By the way for you Houston guys here's one high volume/high number chain restaurant that breaks the rule of thumb (IMO). I recommend trying it at least once -
It's a place called "Houston's" Do
not get the filet or the steaks or anything. All of these are quite mediocre in my opinion. Go here and get the barbecue pork ribs. They brine these for 24 hours and it leads to amazing, fall off the bone baby back pork ribs.
http://www.hillstone.com/#/restaurants/houstons/
Just click "Texas" and then "Houston." Looks like there's one located at 4848 Kirby Drive.
I should note that I've specifically had the pork ribs from the austin location (called Bartlett's) and so I'm assuming (hoping) the quality will be the same regardless of location.
I usually order the fries with my ribs but the coleslaw is quite good as well. And, the fries can be problematic because they taste amazing for about 5 minutes after they come out, but then they get tend to get stale pretty quickly.
Edit: Here's an actual picture of Houston's ribs to whet your appetite:
