We’re living in strange times when grabbing a burger and fries sets you back more than a decent sit-down meal used to cost just a few years back. Americans across the country are staring at their receipts in disbelief, wondering when fast food stopped being, well, fast and affordable. Between 2020 and 2025, the restaurant scene transformed, with once-budget-friendly chains now widely seen as pricey indulgences.
Costs have risen by nearly 50% in the past decade, making dining out feel less like convenience and more like a financial decision. Let’s be real, when you’re paying premium prices for what used to be considered cheap eats, it’s time to take a closer look. The chains listed here didn’t earn their spots through speculation or opinion alone. Language-learning platform Preply analyzed over 57,000 Google reviews of more than 10,000 restaurants in the top 50 major U.S. cities, zeroing in on the language reviewers used to describe overpriced restaurants, looking at how often words like “pricey,” “expensive,” “overpriced” and “rip-off” appeared.
So let’s dive into the ten chains that customers are calling out for charging too much.
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1. Shake Shack
According to Preply’s study, Shake Shack received the most complaints of any national chain about its food being overly expensive. This comes after two price hikes in 2024. The gourmet burger joint once positioned itself as a premium alternative to typical fast food, championing high-quality ingredients and ethical sourcing practices. The cost of a single hamburger, or ShackBurger as it’s called, typically falls between $6.99 and $7.99, depending on the region. An order will run you around $4.49, bringing your grand total to at least $11.48, and that’s not including one of its namesake shakes or other beverage. When you’re shelling out more than ten bucks before you even consider a drink, customers start questioning whether the experience justifies the expense.
2. Five Guys
Right on Shake Shack’s heels comes Five Guys, and honestly, the complaints here are brutal. Five Guys, whose prices have been decried as “out of control,” followed Shake Shack as the chain with the second most overpriced food complaints. Some customers are paying as much as $20 at their local Five Guys for a basic cheeseburger, regular fry, and regular-sized drink. Twenty dollars. For fast food. At Five Guys, burgers with two beef patties cost between roughly $9 and $13, depending on where in the country you dine – and that’s before you add the famous Five Guys fries. Sure, they tout fresh ingredients and generous portions, but when your bill rivals that of a casual dining restaurant, something feels off.
3. Waffle House
Here’s where it gets emotional for a lot of folks. Waffle House has always been more than just a restaurant. It’s an institution, a late-night refuge, a Southern staple where truckers and college kids could grab a hearty meal without worrying about the cost. That reputation is crumbling. Finance Buzz, which tracked 16 chain restaurants from 2020 to 2024, found that all raised prices above the national average inflation rate of 22%, with Waffle House up 96% and IHOP up 82%. Nearly doubling your prices in four years? That’s not just inflation, that’s a complete departure from what made Waffle House special in the first place.
4. IHOP
The International House of Pancakes built its empire on being the place families could afford to gather for weekend breakfast. According to Finance Buzz, IHOP prices increased 82% and Waffle House 96%, exceeding the 22% inflation rate. Picture this: You’re taking your kids out for pancakes, something that used to be a casual treat. Now you’re calculating whether you can actually afford syrup-covered breakfast for four. The chain’s astronomical price increases have fundamentally changed what IHOP represents to American families. It’s shifted from everyday dining to special occasion territory, which defeats the entire purpose of a family-friendly pancake house.
5. Chipotle
After a series of price increases in recent years, Chipotle is about to get even pricier, with Chipotle’s prices having steadily ticked up in a trend that has become a major frustration point among fans, as prices will increase from between 2.5% and 3% in the first quarter of 2024. Shifrin, whose Chipotle order has never changed, says he remembers paying $12 for his burrito bowl five or six years ago, saying “Now I’m paying $18. Sometimes I pay $20”. The burrito bowl that once felt like a reasonable lunch splurge now costs more than many sit-down entrees. Chipotle Mexican Grill announced a 2% nationwide price increase on Wednesday, citing rising costs for ingredients like beef, dairy, and avocados. Adding insult to injury, customers have been complaining about inconsistent portion sizes, leading many to feel they’re paying more for less.
