No matter who you are, there is just something about finding a chain restaurant you know and eating there.
Even if it seems awful to have such a monopoly on fast food, finding a McDonald’s or a KFC in a foreign country when you are feeling homesick feels great.
Since chain restaurants are so ubiquitous in their products, they often have the same deals going branch to branch.
As such, there is often what is known as a Happy Hour deal, where substantial discounts are applied during an hour period of the full day.
This is great news for those looking for a bite to eat, but who are strapped for cash.
With this in mind, we have decided to look at the best happy hour deals of chain restaurants in this article and to show you why they are so good.
1. Outback Steakhouse
Who doesn’t love a good steak? And if steak is the thing you want, then Australian-themed restaurant Outback Steakhouse is the place for you.
While for some it may be a place to get a fancy meal, Outback Steakhouse is also a great place to get a Happy Hour deal, except they call it ‘No Worries Happy Hour’.
Between 5pm to 7pm on any day of the week, you can get any mixed drink or signature cocktail at a 2 for 1 cost.
This is great, because you can coincide it with dinner time and enjoy yourself a beautifully cooked steak, blooming onion, and a few Mai Tais for dirt cheap.
Not only that, but the appetizers are all half price as well, meaning that if you don’t want a meal, you can just get drinks and nibbles for you and your friends.
2. Olive Garden
Olive Garden has always been a great place to go to have a delicious Italian meal at a low cost, but not many know about their happy hour.
The casual but delicious dining chain has been around for 39 years, so they have their clientele beyond the standard sit down and dine experience.
Olive garden’s happy hour is one to envy though as it lasts for a heck of a long time, going from 3pm to 6pm, Monday to Friday.
In this happy hour deal, you get a selection of wines, beers, cocktails, and four different appetizers for below $5.
So, you can go there and get both a delicious meal and a great deal to go with it to start yourselves off with first.
If you are going out with friends or family, this is a great deal to go with, as it gets everyone a little something they like without overspending.
If you have been looking for a good place to go for Italian food, this is the place to go.
3. P.F. Chang’s
Starting out in Scottsdale, Arizona, P.F. Chang’s is an Asian Fusion restaurant that is equally amazing for its food as for its drink deals, especially at happy hour.
The happy hour is just as long as Olive Gardens – being from 3pm until 6pm, Monday to Friday – but they offer so much more in terms of food.
Select cocktails, wines, Bellinis, and sakes are $6 each at happy hour, with the select beers being $4, however they also offer 10 different food dishes at a price between $5 to $6 each.
That means feasibly you could have yourself a few drinks and a cheap feast at the restaurant with some buddies and not be broke the next day.
Even if you can’t afford it one week, their happy hour continues through the week, making it easily accessible another time.
4. Cheesecake Factory
If you are looking to eat as much as humanly possible, then the Cheesecake Factory is a fantastic idea to go with, as it is a great place to go if you are with a big group of people due to its all-you-can-eat menu.
If you are not going for the all-you-can-eat buffet and instead want to sit down and eat, then you should go for the happy hour between 4pm and 6pm.
At this time select beers are offered at $3, select wines are offered at $4, and select cocktails are offered at $6, but the biggest price drop is the food.
A whopping 17 different food items on the menu are offered at $5, which is an insane drop in asking price.
That means during this period you could feasibly have a drink and a meal for just $8 and be stuffed to the brim. While it may not be the booziest happy hour, it is certainly a good one for food.
5. Buffalo Wild Wings
While Buffalo Wild Wings is known mostly as a sports bar, it is also the perfect place to go to get some great grub, like its famous wings.
While most people know it from their experiences on Saturday nights or when they watch sports games, you should go when happy hour is on.
For starters, their happy hour times might be one of the longest, with it being from 4pm to 7pm and then from 9pm to close throughout the days (Monday to Friday) and then from 9pm to close on the weekend (Saturday to Sunday).
That is a huge amount of time to get discount drinks and food.
As for the discounts, there are 8 food items that are discounted and each of them is only $3 each, including a basket of fries, onion rings, mozzarella sticks, and a cheeseburger slammer with fries.
For drinks, any drafts, domestics, wells drinks, and shots are $3 each and any double shot is $5 each. That is a fantastic deal any way you slice it.
6. Applebee’s
Another casual dining experience is that of Applebee’s, a chain restaurant that styles itself as the casual dining experience you would get at pubs.
It is a place that is known to try and accommodate its customers completely, and they even attempt this in their happy hour.
