Every year, millions of Americans hand over their hard-earned money, sit down with high hopes, and walk out feeling robbed. Not robbed in a dramatic sense, but in that quiet, deflating way where you just stare at your receipt and think, “Why did I do that?” The restaurant industry is going through one of its most turbulent stretches in decades, and that means the gap between expectation and reality at the dinner table has never felt wider.
From bankruptcy filings to crashing customer satisfaction scores, from shrinking portion sizes to rising prices, the warning signs are everywhere. Inflation-weary consumers pulled back on restaurant spending in 2024 and instead sought value and discounts when they did choose to dine outside their homes. So before you pull out of your driveway hungry and optimistic, you might want to know which restaurants are most likely to leave you regretting the whole trip. Let’s dive in.
1. McDonald’s – Dead Last, Year After Year
Here’s a stat that almost feels embarrassing to type. McDonald’s has placed last in the annual American Customer Satisfaction Index (ACSI) once again, and the chain also placed last in 2024 and 2023, with its score now falling to just 70 out of 100. That is not a glitch. That is a pattern.
Last-place McDonald’s dips 1% to an ACSI score of 70, while quick-service restaurants overall maintained a steady customer satisfaction score of 79. To put that in perspective, McDonald’s is scoring a full nine points below its own industry average. Think of it like a student showing up nine grades below the class average – every single year.
U.S. chain sales grew just 3.1% in 2024, falling short of the 4.1% menu-price inflation rate. Restaurants must now navigate a razor-thin margin between maintaining customer loyalty and managing escalating costs, as households increasingly treat dining out as a luxury. For McDonald’s, raising prices while satisfaction crumbles is a recipe for buyer’s remorse on a massive scale.
2. Denny’s – Worst Full-Service Chain in America
It seems the famous Super Slam breakfast plate is not enough to keep customers satisfied with Denny’s. According to the ACSI, Denny’s is the worst-rated full-service restaurant chain in 2025, with a rating of 75 out of 100, and its customer satisfaction score has gone down since 2024. That is a painful position for a brand that has been a roadside staple for generations.
According to Consumer Affairs, which has more than 400 ratings and reviews of the 24/7 diner, customers take issue with long wait times and inconsistent service quality. Some customers note that it took more than an hour to be seated, while others claim their server all but ignored them despite the restaurant not being busy. Even delivery drivers try to avoid Denny’s for their lengthy wait times.
In October 2024, Denny’s confirmed plans to close 150 underperforming locations, with half of these closures expected to be completed by the end of the year and the other half in 2025. This followed the revelation that it was already down 53 franchised restaurants compared to 2023. The plan is to modernize its remaining restaurants in a renovation plan dubbed Diner 2.0.
3. Red Lobster – The Endless Shrimp Disaster
In May 2024, Red Lobster abruptly closed nearly 100 restaurants, then officially announced it had declared Chapter 11 bankruptcy to continue operating while reorganizing its business. The chain had struggled for years with rising costs, underperforming restaurant closures, and major operating losses, particularly during its ill-fated Ultimate Endless Shrimp promotion. Honestly, making unlimited shrimp a permanent menu option was the kind of idea that sounds fun until the bill arrives.
Red Lobster was driven into bankruptcy by mismanagement under a former owner, global shrimp supplier Thai Union, which cut the chain’s longstanding suppliers, pushed out veteran employees, and infamously made $20 endless shrimp a permanent menu item for the first time, hurting its profit margins. Customers had been complaining long before the collapse.
Customers complained that the prices, specifically the upcharges, were getting out of control. Combined with the fact that food quality seemed to have declined precipitously, one Redditor complained about ordering a lobster roll and instead receiving a sad-looking sandwich filled with langostino, while another noted portion sizes were getting noticeably smaller. As of early 2026, the casual-dining seafood chain is still reviewing its footprint and could shed dozens more locations as it works to rebound from its 2024 bankruptcy.
4. TGI Fridays – A Chain in Freefall
In November 2024, TGI Fridays joined the slew of restaurant companies that filed for bankruptcy protection. Before it filed for Chapter 11, it shuttered 86 restaurants, starting with 36 closures in January and another 50 in late October, bringing its footprint down to roughly 160 open locations worldwide.
