upset when you complain
Panda might be the only restaurant on the list I've visited in recent memory, and my opinion on their noodles could not be any lower. Protip: if you're fortunate enough to have a local, family-owned Chinese restaurant then go there instead.
The last time I ate at Panda Express, 10 or more years ago, there was sand in all of my broccoli. I could hear it crunching in my teeth. I haven't been back since.
@DarkFire1536 sand how the heck did they get sand in the food never been to Panda Express and I will probably never go there. Also I personally find it better to go to my local Chinese restaurant or make my own at home.
@@trixxart777 I find sand in my broccoli from the grocery store sometimes when I wash it. I soak it in a strainer that is placed inside a bowl. When I lift the strainer, I often see sand on the bottom of the bowl. I think that perhaps they broccoli I ate from Panda Express may not have been washed thoroughly.
The Panda Expresses my dad and I have been to had really nice staff and everything was literally made while ordering. Then again, neither of us ordered noodles, just orange chicken and honey shrimp.
I worked at an IHOP a decade ago as a teenager. At my location the managers put a huge emphasis on customer experience since it was a family restaurant and a lot of the time the fam was dragged their because young children & younger adolescents really wanted to eat stacks of our sickeningly sweet dessert-like pancakes for breakfast/lunch. Combined with the fact we give out those things kids like to color on - it’s supposed to be a friendly environment. There was a rule where you weren’t allowed to not be smiling (toothy smile) when talking to a customer and not allowed to forgo at least a closed mouth smile when it’s likely a customer will be paying attention to you. We were also supposed to mind our demeanor, tone and volume even when a customer was being difficult. Diffusion of conflict and satisfying the customer was prioritized even when giving into such an entitled parent took a stab at your dignity. _(so think similar to chick fil a standards of politeness but still inferior customer service in comparison and Trader Joe’s like standards of pretend/faux/forced extroversion combined with a standard of friendliness that’s not as extreme as Disney land but still emphasized in a similar manner)_ I had enough humility to do the job but not enough patience at that age _(i would now tho)_ and I refused to just allow my autistic induced need for straight fowardness and literalism to go unaccommodated by customers (customers often want you to read their mind, know why their dissatisfied, to just known what they personally expect from you etc) so I eventually put in my two weeks once I found a new job. I do honestly appreciate the experience it gave me tho. It taught me a lot about interacting with children, how to get out of conflict with certain kinds of people when it’s not worth it, and how to not bring your personal moods into the workplace. There’s also one specific interaction I had with a customer that made me so happy I dont ever forget it- I took Italian (instead of Spanish, French or some other language) in school and language learning is EXTREMELY hard for me but I loved the language and Italian culture so much that i applied myself anyway. I did well enough that when I was like 15/16 I was one of the kids who were high enough in the percentiles of testing scores for my grade that I was allowed the option to travel to Italy with my school. _(Which oddly helped me comprehend Italian language more in just week than an entire school semester lol). This one time I was helping out with a table with a big family with elders, parents and teens/children. All the parents and kids were Italian-American (i pressure)_ but two of the seniors in the group who were husband & wife were from Italy and had a really hard time speaking English _(they seemed like it was easier for them to understand their own family speaking english/half-English to them but they mainly responded in Italian). I felt confident enough to talk to them in Italian and they were SO HAPPY AND ELATED to be able to talk to/converse with a server in their native language who had been to Italy before. They were surprised as well because it’s obvious I’m not Italian/Italian-American _(I’m black and apparently still have noticeable “NY accent” when I speak Italian )_ They shared a lot with me about themselves, took interest in me, really appreciated how much I knew about modern and traditional Italian culture/society and were very thankful I took it upon myself to practice Italian so much _(though they said in certain phrases i sounded like a young Italian girl rather than a teenager due to enunciation- they found it cute though)_ they were big jokesters to and slipped me a nice tip they didn’t want me to have to share with the other staff lol. Their daughter thanked me for making it such a nice experience for them. Hearing these reviews and criticisms of IHOP makes it sound like a completely different company. Maybe after the IHOB fiasco their identity permanently broke
I usually have good experiences at Denny's. IHOP has great food, but it's always slow. I was at 1 restaurant with only 3 tables with customers, yet it still took 45 minutes for my food to arrive. A great trick is to order take-out, if available. Then it's ready for you when you arrive, and even quicker than if sitting inside.
Yeah, I've never had a bad experience at a Denny's. They were actually my favorite place to stop at when I was a travelling salesman in the early-2000's. You could stop in and order a burger meal with avocado on it and all the fixings and it only ran you a couple dollars more than a McDonald's but was twice as good. I hear McDonald's raised their prices substantially recently though so I'd fathom Denny's is actually cheaper.
There was a very infamous moment that occurred in 2019 at a Denny's in Lithonia, GA, a suburb of Atlanta. A local news crew there was confronting employees working there due to several health violations. The employees didn't want to be filmed and began a physical altercation with the reporter. One female employee there even threatened to knock the reporter out if they refused to stop filming her and her son. That particular Denny's eventually closed its doors.
I understand trying to protect at least you and your child’s moral reputations from the news media, but threatening to knock out the reporter is just an epic fail of that effort… if that’s the case. I might be wrong?
I was honestly surprised that Denny’s was on this list. The Denny’s at my college campus, aptly named the Den, is great. The food is good, the staff is friendly, and they are very understanding if a problem is found.
Then you were lucky. Our Denny's is horrible. The staff is rude and lazy plus the food is just straight crap. During the day the employees park out front to keep it from looking abandoned. The only time it seems busy is after last call but during the day don't bother
I know that for Australians the idea of eating kangaroo meat isn't too outlandish. However, as an American whose second favorite animal is the kangaroo, it's still a bit of a shock. As far as my experience with IHOP, it's been a varied one. I don't remember any absolutely awful visits, but I've had less than stellar ones.
That last complaint about Applebee's is more like nitpicking I mean who gets upset over getting a lemon wedge just take it out and go on with your life
The reason Denny's asked for payment up front was because of a spate of black dine-and-dashers. It was like a trend. Go through the door into Popeye's and you are automatically in the hood.
Everyone: They're giving a review because they have stomach poisoning This one person: The urinals are too low and they gave me a lemon, WHERE IS MY WATER? I love the absurdity of online reviews
I was in Atlanta this summer, and my friend Jason kept asking the Uber/Lyft drivers where a good place to have breakfast was. This one Uber driver said a place, I think it was called something like Bob's Shack or something, that she hadn't been to in 10 years, so she didn't know if it still existed. Then she said another place was... well... we heard, "Danny's." We asked where that was. She was like, they're all over, but the one I go to is (I honestly forget the address). My friend Jason looks it up and asks, "Danny's you said?" "Yes," she replies. "Could you spell that?" "D-E-N-N-Y-S." We're in Atlanta, trying to get an authentic Southern breakfast, and she sends us to a fucking Denny's.
There used to be an Outback Steakhouse near me when I lived in California, it was surprisingly very nice. It was originally a Bob's Big Boy restaurant, and it was only around for about 14 years and is still an empty place. I recall the "Bloomin' Onion" and other junk they had, they were actually good, it was like ordering a bunch of onion rings with a dipping sauce. Plus that strange bread is still good, with the butter on the side but it was delicious. I rarely ordered crab or lobster, but those were solid options, same goes with the baby back ribs where you ordered them and they gave you those same wipes they had from gas stations that you opened like sugar packets. That was the experience there, it was basically a bar people went to that had tables, the actual restaurant looked fancy but the bar crowd were the regular people who bought stuff here. I ordered steak from here (duh, it's a steakhouse) and that was great too. My favorite item from the menu was a bowl of mushrooms, I ordered it damn near every time I went there, but it was solid and filled me up. Sucks it's no longer in business.
I was honestly shocked to find out about Shoney's reputation. I've only ever been to one location, being that there was only one near my town, but the food was amazing. It never seemed old or like it was off in any way and it always tasted good. The staff were always extremely kind and understanding, overall the experience was typically a treat despite being a pretty basic all-you-can-eat restaurant. My parents took me pretty often since they had dinner there on their wedding night (it was the only restaurant open at the time that wasn't packed), so it was really special to them. Sadly, it shut down during Covid since business was already slow, but I hope that some other location out there is just as good, cuz it was genuinely an amazing experience.
One time I went to outback steakhouse with my family because my uncle wanted to go, and it was one of the worst experiences I've had at any restaurant. The service was bad exclusively for me, while everyone else got their food on time, I was the only one without food for about 40 minutes. We told the waitress twice that I hadn't gotten my food and she didn't do anything about it, eventually my mom had to ask for the manager who brought out my hamburger which I didn't even want anymore because by that point I just wanted to go home after waiting for an hour, also when I actually got my hamburger, I could tell the cooks just slapped it together when the manager got involved because the cheese wasn't melted and it was probably raw on the inside (I didn't eat it because I had lost my appetite by then)
Glad that Strider can laugh at the American interpretation of Australia instead of getting mad over trivial things. I wish more people were like that. I would like to add, that just because a lot of these restaurants have a bad reputation doesn't necessarily mean yours is bad. It all comes down to how it's managed, it's why one particular McDonalds can be good, but another can be awful. It all comes down to the managers. When I went to my local Waffle House it seemed decent. Although the only time I've ever been at one was for a job interview so maybe they just glammed it up lol
You could use similar excuses for almost anything, and it immediately defeats itself every time. No shit some may be poorly manage, and some may be well managed, but those well managed ones aren't going to stop the poorly managed ones from existing
- When I was 7 or 8, I remember spending half an hour trying to eat a big burger at Applebees, but ultimately gave up half way because it made me nauseous. - I made the AB Honor roll many times in school, and my reward then was a golden corral certificate. The food then was fine, but it certainly got old after a few monthly visits. - Oh and this year, when I found an IHOP after a doctor visit, the waitress was disinterested and not polite at all. So that lines up with the #1 entry perfectly.
