16 Best Chain Restaurant Cocktails Worth Going Out For

Chain restaurants tend to go all-in on theming: Red Lobster's nautical vibes, The Cheesecake Factory's over-the-top decor, and Applebee's strong neighborhood focus, to name a few. The same generally extends to their cocktails. Many chain restaurants get really innovative with their cocktail menus, crafting perfect pairings with their food menus, or clever, colorful drinks that perfectly fit their decorative themes.

You may think of your local chain restaurant as a reliable place to get quick, reliable favorites, and you're probably right in that regard. But rather than ordering in, consider sitting at the bar next time — you'll find everything from new twists on old favorites to brilliant new innovations on your local chain restaurant's cocktail menu.

No matter what your preference, you're almost certain to find something satisfying to sip on at your favorite chain restaurant. Here are 16 of the best chain restaurant cocktails we could find to give you something to drink about.

Just about every chain restaurant has some kind of margarita on the menu, but Olive Garden offers a decidedly Italian twist. Its Italian margarita begins with a typical blend of Jose Cuervo Especial Silver, triple sec, and margarita mix, served with a shot glass full of amaretto on the side. The idea is to pour the amaretto over the top and watch the drink turn a deeper, slightly orange color for a bit of interactive flair.

The mildly bitter, mostly sweet taste of amaretto helps balance the tartness of your run-of-the-mill margarita, meshing well with the drink's customary citrus flavors for a surprisingly deep, yet undeniably refreshing drink. Garnished with a sugar-and-citrus-rind rim and a slice of orange, it screams aperitif in Capri. You can pair the light, summery Italian Margarita with Olive Garden's hearty, carb-heavy fare, like its perennially popular Never Ending Pasta Bowl, for a perfectly refreshing sip. Tasting Table previously named it the third-best cocktail on the Olive Garden menu.

Let's face it: sometimes, the only thing that gets you through the door of a chain restaurant is the promise of dessert. But what if you could satisfy your sweet tooth with an indulgent dessert that also happens to be a little bit boozy?

Look no further than the Frozen Mudslide, a permanent fixture on TGI Fridays' menu. It's essentially a spiked milkshake: chocolate and vanilla ice creams blended with ice, Baileys Irish cream, and coffee liqueur, served in a glass that's been swirled with chocolate syrup and topped with a generous dollop of whipped cream. It's big and heavy enough to share with a friend, but you may not want to give up a single sip. Reviewers say it toes the line between dessert and digestif. It's the perfect final course to a TGI Fridays meal, playful, indulgent, and irresistibly fun. There's a reason it ranks as one of Tasting Table's best chain restaurant signature cocktails: it's just that good.

If you manage to read far enough in the hefty tome that is The Cheesecake Factory's menu, you'll find a pretty impressive selection of cocktails. Their cocktails are as varied and unique as the rest of the menu, featuring unique flavors like yuzu and passion fruit — and that's not even to mention the all-day selection of brunch cocktails.

The Pineapple Moscow Mule is a personal favorite of ours, largely because it's so simple: it consists of vodka, lime, ginger beer, and pineapple juice, no more and no less. The pineapple gives an otherwise classic cocktail a refreshing tang that goes down smooth, a perfectly zippy counterpoint to a rich, savory Cheesecake Factory meal.

The Cheesecake Factory mixes up its Pineapple Moscow Mule with Iceland's own Reyka vodka, which is made with glacial water, and copper-distilled in small batches before being filtered through volcanic rock. Even if you don't notice the difference in taste, knowing where it comes from makes it feel extra special.

With a punny name that's difficult to say without cracking a smile, the Wallaby Darned is one of Outback Steakhouse's most perennially popular signature cocktails. It's made with Prosecco, vodka, peach schnapps, and real peach, blended with ice to create a slushy, fruity drinking experience one TripAdvisor reviewer compares to eating "a succulent peach."

