Chain restaurants in general are akin to factories. They can be decent places to dine at times, but they do have a "System" which is intended to maximize profit. I avoid them generally speaking with a few exceptions here and there.
My son in law is a CIA graduate and worked for a while at Macaroni Grill. He said they produced a pretty good quality product and everything was systemitized in terms of ingredients and production to be efficient. He was generally laudatory of them. He now lives in France.
The wife used to like to go to Seasons 52, which is a decent chain, when we lived in Cincinnati. We still go to Macaroni Grill on occasion because I can get $50 gift cards there for $40. Neither is my favorite place to eat.
I've mentioned before that the wife used to like KFC and thought their chicken was good. She doesn't any more.
I suppose it's like thinking Arby's croissants are really good and then having one in France.
Our local favorite place here is pretty similar to a French bistro. They had outdoor dining. It is not terribly expensive if you don't get an alcoholic beverage. We both ordered one today to celebrate their reopening, but the managed comped them for us. So, I left an overlarge tip.
It's interesting that tipping is rarely done in France but the service in my experience is usually quite good. The service is included in the bill, which is usually pretty reasonable.
