Have chain restaurants just gone to krap?

[lotsaIHCs]

Ok, so my wife, daughter, one of my sons and I went to Perkins for breakfast today. We hadn't been there in several years because our last experience was less than good. But my son said he was there a couple of weeks ago and it was ok. So I ordered the "Hearty Man's Breakfast" or something like that. It was 2 eggs, bacon, links, country sausage, potatoes and toast. This is something I don't order often because I'm watching my cholesterol and such, but once in a while I cheat. I ordered my eggs over medium ( it seems that nobody knows what that means. No runny whites and jelly-like yolks). My eggs had runny whites, the links were luke warm. The country sausage was seared black on the outside but cold on the inside. The bacon and breakfast potatoes were good, as was the toast. I guess it's back to Kroll's Diner for a good breakfast. They are a ND staple in the breakfast world. Their sausage links are about 3/4 inch diameter and deep fried. Never half warm. Ok. Rant over! The chains just aren't as good as local restaurants!

[53ihgarand]

Just read an article all the old fashioned diners are closing up. Perkins was always good at 2 am when I was in college, but that's been a few years ago.

[lotsaIHCs]

We still have some good hometown cafes here in ND. Ohm's Cafe and Fried's in Mandan are great. There's always a line waiting to get into them. Back in the 80s Grandma Sharon's in Williston was good. There are still some good places out there. There was a place in Killdeer ND that was good and it seems to me that Schat's (sp)  truckstop in Minot was another. There was the Depot in Jamestown ND too. I don't know but Dale560 may have been to some of them since he's from the area!

[dale560]

10 minutes ago, lotsaIHCs said:

We still have some good hometown cafes here in ND. Ohm's Cafe and Fried's in Mandan are great. There's always a line waiting to get into them. Back in the 80s Grandma Sharon's in Williston was good. There are still some good places out there. There was a place in Killdeer ND that was good and it seems to me that Schat's (sp)  truckstop in Minot was another. There was the Depot in Jamestown ND too. I don't know but Dale560 may have been to some of them since he's from the area!

Schatz econostop in minot is about the last one I ate at. We frequent a Perkins here In Minneapolis or Roseville a few times but the ones in North Dakota aren’t very good. The Jamestown Perkins was horrible about 5 years ago so we don’t stop at any. In my hometown there aren’t any good breakfast spots either. We have a Dakota farms restaurant and I think there is a same in Washburn area but ours is pretty bad. But the good news is in our area there are a couple bars that have a Good Friday and Saturday dinner menu. 

[mader656]

Never been a huge fan of the dinner style food... but i haven't had breakfast more than 5 times in the last 3 years.

[sandhiller]

Some of the best breakfast's I have had on the road is while staying in the motels in Kansas

They would hire Grandma types to cook complimentary breakfast to order (had a buffet too if you didn't want to wait) for the guests

Just like eating at home and don't tell Jeanie but a couple maybe even better! 🤐😅

 

[ray54]

Breakfast is my favorite to eat out. We have 3 local places all good. They are only open from 6am to 2 pm, all have second or thrid places in neigbhoring town here too.

We had another very good place. The owner did a lot of his own cooking, and retired in his 70's. Sold the whole thing all the help wanted to stay. One waitress had been there 30 plus years. New owner was going to keep the menu and prices. But had to add a computer instead of the old paper pad to write orders on. The food did not get bad, she just had to slow things down until the food was cold when you got it. The long time waitress told her about it, and customers where complaining. She got fired, and things just did not get better.  So with 2 good places within 2 blocks, each had some regulars from the other place. Six months to year latter a friend from out of town called how about we have breakfast at the old place. So we gave it another chance, had not improved. This was all before covid lock down, which it did out last, but in another year was gone.

[lotsaIHCs]

16 hours ago, dale560 said:

Schatz econostop in minot is about the last one I ate at. We frequent a Perkins here In Minneapolis or Roseville a few times but the ones in North Dakota aren’t very good. The Jamestown Perkins was horrible about 5 years ago so we don’t stop at any. In my hometown there aren’t any good breakfast spots either. We have a Dakota farms restaurant and I think there is a same in Washburn area but ours is pretty bad. But the good news is in our area there are a couple bars that have a Good Friday and Saturday dinner menu. 

The Dakota Farms in both Mandan and Washburn closed. The one on Mandan was demolished and a new Auto Zone was built. I haven't looked to see if anything has been done to the one in Washburn. 

[Timothy562020]

1 hour ago, lotsaIHCs said:

The Dakota Farms in both Mandan and Washburn closed. The one on Mandan was demolished and a new Auto Zone was built. I haven't looked to see if anything has been done to the one in Washburn. 

Thought I heard the owner of the Rusted Rail in Underwood and a partner were planning on reopening the Dakota Farms in Washburn  under   a new name soon.

Looks like the Harbor Bar in Coleharbor  is a good place to eat as there is always  a dozen vehicles around there at meal time.  

