From the South Florida Sun-Sentinel

Take these chains

Chain restaurants try to be everything to everybody, but some are better for healthy meals, others for families and a few for romance. Here's the lowdown on 11 favorites.

May 18 2005

Applebee's

Appetizers: Chips and salsa and a tortilla chicken melt are among 11 options. The sampler platter comes with hearty portions of fried mozzarella sticks, spinach-artichoke dip, tortilla chips and boneless Buffalo wings.

Entrées: Traditional restaurant-chain fare: chicken, burgers, steaks and shrimp. Applebee's recently began pushing its "toppers" -- shrimp, cheese and mushrooms -- which can be added to the steak selections. We heartily recommend the shrimp and Parmesan cheese topper over the house sirloin, which was juicy and lean. The menu also includes a wide variety of salads.

Desserts: See below.

Recommended item: The triple chocolate meltdown consists of moist chocolate cake injected with hot fudge and nestled next to a large scoop of vanilla ice cream, with white- and dark-chocolate syrups dripped over it all for good measure.

Service: Prompt and polite.

Healthy-food selection: Applebee's apparently takes the wants of its dieting clientele seriously, hooking up with Weight Watchers to offer an extensive array of healthy meals, including a couple of guilt-free desserts.

Décor: All the leftover knickknacks that Chili's and T.G.I. Friday's didn't scoop up first at some country flea market.

Alcoholic beverages: The bar offers a wide selection of margaritas, daiquiris and martinis. We like the Brewtus, a 23-ounce beer served in an ice-cold glass.

Romance factor: 3. Let's just say springing for a meal at this place won't get your date into bed.

Price range: $8.49-$12.49

Web site: www.applebees.com

The Cheesecake Factory

Appetizers: The fried macaroni and cheese is creamy and crunchy, while the roadside sliders look and taste like White Castle burgers.

Entrées: There are more than 90 from which to choose, including Cajun jambalaya pasta, the mile-high meat loaf sandwich and pecan-crusted catfish.

Desserts: Cheesecake is the obvious choice, with flavors ranging from chocolate-chip cookie dough to chocolate-raspberry truffle. Also try the warm apple crisp and delicious carrot cake with cream-cheese icing.

Recommended item: The Romano- and Parmesan-cheese-crusted chicken is addictive.

Service: Pretty speedy, considering the place is always busy.

Healthy-food selection: The menu offers 11 specialty salads and a six-carb cheesecake that tastes much like the high-carb version.

Décor: Marble floors and gigantic columns.

Alcoholic beverages: The full bar boasts a wide choice of martinis, such as the bikini martini, a delightful layering of Malibu and Cruzan rums with cherry and pineapple juices.

Romance factor: 4. Unless you're seated in a booth, you'll be elbow-to-elbow with some guy in a Tommy Bahama shirt fighting his date for the check.

Price range: $7.95-$26.95

Web site: www.thecheesecakefactory.com

Chili's

Appetizers: While Chili's serves the requisite nachos and wings in three varieties, Southwestern egg rolls are the tastiest appetizers. They contain smoked chicken, black beans, corn, jalapeño Jack cheese, red peppers and spinach wrapped in a crisp tortilla and served with avocado-ranch dressing.

Entrées: Selections are extensive, including citrus-fire chicken and shrimp, grilled salmon, fajitas and, of course, grilled baby-back ribs.

Desserts: Choices are limited to cheesecake, molten chocolate cake, chocolate-chip paradise pie and chocolate shake. The warm paradise pie with ice cream is big enough to share.

Recommended item: Any of four types of fajitas: classic (steak or chicken); mushroom Jack; steak and portobello; and citrus-fire chicken and shrimp.

Service: Efficient and friendly.

Healthy-food selection: Extensive menu of guiltless chicken and seafood dishes, prepared with mixed vegetables and low-fat sauces.

Décor: Tex-Mex, with earthenware everywhere and booths with a relaxing, gray-and-green color scheme.

Alcoholic beverages: Margaritas are the specialty here. Order the presidente. You can drink it all night.

Romance factor: 6. The bar area can be nice for a cozy, late-night drink and appetizers.

Price range: $6-$15

Web site: www.chilis.com

Flanigan's Seafood Bar and Grill

Appetizers: Smoked fish dip is unfortunately a bit loose and served with plain tortilla chips. Plain chips? What the hell is that all about? Stick with the peel-and-eat shrimp.

Entrées: Standard seafood fare, including fresh fish, shrimp and steamers, plus big burgers and pasta dishes.

Desserts: The name alone should keep you away from the Flanigan's shenanigan, a candied-walnut apple pie topped with vanilla ice cream, caramel sauce and bits of Heath bar. It sounds good on paper, but there's too much going on here to be enjoyable.

Recommended item: The mouthwatering, fall-off-the-bone baby-back ribs are simply delicious.

Service: Friendly and quick.

Healthy-food selection: Huge salads and baked or grilled fish are offered.

Décor: Cozy but rather standard raw-bar setup. Driftwood artwork of shantytowns abounds and complements the numerous photos of well-tanned, handsome, mulleted people fishing during the 1980s.

