History Main / TGIOChiliBees

[[redirect: KitschyThemedRestaurant]]

[[redirect: KitschyThemedResturant]]

[[quoteright:298:[[Film/OfficeSpace http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/1fd69b4b1052a1b0b96d659dfaed1484.jpg]]]]

The stereotypical casual-dining chain restaurant of American {{Suburbia}}, often located in or near TheMall. These restaurants are likely to be inspired by either idealized, {{nostalgi|aFilter}}c Americana, or a [[TheThemeParkVersion stereotypical image]] of an exotic place like [[OliveGarden Italy]], [[LandDownUnder Australia]], or [[EverythingIsBigInTexas Texas]]. The walls and ceilings are frequently festooned with decorations fitting the theme, such as sports memorabilia, road signs, vintage photos, guitars, and crab pots. People actually from those places are likely to find the overly-processed, fancifully-named dishes served here almost unrecognizable. The appetizers range from the conventional mozzarella sticks and buffalo wings to Frankensteinian combinations like potato-bacon-bombs and southwestern egg rolls. Portion sizes are usually gargantuan. The dessert selection usually includes some hazardous-sounding chocolate creation involving the words "volcano" or "lava".

Often, everything from how a customer is greeted to the way items are arranged on a table is dictated by corporate guidelines, resulting in an eerily identical experience regardless of which branch of the restaurant one patronizes. HappinessIsMandatory for the wait staff. Occasionally, a customer celebrating his birthday there will get an earful as all the company's BurgerFool employees chant a custom birthday song (since "HappyBirthdayToYou" was copyrighted until 2015) while clapping.

It has begun to replace the MaltShop as a stock setting in fiction, since there aren't many malt shops around any more. (Ironically, most of the few restaurants that go for the '50s malt shop vibe these days are places like Johnny Rocket's and Red Robin, which are examples of this trope in their own right.)

Named for a line from a Steve Hofstetter comedy routine, as a portmanteau of four well-known U.S. casual dining chains: T.G.I. Fridays, O'Charley's, Chili's, and Applebee's.

Compare BurgerFool, SuckECheeses, and GreasySpoon. See also UsefulNotes/CuisinesInAmerica.

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!!Examples:

[[foldercontrol]]