Naturally, the Wallaby Darned is cool and refreshing — it's perfect for a hot summer day, or to accompany a shared Bloomin' Onion. If you do decide to pair the meat-and-potatoes fare of a trip to Outback with a Wallaby Darned or two, do sip slowly: the sweetness of the peach and schnapps means this cocktail tends to sneak up on you, and could give you a painful hangover if you're not careful.

Tasting Table named the Wallaby Darned one of its best chain restaurant signature cocktails. If you happened to miss out on Outback's rotating seasonal cocktails, which prominently feature plastic miniatures of Aussie wildlife, this is a good alternative. It may not be quite as visually delightful, but it's every bit as sweet.

You can get a margarita at almost any chain restaurant, so you'd be forgiven for wanting to try something different while enjoying Olive Garden's menu of Italian-American favorites. In that case, the Amaretto Sour will treat you right: it's a simple-yet-sweet combination of its namesake almond-flavored liqueur and sour mix, garnished with a maraschino cherry or orange wedge.

Amaretto is hit-or-miss: some swear it's a syrupy delight, reminiscent of almond biscotti. Others are totally put off by its sickly sweetness and (usually) artificial almond taste, comparing it to a bizarre, nut-flavored cough syrup.

But Olive Garden's cocktail hits the perfect balance: the addition of sour mix mellows the amaretto's sweetness and lets its mild bitterness shine through, which might help even the biggest amaretto haters come to appreciate this unique Italian liqueur. The balanced unpretentiousness of the Amaretto Sour earned it the number two spot on Tasting Table's ranking of the best Olive Garden cocktails.

Super-sweet, fruit-flavored cocktails aren't everyone's bag. Sometimes, you want a beverage that feels a little more refined. If Outback is the last place you'd expect to see a smoked cocktail on the menu, you'd be surprised to discover the Smoked Cinnamon Pecan Old Fashioned, a variant on the classic whiskey cocktail.

Outback's signature Old Fashioned uses Woodford Reserve bourbon and Angostura bitters, but skips the muddled sugar water for cinnamon-pecan flavored syrup. The whole affair is topped with a puff of oak smoke and garnished with a twist of orange. It's served in a lidded glass to keep the smoke in place, which also makes for a dramatic reveal when the cocktail finally gets to your table. Although this cocktail is undeniably sweet, the kick of the unadulterated bourbon and the hint of spice from the cinnamon give it a much-needed lift. The smoky topper pairs perfectly with Woodford's white oak-aged bourbon, which makes it the perfect side sip for a hearty steak and baked potato. 

Texas Roadhouse is somewhat famous for its margaritas, of which it has a staggering eight varieties on its cocktail menu. There's nothing wrong with its regular old house marg, or its coconut rum-sporting Jamaican Cowboy, or its bold mashup sangria margarita. But sometimes, nothing hits quite like a classic margarita, and, if you're an aficionado of the beloved tequila cocktail, you'll probably want to try Texas Roadhouse's Legend.

The Legend Margarita uses a blend of three Patrón tequilas: silver, reposado, and añejo. Although all of the above make excellent mix-ins for any margarita, The Legend ensures you don't have to choose. Although it's flavored with the classic Grand Marnier and Texas Roadhouse's signature margarita mix, this potent blend ensures the taste of tequila won't get lost amid all the citrus and sugar.

The Legend is garnished with a black lava salt rim, (which doesn't actually contain any lava). That does give the drink a noticeably smokier taste than the other margaritas on Texas Roadhouse's menu, which brings out the punch of its three Patrón variants. Tasting Table ranks The Legend as the best among Texas Roadhouse's margaritas, praising it as a "masterpiece of a margarita."

The Cheesecake Factory is synonymous with indulgence from soup to nuts. Its massive menu is packed with fried, saucy, cheesy starters, generously portioned main courses, and no fewer than 31 varieties of dense, rich cheesecake. So really, it's no surprise that its take on a simple, classic cocktail would follow suit, and nowhere on the menu is that more apparent than in the Well-Mannered Dirty Martini.

