Consumer Reports Restaurant Ratings: Where to Dine Well for Less

If you want to save your cash and eat out too, you're in luck. Experts predict a sales decline at restaurants this year, so diners are in the driver's seat. "Today's dining deals are incredible," says Darren Tristano, executive vice president of Technomic, a food-service research and consulting firm based in Chicago.

Our recent survey of 70,403 subscribers who made 158,744 visits to 101 restaurant chains revealed good meals, good deals, and choices for every budget and taste. Readers gave 21 chains top marks for food, and five very different chains earned exceptional scores for value: Black-eyed Pea (home-style comfort food), Sonny's Real Pit BBQ, Azteca Mexican Restaurant, Cheddar's Casual Café (eclectic American), and First Watch (eggs, pancakes, and sandwiches).

At the other end of the spectrum, with lower marks across the board, were Buffalo Wild Wings Grill & Bar, Joe's Crab Shack, and Friendly's.

WHAT'S ON THE MENU?

The rated restaurants range from inexpensive, no-alcohol family spots such as the International House of Pancakes and Denny's, which are open long hours, to whitetablecloth establishments such as The Capital Grille and Morton's The Steakhouse, offering lunch or dinner (not breakfast) for more than $40 per person and showcasing prime beef, fine wines, and solicitous service. Joining those in our Ratings are dozens of chains that specialize in everything from Asian food to barbecue.

Restaurants have various ways of separating themselves from the competition. Some use mood. Hungry to capture the nostalgia of a 1940s-era Italian supper club? Try Maggiano's Little Italy. Looking for the feel of a Texas roadhouse, replete with country music and Western artifacts? Mosey to the Lone Star Steakhouse & Saloon. For Forrest Gump fans, there's the Bubba Gump Shrimp Co.

Other places entice with special cooking techniques or ingredients. Red Lobster, for instance, recently switched to fire-grilling its seafood over oak; McCormick & Schmick's makes much ado about the origins of its Kumamoto oysters (Baja, Mexico) and rainbow trout (Buhl, Idaho).

Some restaurants cater to kids by offering them coloring books, games, or finger foods. When we asked adults whether the children enjoyed themselves, the answer was yes for 94 percent of visits, and there was little variation among chains.

Two newcomers to the Ratings play on celebrity connections. Ted's Montana Grill, cofounded by media mogul Ted Turner, specializes in bison and serves food and drinks in an eco-friendly way: It uses paper straws and to-go cups made of cornstarch. Cheeseburger in Paradise, with music, tropical drinks, and, of course, burgers, was inspired by the Jimmy Buffett song of the same name. (Buffett licensed use of the name.) Readers gave Ted's higher marks, especially for taste and menu choices.

EIGHTS WAYS TO SAVE

You're all but guaranteed to come out ahead if you try any of the following. For exampled, by registering his birthday our reporter could have treated his wife to a $21 filet mignon dinner at Black Angus Steakhouse and scored a free top-sirloin dinner (worth $19) for himself.

Look for bargains. We scanned the menus of almost all the restaurants in our Ratings and found plenty: buy-one-get-one- free appetizers and entrées; all-you-can- eat specials; lower prices for smaller portions; off-peak dining specials; low-cost upgrades (add chicken to a salad for $1); flat-rate discounts of as much as 20 percent; even free food. Chili's Grill & Bar, for example, had 10 meals for less than $7, and Outback had 15 meals for less than $15. On the Border Mexican Grill & Cantina served two favorites with rice and beans for $6.99. Black Angus had half-price bottles of wine. Saltgrass Steak House offered half-price appetizers.

Perhaps because the recession has hit the fine-dining segment hardest, even Ruth's Chris Steak House and Morton's offered bargains, at least by their standards. Morton's had a $99 filet mignon dinner for two that included appetizers, side dishes, and dessert. Ruth's Chris had a $40 (for one) special.

Clip coupons. Many chains have stepped up their promotional activity. Look for coupons, especially in newspaper inserts and on Web sites.

Sign up for e-mail alerts. Chain Web sites are the best source of menu specials, discounts, and other promotions. That's how we learned about IHOP's national free-pancake-day campaign and Denny's Grand Slam and Grand Slamwich breakfast giveaways. After signing up for e-mail at dozens of chains, we were flooded with coupons for free dessert (Bugaboo Creek Steak House and Black Angus), a $5 discount (Logan's Roadhouse), a 20 percent discount (Denny's), free chocolate fondue for two (The Melting Pot), and a free pound of shrimp cocktail (Legal Sea Foods).

Show your age. Many family chains, including Bob Evans, Perkins Restaurant & Bakery, and Eat'n Park, have reduced-price menus for kids (usually under 10 or 12) and seniors (usually 55 and up). Some dinner chains offer incentives too, such as free meals for kids on Tuesday (Black-eyed Pea, Chevys Fresh Mex, and Beef O'Brady's). If you reveal your birthday (sign up online), some chains are particularly generous.

Take a survey. From time to time, chains poll guests who have agreed to receive e-mail from them. Fill out the survey and you get a freebie. (You might need to enter a guest number from your last receipt.) But beware of unsolicited e-mail or pop-up ads that promise free food, gift cards, or coupons if you answer an online survey. Those are spam, and the fraudsters are interested only in harvesting your contact information. Restaurants won't honor the phony freebies.

Time your visit. On weekdays and at off-peak hours, there are many chances to economize. Texas Roadhouse, for example, features 10 $7.99 dinners Monday through Thursday. Lone Star Steakhouse has a $7 soup-and-salad-bar buffet on the same days, from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Red Lobster has crab and shrimp specials on Monday and Tuesday, respectively.

Eat at the bar. Pricey McCormick & Schmick's has a bar menu offering cheeseburgers and fries for less than $3, tuna rolls for less than $4, and jambalaya for less than $5. T.G.I. Friday's has bar appetizers for a penny if you join its Give Me More Stripes frequent-diner program. It's free.

Order takeout. Getting food to go at least saves the cost of a tip, and the list of chains accepting online and telephone orders is growing. So are the ranks of those allowing curbside pickup.