The Don’t-Order List: 9 Chain Restaurant Appetizers Servers Say Aren’t Worth the Price

You sit down, you’re hungry, the menu is open – and then you see them. The appetizers. Starters that promise to kick your meal off right, usually with a photo that looks like something from a food magazine. The reality, though? Often nothing close.

Chain restaurants are masters at making food look irresistible on paper. Whether it’s a crunchy plate of loaded nachos or satisfyingly stringy mozzarella sticks, chain restaurants provide plenty of appetizers for customers to munch on, and small, shareable dishes like these are the perfect way to get a taste of an eatery before the main course arrives. The catch is that not all of these starters deliver on their promise, especially when the bill arrives.

The size of restaurant markup varies depending on the concept, but it’s typically around 200 to 300 percent of total food costs. While this might sound high, there aren’t too many restaurants with double-digit profit margins. So yes, someone is still profiting, and it might not be you. Here are nine chain restaurant appetizers that, honestly, you’re better off skipping. Let’s dive in.

1. TGI Fridays Loaded Tots: Soggy Promises at a Premium Price

Introduced to the TGI Fridays menu in May 2025, the Loaded Tots promise a plate of crispy tater tots drenched in gooey, melted cheese, alongside bacon bits, green onion, and a few drizzles of TGI sauce – a combination that makes for a delicious-sounding dish. The trouble is what shows up at the table tells a different story entirely.

Despite being more expensive than Fridays’ signature potato skins, the tots aren’t as tasty as they sound. While the outside displays the golden-brown shell you’d expect from a well-fried batch, the potato interior is mushy and flavorless. The TGI sauce and green onion somewhat compensate, but the cheese arrives lukewarm and only partially melted. For a chain that has raised its prices considerably in recent years, that’s a tough sell.

Multiple diners have shared the same poor experience with these Loaded Tots. One reviewer explained how their tots were “not cooked properly,” echoing that too-soft interior. Given how time-tested many of Fridays’ other appetizers are, the Loaded Tots aren’t worth ordering, and since being half-cooked appears to be their biggest consistency, it’s best to skip this newer addition altogether.

2. Applebee’s Spinach and Artichoke Dip: The Dip That Doesn’t Dip Right

Chips and dip are a staple of any chain restaurant, and Applebee’s is no exception. Its appetizer menu includes two dip options – White Queso and Spinach and Artichoke. The latter mixes the two vegetables into what’s described as a creamy combo topped with Parmesan, but Applebee’s fails to make this dip actually shine. It arrives looking like the real deal and then falls flat on flavor.

Don’t let the word “spinach” fool you. Traditional spinach artichoke dip is not a healthy starter – a typical order carries about 1,600 calories, 100 grams of fat, and 2,500 milligrams of sodium. That’s essentially a full meal’s worth of calories packed into a starter. You’re paying appetizer prices for something that eats like a caloric gamble.

Texas Roadhouse, TGI Fridays, Applebee’s, and other American-style restaurants raised prices by around 40 percent in recent years. So the dip that was already questionable value is now even harder to justify. Honestly, you’d be better off ordering a main and skipping the start entirely.

3. Olive Garden Fried Mozzarella: The Cheese That Forgot to Crisp Up

The fried mozzarella rectangles at Olive Garden commit the cardinal sin of being soft and limp. While you do get an awesome cheese pull, the cheese itself is exceptionally bland and tastes vaguely of plastic. The breading is oversalted, and the overall dish feels undercooked. Many of Olive Garden’s appetizers simply need to be fried longer.

On a June 2024 earnings call, executives from Darden Restaurants, which owns Olive Garden, predicted a 2 to 3 percent price increase for 2025. Loyal Olive Garden customers have expressed frustration since the quality of the food hasn’t matched the increase in cost. Paying more for a worse product is the kind of math that stings at the dinner table.

Think of it this way: fried mozzarella is one of the simplest appetizers in the world to execute. Cheese, breadcrumb, hot oil. When a kitchen can’t nail that, it tells you something about the kitchen overall. There are better things to spend your eight or nine dollars on at Olive Garden before the pasta even arrives.

4. Cheesecake Factory Buffalo Blasts: Greasy, Overstuffed, and Overpriced

On an aesthetic level, the Buffalo Blasts at Cheesecake Factory look strange, like shriveled little triangles with jagged teeth protruding from one side. Appearance aside, this is a heavy, greasy dish that is arguably too filling for an appetizer. It also feels like it’s trying to be several appetizers at once. The concept is ambitious; the execution not so much.

At $18.50, this is the most expensive item on the overpriced appetizers list, and you won’t get enough bang for your buck. Even if they were somewhat good, they’re far too overpriced for an appetizer anyway. For nearly twenty dollars, you want to feel satisfied with the flavor, the texture, and the portion – not left wondering what just happened.

Reviews note an upsetting mouthfeel and oily texture. One Yelp reviewer described the exterior as heavy and oily to the point where they had to peel off the wrapper and eat the filling, though “the filling wasn’t any better.” A lack of consistent taste coupled with a greasy pocket makes the Buffalo Blasts a no-brainer to avoid.

