I think I can shed some light on this. Before we had kids, my wife and I ate out maybe three or four times a week. We hit all the privately owned and operated restaurants in and around town and preferred them to the chain restaurants. But when you have children, you quickly find that you are not welcome at these type of restaurants. Many of them don't have high-chairs or children's menus and quite frankly, they cater to more of an adult crowd anyhow. We got the message loud and clear when our first child was born. We were sometimes greeted by scowls and seated in the worst table - usually next to the kitchen or the front door.
So we have been driven to the world of chain restaurants that cater to families. Olive Garden, On The Border, Bertucci's, Applebees, Cracker Barrel, Ground Round, etc. None of these places have outstanding food. But most of the time, it is decent. The service is spotty due to low-paid help. It always seems that the waiter or waitress we get is "new on the job" and so he or she is usually frazzled and keeps us waiting for interminable stretches. For some reason, many of them never ask me if I would like a second drink and I usually have to try and flag them down. Don't they realize that the more drinks I order, the higher the bill and thus the higher their tip? I never had this problem in the individually owned restaurants and I tipped very well.
Anyway, I just wanted to make the point that for most families, restaurants like Olive Garden are a godsend. They welcome children and keep them entertained with crayons and coloring books etc. They have children's menus so you can feed your kid a $3 grilled cheese sandwich while you have that lobster pie or prime rib. But when my kids are grown up, I hope to never see the insides of some of these chain restaurants again!