6. The Cheesecake Factory
The Cheesecake Factory comes in at number 9 out of 10 for customer experience and value, which tells you everything you need about where it stands in customers’ minds. All the meals are just plain overpriced, as customers report getting 3 adult meals, 1 kids meal, and 2 cheesecakes costing over $100. The chain has this massive menu with over 200 items that basically requires a table of contents to navigate. You’re left thinking of the $25 pasta you usually order and the $40 check the waiter puts in front of you at the end of your meal. Multiple reviewers consistently mention that you’re essentially paying for atmosphere rather than food quality. When the ambiance costs more than the actual meal should, you’ve crossed into overpriced territory.
7. Panera Bread
Panera markets itself as this clean, wholesome alternative to typical fast food, but their prices tell a different story. Panera bread is charging a whopping $8 for a plain cheese sandwich. Eight dollars. For grilled cheese. Panera Bread will charge you a whopping $10 for a large bowl of mac & cheese, while a large portion of mac & cheese at Kentucky Fried Chicken costs $4.99 and a large from Boston Market is $5.99, both enough to feed more than one person, while Panera’s is a single portion for nearly double the price. Smaller portion sizes, the perceived decreased food quality and expensive prices that some customers have been paying at Panera have caused them to lose faith in the company entirely, as the chain tested a smaller menu in certain locations to provide a “faster and more convenient experience”.
8. Outback Steakhouse
Chain steakhouses were supposed to make steak dinners accessible to everyday Americans, bringing premium cuts to the masses at reasonable prices. Outback seems to have forgotten that mission. Outback Steakhouse has acknowledged that its relatively high prices are keeping lower-income customers away. When a restaurant openly admits it’s pricing out a significant portion of its customer base, that’s a red flag. Finance Buzz says IHOP and Waffle House had the steepest increases, followed by Texas Roadhouse and TGI Fridays, both up about 45%, whereas inflation is up 22% since 2020, with Outback now trying to reverse that problem with the $14.99+ Aussie Three Course meal deal it recently added to the permanent menu. The fact that they’re scrambling to create value meals tells you they’ve realized they went too far.
9. Applebee’s
The neighborhood grill and bar that promised affordable American comfort food has strayed far from its roots. According to FinanceBuzz, Applebee’s have raised their prices by 41% from 2020 to 2024, with the Quesadilla Burger costing $10.49 five years ago and now $15.99. Think about that for a second – a single menu item jumped by more than five dollars. Sales at US Applebee’s locations open at least a year slumped 4.6% in the first quarter, as customers who earn $50,000 a year or less visited less often, and spent less when they did, with that demographic making up about 45% of Applebee’s customers. When you’re actively losing nearly half your customer base because they literally cannot afford to eat at your restaurant anymore, you’ve fundamentally misunderstood your own brand identity.
10. TGI Fridays
TGI Fridays represents perhaps the most dramatic cautionary tale on this list. TGI Fridays filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in 2024 after peaking at about 600 locations and billions in annual business, emerging with around 85 locations. Finance Buzz says Texas Roadhouse, TGI Fridays, Applebee’s, and other American-style restaurants raised prices by around 40 percent, with all of them raising prices above inflation. The chain that once symbolized fun, casual dining with affordable prices has essentially priced itself into near-extinction. It’s hard to imagine a clearer example of what happens when restaurants forget who their customers are and what made them successful in the first place.
Let’s be honest here. These price increases aren’t happening in a vacuum. According to a 2024 LendingTree survey, most Americans now see hitting the drive-thru as a “luxury,” with 65% of Americans having been “shocked” by their fast-food bill in the last few months. When fast food becomes a luxury rather than convenience, something has gone fundamentally wrong. The restaurant industry will need to reckon with this reality sooner rather than later, because customers have memories. They remember when Waffle House was affordable, when Shake Shack felt worth the splurge, when Panera portions matched the price tag. Did any of these surprise you? Maybe you’ve got your own overpriced restaurant horror story to share.