TGI Fridays has 58% fewer restaurants than it did in 2019, according to data from industry research firm Technomic. That number alone should make you pause before walking through one of those remaining doors. A chain shrinking that fast is not a chain firing on all cylinders.
TGI Friday’s is credited with popularizing happy hour with its bar-centric casual dining experience. It has a reputation for welcoming waitstaff and a friendly atmosphere, but inconsistent food quality and long waiting times deter many people. Together with the number of restaurants closing, that may actually spell disaster for TGI Friday’s.
5. Sonic Drive-In – Runny Shakes and Broken Apps
Sonic scored a disappointing 73 in 2025, falling well short of the 79-point average for quick-service restaurants. It has fallen considerably from last year’s score of 76, suggesting things are heading downhill fast. On Trustpilot, Sonic’s reputation takes an even harder hit with a dismal 1.5-star rating.
Customers report dealing with rude staff, shakes that arrive runny instead of thick, and an ordering system and app that is often not working. Getting orders wrong appears to be a regular occurrence, and even worse are the complaints about undercooked food. For a drive-in brand that has been around since 1953, this feels like a serious fall from the nostalgic image it projects in its commercials.
U.S. chain sales grew just 3.1% in 2024, falling short of the menu-price inflation rate. Restaurants must navigate a razor-thin margin between maintaining customer loyalty and managing escalating costs, with households increasingly treating dining out as a luxury. At Sonic, that luxury is clearly not being delivered.
6. Buffalo Wild Wings – Pricy Wings, Shrinking Satisfaction
At the bottom end of the full-service industry, Buffalo Wild Wings sinks 4% to an ACSI score of 76. That four-point drop in a single year is steep, and it reflects something many loyal fans of the chain have been sensing for a while now. The wings are getting pricier, the portions feel stingier, and the overall experience is increasingly hard to justify.
Wing-lovers do not play around when it comes to their chicken wings, and with inconsistent experiences across the board, customers are not completely satisfied with Buffalo Wild Wings. Prices are only going up, adding insult to injury for dissatisfied consumers, with some complaining that prices are excessive for the quality and portion sizes.
Quick-service restaurants overall maintained a steady satisfaction score of 79, while full-service restaurants slipped two points to 82. Despite this, customers reported that they are getting less value from the category, with full-service menu prices in May rising 4.2% versus the prior year. At a place like Buffalo Wild Wings, paying more for the same disappointing wings stings in more ways than one.
7. Applebee’s – The Microwave That Masquerades as a Kitchen
Applebee’s domestic same-store sales decreased for three consecutive quarters, with a drop of 0.5% in the fourth quarter tied to declining traffic. The declines have since stabilized, but the damage to the brand’s reputation with diners has been harder to repair than a balance sheet.
Multiple patrons recount experiences where they walked into a nearly empty Applebee’s and were still met with long wait times and rude waitstaff, contributing to an overall underwhelming and negative dining experience. Food quality was also not up to par, and one Redditor in a thread titled “What is the Worst Chain Restaurant” said, “I’m convinced their kitchen is comprised entirely of microwaves.” That is a brutal image, and unfortunately a pretty common one.
Applebee’s comes in at number 4 for customer experience but number 8 for menu in a Chatmeter analysis of over 1 million reviews. New menu items like the Nashville Hot Chicken Sandwich saw barely any mentions, implying they may not be exciting to consumers. When even your new dishes are greeted with a shrug, something has gone seriously wrong at the menu development table.
8. Chili’s – The TikTok Hype vs. the Reality
Let’s be real. Chili’s has had an absolutely viral few years, and there is genuine hype around it. Chili’s received a lot of online attention on TikTok for its Triple-Dipper, which accounts for over a tenth of its total sales. Despite the rise, fall, and recent resurgence of Chili’s, the chain seems to be dropping in customer satisfaction compared to previous years. Based on the ACSI, the chain has dropped a couple of points between 2024 and 2025, and more than half of customer ratings on Consumer Affairs are 1-star reviews.
The American Customer Satisfaction Index gives Chili’s a score of 78, not terrible, but it falls short of the overall score of 82 for sit-down restaurants. More worrying is that it has dropped from a score of 80 just last year. According to the ACSI, around spring of 2024, Chili’s rolled out new promotions and menu items aimed at attracting McDonald’s customers.