"Chocolate Thunder From Down Under" sounds amazing, to be quite honest with you. I might give it a try if I ever visit the states. As a side-note, my mother once ordered a big mac and it had a caterpillar in. Let's just say that McDonald's were quick to give her a discount after that. I would've kept the insect as a good luck charm. :) I've never worked in a restaurant before. But I know how difficult it can be sitting to enjoy a meal, only to have rowdy customers making a scene (mostly teenagers trying to antagonise the workers or Karens making a scene) can be on the staff. I once encountered an angry impatient customer yelling at a drive-thru window operator because the line was taking forever. She was a blonde bespectacled lady in her twenties, she was quite sweet actually. I hope she's doing well nowadays.
Can confirm that the “Chocolate Thunder From Down Under” is fantastic. I’ve had it numerous times and it always was the perfect way to end a meal. Recommend trying it. That caterpiller thing makes my skin crawl. Hope that didn’t traumatize you.
@@user-rx7pd1xv4k it was the lettuce and the fact the salad items hadn't been properly stored. It's why I refuse to eat salad in burgers, because I'm worried I'll chomp into a caterpillar or spider.
The last time I went to an IHOP it was so disappointing. I used to go there with my grandma and grandpa as a child but nowadays when I went with my grandma, and mom this time our table was sticky from syrup, service was ok even though they didn't have much help at the one I went to so it took us a while to get our food which I didn't mind, it was more than we expected price wise, and if I remember correctly they gave us plastic forks, spoons, and knives because all the silverware that wasn't used by other customers near us were in the dishwasher 😂
I have good memories of Waffle Houses. Back when a bunch of fellow dateless friends and I pool-bought tickets to my high school prom and we all went together and coming home, stopping at a Waffle House at 2-3 am before getting taken home... That one time when my fiance' and I were moving me across the country and pulled into a town where we had a hotel booked in West Virginia and had literally no place to eat / even the grocery stores were closed at 3 am and there was the Waffle House, shining like a beacon to feed us. I enjoy Outback Steakhouse, but I don't take it as reflective of actual Australian culture at all. My late nephew talked about a friend he had from Australia who hated it because of how WRONG it all was, but, honestly, if you just take it as a chain-steakhouse and don't think about the fake-culture vibe, it's fine. American culture just does that - it's well accepted by now that most "Chinese" food was created for American-tastes and became a thing unto itself. I'm pretty sure that there are restaurants in other parts of the world that try "American" food, especially Southern food and get it wrong - I mean, different regions of our own country get our regional stuff wrong all the time - Northerners getting Southern stuff wrong, people on the west coast putting green peppers and provolone in "Philadelphia cheesesteaks" - cue me moving to the Philly area and literally NO ONE does that. But these "wrong foods" can still be tasty as they are.
I was an employee at my local Popeyes from the Summer of 2019 to the outbreak of the Covid 19 pandemic in 2020. It was actually my first job ever after graduating high school. I worked at the front counter as a cashier and was subsequently on the front lines when the Chicken Sandwich hit in force. Lines around the block both in the drive thru and in the lobby, the number of people crowded into this small building was absolutely a fire safety hazard. There wasn't even much of a line, and more of just a wall of human bodies all clamoring to order this Chicken Sandwich that, by the way people scrambled for it, was the cure for cancer or the only form of sustenance on the planet. While this never happened at my location, there were instances of people getting into brawls over this Sandwich, and one location had someone pull out a gun, all in the name of this friend Chicken in a bun with mayo and pickles. My coworkers and I were legitimately scared to come to work. The worst part about it was, however, the days where from 10:00 am in the morning to 5:00 pm in the evening, I did not move from behind the register. For seven hours I was on my feet, stationary, taking orders from agitated, ignorant, or irate costumers without a bathroom or lunch break, having to explain to the customer that they can't have the Spicy Chicken Sandwich without mayo because it was the mayo that made it spicy. One man, I remember specially, walked up to the counter, shoving his way through people with a half eaten Sandwich, slammed it down in front of me and said "it's not spicy", when I had clearly explained the situation with the mayo. He looked at me like I had ran over his dog or pushed his grandmother down the stairs. I legitimately wanted to scream bloody murder working there during this time, and nearly walked off the job. I didn't though, wanting to be a 'good employee'.
Honestly I'm surprised. I actually remember going to a few of these restaurants multiple times and I really enjoyed my experience. And I have a friend who loves Panda Express.
I have a story to tell. When I was a child my mom took my teenaged brother and his friend and I to Golden Corral. My mom and I finished out meals with no problems. Place was clean staff was nice and all. But my brother and his friend decided they were gonna be bottomless pits. They kept going back for more. Eventually the manager came out and asked us to leave stating that the two were eating the food faster than the place could replace them. Funny enough, that particular location no longer referred to itself as “all you can eat” buffet anymore lol.
As a former dishwasher (4 years) I agree with your assessment. BUT I love IHOP and have never once had a problem with it! Wait times were fine, wait staff is clearly overworked but good, I like most of what I've eaten there. My only complaint is the pancakes got a little smaller in the last year or so.
We actually had a pretty good Chili's by where I live, but they shut down nearly all their sit-down restaurants in Alberta. Now it's pretty much only found in airports of all things. There's some good food there, to be honest. Just VERY pricey.
IHOP being so hated puts a frown on my face Their chicken tenders? Amazing Mozzarella sticks? Amazing Strawberry banana french toast? Heavenly And in my experience the staff are nice
The ones from this video I've eaten at are IHOP and Popeyes. I have only sat down once at an IHOP in the midwestern US back in 2017 and thought the pancakes were great. It's such a bummer seeing Popeyes on this list as they're one of my favorite restaurants. The chicken sandwich craze back in 2019 is something I remember a little well. Also, side note, I'm shocked that Australians don't eat macaroni and cheese.
Ehh, that last part was a bit inaccurate. We DO eat mac and cheese, (at least, i think so since i've seen some at a few stores and supermarkets), but it's just nowhere near as iconic in the childhoods of most Australians as TV shows and food writers would have you believe.
Seeing Josh not be offended by the Australian stereotypes of "Outback Steakhouse" and instead laughing at them was really wholesome honestly...
I mean it'd be a weird thing to get upset over
@@phantomhiphop yeah fr
Yeah that's something my father would be angry at... Total tosser. 😅
@@phantomhiphop Wouldn't surprise me to see someone get mad either though. People make the most trivial things an issue on the internet, so nothing surprises me anymore.
@@sonicstarman9663 people have too much free time
I worked at Applebee's as a Host for around 3 summers, and I can say with certainty that, compared to the reputation Applebee's has to some, our location was nothing like that. Our food was always well-cooked, and we were often told that we were one of the best Applebee's they had ever eaten at.
same with my local one but i notice either an applebees is REALLY good or its REALLY bad theres no inbetween
Same, my ex had the same complaints mentioned in the video about Applebee's always getting her sick but I've never once had that happen to me in any of the times I'd been. I'm not sure what she got when she went but I tend to just stick to the same few items, so maybe luck of the draw?
That's nice!
Same with my local Applebee's, I've never had an issue with their services or food, I actually think their food isn't bad, but every location is different! 🤷🏻♀️
The closest Applebee's I went to was a nice experience. It was really loud though.
As someone who very briefly worked at an IHOP, I can confirm that no, they do not treat staff very well at all. I was there as a hostess, and on my literal first day, they put me out front on Memorial Day weekend with no training whatsoever. It was incredibly busy and I was struggling with severe stress and anxiety. I only lasted about three days before I had a mental breakdown at the very thought of coming back to work.
I still feel really bad for quitting so suddenly, but I just couldn’t do it anymore. Thankfully, I was able to find a much better job that summer!
If your employer never cared to give you training/ care about you, you should never care or feel bad about quitting.
My condolences about that incident
I can't imagine hiring someone to work for me and then treating them as though they were something I tracked in on my shoe. Businesses like restaurants are all about repeat customers. Treating your employees badly is going to make customers uncomfortable and unhappy meaning business will suffer.
Hardee's did something similar to me
But they fired me. They gave my schedule, then changed it the night before my shift amd didn't notify me (day off) so they could fire me for being 5 minutes early-I mean 3 hours late.
Shame I couldn't prove it
Your mental health is more important
I feel you so much. Was also a hostess, training is non existent for them. I don't know how I lasted a year there.
