It isn't going to impress folks who have a personal chef at home, but the food is pretty darn good, and you don't have to saw off your right arm to pay for it.
This is almost undoubtedly untrue.
There are many independent or local restaurants in most regions that cost the same (or less) than the chains you mention. Ethnic restaurants frequently deliver more bang for the buck. In all of these non-chain categories there are “nicer” options that deliver a better atmosphere, food, wine, whatever the citizen in question is looking for.
As for the chains, they should have at least one thing to offer: consistency. No one is faulting folks for having a guilty pleasure, or working a chain into their routine when they’re looking for a known quantity meal.
But some people never break out of the mundane that consistency brings. The types who are too afraid to try things because they’re supposedly “fancy.” Or because they don’t look like they 2nd generation immigrants who run the restaurant down the road. The kind of folks who go to a Buca in Honolulu or Applebee’s in Times Square; those places are expensive as shit, and living a life like that is truly terrible.
A good example is the Olive Garden in Times Square. It's _always_ packed despite there being better Italian places a few blocks away. Not to mention, if you're willing to hop on the subway there's significantly better Italian food available in the outer boroughs for much cheaper. Olive Garden isn't that cheap, that nice, or that tasty which makes it a mystery to a lot of people.
If you go to these restaurants a little more regularly, you also can stack up the rewards benefits, sometimes you can get discounted gift cards, etc. All of which you will not find at a non-chain restaurant.
Which is to say, if I can get a sirloin for the cost of a Whopper, it isn't much of a mystery why people go there.
Source: Yes, I traveled to the capital of a country known explicitly for it's exquisite food and did patronize a McDonald's.
also: walmarts in mexico are a step up from the ones in the us.
I still remember getting a surprisingly nice pepperoni pizza at a McDonald's in the US many years ago. Undoubtedly the nicest thing I've eaten at a McDonald's anywhere in the world.
Yes, I traveled to the capital of a country known explicitly for it's exquisite food and did patronize a McDonald's.
Some of the, by far, worst restaurants I've ever eaten at have been in France so there's a chance that McDonald's wasn't the worst choice you could have made.
I think some of it is cultural. Like BdB, these restaurants cater to a little gluttony. Portions are generally HUGE, and there's no disdain for a person who wants a Bloomin' Onion or endless breadsticks. Darden knows how to do an upscale steakhouse; it also knows what draws in thrifty, hardworking people who want overindulgence without pity or scorn.
We recently got dragged to a local outpost of "The Pizza Ranch," a 250+ location chain that serves fried chicken and pizza with wagonwheel decor. The waiting line looked like a casting call for People of Walmart. And that's just it; it's a different market. It's not serving the middle-aged man who wants a well-prepared meal with fresh ingredients.
Kinda like how up to a few years ago Noodles & Company was pretty good cheap food, then they doubled all their portion sizes and their food unaccountably dropped to sub-frozen-and-boxed-food quality levels and they started calling themselves "World Kitchen" or something.
None of these are my favorite restaurants, but they'll do in a pinch.
None of the places you listed are cheap. The price of a steak at CF or Outback is about the same as the price of a steak at any "$$" restaurant. Olive garden is particularly expensive for what they offer (except lunch, which is a legitimately good deal as long as you're okay with eating 3 days worth of calories in breadsticks and can afford to be in a food coma all afternoon). And red lobster is just legit expensive and low-quality... you're better off on both price and quality with pretty much any other restaurant that has a fish menu...
Applebees, Chilis, and TGI Fridays, on the other hand, do have truly "economy" menu items. However, you still get what you pay for -- the key insight is that those places compete with bars, not restaurants, on price point. You can get sauce-covered chicken strips with frys for $10 at any mom and pop corner bar...