5. Chili’s Texas Cheese Fries: A Calorie Bomb That Isn’t Worth the Damage

The Chili’s Texas Cheese Fries are the one exception on an otherwise solid appetizer menu. They start with fries topped with shredded cheese, bacon, jalapeños, and green onions. On paper, that sounds like a crowd-pleasing shareable. In practice, there are some serious issues that servers consistently flag as a skip.

Cheese fries are French fries with melted cheese on top, and variations may include bacon bits or ranch dressing. A full order packs up to 2,000 calories, 134 grams of fat, and 2,800 milligrams of sodium, which is more sodium than you should consume in an entire day. That’s before you even think about your entrée.

Let’s be real: cheese fries at a chain restaurant are essentially a markup exercise on ingredients that cost the kitchen almost nothing. The food industry abides by a cost-to-menu price standard of 28 to 32 percent, which means restaurants should charge at least double for any given menu item. Simple fried potato and shredded cheese can carry a markup that makes these fries one of the highest-margin items on the whole menu.

6. Red Robin Cheesy Mozzarella Twists: A Mozzarella Stick That Lost Its Way

Red Robin’s Cheesy Mozzarella Twists are similar to standard mozzarella sticks in that they’re breaded and fried bits of cheese, but they feature uniquely twisted corkscrew shapes rather than the familiar rectangular sticks. These are served with a side of marinara sauce which is just fine on its own. In a previous ranking of chain restaurant mozzarella sticks, Red Robin’s option came in last place – and there are several reasons for this.

Here’s the thing about a mozzarella stick: it only works if the cheese is hot, stretchy, and properly seasoned. The twist shape might look inventive on a menu photo, but form should follow flavor. When you’re paying appetizer prices at a sit-down chain, novelty doesn’t compensate for an underwhelming bite.

Not all appetizers at your favorite chain restaurants are crave-worthy or spend-worthy. Determining which dishes aren’t worth your time or money involves reviewing both personal food industry experience and decades of chain restaurant dining data. The Cheesy Mozzarella Twists, unfortunately, keep coming up on the wrong side of those assessments.

7. Texas Roadhouse Fried Pickles: A One-Note Starter at the Wrong Price

Texas Roadhouse offers an extensive menu that many are surprised includes much more than just steaks. The menu boasts several delicious appetizer options – favorites include the Cactus Blossom, Twisted Mozzarella, and Grilled Shrimp Appetizer. Unfortunately, the Fried Pickles just don’t fall into that category. They’re a one-trick pony that doesn’t pull off the trick particularly well.

Texas Roadhouse Fried Pickles are dill pickles that have been battered and deep fried, served with your choice of sauce between Cajun horseradish and ranch. The sauces are fantastic and the Cajun horseradish in particular has a full-bodied, delectable flavor. The problem is that the sauce is doing almost all of the heavy lifting here.

There’s an analogy here: a good appetizer is like a good opening act at a concert. It should warm you up, get you excited, and leave you wanting more. Fried pickles at Texas Roadhouse feel more like someone forgot to book the opening act and just turned the house lights up instead. Save your appetite for the Cactus Blossom.

8. Olive Garden Spinach Artichoke Dip: An Industrial Approximation of Real Flavor

This is some of the most bland, basic spinach artichoke dip you’ll ever encounter. The main problem is that it’s just not any fun. This type of dip is best when it takes chances with ingredients like Pecorino or Gruyere. Olive Garden’s version barely tastes like cheese at all – it’s merely a seasoned, industrial béchamel combined with flavor-sapped spinach, the whole appetizer devoid of richness.

Even the flatbread it arrives with lacks crunch and personality. Spinach artichoke dip is one of the most fun and crowd-pleasing appetizers out there, but this interpretation feels like an AI approximation. That’s a brutal takedown, but honestly, it’s hard to argue with. A dish this familiar should comfort you, not confuse you.

Loyal Olive Garden customers have expressed their frustration since the quality of the food hasn’t matched the increase in cost. When a dip that tasted mediocre three years ago now costs more and still tastes mediocre, that’s a value proposition that doesn’t add up at any table.

9. Outback Steakhouse Bloomin’ Onion: The Iconic Starter That Overstays Its Welcome

The Bloomin’ Onion is probably the most famous chain restaurant appetizer in America. It’s been on the Outback Steakhouse menu for decades, it has its own cultural legacy, and it looks undeniably dramatic when it arrives at the table. But fame and value aren’t always the same thing. Servers who work the floor regularly steer customers toward other options for good reason.

The industry standard for food costs is 28 to 32 percent of a menu price, which means the markup should be at least 200 percent, but for certain speciality or signature items it could be much higher. A single large onion, some seasoned batter, and a dipping sauce that costs a fraction of the menu price adds up to one of the most profitable items in the chain appetizer world.

Items listed first on the menu and those with some sort of spectacle associated with them – think appetizers that arrive in flames or are prepared tableside – are likely to carry a high markup. The Bloomin’ Onion is exactly that: spectacle priced as a premium. With such a wide variety of offerings, some appetizers are bound to be unworthy of your wallet. Whether they’re too greasy, too dry, or just don’t taste very good, every chain restaurant has an appetizer that stands out for the wrong reasons. At Outback, the Bloomin’ Onion has started to earn that reputation.