Customers Say These Are The Best Chain Restaurant Pot Roasts

A good pot roast is pretty easy to make at home, but is it so wrong to want someone else to make your food for you — even if it's homestyle? What if you're traveling? You need to know which chain restaurants have good pot roast, because no one should ever be too far from a meal so comforting. Plus, chain restaurants have usually perfected making a sandwich out of the stuff, which is a brilliant idea for leftover pot roast. A good pot roast sandwich — especially when the bread is buttery and toasted — is one of life's most decadent indulgences.

Before we start grading chain restaurants on their roasts, we should define what a good version of the dish needs. Obviously, you want fork-tender beef. This means you need the right cuts of meat for pot roast. Gravy should naturally occur as the beef cooks, and then the gravy should be on your plate. Some solid veggies, present at least during cooking: onions, celery, and carrots. Ideally, there's going to be some form of potatoes to help mop up the gravy. We're talking about a good amount of components here, and then asking chain restaurants to pull it off. Can it be done? You bet it can. Luckily, these chains are here for you.

If this place is going to bill itself as an old country store, there had better be a decent pot roast on the menu. It doesn't get much more down home than stewed beef with potatoes and root vegetables. Cracker Barrel's pot roast uses prime rib roast, and is served with creamy mashed potatoes. You already know that beef gravy and mashed potatoes together is one of the gateways to paradise, and Cracker Barrel's got them. Under a Facebook post from the restaurant showcasing the pot roast, comments ranged from a simple "delicious" to more specific praise for the tenderness of the beef.

Truly, seeing this dish set in front of you is an experience unto itself. YouTuber Curious Cathy gasped in excitement and called it "perfect" when the plate appeared on her table. Other food reviewers praised the size of the beef chunks and said the dish tasted like making pot roast at home. That's not an easy thing for a restaurant kitchen to achieve, especially a chain. Another beef enthusiast called the pot roast literally perfect, and said that it was homey and comforting. If you're on a lonely drive down a long stretch of highway, and then you see a Cracker Barrel sign? Consider it a balm.

A fast food joint that prides itself on all of its beef products, from the butter on hamburger buns to the frozen treats. Off the beaten path is a sleeper. The company's own website calls its pot roast an undiscovered favorite. In fairness, Culver's frozen custard is delicious, and the butterburgers are iconic. Those are two pretty show-stopping items leading off the menu. One person on Reddit, in response to a picture of the pot roast sandwich, admitted to ordering the same thing over and over whenever they visited the chain.

Judging by what satisfied Culver's customers are saying on the internet, it's worth a break from routine. One fan of the pot roast sandwich called it "god tier," and sure, we've all had pot roast fit for Mount Olympus before. How does a fast food restaurant prep pot roast, you might be wondering? According to someone on Reddit claiming to be a Culver's crew member, the roast comes pre-cooked. It's understandable — a good pot roast takes hours, and fast food is, well, fast. The crew member, for the record, was responding to a question that began by calling the pot roast sandwich great.

With a name like Bob Evans, you're sort of mandated by law to make a simply delicious pot roast. Doesn't everyone have an Uncle Bob? An Uncle Bob with a solid pot roast recipe in his back pocket? Okay, maybe not, but that's where Bob Evans comes in. Sure, you can get the stuff that the company puts on grocery store shelves, but we're talking about the dishes served up at Bob Evans restaurants. Walk in, sit at a table, and ask a server for pot roast. That's not a decision that you'll regret.

A good pot roast is as dependent on the vegetables as it is on beef, and Bob Evans doesn't forget that. Some fans have praised the freshness of the veggies on the pot roast here. On TikTok, user Bridget Earl showed off a pot roast dinner with an image of a cartoon girl licking her lips and saying "delicious" overlaid. When you're enlisting the help of GIFs and Bitmoji to express your adoration, you know you're eating some good food.

