Local all the way. I hate chain restaurants, the food is crappy (mostly frozen stuff that they just reheat) and service is horrible, I don't know how they stay in business. We don't eat out much, never have. So when we do go out we go to a GOOD local restaurant and pay more for excellent food and superb service. It's worth it. No way would I go to a chain restaurant with crying kids running around, inattentive waiters and sub-par food.

Oh, and the economy has not affected how we spend our money. We've always been careful with our money and our income hasn't gone down nor have we lost any money.

Mostly local.
No differently.

Mostly local. I like supporting local businesses, although I think that one can argue that franchises are "locally owned". We happen to have some great local spots that give our city personality.

Local except for Baja Fresh and occasionally we get chicken from El Pollo Loco, both are chains.

Local all the way. I feel the same as casey about the chain restaurants. Mediocre food at best, and mostly processed/packaged/frozen food, which we abhor. The only chain we will eat lunch at is Panera Bread, and that's once in a while.

We mainly eat at the local ones. We do eat at a few chains, but they are limited chains such as there only one or two places like it in the state. We don't eat out as much as most of the peeps around here, but when we do, we usually make it count. For instance, we'd rather spend $50-75 for a better quality meal instead of $30 for a fast food type meal.

Mostly local. There is a radio station here that has a Wed morning 'sale' of specials from local businesses. Two of our very favorite local, small town restaurants have gift certificates on the sale. One place has $5 certificates for $3 and the other has $10 certificates for $5. You have to be really on the ball because they are limited and they go fast. This morning, Gary bought 5 of the $10 certificates (for a total of $25 - 50% off). This is our favorite place, especially for breakfast and take out bakery AND it's only 2 blocks from our house!

Mostly local. Since I have retired, I eat out less.

Both chains and local. I eat out a lot...mainly because I am by myself most of the time and it is easier than cooking for one, and cheaper too. I usually only eat one meal a day, so if I have a lot of running to do, I eat out and if I don't have any reason to leave home, I cook.

Local and I eat out a lot less.

Combination, we eat at both the chains and locally owned spots. I love a couple of the chains and their food is definitely not processed nor frozen.

We don't eat at the more upscale restaurants as much as we used to, we drop a step or two.

Local and chains. We eat out quite often. We usually have leftovers, so we get two meals for the price of one. When we travel, we try to eat locally so as to try new restaurants.

Depends upon what I want. We eat at both chains and local places.

With chains, you have the advantage of knowing what the food is like, what it will cost, and often of getting super discounts if you sign up for their website specials. There are so many discounts coming into my in-box that we NEVER pay full price for a meal at a chain restaurant.

Local places--some can be great. Some aren't--and sometimes you don't know until you've ordered and the food has been delivered to your table. They may have specials, but may be a little harder to track down. Often, I find, the prices are higher at the little local places, since they don't have the buying power of the big guys. But, when you do find an excellant, family-owned restaurant--they're fantastic. And, of course, the local places are going to be very different for us all, depending upon where we live. I find at the old house, in the suburbs, there are a number of excellant little independent places. At the new place--out in the rural city--no so much. Restaurants in general don't seem to be as well run or as clean there--and the independents are the worst in those depts, with maybe 2 exceptions I can think of off the top of my head.

Local and some chain, when I get desperate.

Here in Central Texas, we don't have much choice. The chain restaurants rule. Most of them are fried chicken places, with a few steak house type chains, also.
Our local places are mostly barbecue, of which some are good and some are simply terrible.
The best food we have had "dining out" is at our church suppers. People around here are good cooks, mostly because there is no alternative!

Mostly local. Several restaurants in my town have closed in the last year, so we try to patronize the remaining places nearby. I'd hate to have only chains as a choice!

Both local and chain. Depends on what we are in the mood for. Our habits haven't changed that much, eat out about as much now as we did last year.

chain not many local ones around
eat out more. especially with everyone offering low cost lunches dinners and dollar menus

Local restaurants for sure. We have so many good ones that we are spoiled for choice. The food and service are both excellent and I feel much better supporting a local enterprise rather than a big multinational corporation. There are also a couple of restaurants/cafes run by local charities that are really superb. DH and I don't go out much to dinner but I often go out with my girl friends for lunch and we always go local.
I realize that the servers and kitchen staff in the chain restaurants are locals just trying to make a living but there are lots of people who eat there and support them. I just prefer eating freshly made, nutritious food in a relaxing atmosphere rather than the high calorie-high fat stuff that they tend to serve in the noisy chains restaurants.