One reviewer complained that the chain discontinued all the good items while raising prices on everything else. The new nachos received criticism, and multiple customers expressed disappointment with the new queso, saying it does not compare to the old skillet recipe. Chasing a competitor’s customer base while alienating your loyal fans is never a great strategy.
9. Hooters – A Brand Identity Crisis in Real Time
One of America’s most iconic sports bar chains, Hooters, shuttered dozens of locations across at least five states during the summer of 2024, with some local media outlets estimating that up to 40 Hooters locations closed their doors for good in June. That is an extraordinary number of closures for a single summer.
Hooters tried to reinvent its brand from the ground up, ditching bikini nights and attempting to reposition itself. The company’s strange middle ground between casual and racy made it look increasingly outdated as the culture began to change around it. It is a bit like trying to redecorate a house while the foundation is crumbling.
Hooters, which filed for bankruptcy in March 2025, closed 41 locations last year and has closed about 30 more since then. Apart from the brand identity struggles, Hooters also dealt with the typical pressures of rising costs and a demand for more convenience among diners. Paying premium prices for an increasingly confused dining experience is exactly the kind of thing diners can’t forgive.
10. Cracker Barrel – Nostalgic Decor, Underwhelming Food
Cracker Barrel loses points for both customer experience and menu, ranking second-to-last in menu despite piloting more than 20 new items and a redesigned menu layout in the past year. Poor customer interactions with staff also cost the chain points in the Chatmeter analysis. When you revamp your entire menu and customers still rank it near the bottom, that tells a story.
Cracker Barrel has always leaned heavily on the comfort of nostalgia. The rocking chairs on the porch, the old-fashioned candy by the register, the country store aesthetic. It is all very charming, right up until the moment your food arrives cold or your server disappears for twenty minutes. The experience can feel like paying for a museum admission and receiving a mediocre meal as a bonus.
Sales at Cracker Barrel are dropping, and the chain is shuttering hundreds of restaurants alongside other struggling casual dining names. Fed up with years of inflation, customers have become more choosy with where they spend their dining-out dollars, giving restaurants little margin for error. If a brand’s operations, prices, or menu aren’t quite hitting the mark with customers, chances are it will pay the price.
11. IHOP – Rising Prices, Falling Expectations
IHOP used to be the kind of place you’d hit at 2 a.m. and feel oddly satisfied. It was cheap, reliable, and enormous in portion size. That era feels far away now. Redditors complained that many of the better, more difficult-to-make menu items have been erased from the menu, only to be replaced by simpler dishes. Others complained about being upcharged for items that used to be complimentary, and customers are now paying more for food that tastes considerably worse than it once did.
A Denny’s location previously needed $1 million to break even and stay open – the same rising cost pressures hit IHOP. It now requires $1.2 million for comparable locations, according to Denny’s CFO during the chain’s fourth-quarter earnings call. These economics get passed directly to the customer in the form of a bill that no longer feels justified.
According to a Coresight Research survey conducted in February 2024, an overwhelming majority of respondents who dined out observed menu price increases, indicating a widespread perception that dining out has become more expensive. Of those who noticed menu price increases, a majority indicated they have changed or expect to change their dining-out habits by cooking more meals at home. For IHOP, this is a direct threat to its core business.
12. Outback Steakhouse – The Steakhouse That Lost Its Way
Outback Steakhouse was never regarded as a high-end experience but was known as a budget-friendly option that served solid steaks and sides without a huge bill at the end of the night. Its glory days appear to be over, according to customers online. Patrons complain that prices are higher but they keep receiving steaks that simply do not taste good.
Outback, which defined the casual dining steakhouse model in the United States, lost customers as it relied too heavily on promotions to draw diners and cut costs while simultaneously hiking prices. Outback’s check average was $29 last year, which is $6 above rival Texas Roadhouse and $2.50 more than LongHorn Steakhouse. Charging more than your better-reviewed competitors while delivering a lesser product is not a sustainable business plan.
One Redditor pointed out that Outback Steakhouse was acquired by a private equity firm back in 2015, and that these firms rely on a brand’s reputation and then let the quality slip. That assessment checks out, as many private equity-backed restaurants have slipped into bankruptcies in recent years. Most of Outback’s 2024 closures were at Outback locations specifically, and like many other casual-dining companies, its parent Bloomin’ Brands has struggled to grow sales, with U.S. same-store sales falling 1.5% in the third quarter.
