re: Who here has worked at a chain restaurant/what was precooked/frozen?

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Spot on. Mouton can defend the frozen or premade claims, but that doesn't make Olive Garden good.

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Olive Garden is terrible but they do actually cook the food .

Nope. I don't give a frick about whether or not Olive Garden makes their own fricking alfredo sauce. And I don't understand why you have to make the exact same thread over and fricking over month after month.

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What was your favorite dish or what did people who work there consider the best dish?

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BBQ shrimp poboy was my favorite.

A lot of people liked the wings, although they're just tossed in Franks Red Hot

Chimes club sandwich is tasty as well.

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A lot of employees liked the wings, although they're just tossed in Franks Red Hot

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That's the best sauce to do it in

Coincidentally they have the best wings in the city imo

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When I had the bbq shrimp there it was a cream type sauce

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Spicy garlic butter reduction

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i would skip the meal before i'd eat at olive garden

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Dude not every meal needs to produce a culinary orgasm. A lot of folks want to know what they are getting and will sacrifice the possibility of better value or quality for a known commodity. Hell nobody had better country cookin than my grandma but I'll still settle for the Cracker Barrel at the next exit once in awhile.

Life long restaurant biz guy who has done the chain grind for years so I'm pretty qualified to answer this. There is a huge variance in chains. Your low-end chains like Applebees and Ocharley's dont do a ton of real cooking. A lot is pre-packaged as a means to achieve consistency. People bang on these places for sucking but you have to know what you're getting in to. If I go to Applebees, I'm getting a $10 sandwich and a beer and it's fine. If you go to Applebees and get a steak or pasta dish and aren't satisfied with the quality, you need your head examined. Of course it's going to be low-end.

Not all chains are shitty. For example, I worked at Logan's Roadhouse years back and that is a quality chain. They employ a butcher who has his own walk-in cooler in the back with all butcher equipment. They hand cut 100% of their steaks and grind their own chuck. Fun fact: they have good burgers partly because they use all the scrap from the steaks in the hamburger. You cannot compare it to a prime steakhouse but it you want a quality hand-cut choice steak, it's a good place. My only beef with them is they use pre-made salad dressing. It's Ken's so it isn't bad but it's too easy to make yourself.

Now the biggest thing about chains and any restaurant known to man is how it's operated. You can have the best menu and buy all the best stuff but if it's not ran well it will suck. A very well run chain will leave you more satisfied than a shitty ran local joint. General rule of thumb, if a local joint has been running and busy for a decade plus, it's good. If a chain is a manager training store, it's probably the gold standard in its region.

Ya we got invited out to the Sysco distribution center for them to pitch us on their services, I was pretty damn impressed by their imperial(I think is what it was called) line of specialty goods. They could get nearly anything and everything that we sourced from multiple "higher end" purveyors. Was also very impressed with their facilities and attention to detail with their produce and proteins.

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stoms

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Where all have you worked?

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Ya we got invited out to the Sysco distribution center for them to pitch us on their services, I was pretty damn impressed by their imperial(I think is what it was called) line of specialty goods. They could get nearly anything and everything that we sourced from multiple "higher end" purveyors. Was also very impressed with their facilities and attention to detail with their produce and proteins.

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Yep

Was just talking to a Sysco guy today, they can get everything from gulf seafood to soft shell crabs from Maryland. And like you said, their specialty goods are impressive. Ive bought their prime beef cuts before for personal consumption, they are excellent.