The way they do this is similar to Buffalo Wild Wings in that they have two happy hours.
Their first happy hour starts at 3pm and ends at 6pm and their second happy hour begins at 9pm and stops at 12am every day of the week, giving you plenty of time to get some discounts for yourself.
Generally, what an Applebee’s happy hour will include would be half priced discounts on seven different food items, which change depending on the day – for example, one day four of the items may be discounted from the seven items and another day a different four might be discounted.
Applebee’s also offers deals on drinks during this time, with domestic tap beers being $3.25, Margaritas being $4, Long Island iced teas being $4, and wine being $3.50.
If you’re looking for breakfast chain restaurants, you might want to check out places like IHOP or Denny’s, which are well-known for their delicious breakfast options and all-day breakfast menus.
7. Texas Roadhouse
Time to head back to another steakhouse chain restaurant with Texas Roadhouse, one that is great if you are in the mood for meat.
As you can imagine, Texas Roadhouse specializes in Texan and Southwestern cuisine, with emphasis put on large joints and slabs of beef.
Compared to a lot of restaurants, Texas Roadhouse’s happy hour may not be anything to sing home about, with the only deals appearing to be on drinks.
Their happy hour is between 4pm and 6pm, Monday through Friday, and offers $2 Margaritas (which is great) and $1 off domestic draft beers, however this coincides with the early dine menu.
The early dine menu is employed any time before 6pm, Monday to Thursday, and it offers huge savings on food.
Every item on the early dine menu $7.99 with a main, two sides, rolls, and peanuts included.
Considering some of the menu items are 6 oz sirloin steaks this is an amazing deal and when combined with the happy hour deals, then this is a great place to go for happy hour!
8. Red Robin
Red Robin (see also ‘The Best 15 Dipping Sauces From Red Robin‘) is a burger restaurant that is incredibly popular in the western United States, due to its high quality and inclusive policies, but it also has some fantastic happy hour deals available.
For starters, there are two happy hours – one at 3pm until 6 pm, Monday to Friday, and one at 8pm to 10pm, Monday to Friday – that both offer ½ price appetizers, $2 domestic beers, and $3 Margaritas.
This is a great offer as it means that you can enjoy an absolute dinner time feast for very little money and, once you are done, you can come back for more drinks and food later on in the evening.
9. T.G.I. Fridays
T.G.I. Fridays is another chain that is incredibly popular in the US and is a great place to go for drinks and a bite to eat, due to its eternally happy and peppy atmosphere.
Now, you can get a great deal there when they have their Happy Hour, which is between 3pm and 6pm, Monday to Friday, when they offer all drinks for a price between $3 and $6 – the cocktails being between $4 and $6 and the beers being $3.
However, they also offer a late night happy hour, which starts at 10pm and ends at closing, where all domestic draft beers are $2.50 and premium drafts, vodka, and other signature drinks are $4, as well as offering ½ price on selected appetizers.
10. Chili’s
A great casual dining place that operates out of the Southwestern United States, Chili’s brings Tex-Mex food to the masses, and they do this in great abundance at happy hour.
Situated from 3pm to 6pm and 9pm to close, Monday to Thursday, happy hour at chilis has any domestic or premium draft beer for $1.99 and Margaritas for $3.99, as well as offering lots of food for discounted amounts.
Since Tex-Mex goes so well with a few drinks, we think this is the perfect combination for eating and drinking out. If you’re in the mood for quick, cheap food, then chilis is the way to go.
11. Benihana
Not as big as many other places on this list, but still a huge presence in certain areas of the country, Benihana is a Japanese-style restaurant that has made a big impact since its founding.
While it may not seem like the place to have a happy hour, you would be dead wrong, with happy hour taking place between 4pm to 7pm, Monday to Thursday.
During this time, Benihana offers discounts on sake, selected beers, wells drinks, specialty cocktails, and wines, as well as reduced prices on hand rolls, nigiri sushi, benihana bites, and specialty rolls.
Considering that some of these food items can go as low as $3.25 and the drinks as low as $3, this is a fantastic deal by any means.
Conclusion
Chain restaurants (see also ‘11 Best Items On The Bob Evans Menu‘) are always happy to provide a happy hour, but some make it more enticing than others. If you want to have a happy hour to remember, then go to one of the ones on this list.
Cooking is great for your mental, physical, and emotional health. What’s the worst that could happen? Find a recipe that you like the sound of and cook it along with me. You might even unlock a new passion!
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