Man burned by fajitas while praying can't sue Applebee's

[Grumman]

Also, why did he feel the need to bow his head all the way to the table to pray?

He didn't. He didn't stick his face onto the skillet, some oil popped and splashed on his face.

[Broomstick]

The fact that there even is an Applebee's is proof positive that there is no God.

As someone completely unfamiliar with the chain I have to ask why.

It's not bad - but neither is it that great. It's a sort of generic chain restaurant, better quality than the burger joints and fried chicken places but nothing fantastic. There's a lot of hate for it I don't understand. My parents were fond of it, I think because there was a certain predictability about it.

[Elheru Aran]

Predictability is important with American restaurants. It's one reason why there are so many faux-Chinese restaurants all through the US, all serving some variation of the same menu; you know your General Tso Chicken is going to be the same whether you're in Kansas City, Detroit, Atlanta, or Houston. For some lame reason American customers don't really care for innovation and unpredictability. The only things they care about are whether you can get certain foods within a certain range, cheap and large. There are minor to major variations in quality, but other than that... the only place you can get really exceptional food is *not* in chain restaurants. Let that suffice.

[Broomstick]

Keep in mind Americans move around a lot. If I'm on a 1200 mile road trip, exhausted from 10 hours on the road on a given day, deciding what new and exciting thing to eat is not high on the list. There's something to be said for predictable in that situation.

Most towns over 100,000 do have non-chain restaurants (heck, even smaller ones often do) so it's not like the option is unavailable. No one is forced to eat at Applebee's.

[General Zod]

If I've only got a certain amount of cash to last until payday and I can't cook for whatever reason, I'm going to go with what I know I won't hate. Experimenting is for when I've got the cash to spare.