COVID did in most restaurants. Their costs soared, supplies dwindled, portions got smaller, as did offerings on menus, and many dishes (recipes) were simplified. Employees left. It's no wonder that many restaurants declined. A major determinant of the quality and cleanliness of a specific location is the quality of management.
It's also that the tip-based economy doesn't work anymore.
Stupid covid
I remember at a IHOP, I was with my dad as we were eating out that day. We went in and waited to be seated, then like 10 minutes later, another group came in and was given a table. We waited another 10-15 minutes before my dad spoke up and we got a table. The waiter who got us the table was really kind and apologized to us. In the end, we left that waiter a good tip.
Those moments like that,are becoming a rare. Moments like that are becoming too rare nowdays.
Especially in situations like non-white American diners in predominantly white towns and cities, having Denny's restaurants in them,are exceedingly even more rare.
Sexism.
People being drunk at a Applebee's and getting rowdy is one thing.
Witnessing fights just because they get fed up with crappy customer service or for some other reason is another.
Thank goodness you all had a pleasant experience.
My wife and I have eaten at IHOP many time in Huntsville, TX. The service was really good and polite. The food was always good and the wait times were good! Of course this is not England!
I think it also might be good to mention, this happened at a United States location.
Last time I went to IHOP my pancakes were mouldy
As someone who frequents a lot of these restaurants, your experience can be entirely different depending on which location it is. It tends to depend on who's managing the place.
It *completely* depends on who manages the place. Problem is a lot of chain restaurants tend to be run by real-estate moguls who are just looking for steady earners and could not care or know less about the culinary industry. They leave the day-to-day to scuzzy managers who are just trying to maximize profits, or incompetent relatives/friends who got the job through nepotism.
Also, who serves you. At a Denny's I ordered a dish that supposedly wasn't going to cost you not more than $ 14.00, to my surprise, the same dish was charged $ 27.00 couple of days later at the same place, so it looked as if the waitress decided to use price gauging, telling me that prices went up, but I wasn't convinced and left the place unhappy.
Having Josh, as an Australian, share his thoughts about Outback Steakhouse should be considered the highlight of his UA-cam career.
It feels weird to learn that it's not actually an Aussie restaurant, but an AMERICAN restaurant that happened to have an Aussie theme.
No, they were transphobic, and the creator of this video is too. How can you even defend that?
@@JamesWagner-vv9iz What?
17:33 - Outback Steakhouse
@@JamesWagner-vv9izHow would you know?
Worked at a Denny's for a few years, and the amount of food waste is what astounded me the most. I'm sure it is the same at other restaurants but it isn't something everyone talks about. It just appalling how much food just gets thrown out on a daily basis.
Even if the food is good, in my experience they consider it theft if you, the employee, take it home. Starbucks went through a phase where it served wine. When I worked at Starbucks my coworkers told me when that Starbucks phased out alcohol they had to pour dozens of wine bottles in the sink as the company would consider it theft it they took it home. When I worked at Starbucks and Dunkin I would be told I had to toss things out and if I took it home they'd consider it theft. It's such a stupid waste.
Is the waste stuff they cooked and didn't serve, stuff that went bad, or stuff the customers were served and didn't eat? I imagine it's a combination of all three, but I'd wager the majority of the waste was customers not eating everything. Denny's is known for extremely large meals. Grand Slam Breakfast was, what, 2 eggs, 2 sausages, 2 toast, 2 pancakes, orange juice, and coffee, right? If I ate that much in one sitting, I'd be in pain, and I'm a fairly fat guy.
@@ryanwhite7852I think the reason why they consider it theft is cause they don't want employees to abuse the system and purposely cook extra food to take home still quite dumb though luckily my work (five guys) isn't like that here if somthing is out of date for five guys standards than employees is around take it home normal bread said for five guys standards bread only have a shelf life of 5 days so it's still good to take home
I can't even talk about food waste. It's so upsetting. Every place I've worked threw out so much food.
But the kicker at every single job was, if you get caught with so much as a roll that's going to be discarded, you'd get fired.
I'm going to stop there before I get my soap box out🤣
@@Jennithebaker "You took our garbage that was totally going to be hauled away and dumped in a giant hole. YOU'RE FIRED!" Seriously, that's the abusive boyfriend attitude, except with profits. "If I can't have it, no one can!"
thank you for bringing up the point about ihop staff potentially not being treated well. i remember one time where i was sitting at my table and could very clearly hear a staff member being shouted at, F-bombs included, by who i'm assuming was a manager :( one of many awful things that happened at that location. i hope that person is doing okay now
IHOP. where it typically takes them 2 hours to get my order wrong.
That's not real genuine, decent customer service. Whether it's Applebee's (they're not as good as they used to be,compared as in the years past...) , Waffle House? We don't have them here in the southern part of south Texas.
Or anywhere in Texas.
Maybe in Alabama.
And I haven't seen or experienced in being in - or witnessing - in restaurants like that.
In places like that.
In Denny's. In IHOP. In Arby's.
In having standards whenever the employees and their employers at any Denny's restaurants behave like ADULTS.
Not like teenagers or children.
@@Randytherumbler Waffle House nearly everywhere in Alabama.
Fast service, good food, decent prices, open late (usually).
That's a good way to get me to ask for the manager and ask why they're so rude to their staff.
Of course they had to share a picture of Rick and Morty
I have to say that bad experiences happen everywhere at times. I know that the server is not in charge of making the food and it is not their fault. We need more sympathy in these situations because nobody's perfect ❤
Of course they are not. They at least could DO BETTER!!!
When you see them put the food up at the window and the servers are all standing around gabbing, and then you get your food cold, it's absolutely their fault.
@@protorhinocerator142most people don't work at IHOP (for long) if they have any intentions of being better 😂
👍. Damn right they do. Nobody's perfect. It happens from time to time.
Australians are quite different dining out at Outback Steakhouse than we Americans do.
Not that I would know. (I've never been to Australia.) I stupidly thought they'd serve kangaroo steak or crocodile grits. Or well...umm....Ohhh.. forget it.
Fun Fact: I’ve actually been to the specific Golden Corral (featured on ABC’s KERO station) in this video. I had no problems eating over there, but this really opened my eyes about this place. It’s worth noting that the video you put on there was from 10 years ago, so they’ve most likely improved on their sanitation practices at this point.
Same here, been there a few times before and thought it was mid. My mom on the other hand, HATES that place. I showed her the review and she agreed with everything that person said, she also said the drinks taste bad. We’ve only been there because of her fiancé, who actually likes it
I’m hip; my mom ordered a new plate as the previous one was filthy. The guy brought a ‘new’ one; mom took one look, flipped it over and a gooey, smashed half-eaten brownie was jammed to the underside! GROSS!!! 🤮 (mom subsequently raked them over the coals on Yelp!)
I used to work at Chili's, I thankfully never experienced sexual harassment, but yeah, there was definite favoritism with management for some employees and our store owner did some really messed up things. It was very stressful.
I’m so sorry you had to endure all that. I’ve had similar experiences in my prior work
Ohh so thats where "Jack in the Crack" came from 😂 people would say after that break out lol.
The “Waffle House Avenger” is a total legend. She SWIPED a chair away that was thrown at her, and that wasn’t the worst thing she endured. She then got into boxing, damn.
Didn't she also get blacklisted from working at a Waffle House again?
@@jordanhunter3375 I have no idea.
I want to see her in a fighting game, in the full Waffle House uniform!
@@Craxin01 Waffle Avenger Wins! FATALITY!
@@jordanhunter3375Yes she did! Charlie/Penguin0 talked about it an year or so ago!
I tried a local iHOP last month around lunch time. The cookies and creme waffle I tried was good, and my friend who ordered blueberry pancakes said her's was good too. The staff was also nice there, even checking on us when we suddenly stopped talking, not realizing we had our food, I guess us being there made her day better somehow. Now to be fair, it was actually pretty empty inside, so we didn't have to wait long, but since we both in customer service and have disabilities, we were fine with waiting and more understanding if we had to wait longer times.
The only people I've ever heard complain about Applebee's are people who ate there.
agreed
My story is with Chilis; my wife is a vegetarian, and ordered the veggie burgre, but got a real meat one; I tested it, cos I eat meat. When called on it, the waitress tried to insist it WAS a veggie burger. To be fair, the manager came to apologize, but, have not been back since.
"Of course, it's a veggie burger. It has veggies on it!"
First time me and my parents went, I didn't get my food until they'd finished eating.
I went with my family a few years ago and it took forever to get our food and it wasn't that good.
Wow a definitely real burger and there is a vegetarian and a meat eater yeah instead of just getting a new one let’s be a bitcharella and complain instead of the MEAT eater just eating it or getting a new one 😂🎉❤😂🎉😂❤
@@Aldoospeo Yeah, we're not all restaurant cucks too spineless to take issue when an order is wrong. I'm sure you'd just whimper, roll over and deal with it, but some of us would realize I had my own food, and that got hers wrong. It's not like we caused a scene, we just tried to protest and the waitress argued.,
“I’m serving billions and I can’t be beat! You’re a bin full of lettuce, facing defeat!” Ronald McDonald
Cheeto’s dude?
Get your recipes together, man!
