Restaurant Shame List

XxOMG_ITS_PINKxX

Chilis has a Margarita chicken dish that is VERY macro friendly, and tastes baller.

LOL I love it...Baller is my word!!!!

honey_bee_keysha

I'm surprised no one has mentioned Olive Garden yet.

kdeaux1959

Chili's I have observed myself... In their defense, they do have SOME menu items that fall within a reasonable level. Best solution of course is DON'T EAT OUT... Of course, that is not practical for most of us... As far as a list of places with a lot of bad choices....

McDonalds, Burger King, Dairy Queen, Waffle House, KFC, Popeyes Chicken, Pizza Hut, or anybody else in the business of selling prepared food. Most have high caloric foods because, calories taste good.

confettibetti

I eat out about once a week, and we go to all these places, (I love Chilis) but I only ever eat half of my dinner, (bring the other half home for lunch the next day) only drink water, and don't order appetizers. It works for me ;-)

amara71998

I actually eat at Applebees a lot. Their under 550 calorie meals aren't bad, and they are decent sized portions. Of course they have tons of sodium, but there's not one place I've gone to that was decent with sodium.

jesspi68

If I'm going to a restaurant I always check MFP first or their website and pre-choose my meal so that I know what I'm getting for calories.

I had a piece of cheesecake from the cheesecake factory this past weekend, and I ate it over the course of three days... would have been awful if I'd eaten it in one sitting...

AnninStPaul

Cheesecake Factory is the WORST! Portion sizes are out of control!

Do they charge extra if you don't eat it all?

I'm not a Cheesecake Factory customer, but at other places I often split a meal with my daughter. Or between four people we will split three entrees. Some restaurants have a "split plate fee", but it is well below the cost of another meal. Takeaway boxes are always free.

UsaJewels05

My Favorite Restuarant is Cheese Cake Factory and it is known to be one of the most Unhealthy Restaurants in America!

TexanThom

Most of the restaurants mentioned have at least some grilled foods. Razzoo's has only fried food. I quit going there before I started eating better.

cccgrillo

I totally agree with eating half, or even less! Subbing broccoli instead of fries or mashed potatoes.

Aross83

am I the only one who does not believe the count of the calories on a menu is correct?
lets face it the calorie count is just a basic guess.. it all depends on the person cooking the food...

Molly_Maguire

OUTBACK STEAKHOUSE!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I heard their Bloomin' Onions are like 2,300 calories! (You'd have to be some kind of idiot to eat a whole one by yourself, but STILL)

ashlinmarie

CPK has the best salads... I go for the 1/2 Miso Salad with Shrimp... under 500 calories!!!

Cheesecake Factory has a fabulous menu called "Skinnylicious"... really good stuff and still big portions

I agree TGIF should just burn down. Even if I wanted fatty foods, I wouldn't pick that craptastic chain

Applebees is GROSS with a capital G

Fried Chicken Places: KFC, Popeye's and Cane's

Here's one that needs to go away: Long John Silvers..... WTF is this?

See I like Applebees because they at least make a token effort. Their under 550 menu has a few options and is actually pretty good. The Sirloin and Garlic Shrimp is actually pretty good IMO (other than the Sodium which of course is something all restaurants seem to have issues with).

I was just thinking of Applebees. I love their peppercorn steak with double steamed veggies. It is about 600 calories if I splurge and get a little butter for the veggies, but not too bad if I have prepared for a meal out. And usually I can only finish half of the steak anyway!

DontStopB_Leakin

Cheesecake Factory is the WORST! Portion sizes are out of control!

^^This. The one time I ate there I felt like I had just ingested an entire cow smothered in lard. Horrible.

Grimmerick

Cheesecake Factory is the WORST! Portion sizes are out of control!

They have the skinnylicious menu now which I am pretty thankful for and actually has a lot of choices on it, at least i know a little better what I am getting myself into lol.

ninakir88

am I the only one who does not believe the count of the calories on a menu is correct?
lets face it the calorie count is just a basic guess.. it all depends on the person cooking the food...

I wonder that sometimes as well..

daffodilsoup

Don't get me wrong guys, I agree, no one forces me to eat at any of those places. My point was more how some of these places take something that on the surface you'd think was a fairly healthy dinner and turn it into something that is out of control and really screws up your day. For example a grilled chicken breast that somehow is 560 calories (by itself before you add the side dishes) and has 22 grams of fat (12 saturated). I mean seriously, you have to try to make a chicken breast that screwed up.

So I'm not saying a shame list in terms of boycotting or whatever (I pretty much avoid those restaurants except when I know I'm prepared calorie wise or want to splurge) but rather just point out how careful you need to be when you do decide to eat at them. Like someone else mentioned, download the nutritional information before you go in and know what you're going to get.

Aaaaaaand this is why we look up restaurant dishes before we eat them

sathor

Cracker Barrel, for refusing to give out nutrition info beyond 'we don't know, it varies from serving to serving, so why bother worrying about it." (only slightly paraphrased)

domgirl85

A better (more useful) idea would be a list of meals that are low-cal/fat from these restaurants. Through menu/nutrition facts research as well as helpful articles from fitness websites and blogs, I've been able to find the healthy full-sized options. Also, no one says you have to eat the WHOLE thing. In most cases, I'm unable to finish an entire entree. All of these restaurants have "safe" meals, you just have to be willing to do a little work to figure out which ones they are. Also, maybe an entree is 1000 calories. Can you just eat half? In most cases, yes!

DontStopB_Leakin

CPK has the best salads... I go for the 1/2 Miso Salad with Shrimp... under 500 calories!!!

Cheesecake Factory has a fabulous menu called "Skinnylicious"... really good stuff and still big portions

I agree TGIF should just burn down. Even if I wanted fatty foods, I wouldn't pick that craptastic chain

Applebees is GROSS with a capital G

Fried Chicken Places: KFC, Popeye's and Cane's

Here's one that needs to go away: Long John Silvers..... WTF is this?

See I like Applebees because they at least make a token effort. Their under 550 menu has a few options and is actually pretty good. The Sirloin and Garlic Shrimp is actually pretty good IMO (other than the Sodium which of course is something all restaurants seem to have issues with).

I was just thinking of Applebees. I love their peppercorn steak with double steamed veggies. It is about 600 calories if I splurge and get a little butter for the veggies, but not too bad if I have prepared for a meal out. And usually I can only finish half of the steak anyway!

Applebee's has gotten in trouble many, many times with the FDA for their caloric value being completely incorrect. They are repeat offenders. They advertise food that is truly 1000+ calories as only being 500. Not all of them do this, but most of the ones in my area have been fined repeatedly for doing this. Just thought you might want to know.