Alcoholic beverages: Full liquor bar.

Romance factor: 5 under regular conditions, 8 after a couple of margaritas.

Price range: $5.99-$16.99

Web site: www.flanigans.net

Hops

Appetizers: All the usual onion rings, potato skins, wings and chicken tenders you've come to expect, most of them beer-battered, naturally. One notable exception is the Walker's Wood shrimp, served in Hops' Walker's Wood sauce. But you may as well just skip appetizers and fill up on the drool-inducing croissants, slathered in honey icing.

Entrées: Great burgers, but you'd be a fool not to get a Brewmaster steak in any of its half-dozen permutations. Although not known as a steak house, Hops actually serves up some of the finest slabs of beef of all the chains, and they go great with beer.

Desserts: The hell with dessert. Just drink more beer.

Recommended item: Beer!

Service: Excellent. As soon as a pint of beer is gone, the server asks if you want another.

Healthy-food selection: Beer!

Décor: Massive vats of what will one day become foamy, delicious, life-giving beer.

Alcoholic beverages: Beer! We particularly recommend the Lightning Bold Gold, a medium-bodied lager, if you plan on drinking heavily. Or try the Clearwater Light if you are used to American domestic swill. For a heavier brew, sling back an Alligator Ale or a Hammerhead Red.

Romance factor: 4. Don't try to convince your date that you're taking her to a microbrewery for a romantic getaway. Women are smarter than that. But if she's upset, you can always get her drunk -- on beer!

Price range: $4.99-$19.99

Web site: www.hopsonline.com

Olive Garden

Appetizers: The fluffy bread sticks and endless bowls of salad or soup that come with each entrée are so filling, you don't need to order an appetizer.

Entrées: Pasta dishes are the specialty, including capellini pomodoro and three-meat ravioli.

Desserts: The lemon cream cake is wonderful. If you're a chocoholic, the chocolate lasagna is decadent.

Recommended item: The Tour of Italy, which consists of lasagna, chicken Parmigiana and fettuccine Alfredo.

Service: Very efficient and friendly.

Healthy-food selection: Look for the olive branches on the menu, which signify low-fat selections. All pasta entrées can be made with whole-wheat linguine.

Décor: Like a quaint Mediterranean village with a touch of Crate and Barrel.

Alcoholic beverages: This place rocks as far as the wine and specialty-drink selection goes. The frozen tiramisu is like a Kahlúa milk shake, and the Venetian sunset is similar to a wine cooler. With a lengthy yet affordable wine list, this is a great place for wine virgins, because the servers offer explanations without attitude.

Romance factor: 9, especially after the Venetian sunset kicks in.

Price range: $7.95-$18.95

Web site: www.olivegarden.com

Outback Steakhouse

Appetizers: Surely the Aussie cheese fries and shrimp on the barbie are good, but the bloomin' onion is worth raving about.

Entrées: This is obviously the place for steaks, but diners can also order seafood, salads, lamb, pork or chicken dishes such as the Alice Springs chicken, topped with bacon, mushrooms, melted Monterey Jack and cheddar.

Desserts: Try Sydney's sinful sundae, vanilla ice cream rolled in toasted coconut, covered in chocolate sauce and topped with whipped cream, plus cheesecake, brownie and cake-based desserts.

Recommended item: The Victoria's center-cut filet is melt-in-your-mouth perfection and worth every cent of its $19.49 price.

Service: Top-notch.

Healthy-food selection: Nothing is marked on the menu, but a side order of fresh steamed vegetables is a safe bet.

Décor: Wood and boomerangs.

Alcoholic beverages: Margaritas, daiquiris, martinis, wine, beer and, for the very thirsty, the 22-ounce Big Bloke draft.

Romance factor: 7

Price range: $9.79-$23.69

Web site: www.outback.com

Red Lobster

Appetizers: The selection is sizable, and many of the appetizers are large enough to double as entrées. The New England appetizer sampler boasts bacon-wrapped sea scallops, fried clam strips and mushrooms stuffed with lobster, crab and other seafood. The golden-fried calamari and vegetables could easily feed four people.

Entrées: Red Lobster offers reasonably priced nightly specials and a host of shrimp, fish, lobster, crab and surf-and-turf entrées. The "ultimate feast" consists of a broiled Maine lobster tail, snow crab legs, shrimp scampi and lightly breaded fried shrimp.

Desserts: Six in all, including two types of cheesecake, Key lime pie and the chocolate wave, which is a slice of chocolate cake topped with vanilla ice cream and chocolate sauce.

Recommended item: The broiled seafood platter, which includes deviled-crab-and-seafood-stuffed flounder, bay scallops and lightly seasoned shrimp.

Service: Slow but pleasant.

Healthy-food selection: An entire page of the menu is devoted to LightHouse Selections, low-fat, low-calorie or low-carb entrées, salads, side orders and a jumbo shrimp cocktail appetizer. The "100 percent pure melted butter" dipping sauce -- with 189 calories and 21 grams of fat -- is far from healthy, though.