Local most of the time. Windsor has some really good locally owned restaurants especially for ethnic food. Chain pizza's don't even come close to pizza made in our neighbourhood pizzerias. Within a few blocks of my house there is a bar and grill that has been there forever. I can get a huge Greek salad covered in big chunks of feta cheese at this restaurant that costs me less than if I made it at home.

I must say lately though I have been wanting to go to Red Lobster. I have a gift card that I was given 2 years ago that I haven't used up yet.

Anne

Local. We can't stand the Roadhouse type chains.
Every year our city runs a people's choice campaign, and publish the best retail stores, dealerships etc, based on people's favourites.
Unfortunately EastSide Mario's was voted number 1!! Their food is horrible....frozen, microwaved and full of families with little kids running around. I went once and never went back, many years ago.
Meanwhile, there are 2 top-notch family run Italian restaurants that are remarkable.
Some people just don't want to try anything new...

Some of each.. my favorite pizza and mexican restaurants are both local. I do like Applebees, 54th Street, Cheesecake factory, Paneras (St. Louis Bread Co. here) among others.

Rarely chains, I prefer local. Although my boyfriend is crazy about Red Robin so we go there once in awhile. I can't stand the atmosphere there though...it's like an overload to my senses.

Mostly local, but since DH got laid off we eat out a lot less. And before we didn't go out that much.
Clare

Where do you go when going out to eat?

Why?

when with my husband, chain. He has a hard enough time finding restaurants that serve fat free food.

when going out with friends, local. Nice little ma and pa place is our fav.

And, given the economy, are you going out less or ordering differently when out?

But, overall, we go out very seldom. DH and I maybe once or twice a month, and with my friends, about the same.

Moni

I prefer local but I will eat at some chains. A lot of our local restaurants have become small chains.

When eating Mexican or Asian I stick to local unless it's fast food like Panda Express or Taco Bell. I don't consider those dining out.

I will not eat at Denny's,Olive Garden,Chevy's or Baja Fresh. How they can take perfectly good food and make it so unhealthy and tasteless is beyond me.

We have a local (to California) Mexican chain, Rubio's, that does some pretty good fish tacos and stuff.

We go to McDonald's about once a week in the winter as an outlet for the kids. Sometimes we eat dinner, sometimes we just get dessert. We also eat at Steak N Shake - kids eat free on the weekend, and we get the $4 meals. But, our favorite restaurants are local, especially this local grill which we found out is own by one of our former classmates.

We've been eating out a lot less. Not counting our McD outings, probably once every 2-3 weeks.

For lunch, I eat at our company's cafeteria. I'm eating lots of soup lately because it's so cheap. DH eats fast food, hospital food, or at home depending on where he is.

I do both.....local and chain.

Our decision to go out is more of a convenience thing than a special event. We have to be gone all day, from one place to another for kids' activities, and we eat out in between. So it's convenient, familiar, and not too pricey. Kids eat free is always a deciding factor. ;o) So that works out to be a chain most of the time. Since we know we can't eat out all the time, we schedule it for the busiest days. We can't eat out this day b/c we will have to next Saturday, that sort of thing. On a moderately busy day I cook or scrape something together at home b/c there will be a busier day later when we will need to stop at a restaurant.

But for coffee out, I much prefer our local coffee shop, whether it's to stay in or take to go (even though I have to park, no drive-thru). I just love the place! And that was even before I met the owner at the gym I take DD to, the owner's daughters are very good gymnasts. Now I have even more reason be loyal!

Local....but I prefer to eat at home using fresh ingredients from the garden or Farmer's Market and locally grown meats.
Maybe more expensive but much better tasting and more helpful to the local economy and to our health. (Not to mention less damaging to our planet.)

Local! On the rare occasions we eat out (DH travels a LOT & prefers my cooking when he's home) we're 3 yrs. into the Houston area with a BAJILLION BBQ, Tex-Mex ma&pa places to hit yet! (Not to mention Greek, Italian, Chinese. . . .) When we're on road trips I INSIST on local places -- you usually get more bang for your buck than at a chain (and often find something scrumptious!)

There wasn't a whole lot around here for truly "local" restaurants. Unless I wanted to do too much driving. Occasionally I made a long trip to a now defunct truck stop that had the best food around.

Used to go to a nice nicer type restaurant occasionally for celebrating birthdays or something. Especially for my Dad. But it got to the point it was such a hassle that we started hitting a decent deli and have a picnic. I still hit Chili's or Red Robin (or something similar) occasionally. Otherwise it was Perkins, Denny's or the like. But I usually go out for breakfast when I have a choice.