The Well-Mannered Dirty Martini is just that — a dirty martini made with vodka, vermouth, and a hearty glug of olive brine. One TripAdvisor assures us it's "real dirty." It's garnished with a pair of blue cheese-stuffed olives for an extra savory pop. We recommend asking if you can sub vodka for gin to create an even more flavorful variant, but that's a matter of taste.

Savory cocktails aren't for everyone, and neither is blue cheese. But if you fall into the target demographic, the Well-Mannered Dirty Martini is the best in its category, sure to be the most richly flavored martini you've ever tasted.

If you're lucky enough to live or vacation near a Margaritaville, then you know that its cocktail menu is rife with temptations. With a full page devoted to its seemingly endless margarita varieties, you're spoiled for choice when it comes to the chain's namesake cocktail. However, you'd be surprised to know just how non-traditional its most frequently recommended cocktail truly is: it doesn't even contain tequila.

One of the most beloved drinks on Margaritaville's menu is the Blackberry Moonshine Margarita, which uses two variants of Ole Smoky moonshine: its 100-proof White Lightnin' and 40-proof blackberry flavors. The flavored moonshine is permitted to speak for itself here, mixed only with Margaritaville's house margarita blend and nothing more.

As one Google reviewer notes, the Blackberry Moonshine Margarita "tastes like lemonade," even though it doesn't actually contain any lemon. It's a delicious, refreshing cocktail that perfectly matches Margaritaville's vacation vibes, and it feels especially right to sip this drink surrounded by its tropical décor. Hawaiian shirts are optional.

Originally founded as an after-work hangout for young professionals, TGI Fridays was serving stiff drinks long before it became the family-friendly chain restaurant it is today. The Long Island Iced Tea, a hard-hitting blend of multiple spirits with a splash of cola, has always been one of its most popular offerings — some origin stories even claim Fridays invented the cocktail.

Whether you believe that or not, though, it's undeniable that TGI Fridays can mix up an excellent LIT. You can go for the classic, or you can opt up for the eLITe. This super-sized drink contains the usual blend of vodka, rum, and gin, but swaps the triple sec for top-shelf Grand Marnier. 

The traditional cola is topped off with lemonade here, making for a more balanced, sweet-and-tart taste that's more Arnold Palmer than it is iced tea. Thanks to Fridays' notoriously rigorous bartender training, you can ensure that any cocktail you order off their menu will be mixed with precision and flair.

With its long, communal tables and dinner shows, Benihana's hibachi dining concept is all about sharing: sharing food, sharing experiences, and, unsurprisingly, sharing cocktails. That concept is best embodied in one of its signature drinks, the Blue Ocean Punch Bowl.

Inspired by the Blue Hawaiian, the Blue Ocean Punch Bowl is a mix of rum, pineapple vodka, sake, and blue curacao, which gives the drink its color. It's all topped off with a blend of tropical fruit juices (pineapple, orange, lemon, and coconut) and served up in a fishbowl-sized glass that's big enough to share. It's a strong one, so ask for a second straw (or don't). 

Part of the appeal of the Blue Ocean Punch Bowl is the presentation gimmick; it's undeniably fun to sip out of a giant fishbowl with a friend, especially while you watch one of Benihana's tableside chefs at work. But all that aside, it's just a solid cocktail that feels right at home in Benihana's maximalist setting.

If you've never tried a P.F. Chang's cocktail, it may be time to change that. On its signature cocktail menu, you'll find an impressive, varied selection of creative drinks. A standout and a staple of that menu is the Japanese Old Fashioned, which combines premium Japanese whisky with a unique flavor profile for the classic cocktail.

P.F. Chang's Japanese Old Fashioned spotlights the delicate sweetness and bold smokiness of Iwai 45 whisky, whose high ABV — 45%, as the name implies — helps it stand up well to creative mixes like this one. Muddled with pure cane sugar, and flavored with green tea, pineapple, and lemon, then topped with a puff of aromatic smoke, it stands out from the average chain restaurant cocktail.

Tasting Table ranked the Japanese Old Fashioned the sixth-best cocktail at P.F. Chang's, a relatively high rating that even the author admitted was "a hot take." This drink has its fans, and if you're looking for a refreshingly unique drink to augment your P.F. Chang's experience, you may soon become one of them.

