Chain Restaurants? What do you eat there?

What chain restaurant fairs best. What do you eat when you go there that is best satisfying and "not so bad for you" ?

Don't go to Chipotle....I just calculated the calories I consumed and was absolutely appalled.  You think that the food is decent but I guess the amount is absolutely sky high (I don't eat it all, but it's hard to calculate what I didn't eat too.....)

McDonalds has the fruit and yogurt parfait, which if I am craving something cold and sweet really hits the spot without being really really really bad.

FYI:  One chicken burrito with guacomole = 1314 calories.  That's the whole day for me at one sitting!

panera bread pick 2 combo:
half fandango salad (195 calories)
cup of low-fat vegetarian garden vegetable soup (90 calories)

comes with:
whole grain baguette (140 calories)
which i save for another meal.

I go to the "Pita Pit"

SOOO GOOD

I figured out a way to eat at Qdoba for 320 cal. get the fajita naked burrito, no rice, no beans with chicken, then have them add a scoop of the grilled veggies so you have squash, onions and peppers and chicken then you add your choice of salsa, anything but the corn one.... no cheese, no sourcream and have them put some lettuce on top.... it's very filling and only 320 calories, I used the Qdoba calculator on their site to figure it out... and very tasty!!

Applebees is awsome.  It has a whole "weight watchers" section that gives you a calorie count on a number of entrees.  The grilled tilapia is especially good!

poohaps-I used to do that with chipotle, but then I noticed on the chipotlelovers.com that is still had 30 grams of fat. Makes me wonder how exactly they arepreparing the grilled vegies and the chicken.....

I mentioned on another thread Noodles and Company-I had been avoiding them, infact going to the chipotle next door thinking they were healthier. On a recent visit to noodles though I managed to get the nutritional info book for a few minutes.Don't the HAVE to provide you with info like that if you ask? Anyways, I was surprised to see that for the most part the stuff wasn't that bad. I got the small size of the bangkok curry: 200 cals, 5g fat, 290 sodium, 36 carbs, 3.5 fiber, 7.5 sugars, 4.5 protein. I added the chicken breast for another 140 cals and 25g protein. Not too bad at all and super yummers.

any suggestions for the olive garden we tend to go there alot and i just order anything that sounds good... i would love to try and order a more healthy entree though...

Oh I forgot, a good site to look up restaurant food is www.dwlz.com

www.dietfacts.com is a good place to find restaurant nutrition.  Not all restaurants will give you everything from their menu, but maybe a handful of the healthier items.

My husband and I like to eat at Pei Wei (just remember that the standard menu item is actually 2 portions).  Most of their stuff is pretty good calorie-wise.

Also, we know that if we go to a mexican restaurant, the chicken fajitas or tacos al carbon are usually the healthiest on the menu.  Just go easy on the sour cream and refried beans (oh, and the tortilla chips they always plop down on the table).

I agree with lwarrick - Applebee's is Awesome! My favourite is a salad with their diet dressing, the grilled tilapia (which is spicy fish) with a side of broccoli, and even sometimes get their low-cal dessert, I had their version of cheesecake and it's a small portion but it was sooo good! And I was able to stay within my calories - 1250 easily...

here is what you do! Before you even go to the restraunt, go to their website and visit their nutrition information. Websites like this one, calorieking.com, or foodanddiet.com also have some great restraunt calorie information.  Pick a few good choices for you that fit your calorie range, and enjoy! :) Olive garden has an awesome menu, as does Apple bees. There's a website (i'll post it when I find it again) that shows only healthy choices of chain restraunts, which is a great help. :)

I like to go to Ruby Tuesday for the salad bar. It's $7.99 where I live. It's very easy to fill up on good food, though! I enjoy a bed of romaine topped with tons of edamame, carrots, marinated tomates with mozzarella balls and red wine vinegar for dressing. Then I go back for a plate full of green beans and cucumbers...both vinegar marinated.

FOUND IT! http://www.healthydiningfinder.com/  It is currently down right now, but for sure bookmark it. This website is going to be a great help to us all :)  I've seen it work, so just trust me on this one.

As a rule we don't eat at chain restaurants, because they suck. Everything is drenched in fat and "dumbed down" for the general American tastebud ... the tastebud that enjoys a lot of processed salt and sugar crap! (Not including anyone on CC in that bucket... LOL!). The other week while on vacation we had limited choices and ended up at Macaroni Grill and it just confirmed it for me... YUCK.

We eat out all the time but we frequent non-chain restaurants. Some are terrible but there's some great choices out there. Even if they don't print their calorie counts, you can tell that they are better choices because you can actually taste the food ... it's not drowning in fat, sugar, salt.

My general tips & tricks:

- Order an appetizer for your main meal

- Practice portion control - eat only 1/3 or 1/2 of your plate and take the rest home. I'm still working on a steak tip salad I got three days ago... I ate all the salad the first night with 1/3 of the tips, and took home 2/3rd's of the steak tips... for my lunch yesterday and today.

- Order a garden salad with dressing on the side, to help you fill up and keep your hand out of the bread (I only eat the bread if it is served warm, looks like it was made that day, and served with olive oil for dipping)

- Ask for substitutions: one of my favorites is to substitute string beans for french fries

- Split dessert

- Order either appetizers or dessert, but not both

- Don't order anything fried

Im not sure which places are good, but you definitely shouldnt go to the 99 if you are trying to lose weight. Even the turkey burger (which is supposed to be healthy) is about 1300 calories, and one serving of fries is about 1200 which automatically puts you over daily calories.

I know one place that I won't eat at again.  Quiznos.  They've taken all of their nutritional info off of their website, and they won't give it to you if you ask.  After looking at some of the information on them that I found on this site, I can see why.  Fat city and tons of calories!  No wonder they are trying to hide it!  Me, if I want a sandwich, I'll do Subway.  Not as tasty as Quiznos, but I can control how healthy my sandwich is, and they give me the info to do so.

I also like going out for pizza.  A veggie covered pizza with low fat ham or chicken breast and no cheese is something you can order at any pizza place, and it's tasty too.

In CO, we have Tokyo Joe's and it's organic meat and veggies that are served over white or brown rice or udon noodles.  LOVE this place and generally I can get a decent meal for about 400 calories.  If I am really high on the calorie side, the spring rolls are super yummy and less than 200 calories :).  Their salads are good but calories are fairly high (around 500 I think), however it's so large I can't even begin to eat the whole thing. 

I personally am in love with Chilli's. I tried their black bean burger, and it was amazing. I was kinda scared to try it as I'm very picky and the only meatless burger i've eaten was soy only, I must say it was extreamly good it even came on a wheat bun. The veggies were even good too, I normally don't eat the steamed ones b/c they are loaded with oil, but not these :). Instead of getting fries, ask for a baked potato, or extra veggies.

one burger had about 26g of fiber if I remember correctly... I was so stuffed, I could only eat half of the burger. It was really good with grilled onions and some ketchup. Delish 

I would suggest avoiding things they don't discolose or that you can't find nutritional information for often times there is a reason they don't disclose it. I do like Applebee's as they have a weight watchers's section.  I usually get the shrimp skewers or the steak and shrimp skewers.