[[folder:Comic Strips]]
* ''ComicStrip/CulDeSac'': The Otterloop family often dines out at P.J. Piehole's. Petey had a fear of the rowboat hanging from the ceiling falling on him.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Films -- Live-Action]]
* In ''Film/OfficeSpace'', Peter, Michael, and Samir take their coffee in Chotchkie's. The over-enthusiastic waiter wants to know whether they want to try the pizza shooters, shrimp poppers or extreme fajitas.
* ''Film/{{Waiting}}'' takes place in a restaurant called Shenanigans.[[note]]That name is actually used for several sports-themed restaurants in the United States. One of them is in Hollywood, Florida.[[/note]]
* In ''Film/{{Idiocracy}}'', the Fuddruckers chain is still around in 2505, though its name has long since degenerated into [[SexSells a reference to anal sex]].
* One scene in ''Film/TalladegaNightsTheBalladOfRickyBobby'' has Ricky dining at Applebee's with his parents and his two sons; Ricky's father gets thrown out after arguing with the waitress over the onions on his steak. The climax also features gratuitous, PlayedForLaughs ProductPlacement for Applebee's.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Live-Action TV]]
* One ''Series/MadTV'' sketch takes place at a J.J. Fuddermucker, a parody of Fuddruckers.
* ''Series/TheBenStillerShow'' features a sketch at TJ O'Pootertoot's, a family-friendly restaurant which hosts a deep, [[ImAHumanitarian dark]] [[BlackComedyCannibalism secret]].
* [=MacLaren's=] Pub from ''Series/HowIMetYourMother''.
** In one episode, Barney and Ted meet two girls who claim to be true New Yorkers, but their idea of New York dining is a chain restaurant called "Taterskins".
* A sketch featuring ''The Birthday Boys'' featured a waiter who listed flavors of buffalo wings like "Mild, Spicy" and the third one he'd list would be an [[LargeHam over-acted]] reaction rather (incredibly hot or tasty).
* One episode of ''Series/TheChasersWarOnEverything'' had Charles Firth visiting the Outback Steakhouse, an [[AsLongAsItSoundsForeign Australian-themed]] casual dining restaurant, and [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YPmvpsucVYU flipping out]] over how phony he found the place.
* ''Series/{{Community}}'': In "Comparative Religion", tough-guy bully Mike, waiting to fight with Jeff, tells his gang "Look, this dude don't show up, we're definitely going to Applebee's, right? 'Cause I'm getting into a fight no matter what!"
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Newspaper Comics]]
* [=McFriendly's=], a restaurant that Zonker gets a job at in ''ComicStrip/{{Doonesbury}}'' is a parody of these kinds of restaurants. "Every entree is guaranteed to be bigger than your head!"
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Video Games]]
* In the ''VideoGame/GrandTheftAuto'' series, the Al Dente's chain is a parody of Olive Garden, [[Radio/GTARadio its ads]] specifically making fun of the inauthentic Italian theme and the waistline-inflating portion sizes.
* ''[[VideoGame/PapaLouieArcade Papa's Wingeria]]'' clearly invokes this feel.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Web Comics]]
* In ''Webcomic/SluggyFreelance'', there's Zomblebee's, a zombie-themed version of this. [[spoiler:With actual zombie employees.]]
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Western Animation]]
* ''WesternAnimation/{{Sealab 2021}}'' features the "Grizzlebee's" chain, which provides several intrusive bouts of ProductPlacement whenever it's featured in an episode.
* Hinted at (but never shown) in ''WesternAnimation/TheBrakShow'', with the nautically themed "Fish Pockets", where customers can get their picture taken with the mascot Gary Grouper. [[note]]Later becoming the British-themed "Lord Wellington's Beef Trapeze" after various time travel mishaps. It makes sense in context.[[/note]]
* ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'' episode "Bart Sells His Soul" features "Uncle Moe's Family Feedbag", featuring "all kinds'a crazy crap on the walls" and a Navy deep fryer that can "flash-fry a buffalo in 40 seconds."
-->'''Homer:''' "Forty seconds? But I want it now!"
** Not to mention the various restaurants mentioned in passing from earlier in the episode:
-->'''Dr. Hibbert:''' "Alright, where would you kids like to eat tonight?"
-->'''Young Son:''' "The Spaghetti Laboratory!"
-->'''Young Daughter:''' "Face-Stuffer's!"
-->'''Teenage Son:''' "Professor V.J. Cornucopia's Fantastic Foodmagorium and Great American Steakery!"
* One ''WesternAnimation/SpongeBobSquarePants'' episode sees Mr. Krabbs sell the Krusty Krabb to a chain who makes it into "Krabby O'Mondays," complete with wall bric-a-brac and Friday's-style striped tables.
* In the ''WesternAnimation/{{Daria}}'' episode "Life in the Past Lane", Tom takes Daria out to "Phineas T. Firefly's", a restaurant clearly modeled after T.G.I. Friday's. The overly enthusiastic waitress is enough to get them to leave.
* ''WesternAnimation/RegularShow'''s Wing Kingdom is a very obvious pastiche of Buffalo Wild Wings and TGI Friday's, having the exterior design and food of the former and the interior style of the latter (complete with Tiffany lamps and mounted moose head).
[[/folder]]
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!Examples:

[[AC:Film]]

[[AC:Live Action TV]]

* [=MacLaren's=] Pub from Series/HowIMetYourMother.

* ''{{Community}}'' - In "Comparative Religion", tough-guy bully Mike, waiting to fight with Jeff, tells his gang "Look, this dude don't show up, we're definitely going to Applebee's, right? 'Cause I'm getting into a fight no matter what!"

[[AC:Newspaper Comics]]
* ''CulDeSac'' - the Otterloop family often dines out at P.J. Piehole's. Petey had a fear of the rowboat hanging from the ceiling falling on him.

