Where can you get a good meal in this town? Everybody will likely have a different answer — but there is a consensus about some establishments.
The American Customer Satisfaction Index recently released a Restaurant Study that highlights the restaurant chains Americans approve of the most, based on interviews with more than 16,000 customers.
Following are the highest-scoring fast food and full-service restaurants for 2023.
9. Olive Garden
Customer satisfaction score this restaurant received for:
- 2023: 80 out of 100
- 2022: 77 out of 100
Home to one of the “8 Most Fattening Restaurant Meals,” this longstanding Italian chain has locations in nearly every state. (There are no locations in Hawaii.) It famously offers unlimited breadsticks.
8. Papa Johns
Customer satisfaction score this restaurant received for:
- 2023: 80 out of 100
- 2022: 76 out of 100
The fourth-largest pizza chain in the U.S. is the only one to make this list. It has more than 5,000 locations in 45 countries, suggesting there’s something to its claim of “better ingredients, better pizza.”
7. KFC
Customer satisfaction score this restaurant received for:
- 2023: 81 out of 100
- 2022: 78 out of 100
Annual sales of $5.1 billion at more than 24,000 locations around the world might not make KFC the most popular chicken chain on this list, but there’s no question its “finger lickin’ good” food is well-loved.
6. Texas Roadhouse
Customer satisfaction score this restaurant received for:
- 2023: 82 out of 100
- 2022: 80 out of 100
Steak chain Texas Roadhouse is one of many restaurants known to offer free gift cards around the holidays. It’s celebrating its 30th birthday in 2023.
5. LongHorn Steakhouse
Customer satisfaction score this restaurant received for:
- 2023: 82 out of 100
- 2022: 80 out of 100
LongHorn Steakhouse matches Texas Roundhouse in popularity. It has more than a decade on its rival, though, having been founded in 1981.
4. Cracker Barrel
Customer satisfaction score this restaurant received for:
- 2023: 82 out of 100
- 2022: 78 out of 100
If it seems like every Cracker Barrel sits just off a major highway, that’s on purpose. Founder Dan Evins started Cracker Barrel in 1969 to provide interstate travelers a place to “stretch their legs, refuel, and find a good meal at a fair price.”
3. Outback Steakhouse
Customer satisfaction score this restaurant received for:
- 2023: 83 out of 100
- 2022: 77 out of 100
The highest-scoring steakhouse on the list was founded in 1988. Despite the name and its famous Bloomin’ Onion, it’s only “Australian-inspired.” The chain got its start in Tampa, Florida.
2. Jimmy John’s
Customer satisfaction score this restaurant received for:
- 2023: 84 out of 100
- 2022: 79 out of 100
Sandwich John outscored pizza John by 4 points, securing a clear second place for customer satisfaction at American restaurant chains. Jimmy John’s bakes its bread in-store and says it never serves bread more than four hours old.
1. Chick-fil-A
Customer satisfaction score this restaurant received for:
- 2023: 85 out of 100
- 2022: 83 out of 100
Famous for its waffle fries and being closed on Sundays — and in some places for snarling up traffic — Chick-fil-A is the restaurant chain in the U.S. that leaves customers the most satisfied. The family-owned chain started in 1946.
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