If you're looking for a more sophisticated dinner venue beyond what Applebee's and TGI Fridays have to offer, why not try one of the best upscale restaurant chains out there? These nice sit-down restaurant chains — many of them steakhouses or seafood specialists, often accoutred with white tablecloths and fancy glassware — are favorites of customers across the country.
Big-name chefs are rarely involved (an exception being the ubiquitous Nobu restaurants, spawned by the highly influential Nobu Matsuhisa and the expansive Wolfgang Puck empire), but the cooking can be top-notch. Imaginative cocktail programs and good wine lists are frequently involved, too.
Some of these chains are more highly regarded by patrons than others, however, for their food, service, and other attributes. To assemble a list of the upscale restaurant chains customers like the most, 24/7 Tempo reviewed “Which Fine-Dining Restaurant Brands Score Highest for Customer Satisfaction,” a report published by the leading food service trade publication Nation’s Restaurant News.
NRN drew on data compiled by Merchant Centric, a data collection and analysis company. Merchant Centric pulled data from millions of ratings, reviews, and comments on Google, TripAdvisor, and other sites relating specifically to food quality, staff demeanor, order of accuracy, and other factors pertinent to the dining experience, assigning a Theme Performance Score out of a possible 5 points to each chain. The score indicates the number of times a factor was mentioned positively compared to how often it was mentioned negatively.
Three categories of upscale chains are identified by NRN: Leaders (Nos. 1-8 on our list), Straddlers (Nos. 9-16), and Chasers (the balance of the list). The highest scorer of all is a small Arizona-based operation called Steak 48, with eight locations (and two more in the works). Featuring a raw bar and an in-house butcher, it comes with a pedigree: It was founded by the Mastro family, who sold off their Mastro’s Restaurants (No. 12) in 2013 and have come back strong. (These are the most expensive steakhouses in America.)
Scroll below to see which upscale restaurant chains customers like the most.