[[AC:VideoGames]]

[[AC:Webcomics]]

[[AC:Western Animation]]

Often, everything from how a customer is greeted to the way items are arranged on a table is dictated by corporate guidelines, resulting in an eerily identical experience regardless of which branch of the restaurant one patronizes. HappinessIsMandatory for the wait staff. Occasionally, a customer celebrating his birthday there will get an earful as all the company's BurgerFool employees chant a custom birthday song (since "HappyBirthdayToYou" was copyrighted) while clapping.

Often, everything from how a customer is greeted to the way items are arranged on a table is dictated by corporate guidelines, resulting in an eerily identical experience regardless of which branch of the restaurant one patronizes. HappinessIsMandatory for the wait staff. Occasionally, a customer celebrating his birthday there will get an earful as all the company's BurgerFool employees chant a custom birthday song (since "HappyBirthdayToYou" is copyrighted) while clapping.

* Hinted at (But never shown) in ''WesternAnimation/TheBrakShow'', with the nautically themed "Fish Pockets", where customers can get their picture taken with the mascot Gary Grouper. [[note]]Later becoming the British-themed "Lord Wellington's Beef Trapeze" after various time travel mishaps. It makes sense in context.[[/note]]

[[quoteright:298:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/1fd69b4b1052a1b0b96d659dfaed1484.jpg]]

Compare SuckECheeses, GreasySpoon. See also UsefulNotes/CuisinesInAmerica.

Compare SuckECheeses, GreasySpoon.

The stereotypical casual-dining chain restaurant of American {{Suburbia}}, often located in or near TheMall. The wall decor is imaginative, and likely to be inspired by either idealized, {{nostalgi|aFilter}}c Americana, or a [[TheThemeParkVersion stereotypical image]] of an exotic place like [[OliveGarden Italy]], [[LandDownUnder Australia]], or [[EverythingIsBigInTexas Texas]]. People actually from those places are likely to find the overly-processed, fancifully-named dishes served here almost unrecognizable. The appetizers range from the conventional mozzarella sticks and buffalo wings to Frankensteinian combinations like potato-bacon-bombs and southwestern egg rolls. Portion sizes are usually gargantuan. The dessert selection usually includes some hazardous-sounding chocolate creation involving the words "volcano" or "lava".

The stereotypical casual-dining chain restaurant of American {{Suburbia}}, often located in or near TheMall. The wall decor is imaginative, and likely to be inspired by either idealized, {{nostalgi|aFilter}}c Americana, or a [[TheThemeParkVersion stereotypical image]] of an exotic place like [[OliveGarden Italy]], [[LandDownUnder Australia]], or [[EverythingIsBigInTexas Texas]]. People actually from those places are likely to find the overly-processed, fancifully-named dishes served here almost unrecognizable. The appetizers range from the conventional mozzarella sticks and buffalo wings to Frankensteinian combinations like potato-bacon-bombs and southwestern egg rolls. The dessert selection usually includes some hazardous-sounding chocolate creation involving the words "volcano" or "lava".

The stereotypical casual-dining chain restaurant of American {{Suburbia}}. The wall decor is imaginative, and likely to be inspired by either idealized, {{nostalgi|aFilter}}c Americana, or a stereotypical image of an exotic place like [[OliveGarden Italy]], [[LandDownUnder Australia]], or [[EverythingIsBigInTexas Texas]]. People actually from those places are likely to find the overly-processed, fancifully-named dishes served here almost unrecognizable. The appetizers range from the conventional mozzarella sticks and buffalo wings to Frankensteinian combinations like potato-bacon-bombs and southwestern egg rolls. The dessert selection usually includes some hazardous-sounding chocolate creation.

Occasionally, a customer celebrating his birthday there will get an earful as all the company's BurgerFool employees chant a custom birthday song (since "HappyBirthdayToYou" is copyrighted) while clapping.

* {{Community}}'' - In "Comparative Religion", tough-guy bully Mike, waiting to fight with Jeff, tells his gang "Look, this dude don't show up, we're definitely going to Applebee's, right? 'Cause I'm getting into a fight no matter what!"