I've had the same fries since I was Willard Scott the weatherman
That's such a good rap battle lmao
Where's the beef? Right here!
I mean you do have a point. There are some things hand washing dishes can get that dishwashers will end up missing.
Golden Coral
“Jenny, its Pearl, Coral is totally out”
I remember having a good time at IHOP growing up. The only complaint from me was the wait time, but the food was still hot and delicious. I don't remember having a problem with the staff either. I went to one a couple months ago, and the waitress apologized for the lateness of my order. The place was packed that day, so pretty understandable.
I love the food, but hate the service.
That Colorado omelette is pretty wonderful. It has chunks of pot roast and link sausage in there. So... good...
IHOP used to be awesome, but I won’t go my local one because it always smells like sewage. On vacation, I went to IHOP and it was fine but the portions were tiny.
I went to the one by me last year and it wasn't as good as I remember.had it again this year and Louisiana was better than the one I had but still was ok .
I love that Nin and Boo are still trying to convert you to Hello Kittyism XD
Lol i thought that was a one time joke
Boo and I will ALWAYS try and convert him to Hello Kittyism... one day we might succeed... er, maybe lol :)
I think I came in out of context… please explain lol 😆 is that a new religion people have made up?
@@DoofenSpyroDragon16
They have an actual church society based on Hello Kitty, one that doesn't discriminate to lgbt+ or race, and Nin and Boo joined the church in the recalled kids meal toys video
@@matthewgillis2617 What the heck?! 😂
I can confirm the insanely long wait times at IHOP, at least for my local area. I was a doordash driver, and was consistently made to wait upwards of 45 minutes for the food that they knew they needed to make well before I even made it to the restaurant. This was consistent across four different locations, regardless of how busy they were at the time. It was so bad I began just turning down any orders that sent me to IHOP simply because I was not willing to waste that much time, I got paid by how many orders I would do, not by an hourly rate, and that just was not worth the effort.
Eh, we’d have had you well on your way at our location, bruh. Those other stores need to get their act together if you ask me. 😒
This comment is transphobic in some ways
@@JamesWagner-vv9iz don't try to be a troll, it just makes you look stupid.
I LOVE IHOP
Strider. I’m glad that you do your research on this stuff. It’s informative. And it inspires me to cook more at home
We’ve had good experiences at most of these. Especially Popeyes and Golden Corral. We did have a terrible experience at IHOP. Bug in the salad. When my son finally got the attention of our grumpy waitress she just said we still had to pay! Nobody had even mentioned not paying. She was extremely rude.
Wtf? That's disgusting, this is the kinda thing where being a Karen is appropriate
Same here about IHOP but it was moldy biscuits.
IHOP should be free. Last two times I went there, before the pandemic, I promptly returned the eaten food via my backside in their restroom, before receiving the tab. Never again.
I miss Golden Corral. Every one in my area closed down.
I enjoyed their yeast rolls and clam chowder.
@@patrickd.3681 Given the reviews in the video...there might have been a reason WHY....
WAFFLE HOUSE: "Can you fight!!" 😂😂😭😭😭
Oh wow! Just last week my brother and I went to an Applebees, and unfortunately he did end up vomiting after eating a chicken sandwich. I thought it was maybe just car sickness as we were traveling for a while (which it still could’ve been), but I had no idea that there was a real reputation of food poisoning. That’s awful!
Love these videos so much! Always so informative and kind and well-researched. I still think you’re one of the friendliest YTber’s out there. Thanks for being you, Strider!
LOVE the pfp! Kirby and the Forgotten Land is my fav game of all time!
Chili's and IHOP were some of my favorite sit-downs as a kid. It sucks how much their quality has gone downhill. IHOP drastically reduced the menu variety, and Chili's completely changed their restaurant interior to look less rustic (they even got rid of the tile-decorated tables.)
I also never had any problems at Outback before. At least where I lived. And I don't count Popeyes as a sit-down. It's fast food like KFC and Chick-Fil-A.
An IHOP opened up in my area back in 2016. The service was reasonable. About a year later I stopped there and it was very slow, as in 2 or 3 other tables had guests. The service matched the pace of the business at that time. There are better local eateries in my area for breakfast.
I've never heard of Popeyes having a bad rep, usually it's KFC.
I've had no big issues with Chili's or Outback where I live. In fact, we go to Chili's frequently.
We have had issues with IHOP. One time there was hardly anyone in the restaurant and were advised it would be a 20 min wait because they were under-staffed. We left and tried a different place instead. Another time, when we did eat there, the service was slow and there was a couple of things on the menu that weren't available. I didn't have any issue with my meal, once it finally arrived but it did feel like it took longer than it should have. The IHOP in my town plays 50's music, which gets old quick for me (pardon the pun). It's not a place we go to often anymore and it was definitely run much better 10 years ago.
I also agree that Popeyes should be considered fast food, not a sit-down place.
Ihop had 7 syrups and 3 types of butter And a big asss Waffle coverd with fruite and a side of Ihop flap jacks
No longer available. @@AMPProf
If a lot of the issues with IHOP is that staff always seemed to be under worked and really hate being there, perhaps they're a serious issue with how IHOP treats their employees that we don't know about.
Also I am so surprised Applebee's is so far up on this list, because my family's been to four different Applebee's and they all had terrible staff with bad attitudes. The only time we got good service was when my aunt work there.
Want a fun fact? In my country, Mexico, those two were seen as prestigious when they arrived. Same with Olive garden. People literally considered Applebee's the place for a fancy date! Can you believe it?
@@SergioLeonardoCornejo
🎶fancy like Applebees on a date night🎶😂 (it’s a real song)
@@MaddoxEzman for real? I live under a rock when it comes to music.
@@SergioLeonardoCornejo For real, it’s a country song. Fancy Like by Walker Hayes
@@MaddoxEzman lol
I remember one time my dad worked for Applebee's. I won't say where as he no longer works for them. Roughly fifteen years ago my dad worked for them and the power went out. I remember we had to drive to his work and Pack A Bunch of the Food in my Dad's Car and Left the windows down overnight Just to try to keep them cold. The very next day we come back to Applebee's. To return the food back to the fridge after they fixed it. I don't hold my dad responsible as he was just following orders. But I no longer eat at applebee's and neither does my dad. I may have grown up being fed applebee's, but i'm old enough to know it's not the same as it used to.
Never had a bad experience at IHOP; always great food and service.
I tried to go to Applebees once but we were ignored by two different waitresses for 45 minutes before I told them where they could stick their restaurant.
The 30 people waiting for tables didn't seem to mind though.....🥴
On the flip side, I loved Cracker Barrel!
same here, exactly with both places.
I would rather get jump at Waffle House then wait an hour and a half for waffle
Hi strider. Regular viewer here. As a server at waffle house I can confirm that with the fights at night unfortunately a lot of people can't seem to control their alcohol. As for the crazy prices I will say that part of the reason especially when it's a to go, is because there's a 20% to go charge. 10% covers the basic to go supplies such as plates and utensils and the other 10% goes to the server that takes the order. Thought I'd share this.
Absolutely agree 💯 Also, I can't imagine getting Waffle House to-go and expecting it to be as good as freshly cooked. Eggs, waffles, bacon, biscuits, hash browns, etc are not easy, or recommended, to reheat! Stuffing all of it in a Styrofoam box or plastic container that traps the steam is just adding for everything to be soggy. There's a reason most fast food is served in waxed paper and paper bags.
People need to be more realistic. The same problem can be found when getting the breakfast items from Cracker Barrel delivered/to-go. 😅
@@angelface925 You're totally right. To-go breakfast food is awful no matter where it is from.
Josh
I can honestly say I wish I had your optimism and bright personality. It’s always nice to see someone so happy and friendly and with a sense of humor
Thank you for warning about Applebee's food poisoning reputation, Josh! It concerns me that this kind of stuff is still super common, even after various infamous food poisoning outbreaks in the 90s and 2000s. My local Golden Corral, Shoney's, and Popeyes are clean and high-quality, though, so it may just depend on location. As for IHOP, I had an unpleasant experience at one, it was super filthy, and the waitresses were rude. I can't blame them for being rude considering IHOP doesn't treat their employees right. The one bright side of the IHOP experience was that the chocolate pancakes were still delicious. Jack In The Box also has a bad reputation for food quality and cleanliness as well. I only ate there once, and it was okay. Still, you think they would've learned from their infamous 1993 E Coli Outbreak, which is one of the worst and most tragic food poisoning outbreaks ever. I did hear Jack In The Box was better during the 1970s, and looking at the 1970s era buildings, menus, and commercials, I believe it.
Worked as an assistant manager at a Jack in the Box until this year. It was a nightmare at times. The manager would spend more time smoking outside than actually working. Which led to the rest of the staff to do the same, and I mean the rest of the staff, as in the minors as well. He literally told them it was ok as long as they kept the cigs and vapes hidden under the table so customers couldn't see. Besides the unethical part, this made it impossible to keep the staff in the kitchen. It was almost daily that I would catch someone throwing the raw patties onto the grill with gloved hands and then immediately try to return to the assembly line while keeping the same gloves on. Sometimes, I was too slow, and they would touch the veggies, which led to me having to toss them and quickly get more ready during a rush. Then, when the patties were supposedly done cooking, nobody ever wanted to do the final check cause "it wastes time." Which would lead to them throwing half cooked patties into the hold as they hit the wrong size on the grill. It made me concerned about what happened when I wasn't working, cause I was the only person in that store who cared about food safety. I didn't think I would have to tell people they had to wash their hand if they sneezed directly into them, but at Jack in the Box, apparently, that wasn't obvious to many people.
