Pasta and pizza win again! Just days after taking the cake as the world's first- and second-favorite foods, the two Italian-cum-American dishes have led Olive Garden and Pizza Hut to victory in this year's American Customer Satisfaction Index. Olive Garden won the "Full-Service Restaurant" category (just beating number two Red Lobster) with 82/100 points. Pizza Hut had the top score among "Limited-Service Restaurants" (read: fast food) at 81/100. Experts noted that, as in previous years, full-service restaurants outperformed those with "limited service," but said that the latter was gaining on the former.
The lowest scorer among the major chains surveyed, with just 72 points, was McDonald's. But even this is a dramatic improvement from last year, when the biggest fast-food chain in the world scored a 64. Maybe it's time for them to advance their Italian offerings beyond cappuccino and into cheesy starches.
Below, the full results of the survey:
Full-Service Restaurants
Olive Garden—82
Red Lobster—82
Outback Steakhouse—81
Chili's—79
Limited-Service Restaurants
Pizza Hut—81
Little Caesar's—80
Starbuck's—80
Papa John's—79
Domino's—77
Wendy's—77
Taco Bell—76
Burger King—75
KFC—75
McDonald's—72