It would probably be Cane’s, because I eat there a fair amount and it’s like B-tier fried chicken for an okay price. If we wanna go international, then it’s Kyochon. It’s a Korean Fried Chicken chain with 1 location in America and a bunch in Korea
Second would either be McDonalds or Dairy Queen for their McFlurry/blizzard or their super artificial ice cream. Honestly, I know there is better ice cream, but I have an Anton Ego flashback (from Ratatouille) whenever I take a bite/lick of ice cream and am reminded of the trips I took with my mom when we walked over to Dairy Queen together
The McDonalds near me hasn’t had ice cream in a year. I reported them to corporate and they had ice cream again for like two weeks until they claimed their machine was broke again
The chipotle/Qdoba near me has gone way too downhill in the past few years for me. The burritos used to be huge, now they're the size of a small potato. Also 50% of the time they mess up my order and I don't realize until I get home and open it up.
I mean, sure the top restaurants on my list aren't chains, but if we're gonna restrict it, I'll say Macdonald's. It saved my ass at 2am once while traveling, that's worth a lot.
Nothing quite like that magical moment where you've been walking lost and confused for an hour around a foreign city and your last 4 attempts to find a place to eat have failed, and you say "ugh all right fine" and look for the nearest MacDonald's.
McD is just there for you when you need it, and you know what to expect. I end up there way more than I should due to my work taking me on the roads, after a while you learn to game the menu a bit and order just enough that you've eaten, without indulging.
In my country the other options when on the road are gas stations which aren't more nutritive nor cheaper, or snack-bars with deep fried stuff.
The best is if I can hit it before 11am then I can get the breakfast things which are a good portion and cheaper than the lunch options.
Jason's Deli has yet to disappoint me. It is not high-end cuisine, but they serve good food with consistent quality. They also have enough variety that almost anyone can find something.
I recently went into one for the first time in a long while and I struggled to find something on the menu that was adjacent to healthy. Granted, what I chose ended up being pretty tasty. I remember it fondly from my childhood for the checker boards and the jumpy table game, not so much for the food options.
If we're talking cheaper food but still pretty good quality, I'm going with Perkins.
My brother has told stories of other people he knows and have worked with (around his age) kinda equating and thinking of Perkins as more of an elderly people restaurant, which I could see.
Ruth's Chris. Best ribeye I've ever had at a chain restaurant. Also the most expensive. It's the only restaurant ribeye that has never disappointed me.
Papa John's. Far and away the best chain pizza, and the biggest topping selection of any pizza restaurant I've seen. I'd still say local pizza is usually better though, but Papa John's is good enough that if I don't want to fret over where I'm getting pizza from it's my pick.