@@scarffoxandfriends9401 That is less on Jack In The Box as a whole and more on the godawful management and ownership of the particular one you worked at.
Though corporate definitely deserve some blame for letting such a situation develop.
@planescaped I didn't mean for my comment to come across as me being upset with the whole company. It was just directed towards that specific store. I'm now a manager at the Gas Station across from it, which is linked to a full sized grocery store. Whenever I talk to customers, how's work going? Everyone is either happy or, at the very least, has a "ehh it's work" attitude. But if someone comes in with a JitB shirt, they just go on a rant on how much they hate being there. Not even just in terms of hating the work, like they physically hate just being there cause of the toxic environment.
One time my mother found a piece of a metal in she had ordered, she never went back.
I remember watching an episode of "Undercover Boss" that featured a Shoney's. It is true; it was revealed they used canned food, as well as a microwave...😕😕
I can confirm things about Golden Corral myself. The one I always used to go to in Florida was decent a few years back, but fell off HARD a few years after. The staff was terrible, ALL of the food was either cold and or missing. Literally half the containers you get the food at was empty and there werent even that may people in the resturant. The excuse we got from the main manager there was "it's most of ours, and my first day here" which I honestly didn't believe for a second.
Every time I go to Golden Corral I get sick...and not the ate too much kind of sick but the some rando put their head under the sneeze guard and sneezed all over the food sick.
@@evilrollo "Every time?" Why did you return? Damn! Is it that hard to figure out? If I got sick _one time_ after some restaurant (which has never happened) I'd never return.
Honestly the Bloomin Onion while hardly Australian is pretty tasty especially as I usually hate onions at least in raw form and the sauce they pair it with really helps.
Been having a pretty bad day but the blow was eased when I saw Strider uploaded
thank you for making your content Josh :))
Same! These videos always make my day
I've had some bad experiences with Ihop, but they did formally apologize.
my only experience with Popeye's on the other hand, was just plain awful.
It does really depend on who you get. Imo it’s my favorite place to get fried chicken, it’s so crispy and juicy. For the service, yeah… if you’re in a trashy area, expect that for the service. I’m sorry your experience was bad.
I have had varying experiences with iHop. The one by my college was always delicious with amazing service. The one in my hometown on the other hand, once accidentally served me scoops of butter instead of ice cream.
My worst one was them forgetting a bunch of my sides for a rather big family meal, so just out of curiosity, what was your experience?
Wow, the local Popeye's is pretty good. I mean, sure the actual style of food is something of an acquired taste to my town's more northern palate, but it's definitely higher quality than whatever trash KFC is serving (except coleslaw, the one thing the local KFCs, yes we have multiple, beat them on), still prefer Church's Texas Chicken though.
I think Popeyes chicken is just plain garbage. Apparently so did most of my town because a Popeyes has opened here twice and both times they closed down at least the second time it lasted over a year and a half. KFC is barely hanging on but that's what happens when a local place blows them out of the water. Our local mom and pop grocery has a world class deli that serves the best fried chicken. They've been voted best so many years in a row everyone else stopped trying
Once at Applebees they threw away our food when we went to the restroom
That's just sick! So sorry that they did that to ya!
Honestly, I am a big fan of breakfast and also a night owl. IHOP has been a life line. All of the IHOPs in my area are clean, remodeled, and look contemporary. During the pandemic & lock down, my local IHOP changed out two windows at different ends of the restaurant and turned them into pedestrian walk up windows: 1 to take the order and pay, the other was for order pick up when ready. They remained open 24 hrs the entire time and never disappointed. All the grocery stores, Wal-Mart's, etc in my community reduced their business hours down to 1 shift (8hr to 12 hr) a day so when I was up at night time if I hadn't had the opportunity to go grocery shopping IHOP was really the only place I was able to get something to eat until I made it to the grocery store (Frankly Speaking - I felt like it was safer to go to IHOP and get food to-go than actually spend an hour in a grocery store walking around in an indoor closed environment.) I'm not going to say that I've never had a bad experience at an IHOP but the good definitely outweigh the bad times experiences.
I would rather get jumped at Waffle House then sit at IHOP
I went to IHOP with my mother after the two of us had done stuff i forgot about. It was alright but i was hungry so it was even better.
As a culinary arts student I'm very interested in customer comments and opinions about well known restaurants.
I’m shocked by the Outback Steakhouse. Because where I live the Outback Steakhouse’s are damn near gourmet. Like I’m not used to eating “fancy food” but the ones that are near me have actually amazing quality food and actually really juicy steaks and burgers. The potatoes were delicious and the blooming onion is consistently amazing.
(Also, unrelated, fun fact, the Outback near me has a 6’11 waiter)
Outback Steakhouse EXTREME!
PUNISH! YOUR! TOILET!!!
@@matthewgillis2617 ELEPHANT STEAKS, 40 POUND ELEPHANT STEAKS. EVEN OUR WAITERS ARE HUGE.
We had lunch at Outback in Naperville, IL. The server was very good and got our orders to us in a timely manner. Unfortunately, our steaks were over seasoned with salt, garlic and some type of hot spice. We took them home and fed them to our dogs.
As a retired food service manager, I can tell you it all comes down to location, location, location.
I say this all the time but this guy just knows when to upload. I got myself a hot chocolate and I was looking for something to watch on this cold day.
I worked for a smaller local sit down restaurant for 23 years. I did everything short of bartending and management. I've been more tolerable for some mistakes when I do go out. I love these videos keep up the great work.
One of my cousins used to work at an Ihop near where I live, and she said there were days where it was pretty testy to work there. She never went a day without being told off by customers for something stupid like not getting their refills on time. It was so bad for her that she eventually quit because she just couldn't handle it anymore.
Nobody goes to Denny's. You just end up there.
I used to go to Denny's. Then the food quality went south.
I remember when me and a group of people went to Dennys at 2 AM (sometime between 12 and 2 anyway, it was a while ago lol), it went surprisingly well.
I feel like one of the biggest issues with IHOP is that they are forced to be a 24/7 location instead of having hours based around their current staff. The manager having to cook is a very common occurrence, and often said manager has zero professional cooking experience. To make the situation worse, cause they get stuck making all the food (which is supposed to be made by a team, not a single inexperienced person) they aren't able to maintain what is happening up front. As an example, at my local IHOP, the host was a high schooler. They would give all the customers to their 2 friends, meanwhile the 3rd waitress who wasn't part of the friend group wasn't given any customers. This led to a fight among the staff as there were 14 tables with customers, and the 3rd waitress wasn't assigned to any of them. Shortly after that, the manager at that location left, which I only know as he became an assistant manager at my job and my God, he was the single worst manager I have ever dealt with, I didn't even work the same department as him and I hated being around them. So many people just started venting how much they disliked him, which led to him not keeping the position.
I’m sure these are all better than Uncle Moe's Family Feedbag. The guy literally said “freaking” in front of the children.
idk, if he doesn't smile you eat for free so if he's that quick tempered it sounds like a lottery for potential free food.
Hi soshi
Ow, my freaking ears!
Me: 🤣at the name of the restaurant (I can't even read it aloud with a straight face).
@@TheTundraTerrorI expect that type of language at Denny's but not there.
Two things about Popeyes.
1. Popeyes is as much a sit down restaurant as McDonalds or KFC. You can sit and eat there, but it's typically a fast food place... that's probably why the service sucked.
2. Popeyes chicken is delicious if you like your chicken spicier and juicier than KFC of Chick-Fil-A, which I do.
I was surprised that Popeye’s was even included since most people consider it fast food instead of a sit-down restuarant.
Also, you gave the exact reason I choose it over KFC. In fact, Popeye’s has my favorite spicy chicken sandwich of any fast food joint.
To me Popeyes is weak and tasted too much like buttermilk. KFC is just plain trash. I go to my favorite local spot and so does most of my town. Popeyes has opened up twice in our town and both times closed down from lack of customers. At least the second time it went a year and a half
As for the dishwashing comment about the Golden Corral, that is so true. If it was busy enough that there where no plates, I am not surprized there was a messy pile waiting to be cleaned. They have to be somewhere.
This is about IHOP. I used to work at IHOP where I live and I had only worked there for 2 years being underpaid and also overworked. There was others in the same position as myself who would slack off and go outside and smoke, sometimes even shoot up "drugs". I sent an anonymous email to corporate down in California to let them know what was going on and that is when I was still working there. The whole time while I was working at IHOP I State bonded with meant that IHOP would be paid as long as I would be working there and that would only be lasting for 2 years.
They shut down the Denny's where I live (in Vernon, Ct). They did this rather suddenly with no advance warning. The employees were just abandoned with no compensation. I was surprised because it wasn't from a lack of customers. The place always seemed packed (certainly for breakfast) but I wasn't sure about nights as I never went at that time. No restaurant has gone in that location to take it's place.
