8 Best And 7 Worst Restaurant Chain Frozen Meals (According To Reviews)

We may receive a commission on purchases made from links.

As most people know, opening a restaurant is an expensive venture. Between the cost of ingredients, labor, and the general upkeep of a brick-and-mortar operation, the profit margin for even a successful restaurant can be razor-thin. These days, with more and more people opting to stay in rather than dine out, frozen food has become a must-buy for shoppers looking to whip up something that's easy, convenient, and flavorful. Everything from breakfast sandwiches to pasta dishes have gotten the freezer treatment. To help alleviate the gap in foot traffic, many chain restaurants have sought to expand their profits by offering frozen versions of their most popular dishes. Of course, like the restaurants themselves, some of these items are more successful than others.

When it comes to looking at the best and worst restaurant chain frozen meals, we scoped out online reviews at popular grocery stores like Safeway, Kroger, and Walmart to get a more holistic look at what consumers were saying. Read on to discover what frozen meals you should be adding to your cart and which you should leave on store shelves.

An Italian-American restaurant in New York City that's been in operation since 1896, Rao's has since made a name for itself by offering its homestyle Italian cooking for people to enjoy from the comfort of their own kitchens. While it's most famous for the line of pasta sauces (the Arrabbiata is one of our faves), it has also entered the frozen food sphere, with frozen pasta meals like this Penne Alla Vodka.

Frozen pasta can be hit or miss — noodles can be mushy, sauce can be too watery, and the overall effect can lean towards blandness. But Rao's entry is a definite hit. This dish is made with al dente penne pasta noodles and a creamy vodka sauce. According to reviews from multiple grocery store outlets, this is a frozen meal that definitely exceeds expectations. Customers praise the vodka sauce in particular, noting that it tastes fresh and delicious, and it is enjoyed by both adults and kids alike.

There's nothing more disappointing when you're hoping to tuck into a classic holiday meal only to be served something bland, soggy, and downright inedible. Unfortunately, that seems to be the case for customers who've had the bad luck to take a bite of Marie Callender's Honey Roasted Turkey Breast frozen meal.

Now synonymous with frozen dinners, Marie Callender's actually began as a restaurant chain all the way back in 1948. Known for its pies, the brand expanded into frozen meals, although the success of such a venture is still to be determined, if this dinner is anything to go by. Reviewers call this turkey dinner "soupy and unappetizing" with watery, runny mashed potatoes. But it's not only the potatoes that have customers peeved. The turkey — the supposed star of this frozen meal — is pretty much nowhere to be found. Multiple reviews complained about the lack of turkey in their meal, as well as nonexistent broccoli. Best to leave this one in the store freezer and pick up the best grocery store turkey for the real deal, instead.

The restaurant that got reinvigorated following the release of the 2004 movie "Harold and Kumar Go to White Castle" (not one of our top foodie movies, but a fun road trip flick all the same), White Castle doesn't just offer bite-sized sliders at its locations. Now, fans seeking to satisfy their munchies can pick up a frozen version of the drive-thru classic. These freezer-friendly sliders feature the same tiny White Castle bun, a beef patty, grilled onions, and cheese. For those looking for a quick bite, this frozen meal seems to appease the craving.

Enthusiastic reviews state that these Classic Cheese Sliders taste exactly like the ones served by the restaurant chain, with the added convenience of being heated in the microwave. While some reviewers are split on the quality of these sliders (after all, White Castle hardly claimed to be gourmet), many are happy to munch away on an item that's so full of nostalgia and reminds them of home.

The Asian fusion restaurant chain that started in 1993 when such a cuisine was more of a novelty than the norm. P.F. Chang's has since expanded from the standard takeout option to an even more convenient choice: frozen foods. One such popular offering is orange chicken. The beloved Chinese-American dish in this iteration features breaded chicken, carrots, water chestnuts, and edamame in a spicy orange sauce. It sounds delicious, but does it pass the sniff test?

Unfortunately, no — and we mean that quite literally. One reviewer claimed that this frozen meal was like eating an air freshener, with an obvious artificial taste. Many more claimed that, in addition to the overwhelming flavor of the orange sauce, the chicken itself was like breaded chicken nuggets – that is to say, low quality and not very tasty. Other unfortunate descriptions of this poorly received frozen meal are "gummy," "gooey," and "very mushy." If you're still craving orange chicken when you're heading down the frozen aisle, try the Trader Joe's version, instead. It's one of the top items we recommend from the chain.

Is it an entrée or is it a side? However big your appetite is, know that these Loaded Cheddar & Bacon Potato Skins from TGI Friday's line of frozen foods is a winner. The fast-casual restaurant that began in 1965 is a big player in the appetizer game, so it makes sense that it would venture into frozen food territory to bring these crowd-pleasers to your local supermarket.

This dish — potato skins loaded with cheddar cheese and bacon — earns points from happy customers who love how easy they are to cook, especially if you're using an air fryer to get that extra crispy potato skin. "These tasted like I was at TGI Friday's happy hour," wrote one reviewer, which is about as high of praise as you can get when you're a restaurant chain shifting a beloved item into frozen food. While cheesy potato skins probably aren't anyone's idea of a balanced meal, the overall consistency of the product (and value when compared to dining at the actual restaurant) make this one a winner.

P.F. Chang's strikes again — and not in a good way. The Asian fusion chain makes another appearance among some of the worst frozen meals on our list, according to reviews. This meal is the General Chang's Chicken, which features the same battered chicken pieces as the Orange Chicken meal, alongside red bell peppers and broccoli in a spicy-sweet chili sauce.

