The last two nationally franchised sit-down restaurants I went to had crappy food. The slab of ribs at TGIF could have been used as a murder weapon and the lasagna at Olive Garden was unrecognizable as food. It did have a pretty ring of grease around it, though, which made up for the total lack of flavour.. I shall never eat at another national franchized restaurant again. We have lots of great local ones.
TGIF may have been in a product-testing phase and trying to get a military contract.
Our youngest son (37 now) finally shared his unsolicited opinion of Olive Garden when he was about 12 years and started crying as he realized we were turning in to the Olive Garden's parking lot.
Macho? Listen here ----- I raced motorcycles for some 25 years, and have the scars to prove it. Not only that, but I've been married to a woman for longer! Croissants are just a type of food.
I've heard that some men do so---But why any man would voluntarily eat a delicately sweet, buttery, flakey, incredibly tasty item and therefore risk his manhood is beyond me....