Texas Roadhouse Beat These 12 Other Restaurants in Customer Satisfaction, According to the ACSI
Whether you're craving your favorite appetizers or you simply don't feel like cooking, full-service restaurants offer a happy medium between fast food and fine dining. Options like Outback Steakhouse, Buffalo Wild Wings, and Chili's are often a popular choice because these restaurants are generally family-friendly and offer consistent food quality and service. However, when you look at some of the most popular full-service chains, some come out on top when it comes to customer satisfaction.
Since 2007, the American Customer Satisfaction Index (ACSI) has evaluated full-service restaurants to determine which ones have the highest levels of customer satisfaction. The methodology of the ACSI provides restaurants with important insight into how they can improve the customer experience. The evaluation happens annually and includes 13 major restaurant chains and a combination of smaller chains.
According to Forrest Morgeson, Director of Research Emeritus at the ACSI, “Smaller, popular brands like Raising Cane’s and Wingstop are proving that creative marketing, digital engagement, and focusing on core strengths can challenge even the most established chains. The brands that succeed will be the ones that adapt quickly to shifting tastes without compromising consistency or experience.”
In this slideshow, we'll look at the ranking of each major chain and explain the benchmarks the ACSI uses to evaluate full-service restaurants. Here's a look at the ranking of 13 full-service restaurants, starting with the lowest-ranked restaurant.
What Are the Benchmarks for Full-Service Restaurants?
Before we walk through the major restaurant chains and their rankings, let's take a look at the benchmarks used for the evaluation. For the annual full-service restaurant customer satisfaction index, restaurants are ranked based on:
Accuracy of food order
Beverage quality (taste, temperature)
Courtesy and helpfulness of the waitstaff
Food quality (taste, temperature, freshness of ingredients)
Restaurant layout and cleanliness
Variety of beverages on the menu
Variety of food on the menu
Speed with which the food order was received at the table
Website satisfaction
Quality of mobile app
Reliability of mobile app (minimal downtime, crashes, lags)