Recently I decided to do some searching for better places for a breakfast. Found the Mr. Breakfast site and a couple others that recommended some greasy spoon type places and I found a few that are local mom-n-pop places that are quite good.

I probably eat out about the same amount, and actually since last fall I have been eating out more than I used to. I just plain haven't felt a lot like cooking. Been a stiff and sore winter. And it's nice to get a good breakfast under your belt to face the day at work. And with a big breakfast I don't eat lunch and often don't eat supper either.

The interesting thing I've noticed is the "chains", whether corporate or franchined, seem to be doing less business while the mom-n-pops are doing quite well, and I'm happy for them. That's a TOUGH life!

What makes me choose a place? Good food, reasonable prices, good service are the keys. Atmosphere is also a part but to a lesser degree. I don't like sports grills or noisy atmosphere. I do like the burgers at Red Robin so I'll live with it. I like the small town diner atmosphere best. Guess it reminds me of my childhood.

Oh and another change... I will drive a little more now than I used to in order to avoid the fast food places. I don't go there very often. Actually, quite seldom now.

Its changed my way. My friend and I used to go out every month and now we are both watching our pennies even more so. We go out to local restaurants as that is what there is in town.
We are going out this month as we haven't been out since December and what we plan on doing is sharing a plate of food for lunch. Save us some.

I, too, love fresh food.

I miss our chinese restaurant that closed down. They would cook fresh for lunch and supper. For awhile they did a buffet for lunch for only $7.00. Talk about great food. I ordered take out there and picked it up. It was fresh, tasty and hot food. No reheating at all. Worth every penny.

I love the Food Tv show Diners, Dives and Drive-Ins. He searches out local restaurants. I'd love to do a scenic drive and hit most of them!

Well Jasdip I just had to eat at one of those recommended dives yesterday.

Our server was pleasant but frazzled. The artichoke soup was 7.50 for a small bowl. I didn't order it since I'd read the reviews and knew better than to pay that price for canned cream of mushroom soup with some pureed artichokes added. My companion had the soup and I was the one who had to tell her it was available half and half with the green chili soup. Server never mentioned it.

I had the calamari steak sandwich that was featured on one of his shows. It came breaded (ugh) and overcooked to a tough chewy consistency on a decently crunchy grilled hard roll. The fries were the battered frozen kind that Burger King serves. $13.00

Another dining companion had the snapper. Three teeny pieces deep fried and served with the fries. $15.50 (I think)

If you wanted anything blackened OR saute'd it was 3.00 more!

I counted the artichoke ravioli on one diners plate. Ten small/medium ravioli in pink sauce with a bit of diced tomato sprinkled on to make it look fresh....16 bucks.

The lady on the other side of me ordered a crab melt. It came naked on a plate (no sides). About 1/2 cup of crab salad between two slices of wonderbread sized sourdough. 13.50

Although people were eating supposedly fresh local or farmed seafood,supposedly fresh grown produce and home baked pie there were NO smells. Nothing to entice the taste buds. No steam coming off the plates. Hottest thing in the place were the loaves of crusty sheep herders type bread that had a bit of microwaved consistency about it.

So if he thinks that's great food he must be on crack!

I love diners and dives but I find the people to ask are the local bus drivers,truckers and cabbies.

OMG Wildchild!
That is horrible!! Terrible food and outrageous prices.
I'm so sorry you experienced this. What about all the customers who always rave about the places? It was my understanding that a lot of his places he goes to are recommended to him via email.

It seems that the fame has gone to this restaurant owner's head.

Thanks for telling it like it was.

Well I guess to someone who has never eaten some of these foods prepared properly it's seventh heaven. LOL

What's good to people is pretty subjective. Look at the success of McD's and Olive Garden.

One of my dinner mates loved it but she never cooks.I was well armed since my DS ate there once. He's a real foodie. He once rode his motorcycle from Santa Cruz to Salt Lake City Utah in 24 hours to eat Sushi!!!

After we got home I dropped my car-mate off and stopped off and got a huge slice of my favorite local cheesecake to go. Not the best I've ever had but pretty darn close. It's crustless, thick and creamy. Just a bit drier and it would be perfection. I figured I earned it after having to eat at the other place. LOL

I found out that the new to us Chinese Returant is not a chain. Really good food too

Depends on the chain.

Lori