[766 Man]

  Perkins has been gone from this area for well over a generation.  I always enjoyed their food but that was back in the days when pride was expressed in the food they served.  A year and a half ago I decided to stop at a Denny's for breakfast which I almost never do.  The link sausage had a cold medicine taste to it.  The scrambled eggs and toast were OK but not great.  Service was very good and I felt sorry for the waitress hoping to make tips given the food was only OK at best.  If you find a good diner then you are lucky.  I don't see the cars parked in front of those that I used to.  I think that the drive to maximize profits has hurt food quality.  I had my bacon, fried eggs, toast, and OJ courtesy of the area grocer this morning.  Everything other than the OJ added up to around 2.75 for the serving and was fresh.  The OJ was very good and was an additional dollar but I drink far more than what a diner would be served at a restaurant for one meal.  I won't say breakfast diners are going away but there are noticeably fewer of them.  Part of it I would guess that traditional breakfast foods are not big with the younger generations.  I would hate to think of a meal being some kind of energy bar or health food bar that would be gone in a matter of half a minute.  

[Chester5732]

10 minutes ago, 766 Man said:

  Perkins has been gone from this area for well over a generation.  I always enjoyed their food but that was back in the days when pride was expressed in the food they served.  A year and a half ago I decided to stop at a Denny's for breakfast which I almost never do.  The link sausage had a cold medicine taste to it.  The scrambled eggs and toast were OK but not great.  Service was very good and I felt sorry for the waitress hoping to make tips given the food was only OK at best.  If you find a good diner then you are lucky.  I don't see the cars parked in front of those that I used to.  I think that the drive to maximize profits has hurt food quality.  I had my bacon, fried eggs, toast, and OJ courtesy of the area grocer this morning.  Everything other than the OJ added up to around 2.75 for the serving and was fresh.  The OJ was very good and was an additional dollar but I drink far more than what a diner would be served at a restaurant for one meal.  I won't say breakfast diners are going away but there are noticeably fewer of them.  Part of it I would guess that traditional breakfast foods are not big with the younger generations.  I would hate to think of a meal being some kind of energy bar or health food bar that would be gone in a matter of half a minute.  

Denny’s went to krap a long time ago here. I remember when they were good but that is a distant memory.  

[lorenzo]

Completely stopped fast food and chain restaurants years ago.  
 

Too many years in the commercial refrigeration business servicing their equipment, seen way too much of what goes on in the kitchen, watched way too many being ran by 18 year old fresh out of high school with nothing more then a microwave and a walkin cooler full of pre packaged meals in plastic bags marked with instructions.  No adult in sight, no respectable hygiene being practiced.  You would not even believe what i have seen.

 

 

[lorenzo]

27 minutes ago, 766 Man said:

  Perkins has been gone from this area for well over a generation.  I always enjoyed their food but that was back in the days when pride was expressed in the food they served.  A year and a half ago I decided to stop at a Denny's for breakfast which I almost never do.  The link sausage had a cold medicine taste to it.  The scrambled eggs and toast were OK but not great.  Service was very good and I felt sorry for the waitress hoping to make tips given the food was only OK at best.  If you find a good diner then you are lucky.  I don't see the cars parked in front of those that I used to.  I think that the drive to maximize profits has hurt food quality.  I had my bacon, fried eggs, toast, and OJ courtesy of the area grocer this morning.  Everything other than the OJ added up to around 2.75 for the serving and was fresh.  The OJ was very good and was an additional dollar but I drink far more than what a diner would be served at a restaurant for one meal.  I won't say breakfast diners are going away but there are noticeably fewer of them.  Part of it I would guess that traditional breakfast foods are not big with the younger generations.  I would hate to think of a meal being some kind of energy bar or health food bar that would be gone in a matter of half a minute.  

I could take you in the kitchen of a late night restaurant and you would be shocked!!!  You wouldnt believe me if i told you what goes on.

[dale560]

1 minute ago, lorenzo said:

Completely stopped fast food and chain restaurants years ago.  
 

Too many years in the commercial refrigeration business servicing their equipment, seen way too much of what goes on in the kitchen, watched way too many being ran by 18 year old fresh out of high school with nothing more then a microwave and a walkin cooler full of pre packaged meals in plastic bags marked with instructions.  No adult in sight, no respectable hygiene being practiced.  You would not even believe what i have seen.

 

 

I can imagine. My father in law owned a small town pizza restaurant that was always very busy and well liked. Homemade dough, sauce and some of the other things like sausage toppings made there. It was an old meat locker building he bought 50 years ago remodeled it as best he could afford and had a respected business. The kitchen was absolutely clean every day. Even though older building. About 5 years ago my brother in law grew tired of the food service grind and sold it to an acquaintance. The service and food , cleanliness has tanked and people let him know. My wife worked in the business through high school and college vacations. She even said sometimes when it was just kids working you had some bad service but you always tried to make it right.