There was an old saying that "Nobody ever starts out going to Denny's but it's just where you end up." Because it was open 24 hours. But they stopped 24 hour operation during the Covid pandemic and never went back to it even after the epidemic was over.
I’m glad none of the Michigan Coney Island restaurants never made this hated list.
I live in Michigan and love Coney Island!!! Esp Leo’s coney island
I used to eat at Applebee’s when I was a little kid and I remembered how long it took for our food to arrive in our table. My dad just orders Applebees from Uber eats nowadays.
As someone who goes to Outback on occasion, the service and food are fantastic, staff are really friendly caring and the food is cooked well. I was surprised to see it on this list, I went to golden corral twice and both times were good.
The Chocolate Thunder From Down Under is pretty frickin’ good, and usually they’ve made some of the best burgers I’ve had in my life. But I can see the obvious controversy.
I went to Outback a while back and their food was good (their baked potato was great) just a bit too pricey, though. I had no idea about the backstory of the restaurant.
@@ruth80809 I didn’t know until watching this video, either. I to this day still have no issues with them.
My food was very high quality! What else was high? The price $35.00 for one dinner?
Loved eating the food, but hated paying for it afterwards! 😒💸🤔
Service was good. I don’t remember the steak being the worst or the best, but otherwise they were alright. Also my parents seem to like it since they do sometimes go l there.
I was under the impression Popeyes was fast food. There’s a drive thru
I don't think Popeye's or Panda Express are considered 'sit-down' restaurants; they are fast food joints.
I was never a fan of Denny's over the years. The one that was close to my house (which is gone now) gave us our worst dining experience. Pretty packed around New Year's a handful of years back, but we got a table not too long afterwards. Waitress came by after around 5 minutes, saying she'd be right back to take our drink orders after checking on another table first.
She never came back and we eventually left after not being serviced at all. We just went across the street to Bob Evan's instead, which was a far better choice.
I'm so sorry that had to happen to you and your family. That's awful!
10) Funny story… I was once given my chicken strips kids’ meal faster than ANY fast food restaurant on a quiet day! Why? I was a very very hungry child. I don’t remember feeling sick afterwards, so it must’ve been a surprisingly decent Applebees back then.
9) I’ve visited a Waffle House one time for lunch. The food was meh, and I remember my anxiety going up for whatever reason?
8) Last time I went to a Denny’s… it was okay. Also, what the heck?! Some people (and companies) clearly forget an important moral lesson like the morons we are often seen as! (Major kudos to the guy standing up for those unfortunate customers btw!)
7) I definitely noticed the difference between a Chili’s at a small town and a Chili’s at a bigger suburbs. I’m pretty sure the smaller towns have better quality because better efforts? I dunno. I was in middle school back then.
6) Never heard of it… and that sounds like a good thing for me too.
5) I once heard on the news media about a guy putting rat poison on a lot of the food. I can’t tell if it’s true, especially nowadays. But that’s just messed up!
4) I blame a group of streamers in a monthly podcast for making the name “Outback Steakhouse” hard to take seriously because of their hilarious dark humor.
3) Ugh! No! Popeyes = Barf!!! Just… no!
2) I used to hate Panda Express because i couldn’t find anything good, mostly because I am such a picky eater. But that changed when they apparently changed the fried rice recipe and added apple pie “egg rolls”. Try adding those with a surprise handful of fortune cookies 😂
1) That explains my love for pancakes, including the cupcake pancakes, were declining. Also, I can’t resist making a Thomas reference with that one story
“Just LOOK what you’ve done to my breakfast! Now I shall have to order another… at another place!”
Our local Waffle House benefits from the "small town" effect you describe here - staff are nice and care about the food.
I never understood Applebee's hate. Applebee's is one of my fav restaurants. Although it probably doesn't help that I only ever order the mozzarella sticks for the appetizers and the chicken tender plater for the main dish. I literally never order anything different😅
I haven't had any issues with food poisoning, but I can never finish the food in the restaurant, I always end up getting a box and eating it later, lol.
I know right? I remember eating there for my friend's birthday and the people there was super nice and got our food out in a decent time (there was 5 of us in total and one of my friends is a big boi that ordered a lot lol). Their bottomless appetizers was a big hit back then as well despite me not being able to eat all of that lol
@zeospark9715 Yeah. That and I haven't had issues with the service. The food shows up at a decent time (hell, the last time I went, the food came pretty fast). And the waitresses are always really nice. That and they always show up just as I need a refill (I swear they're psychics or something XD)
Hey! I have fond memories of going to Applebees too!
So I also couldn't understand the hate it got for quite a while.....
Yeah my parents love it there. I think it's fine, definitely don't hate it 🤷♂️
That sounds like the food my 6 year old would order. Our Applebee's was so bad it closed permanently after multiple violations. It's been almost 20 years since I've been in one plus the nearest is in the next state an hour and a half away
I think Dennys is the championship fight circuit of restaurants! Over here in Oaktown the Dennys in the bay area is notorious for having outbreaks of groups brawling. I think it's because of the ' all you can eat waffles ' dinner. First of all, everyone probably needed ' more waffles ' and there were too many butts ❤😂
As someone who works as a dish washer at a place with an automatic dishwasher, I can confirm that sometimes it’s not as efficient.
A cycle is around a minute long, and sometimes certain dishes need to go through more than once.
Sometimes we have to scrub, rinse, or scrape food off of dishes, containers and utensils.
From my experience with IHOP, our particular location has very nice staff members and the food quality is actually good and makes up for the wait time. Most of them don’t seem to be too overwhelmed either, but hey I’m just talking about one location out of several others. Very nice list btw, I expected most if not all of these restaurants to appear tbh
I move around a lot, and yeah Ihop is good, I would’ve had no idea that a single person even hated IHOP. However, sometimes their are long wait times, that’s true. Still the employees have always been friendly (that goes for most restaurants), so I’m surprised to even see them on this list, especially as #1 since their recent biggest controversy that went for the entire chain was changing their name to IHOB for a few months.
Same here. I only really remember one visit but the people were nice and we didn't wait long. But it is true I've only been to one location, so it could be different elsewhere.
I've actually never been to a Denny's. As a black woman I think I'm lucky in that respect.
Thank you PhantomStrider and Nostalgia Critic for not only good content, but also for helping me avoid Denny's.
My mother and I went to our town's local Golden Corral. It certainly lived up to its reputation. The food was mediocre, even the chocolate fountain! When you screw up with chocolate from a fountain, you KNOW you screwed up!
I also remember going to a Shoney's restaurant on my way to visit my grandparents. The only thing I remember was winning a Beluga toy from a claw machine.
Beluga plush, big dub!!!
Personally, I've never really had a bad experience at a Denny's. It's one of my favorite restaurants. God, they have good pancakes.
I'm kinda of shocked to see Panda Express so high on this list.
Every time I've gone to my local Panda Express, the food was so fresh that more was being cooked as I was ordering.
The staff was very friend, and pretty quick with service, I barely waited for 10 minutes, and it was during lunch rush hour too.
Not to mention, the locations were clean and spotless, one of the employees was always making sure something/anything was wiped down with disinfectant.
The only "bad thing" I had to say was sometimes they pack in more food than the styrofoam containers can handle, but even then those containers rarely burst open.
But, I also take into considerable that I live in Seattle, and the Asian population is denser here, so maybe that has to do with the Panda Express locations I've been to are cleaner and more well maintained.
That or Seattle has a much higher food standard then New York does.
Because I know my local Panda Express in New York years ago could be a little hit or miss at times, especially since in was located in a Mail's Food Court.
The one up in Smokey Point is good as well. I have always had a good experience there.
The ones here in Texas dad and I have been to have been STELLAR as well, to the point that when I saw it make #2, I was about to go to WAR with Strider.
I actually enjoy my local IHOP. I’ve only been there a couple of times and DoorDashed it once, but the food was always great and the service inside always seemed personable.
the IHOP in Oregon city, OR is great! we always look for our favorite server and we have always had good food!
I've been to a Denny's exactly once in my life, back around 1990. It took us a little while to notice that people who were seated after us were having their orders taken before us, and then a table that was seated after us got their food before we even ordered. When the server finally came to our table, we just stood up and left. Two of our party of 5 or 6 were black. At that time, I hadn't yet heard the rumblings about racism.
At our Denny's they solved the racist problem by having the wait staff treat everyone like crap. We got up and left a near empty restaurant after nobody taking our orders for over a half hour and from what I hear it's still just as bad. The employees park out front to keep it from looking abandoned
You wouldn't DARE consider that Denny's had bad experiences with POC diners. Not to mention other good restaurants.
I have no trouble at all finding videos and TikToks of blacks who don't want to be in a restaurant where they see other blacks inside. Why? They KNOW that their peers cannot behave themselves and THEY DON'T TIP. Blacks on video say this and the evidence confirms it. Shame me all you want but, all the shaming language in the world cannot change that.
The magic word, rayssssissmm, doesn't work because we all know the dirty truth behind it. Deal with it.
