Health Magazine Grades Worst Restaurant Chains
Denny's Drops From B to D-plus, Baja Fresh Scores a D-minus
Mar 6, 2009
Oh my. Did your favorite eatery score in the bottom half of the 62 fast food and sit down restaurant chains graded? These stats that might make you want to do more cookin
Men’s Health “Eat This, Not That” (ETNT) evaluated 62 restaurant chains for their issue on “The Best and Worst Restaurants in America.” The magazine totaled calories per entrée, rewarded for fruit and vegetable side-dish choices, and penalized for excessive trans fats and “gut-busting” desserts.
Here’s how the bottom of the class scored. (For the top half of the class, read Health Magazine Grades Best Restaurant Chains.) Included are the magazine’s selected comments and extra credits noted where menu items made ETNT’s list of “The 20 Worst Foods in America”
D+
- Carl’s Jr – “There's not a side on the menu that hasn't been given a long, hot bath in their trans-fatty frying oil.”
- Dairy Queen – “DQ offers a whole slew of abominable ice cream creations to wash down its sodium-spiked, trans-fatty foods.”
- Denny’s – Plummeted from a B grade last year. “Abysmal burgers and the carb-loaded Grand Slams are offset by a range of lighter alternatives on the Fit Fare menu.” The magazine also rates them under their “Fattiest Foods: category. “EVERY burger has a minimum of 3 grams trans fat.” Example: Double Cheeseburger with 1,540 calories, 116 g fat (52 g saturated, 7 g trans) and 3,880 mg sodium.
- Ruby Tuesday – “Burgers hover around the 1,000-calorie mark…they average 75 grams of fat apiece.”
- P.F. Chang’s – “Most entrées begin in a wok with a puddle of oil and a scoop of sugar- and salt-laden sauce.” Chang’s has twice scooped the “Worst Chinese Entrée” with their 1820-calorie Pork Lo Mein and in 2009 with their 1678-calorie Tam’s Noodles: “You’d have to eat 42 Krispy Kreme Glazed Doughnut Holes to match the fat content in these noodles.”
D
- Chili’s – Slipped from C- last year. “Monster burgers and 2,000-calorie starters.” Multiple award winner including the winner of ETNT’s “Worst Chicken Entrée” with their 2040-calorie Honey Chipotle Crispers with Chipotle Sauce and “Worst Starter,” the 2710-calorie Awesome Blossom. Also “Worst Dessert” with their 1600-calorie “Chocolate Chip Paradise Pie with Vanilla Ice Cream.” 2009 looks like another banner year for Chili’s, winning “Worst Mexican Entrée of 2009” for their 1730-calorie Chicken Fajitas with The Works (Ranch Dressing, Guacamole, Sour Cream, Cheese, and Pico de Gallo + 4 tortillas) and “Worst Burger of 2009” for the Bacon Triple-The-Cheese Big Mouth Burger with Jalapeno Ranch Dressing at 2040 calories, 4900 mg of sodium and 150 grams of fat. It’s good to excel at something. Right?
D-
- Baja Fresh – “About a third of the items on the menu have more than 1,000 calories, and most of them are spiked with enough sodium to melt a polar icecap.”
- On the Border – “The elephantine menu suffers from appetizers with 120 grams of fat, salads with a full day's worth of sodium.”
- Macaroni Grill – Up from an F last year. “1500-calorie pastas, even lunch portions and salads have more than 1,000 calories.” If the F grade weren’t bad enough, Macaroni Grill also earned ETNT’s “Worst Pasta” with their 2430-calorie Spaghetti and Meatballs with Meat Sauce and “Worst Chicken Entrée of 2009”for their 2220-calorie Primo Chicken Parmesan. Wait, there’s more: They also won “Worst Kid’s Meal” with their Double Macaroni 'n' Cheese. “It’s like feeding your kid 1½ boxes of Kraft mac ‘n cheese.”
F with Dishonorable Mention
While the chains listed above generally cooperated in providing nutritional figures for their menus, the following 14 did not:
- Applebee's, Bonefish Grill, California Pizza Kitchen, Cracker Barrel, Fuddruckers, Hooters, IHOP, Maggiano's Little Italy, Olive Garden, Perkins, Ruth's Chris Steakhouse, Sbarro and two more who have won “Worsts” based on other criteria:
- Outback (who won ETNT’s 2008 “Worst Food in America” with their 2900 calorie Aussie Cheese Fries with Ranch Dressing), and “Worst Ribs of 2009” for 2260-calorie Baby Back Ribs.
- T.G.I. Friday's where salads are healthy, right? But maybe not the 1360-calorie Pecan Crusted Chicken Salad that won “Worst Salad of 2009,” and NY Steak and Shrimp that, at 1660 calories, won “Worst Surf and Turf of 2009.” “It has more calories than three Big Macs,” ETNT said.
References:
The copyright of the article Health Magazine Grades Worst Restaurant Chains in Food Trends is owned by Larry Ervin. Permission to republish Health Magazine Grades Worst Restaurant Chains in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