Décor: Oddly devoid of nautical-themed kitsch.

Alcoholic beverages: The wine list is modest, the beer selection includes the usual suspects -- Budweiser, Corona, Heineken and the like -- and the "spirited specials" have groan-inducing names such as the Lobsterita, Alotta Colada and the Shrimpwreck Mary.

Romance factor: 2

Price range: $9.25-$27.99

Web site: www.redlobster.com

Romano's Macaroni Grill

Appetizers: Sharing the mushrooms stuffed with ricotta and feta cheeses and spinach is a must. But if you're a dipper, the shrimp-and-artichoke dip is sublime.

Entrées: Lobster ravioli is king, but other highlights include the chicken portobello with smoked mozzarella and the grilled salmon with honey-teriyaki glaze.

Desserts: Strawberry zabaglione with fresh berries, Marsala cream sauce and rolled sugar cookies is the only way to go.

Recommended item: The "make your own pasta" dinner. Try mixing the fresh linguine with artichokes, broccoli and sun-dried tomatoes.

Service: A bit rushed but very competent. One server scuffs his shoes a lot but the odds of getting him are slim.

Healthy-food selection: The menu features "sensible fare," including the pollo Magro skinny chicken and the "simple salmon." Each has only 4 grams of fat, and the salmon is served with a tempting side of grilled asparagus. Whole-wheat penne pasta is available on request.

Décor: Tuscany Disney -- faux stone arches, white gladiolas and walls of house wines.

Alcoholic beverages: On the honor system, you can share a bottle of house Chianti and pay by the glass. You may, however, want to go straight for the ultimate leaning bellini, which is made with rum, peach nectar, white wine and champagne.

Romance factor: 7 if you're still in high school. Otherwise, 5.

Price range: $8.99-$19.99

Web site: www.macaronigrill.com

Sal's Italian Ristorante

Appetizers: The fried calamari is so fresh it tastes as if it just jumped out of the sea and into the deep fryer. The cold antipasto platter is a must, containing generous portions of fresh salami, ham, mozzarella, artichoke hearts, black olives and peppers.

Entrées: The menu contains a variety of classic Italian pastas, pizzas and calzones, but you can't go wrong with chicken Francese or chicken Parmigiana alla Nonna, the former served in a savory lemon and white wine sauce with capers, the latter slathered in a tangy marinara with melted cheese. Be sure to check out the daily blackboard specials, which include a range of fish, meat and pasta preparations.

Desserts: The chocolate fondant cake owns us body and soul. A nice-size hunk of triple-layer chocolate cake is topped with a dark-chocolate slab of fudge icing and a dollop of whipped cream.

Recommended item: A filet of salmon puttanesca was offered as a special the night we visited. We substituted snapper, which was a good call, the tender, white fish holding up beautifully under the mix of tomato, onion, black olives and capers.

Service: Generally very good, though the night we visited, dinner took a long time to arrive after the appetizers, and our waiter forgot to include our bar tab. (Yes, we reminded him.)

Healthy-food selection: Chicken Parmigiana can be ordered grilled rather than fried, and a number of salads, from Greek to Gorgonzola to Caprese, offer light and palatable alternatives. Al dente vegetables can be substituted for pasta as a side.

Décor: Dark-wood upholstered booths line the walls beneath faux roofs with green tiles. Each table features a 3-D street scene (ours was Mardi Gras) beneath glass.

Alcoholic beverages: Nice selection of wines, including reasonable and fairly good house Chianti, Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon and Pinot Grigio.

Romance factor: 6. Italian food always scores points, but Sal's is more family-friendly than couples-oriented. Still, they do dim the lights at 7:45 p.m.

Price range: $8-$25

Web site: www.salsitalianristorante.com

T.G.I. Friday's

Appetizers: Disappointing, particularly the mozzarella sticks, which are nothing more than nearly hollow, crisp shells with only a bit of cheese.

Entrées: The selection is decent, including a 14-ounce rib-eye, double-glazed ribs, char-grilled beef or chicken fajitas, sizzling bruschetta shrimp, burgers and eight kinds of salads.

Desserts: The Oreo madness -- two big ice-cream cookie sandwiches drizzled with caramel and chocolate sauce -- is to die for, and Friday's takes its strawberry milk shakes seriously.

Recommended item: Sizzling chicken and cheese, a combination of onions, peppers, garlic-marinated breasts and American and Mexican cheeses served with mashed potatoes. It's also offered with shrimp.

Service: Fast and friendly.

Healthy-food selection: Low-fat meals include Santa Fe chicken salad and bruschetta grouper served with rice and broccoli, each only 500 calories. An Atkins-approved menu is also provided.

Décor: The red-and-white tablecloths are diagonally striped, and tons of old junk fills the dining area, including vintage signs, black-and-white photos and even a red wagon.

Alcoholic beverages: Beer, wine and mixed drinks, including "ultimates" such as the Hawaiian volcano and electric lemonade.

Romance factor: 5

Price range: $6.99-$15.99

Web site: www.tgifridays.com