Maybe your group was just talking a lot. I've noticed recently when I go anywhere with a group the wait staff tends to give you a lot of time, especially if folks are just chatting and not looking at menus or menus down etc? Idk maybe all Denny's are racist? In my area it seems like all types go there and are fine
@@beargillium2369 Of course I'll never know for sure why we were ignored, because I can never know what was going on in the server's head. I'm just sharing a personal experience related to the topic.
A lot of restaurants that people hate is depending on location. Not all will be the same, but at the same time, it's annoying, but it's a reality we live in. I love Chili's, but that's my location. But when I visited my best friend, his dad hates Chili's because of the food quality. So just keep in mind that not all restaurants locations be the same. Restaurant food quality is like gambling
I think of raising canes when I think of fast food gambling. One will have the best chicken you’ve ever had, and the next will serve you cold raw chicken and get upset when you complain
No shit, you could use similar excuses for almost anything
Panda might be the only restaurant on the list I've visited in recent memory, and my opinion on their noodles could not be any lower. Protip: if you're fortunate enough to have a local, family-owned Chinese restaurant then go there instead.
I am not surprised, I think Panda express is horrible.
The last time I ate at Panda Express, 10 or more years ago, there was sand in all of my broccoli. I could hear it crunching in my teeth. I haven't been back since.
@DarkFire1536 sand how the heck did they get sand in the food never been to Panda Express and I will probably never go there. Also I personally find it better to go to my local Chinese restaurant or make my own at home.
@@trixxart777 I find sand in my broccoli from the grocery store sometimes when I wash it. I soak it in a strainer that is placed inside a bowl. When I lift the strainer, I often see sand on the bottom of the bowl. I think that perhaps they broccoli I ate from Panda Express may not have been washed thoroughly.
The Panda Expresses my dad and I have been to had really nice staff and everything was literally made while ordering.
Then again, neither of us ordered noodles, just orange chicken and honey shrimp.
I worked at an IHOP a decade ago as a teenager. At my location the managers put a huge emphasis on customer experience since it was a family restaurant and a lot of the time the fam was dragged their because young children & younger adolescents really wanted to eat stacks of our sickeningly sweet dessert-like pancakes for breakfast/lunch. Combined with the fact we give out those things kids like to color on - it’s supposed to be a friendly environment.
There was a rule where you weren’t allowed to not be smiling (toothy smile) when talking to a customer and not allowed to forgo at least a closed mouth smile when it’s likely a customer will be paying attention to you.
We were also supposed to mind our demeanor, tone and volume even when a customer was being difficult. Diffusion of conflict and satisfying the customer was prioritized even when giving into such an entitled parent took a stab at your dignity. _(so think similar to chick fil a standards of politeness but still inferior customer service in comparison and Trader Joe’s like standards of pretend/faux/forced extroversion combined with a standard of friendliness that’s not as extreme as Disney land but still emphasized in a similar manner)_
I had enough humility to do the job but not enough patience at that age _(i would now tho)_ and I refused to just allow my autistic induced need for straight fowardness and literalism to go unaccommodated by customers (customers often want you to read their mind, know why their dissatisfied, to just known what they personally expect from you etc) so I eventually put in my two weeks once I found a new job.
I do honestly appreciate the experience it gave me tho. It taught me a lot about interacting with children, how to get out of conflict with certain kinds of people when it’s not worth it, and how to not bring your personal moods into the workplace.
There’s also one specific interaction I had with a customer that made me so happy I dont ever forget it- I took Italian (instead of Spanish, French or some other language) in school and language learning is EXTREMELY hard for me but I loved the language and Italian culture so much that i applied myself anyway. I did well enough that when I was like 15/16 I was one of the kids who were high enough in the percentiles of testing scores for my grade that I was allowed the option to travel to Italy with my school. _(Which oddly helped me comprehend Italian language more in just week than an entire school semester lol). This one time I was helping out with a table with a big family with elders, parents and teens/children. All the parents and kids were Italian-American (i pressure)_ but two of the seniors in the group who were husband & wife were from Italy and had a really hard time speaking English _(they seemed like it was easier for them to understand their own family speaking english/half-English to them but they mainly responded in Italian). I felt confident enough to talk to them in Italian and they were SO HAPPY AND ELATED to be able to talk to/converse with a server in their native language who had been to Italy before. They were surprised as well because it’s obvious I’m not Italian/Italian-American _(I’m black and apparently still have noticeable “NY accent” when I speak Italian )_ They shared a lot with me about themselves, took interest in me, really appreciated how much I knew about modern and traditional Italian culture/society and were very thankful I took it upon myself to practice Italian so much _(though they said in certain phrases i sounded like a young Italian girl rather than a teenager due to enunciation- they found it cute though)_ they were big jokesters to and slipped me a nice tip they didn’t want me to have to share with the other staff lol. Their daughter thanked me for making it such a nice experience for them.
Hearing these reviews and criticisms of IHOP makes it sound like a completely different company. Maybe after the IHOB fiasco their identity permanently broke
You're the exception rather than the rule... WAY TO GO, Young Lady! You rock!!!
I usually have good experiences at Denny's.
IHOP has great food, but it's always slow. I was at 1 restaurant with only 3 tables with customers, yet it still took 45 minutes for my food to arrive.
A great trick is to order take-out, if available. Then it's ready for you when you arrive, and even quicker than if sitting inside.
Yeah, I've never had a bad experience at a Denny's. They were actually my favorite place to stop at when I was a travelling salesman in the early-2000's. You could stop in and order a burger meal with avocado on it and all the fixings and it only ran you a couple dollars more than a McDonald's but was twice as good. I hear McDonald's raised their prices substantially recently though so I'd fathom Denny's is actually cheaper.
The ikea restaurant in Toronto is half as cheap as our McDonald’s and twice the quality! I love their stevia colas and the drink cups aren’t massive
There was a very infamous moment that occurred in 2019 at a Denny's in Lithonia, GA, a suburb of Atlanta. A local news crew there was confronting employees working there due to several health violations. The employees didn't want to be filmed and began a physical altercation with the reporter. One female employee there even threatened to knock the reporter out if they refused to stop filming her and her son. That particular Denny's eventually closed its doors.
I understand trying to protect at least you and your child’s moral reputations from the news media, but threatening to knock out the reporter is just an epic fail of that effort… if that’s the case. I might be wrong?
I was honestly surprised that Denny’s was on this list. The Denny’s at my college campus, aptly named the Den, is great. The food is good, the staff is friendly, and they are very understanding if a problem is found.
Then you were lucky. Our Denny's is horrible. The staff is rude and lazy plus the food is just straight crap. During the day the employees park out front to keep it from looking abandoned. The only time it seems busy is after last call but during the day don't bother
My late husband and I and our kids always ate at Dennys ,the service and food was awesome
I know that for Australians the idea of eating kangaroo meat isn't too outlandish. However, as an American whose second favorite animal is the kangaroo, it's still a bit of a shock.
As far as my experience with IHOP, it's been a varied one. I don't remember any absolutely awful visits, but I've had less than stellar ones.
That last complaint about Applebee's is more like nitpicking I mean who gets upset over getting a lemon wedge just take it out and go on with your life
The reason Denny's asked for payment up front was because of a spate of black dine-and-dashers. It was like a trend. Go through the door into Popeye's and you are automatically in the hood.
Everyone: They're giving a review because they have stomach poisoning
This one person: The urinals are too low and they gave me a lemon, WHERE IS MY WATER?
I love the absurdity of online reviews
I can kinda understand the last one. It sounds weird getting a lemon, but then not getting your water.
Great timing strider! I was looking for something to watch while eating my bigfoot lol
I was in Atlanta this summer, and my friend Jason kept asking the Uber/Lyft drivers where a good place to have breakfast was. This one Uber driver said a place, I think it was called something like Bob's Shack or something, that she hadn't been to in 10 years, so she didn't know if it still existed. Then she said another place was... well... we heard, "Danny's." We asked where that was. She was like, they're all over, but the one I go to is (I honestly forget the address). My friend Jason looks it up and asks, "Danny's you said?"
"Yes," she replies.
"Could you spell that?"
"D-E-N-N-Y-S."
We're in Atlanta, trying to get an authentic Southern breakfast, and she sends us to a fucking Denny's.
Roxie's Cafe is where it's at. It's by the Reverb Hotel
TBF, the Grand slam was actually invented in Atlanta
Next time consider Atlanta Breakfast Company. I was in Atlanta for a convention and went to that restaurant and it was pretty damn good.
There used to be an Outback Steakhouse near me when I lived in California, it was surprisingly very nice. It was originally a Bob's Big Boy restaurant, and it was only around for about 14 years and is still an empty place.
I recall the "Bloomin' Onion" and other junk they had, they were actually good, it was like ordering a bunch of onion rings with a dipping sauce. Plus that strange bread is still good, with the butter on the side but it was delicious.
I rarely ordered crab or lobster, but those were solid options, same goes with the baby back ribs where you ordered them and they gave you those same wipes they had from gas stations that you opened like sugar packets. That was the experience there, it was basically a bar people went to that had tables, the actual restaurant looked fancy but the bar crowd were the regular people who bought stuff here.