[dale560]

35 minutes ago, Timothy562020 said:

Thought I heard the owner of the Rusted Rail in Underwood and a partner were planning on reopening the Dakota Farms in Washburn  under   a new name soon.

Looks like the Harbor Bar in Coleharbor  is a good place to eat as there is always  a dozen vehicles around there at meal time.  

When we go to Bismarckmy wife likes to go through minot as you can stop in both towns. Every time we drive by Cole harbor that place has a lot of cars out front. Another shout out but not for food is the Wilton cenex station. We discovered they carry grape Sunkist and my wife loves Sunkist so she usually stops to get a couple bottles. One day we stopped to put gas in and I went in to prepay and grab snacks. The counter lady said oh go put your gas in and come back in we trust you. 

[lotsaIHCs]

1 hour ago, Timothy562020 said:

Thought I heard the owner of the Rusted Rail in Underwood and a partner were planning on reopening the Dakota Farms in Washburn  under   a new name soon.

Looks like the Harbor Bar in Coleharbor  is a good place to eat as there is always  a dozen vehicles around there at meal time.  

I ate at the Harbor Bar many years ago and it was really good. My wife and her friends have gone to the Rusted Rail for girls' night out a few times and they really like it. The last time my wife and I ate at the Washburn Dakota Farms it was horrible. The hamburgers were pre-made patties like you buy frozen at a grocery store. The service was terrible too. They deserved to go out of business. You just don't find burgers like the old Wood House in Bismarck very often anymore. They ground their own beef on site.

[sandhiller]

I don't know how the food is 

But if I was in the area I would stop in here

 

[Board Shortener Tom]

2 hours ago, dale560 said:

When we go to Bismarckmy wife likes to go through minot as you can stop in both towns. Every time we drive by Cole harbor that place has a lot of cars out front. Another shout out but not for food is the Wilton cenex station. We discovered they carry grape Sunkist and my wife loves Sunkist so she usually stops to get a couple bottles. One day we stopped to put gas in and I went in to prepay and grab snacks. The counter lady said oh go put your gas in and come back in we trust you. 

The local gas stations around me don't require prepay. It still blows my mind. A whole different type of people up here.  They have been nothing but kind to us since we moved here.  

[cobfly]

I hate chain. I don't like Olive Garden. We have a lot of family owned restaurants in Pocatello.

[Jacka]

22 hours ago, lotsaIHCs said:

Ok, so my wife, daughter, one of my sons and I went to Perkins for breakfast today. We hadn't been there in several years because our last experience was less than good. But my son said he was there a couple of weeks ago and it was ok. So I ordered the "Hearty Man's Breakfast" or something like that. It was 2 eggs, bacon, links, country sausage, potatoes and toast. This is something I don't order often because I'm watching my cholesterol and such, but once in a while I cheat. I ordered my eggs over medium ( it seems that nobody knows what that means. No runny whites and jelly-like yolks). My eggs had runny whites, the links were luke warm. The country sausage was seared black on the outside but cold on the inside. The bacon and breakfast potatoes were good, as was the toast. I guess it's back to Kroll's Diner for a good breakfast. They are a ND staple in the breakfast world. Their sausage links are about 3/4 inch diameter and deep fried. Never half warm. Ok. Rant over! The chains just aren't as good as local restaurants!

I never go out to breakfast because I can cook better than ANY restaurant.  Eggs of any style,sausage, scrapple or bacon and pancakes to die for that are not like hard as  Frisbees not to mention French Toast.Don't get me started on my sausage or dry beef gravy. It's sad,I would like to go out but I know I will be disappointed and wished I saved the money and stayed home 

Breakfasts places have deteriorated in the last 20 or 30 years.

[SASW6]

The Dennys in Mauston is always busy. I don't eat there very often because it is not quite an hour away but I have never had a bad meal there. My buddy and his wife eat there often.

[lotsaIHCs]

19 minutes ago, SASW6 said:

The Dennys in Mauston is always busy. I don't eat there very often because it is not quite an hour away but I have never had a bad meal there. My buddy and his wife eat there often.

I used to eat at the Denny's in Bismarck quite often. I'd meet a coworker there for breakfast back in the 90s when I worked down the street but hadn't been there since until about a year ago. It was disappointing to say the least. We ate at one in Rapid City SD once and it was bad.

[dale560]

Here is pictures of the menu items from Schatz truck stop in minot nd. It is a good place you can trust the food to be ok. I just did the breakfast items. Don’t stop there much about 1 time a year. My brother stops more. Usually on weekends

[Lazy WP]

Don't come to Salina Kansas! We don't have anything but JUNK chain restaurants! 

[yellowrosefarm]

We don't have many chain restaurants left here, but there is a lot of good food to be had if your pockets are deep enough. Best breakfast is from about 5 different gas station/ convenience stores. Pretty much any direction I start out in, there is a place to grab a really good breakfast....... but it's going to be 10$. So, it's only the weekends for me.