Living near Pittsburgh, we have many local non-chain restaurants to patronize. I’m a food snob. So what. I’d rather eat better food for the same price.
I agree; we have many Spanish/Portuguese restaurants in and around Newark NJ, and I would much prefer their fare than anything from a chain (for comparable prices). My town still has one surviving Scottish fish & chips place (there were five when I was a kid), and I’ll eat better there than in some big chain (again, for comparable price).
Chain restaurants are OK for what they are. But we prefer locally owned one of a kind places for seafood, Italian, steak, Chinese food. The quality seems better to us at the locally owned and operated places.