I ordered steak from here (duh, it's a steakhouse) and that was great too. My favorite item from the menu was a bowl of mushrooms, I ordered it damn near every time I went there, but it was solid and filled me up.
Sucks it's no longer in business.
I was honestly shocked to find out about Shoney's reputation. I've only ever been to one location, being that there was only one near my town, but the food was amazing. It never seemed old or like it was off in any way and it always tasted good. The staff were always extremely kind and understanding, overall the experience was typically a treat despite being a pretty basic all-you-can-eat restaurant.
My parents took me pretty often since they had dinner there on their wedding night (it was the only restaurant open at the time that wasn't packed), so it was really special to them. Sadly, it shut down during Covid since business was already slow, but I hope that some other location out there is just as good, cuz it was genuinely an amazing experience.
I don’t think we have or had a Shoney's in western Pennsylvania
I don’t think we have or had a Shoney's in western Pennsylvania. I’ve never heard of that place before
I didn't think Shoney's still existed
One time I went to outback steakhouse with my family because my uncle wanted to go, and it was one of the worst experiences I've had at any restaurant. The service was bad exclusively for me, while everyone else got their food on time, I was the only one without food for about 40 minutes. We told the waitress twice that I hadn't gotten my food and she didn't do anything about it, eventually my mom had to ask for the manager who brought out my hamburger which I didn't even want anymore because by that point I just wanted to go home after waiting for an hour, also when I actually got my hamburger, I could tell the cooks just slapped it together when the manager got involved because the cheese wasn't melted and it was probably raw on the inside (I didn't eat it because I had lost my appetite by then)
Glad that Strider can laugh at the American interpretation of Australia instead of getting mad over trivial things. I wish more people were like that. I would like to add, that just because a lot of these restaurants have a bad reputation doesn't necessarily mean yours is bad. It all comes down to how it's managed, it's why one particular McDonalds can be good, but another can be awful. It all comes down to the managers. When I went to my local Waffle House it seemed decent. Although the only time I've ever been at one was for a job interview so maybe they just glammed it up lol
You could use similar excuses for almost anything, and it immediately defeats itself every time. No shit some may be poorly manage, and some may be well managed, but those well managed ones aren't going to stop the poorly managed ones from existing
Great video idea as always, keep it up.
- When I was 7 or 8, I remember spending half an hour trying to eat a big burger at Applebees, but ultimately gave up half way because it made me nauseous.
- I made the AB Honor roll many times in school, and my reward then was a golden corral certificate. The food then was fine, but it certainly got old after a few monthly visits.
- Oh and this year, when I found an IHOP after a doctor visit, the waitress was disinterested and not polite at all. So that lines up with the #1 entry perfectly.
"Chocolate Thunder From Down Under" sounds amazing, to be quite honest with you. I might give it a try if I ever visit the states.
As a side-note, my mother once ordered a big mac and it had a caterpillar in. Let's just say that McDonald's were quick to give her a discount after that. I would've kept the insect as a good luck charm. :)
I've never worked in a restaurant before. But I know how difficult it can be sitting to enjoy a meal, only to have rowdy customers making a scene (mostly teenagers trying to antagonise the workers or Karens making a scene) can be on the staff. I once encountered an angry impatient customer yelling at a drive-thru window operator because the line was taking forever. She was a blonde bespectacled lady in her twenties, she was quite sweet actually. I hope she's doing well nowadays.
Can confirm that the “Chocolate Thunder From Down Under” is fantastic. I’ve had it numerous times and it always was the perfect way to end a meal. Recommend trying it.
That caterpiller thing makes my skin crawl. Hope that didn’t traumatize you.
Oh that's funky, a caterpillar. That's a heck of a lot better than a cockroach. But I wonder how a caterpillar got in there...
@@user-rx7pd1xv4k it was the lettuce and the fact the salad items hadn't been properly stored. It's why I refuse to eat salad in burgers, because I'm worried I'll chomp into a caterpillar or spider.
The last time I went to an IHOP it was so disappointing. I used to go there with my grandma and grandpa as a child but nowadays when I went with my grandma, and mom this time our table was sticky from syrup, service was ok even though they didn't have much help at the one I went to so it took us a while to get our food which I didn't mind, it was more than we expected price wise, and if I remember correctly they gave us plastic forks, spoons, and knives because all the silverware that wasn't used by other customers near us were in the dishwasher 😂
I have good memories of Waffle Houses. Back when a bunch of fellow dateless friends and I pool-bought tickets to my high school prom and we all went together and coming home, stopping at a Waffle House at 2-3 am before getting taken home... That one time when my fiance' and I were moving me across the country and pulled into a town where we had a hotel booked in West Virginia and had literally no place to eat / even the grocery stores were closed at 3 am and there was the Waffle House, shining like a beacon to feed us.
I enjoy Outback Steakhouse, but I don't take it as reflective of actual Australian culture at all. My late nephew talked about a friend he had from Australia who hated it because of how WRONG it all was, but, honestly, if you just take it as a chain-steakhouse and don't think about the fake-culture vibe, it's fine. American culture just does that - it's well accepted by now that most "Chinese" food was created for American-tastes and became a thing unto itself. I'm pretty sure that there are restaurants in other parts of the world that try "American" food, especially Southern food and get it wrong - I mean, different regions of our own country get our regional stuff wrong all the time - Northerners getting Southern stuff wrong, people on the west coast putting green peppers and provolone in "Philadelphia cheesesteaks" - cue me moving to the Philly area and literally NO ONE does that. But these "wrong foods" can still be tasty as they are.
I was an employee at my local Popeyes from the Summer of 2019 to the outbreak of the Covid 19 pandemic in 2020. It was actually my first job ever after graduating high school. I worked at the front counter as a cashier and was subsequently on the front lines when the Chicken Sandwich hit in force.
Lines around the block both in the drive thru and in the lobby, the number of people crowded into this small building was absolutely a fire safety hazard. There wasn't even much of a line, and more of just a wall of human bodies all clamoring to order this Chicken Sandwich that, by the way people scrambled for it, was the cure for cancer or the only form of sustenance on the planet.
While this never happened at my location, there were instances of people getting into brawls over this Sandwich, and one location had someone pull out a gun, all in the name of this friend Chicken in a bun with mayo and pickles. My coworkers and I were legitimately scared to come to work.
The worst part about it was, however, the days where from 10:00 am in the morning to 5:00 pm in the evening, I did not move from behind the register. For seven hours I was on my feet, stationary, taking orders from agitated, ignorant, or irate costumers without a bathroom or lunch break, having to explain to the customer that they can't have the Spicy Chicken Sandwich without mayo because it was the mayo that made it spicy. One man, I remember specially, walked up to the counter, shoving his way through people with a half eaten Sandwich, slammed it down in front of me and said "it's not spicy", when I had clearly explained the situation with the mayo. He looked at me like I had ran over his dog or pushed his grandmother down the stairs.
I legitimately wanted to scream bloody murder working there during this time, and nearly walked off the job. I didn't though, wanting to be a 'good employee'.
I ate at Applebee's, and experienced symptoms of nausea too. So, can confirm.
The scariest part of town always has the best popeyes
I wonder why......... lol
Honestly I'm surprised. I actually remember going to a few of these restaurants multiple times and I really enjoyed my experience. And I have a friend who loves Panda Express.
As other comments say, it’s due to locational differences a lot of the time. Then again, a number of these restaurants I don’t actually go to.
@@anotherrandomguy8871 That makes sense.
I have a story to tell. When I was a child my mom took my teenaged brother and his friend and I to Golden Corral.
My mom and I finished out meals with no problems. Place was clean staff was nice and all. But my brother and his friend decided they were gonna be bottomless pits. They kept going back for more.
Eventually the manager came out and asked us to leave stating that the two were eating the food faster than the place could replace them. Funny enough, that particular location no longer referred to itself as “all you can eat” buffet anymore lol.
As a former dishwasher (4 years) I agree with your assessment. BUT I love IHOP and have never once had a problem with it! Wait times were fine, wait staff is clearly overworked but good, I like most of what I've eaten there. My only complaint is the pancakes got a little smaller in the last year or so.
We actually had a pretty good Chili's by where I live, but they shut down nearly all their sit-down restaurants in Alberta. Now it's pretty much only found in airports of all things. There's some good food there, to be honest. Just VERY pricey.
IHOP being so hated puts a frown on my face
Their chicken tenders? Amazing
Mozzarella sticks? Amazing
Strawberry banana french toast? Heavenly
And in my experience the staff are nice
The ones from this video I've eaten at are IHOP and Popeyes. I have only sat down once at an IHOP in the midwestern US back in 2017 and thought the pancakes were great. It's such a bummer seeing Popeyes on this list as they're one of my favorite restaurants. The chicken sandwich craze back in 2019 is something I remember a little well. Also, side note, I'm shocked that Australians don't eat macaroni and cheese.
Ehh, that last part was a bit inaccurate. We DO eat mac and cheese, (at least, i think so since i've seen some at a few stores and supermarkets), but it's just nowhere near as iconic in the childhoods of most Australians as TV shows and food writers would have you believe.
@@worthybutter2004 thanks for being specific 👍
@@MisterDanielTofu You're welcome.