Right now, to take my family to one of these restaurants for dinner would cost on the order of $100. At that price, I may as well just stomach the extra $30-50 and go get a nice meal at one of the local independent restaurants. The food and atmosphere will certainly be better.
My in-laws took us out for dinner last weekend at Red Robin and the bill after tip was about $140. (4 adults, 2 kids). That's seriously obscene for the quality of food at Red Robin, which isn't terrible but certainly not worth spending $140 for.
Then COVID hit, and "going out to eat" was pummeled: fast-casual restaurants weathered the storm alright-ish, because they likely already had a non-trivial takeout segment, and were attracting people based on their food. Family dining, who's main selling point is table service, were slaughtered.
The outlook continues to be bleak for them, since they're being squeezed out of the market: cut costs by making worse food, and they cement their laughingstock status, cut costs by cutting back on staff and they jeopardize what little remains of their customer demand, or raise prices and further reduce their value proposition versus going to a nicer sit-down restaurant.
This. I paid ~$130 for dinner the other day, and it taste worse than a meal I regularly cook at home. And I suck at cooking