If you're looking for something to pair with one of Red Lobster's new boils, or just their classic seafood fare, you need look no further than the Bahama Mama. Flavored with Bacardi and Captain Morgan rums, along with a medley of tropical fruit juices, it's then blended with ice and served with a literal cherry on top. It's sweet, refreshing, and the perfect counterpoint to the savory saltiness of Red Lobster's seafood fare.

The Bahama Mama comes in a tall glass, and its variety of different fruit juices gives it an attractive, swirled look, with layers of red and orange. From a distance, you'd be forgiven for mistaking it for a tropical sunset. 

Tasting Table ranked the Bahama Mama the second-best of Red Lobster's 11 signature cocktails, second only to the Main Deck margarita flight – in other words, the best single cocktail on the menu. Tart, cold, and colorful, it may conjure up memories of warm sands and gentle tides.

The Capital Grille has always positioned itself as an upscale option among chain restaurants, and its cocktail menu is no exception. Its mixed drinks are uncomplicated, using high-quality ingredients in tried-and-true combinations to craft cocktails that are as familiar as they are well-executed.

The star of the show here is the Doli, formerly known as the Stoli Doli for its use of Stolichnaya vodka. More recently, Capital Grille has switched its main ingredient to Wheatley's American-made craft vodka, but otherwise, the drink is made exactly the same way as it has been since 1991: fresh Dole pineapples are infused into the vodka in-house, creating a refreshing tang.

And that's really it — although the menu refers to this drink as a "martini," it contains none of the usual vermouth, and no additional flavoring or garnish. You won't need it, though; the fresh pineapple gives it all the flavor it'll ever need. This is the first drink on Capital Grille's cocktail list for a reason.

It almost feels wrong to order anything other than a margarita at Chili's. Although this Tex-Mex chain has a full menu of regular cocktails, over half of its drink page is dedicated to its 29 "margs", if you count frozen and flavored variants.

Chili's margarita menu highlights all the different varieties of tequila (and other liquors) used in its mixed drinks: there are special entries on the menu for the Don Julio Marg, the Casamigos Marg, and even the Henny Marg. But as true connoisseurs know, the best tequila for a margarita is Patrón, and the best Patrón margarita at Chili's is the Spicy Patrón Frozen Margarita.

Made with Patrón Silver, agave, jalapeño flavoring, and margarita mix, then topped with a small-but-mighty pinch of chili-lime seasoning, the Spicy Patrón Frozen Margarita tops Chowhound's ranking of every margarita on the Chili's menu. Sure, it has a bit of a kick, but the extra cold provided by the blended ice helps mellow it out, making it incredibly palatable and keeping you coming back for more.

Applebee's is well-known for its rotating, seasonal one-dollar cocktails, which are generally pretty flat combos of well liquor and brightly-colored cocktail mix. They're cheap, palatable, and get the job done, but they're not where the cocktail menu truly shines. For something that'll really knock your socks off, try the Blue Hawaiian Long Island Iced Tea.

Invoking the names of two beachy vacation destinations, the Blue Hawaiian Long Island Iced Tea packs a lot of tropical flavor into a relatively small glass. With vodka, coconut rum, gin, pineapple juice, sweet and sour mix, and blue curaçao, it combines the colorful appearance and sweet-sour flavor of its former namesake with the boozy punch of its latter. It's also topped with lemon-lime soda for a little extra effervescence. Tasting Table gave it fifth place on its ranking of Applebee's cocktails, but, as all the drinks ranked above it aren't consistently available nationally, the Blue Hawaiian Long Island Iced Tea reigns supreme. 

This list of the best cocktails at chain restaurants takes many of its recommendations from former Tasting Table rankings and reviews of chain restaurant cocktails. It also draws on high-ranked, non-professional reviews of chain restaurants nationwide that specifically mention certain cocktails as a positive point of the experience. Where applicable, I've also drawn on my personal experience as a cocktail enthusiast and amateur mixologist.