If you want comforting beef dishes, look no further than Black Bear Diner. After all, this spot made our ultimate ranking of chain restaurant meatloafs, so some high expectations for the pot roast are in order. In a Facebook post, Black Bear Diner compared its pot roast to a warm hug. One commenter eagerly agreed, saying that they vividly remembered a pot roast they ate at the chain. They also said that if they closed their eyes, they could feel the warm hug. Now that's a great pot roast.

This diner is in 14 states and has its sights set on more, so be sure to check it out if you're near. The pot roast here is "really, really good," as Facebook users have agreed. One user on a Reddit thread for truckers called Black Bear Diner their favorite chain diner before recommending the pot roast especially. Truckers, of course, have the advantage of being on the road all the time. The rest of us will just have plan some trips for pot roast and meatloaf.

In its current state, Denny's no longer has pot roast on the menu. We say "in its current state," because the breakfast chain just sold for $620 million, so who knows what the menu will look like in a year? In the meantime, the delicious pot roast melt is still available. This sandwich comes with caramelized onions and sharp white cheddar cheese. Of course, it needs sturdy bread to stand up to that juicy beef and onion combo, and grilled sourdough serves nicely here.

One enthusiast on Reddit raved about the French onion dip that gets served with this sandwich. Another commenter was excited about the cheese on the sandwich. Hey, a good melted cheese never hurts a piece of beef. Some tender beef and onions, melty cheese, and sourdough bread with just the right amount of crisp? Add a slide of dip? Oh, that's a good plate. Not a bad move to pull on any leftovers you might have at home, too.

Houlihan's pot roast seems to inspire a loyal following. You can find people posting on all corners of the internet, saying that they've moved away from a Houlihan's — even out of the United States entirely — and missed this place's pot roast. Pleas for copycat recipes abound. Homemade post roast is good, yes, but can you make it taste like Houlihan's, please? That's what the people want. 

Memory can be funny, though. Your opinion of food is heavily dependent on context. With that in mind, do people who have been to a Houlihan's recently also like the pot roast? Oh, you bet they do. Tik Tok user King Schratz tried the pot roast sandwich. He praised the onion flavor in the dip, and said that the provolone was a great complement to the meat. Hey, as far as we're concerned, it's good to hear something nice out of Houlihan's. Much more fun to celebrate pot roast than to think about Houlihan's owner paying out wage theft settlements.

2025 might be a year of changes for Twin Peaks, but some things don't need adjusting. The mom's pot roast at Twin Peaks comes with a side of garlic mashed potatoes and sauteed green beans. That sounds like Mom, alright, always making sure we eat our beans. Hey, serve on the side of some fork-tender beef and we'll have no complaints. Oh, and the garlic on the mashed potatoes? Absolutely inspired. Garlic on mashed potatoes with pot roast gravy mixing in is like finding the perfect soundtrack for your day.

Don't just take our word for it. Twin Peaks isn't just about the food, it's about the people who sit at the tables. YouTuber BB's Adventures said it was good, while adding that the gravy was perfect. On Reddit, one commenter recommended Twin Peaks as a good place to get pot roast in Houston. If it's your first time in the restaurant? You'll have a good experience if you try the pot roast.

Need a meal for a lot of people, maybe after church service, or a basketball tournament, or an eighth grade graduation? The buffet at Golden Corral is calling your name. Golden Corral is another one of those places that just ought to have a good pot roast, as a matter of course. Who doesn't get at least a ladleful of pot roast when they go to Golden Corral? If you don't, then that's a waste of a trip to the sacred buffet. Line your plate with other items that benefit from gravy, and then pot roast it up.

Search around the internet, and "pretty damn good," seems to be one way to sum up people's feelings. Some people fondly remember eating the pot roast here in their childhood, and that makes perfect sense. Youth is when you should be having formative experiences at Golden Corral, but if you've never had the pleasure? Treat yourself. In response to a question about where to get good pot roast in Tulsa, one commenter heartily recommended Golden Corral.