Most Popular U.S. Chain Restaurants, Ranked

When restaurateur Alan Stillman opened the very first TGI Friday’s in New York City in 1965, he launched a casual-dining craze. Soon, restaurants like Applebee’s, Olive Garden and Red Lobster were also serving satisfying staples in a relaxed atmosphere and opening outposts across the U.S. These days, chain restaurants are a dime a dozen. But which are the best?

We looked at Restaurant Business’ 2021 “Top 500 Chain Restaurant Report” to find out which chain restaurants in the United States are the most popular. Honing in on casual-dining restaurants (eliminating fast-food and quick-service hot spots), we took the top restaurants in terms of sales and ranked them by customer love, also using the Market Force Information 2019 survey of top chains, Yelp and Tripadvisor average rankings, and social media as our guides.

The following are the cream of the crop when it comes to the most popular chain restaurants in the country. 

Annual sales: $96 million

Menu: Buffet

* All 2020 sales numbers were sourced from Restaurant Business, unless otherwise noted. Because of the particularity of the COVID-19 pandemic, these annual sales numbers are lower than usual.

It may be one of the oldest steakhouse chains appearing on the list — it opened in 1958 — but it’s still in the top 40 chains with the more modern big boys.

The first restaurant opened in Culver City, California, to provide “a great steak dinner at an affordable price.” Then, it was only 99 cents, but today, it continues to provide bargain steak dinners in a buffet setting.

You’ll find the restaurants in the western part of the country, and reviews are mixed. Either you love this place or you hate it. Go in with the right expectations, and you’ll be OK, like this reviewer: “This was a convenient stop yesterday, and my expectations weren’t that high. The food is about the quality you’d expect, and the steak was better than I’d expected.”

What to avoid: Call us crazy, but whenever a steak place serves up seafood, we steer clear.

What to try: They only feature two steaks, a tri-tip 8-ounce sirloin and a 14-ounce ribeye — either of which will satisfy your steak craving.

Annual sales: $107 million

Menu: A full Italian homestyle menu from antipasti to pasta to mains and dolce