Like the orange sauce from P.F. Chang's already mentioned, the chili sauce also got a thumbs down from reviewers, who described it as "sweet, flat, and vaguely fishy." Customers complained about the portion size, too, saying that the entire meal consisted of between six and eight nuggets with too much breading and not enough meat.

The American casual dining chain that opened in 1985 serving California-style pizza has long been a member of the frozen pizza aisle — and, fortunately for hungry shoppers, that's a good thing. If you're ever enjoyed a slice (or two) of BBQ chicken pizza, you have CPK to thank — it's the OG behind this now-beloved pizza flavor.

The pizza was so well-received by customers — with barbecue-seasoned grilled chicken strips, red onion, mozzarella, gouda, cilantro, and BBQ sauce — that the chain offers a frozen version for customers to enjoy at their leisure in their own home. Happy reviewers espouse the delicious crispy crust, which isn't too thin but provides just the right amount of crunch, as well as the generous quantity of toppings. Others compliment the barbecue sauce, which is a twist on your standard pie that you don't see very often. If you're looking for a change-up from your usual pepperoni on a lazy weeknight, you can't go wrong with California Pizza Kitchen's BBQ Chicken Pizza.

Marie Callender's may be known for its pies, but apparently that doesn't include this savory rendition. Marie Callender's Beef Pot Pie boasts premium seasoned beef, carrots, celery, and potatoes in a rich gravy encased in a pie shell that's purportedly baked from scratch. However, some customers who have been longtime fans of this particular offering from the restaurant chain have noticed a distinct decline in quality, which is why it earns a spot as one of the worst frozen meals.

A few customers noticed that rather than the premium beef that was promised, the actual meat in this pot pie was like "chewing rubber," with more than a few customers declaring that the entire meal was akin to dog food. Not exactly high praise for a reputable brand in the frozen food world. For fans of Marie Callender's and pot pies in general, this was a swing and a miss when it comes to frozen meals, and one we don't recommend putting in your cart on your next grocery run.

TGI Friday's scores well again with another popular app from the restaurant chain, repackaged and frozen for shoppers' convenience: jalapeño poppers. The restaurant's Poppers come in two varieties, cheddar cheese and cream cheese. For this entry, we're looking at the latter, (which is also the more classic of the two). Crispy breaded jalapeño peppers are stuffed with real cream cheese and served with a side of raspberry habanero sauce for dipping.

The app (or main course, if you're hungry enough) wins points with customers who love how quick and easy they are to make, with the help of an air fryer or oven. Another benefit was that, unlike many fried foods (including the kinds you simply reheat at home), these poppers aren't greasy. Instead, their crispy, crunchy crust and smooth, melty insides make this a must-buy to enjoy as a snack, an app, in front of the game, or basically whenever a craving strikes.

For those who are looking for classic, Southern-style home cooking, you're going to want to steer clear of Boston Market's Country Fried Beef Steak, because it ain't it. This frozen meal features a breaded and fried beef steak smothered in country-style gravy and served alongside mashed potatoes. It certainly looks filling (the packaging boasts 18 grams of protein), but is that pile of beige actually tasty?

According to reviews, not so much. Some reviews describe the steak as overcooked and dried out, even when paired with the gravy. Others were a little more descriptive when it came to their overall impression of this frozen dinner, "Buy this if you're in the mood to eat glue."

While Boston Market likes to tout its protein levels right on the box, this dinner also isn't the healthiest choice (not that this should be too surprising). A single serving of this Country Fried Beef Steak earns 50% of your daily recommended sodium intake plus 11 grams of saturated fat. We'll sit this one out, thanks.

There's plenty of competition among the frozen pizza ranks, with more than a few that you should avoid entirely. Fortunately for those with a hankering for some quality frozen pies, this variety from California Pizza Kitchen happens to be one of them.

Unlike your traditional pizzas slathered in a tomato-based red sauce, CPK's White Pizza is spread with a creamy garlic sauce before getting topped with spinach, garlic, and five kinds of cheese: ricotta, mozzarella, Parmesan, Romano, and Asiago. And the result is nothing short of delicious, according to the many rave reviews we came across. With a crunchy crust that customers said was satisfying and plenty of toppings (no skimping here), many described the pizza as being restaurant-quality without having to pay restaurant prices. While you may be a red pizza devotee, we bet California Pizza Kitchen's White Pizza might just make you a convert.

In its third and final entry on this list of restaurant chain meals, we have Marie Callender's appearing again as one of the worst. Perhaps the brand just doesn't know how to package frozen beef properly, if this Beef and Broccoli Bowl and the Beef Pot Pie are anything to go by.

The bowl is filled with beef and broccoli, of course, flavored with a gravy made with ginger and garlic, and served over rice. A switch from the usual stodgy casseroles and pastas usually found in the frozen section, it's unfortunate that this meal didn't live up to expectations.

Like the Beef Pot Pie, previous fans of this bowl have noticed a change in the recipe, which has resulted in the presence of onions as well as beef that tastes like cardboard. In addition to the poor quality of the beef, unhappy customers claimed that there was next to no broccoli and the amount that was there was mostly the stems. While this meal may be a convenient choice, in recent years it seems to have become a bit of a letdown.

The Japanese steakhouse that originated in Tokyo in 1945 before making its way stateside in 1964 does right by its namesake restaurant with this frozen meal. While there's not much showmanship involved in simply nuking this frozen dinner (unlike if you got a spot table-side at the restaurant itself), the flavor is at least worthy of some fireworks. The Yakisoba Steak bowl is filled with thick noodles, tender steak, grilled onions, zucchini, bell peppers, and carrots in a yakisoba sauce (in this case, a savory sauce made with soy sauce, tomato purée, sesame oil, and apple cider vinegar, among other things).

It was the sauce that carried this frozen meal into "best" status, with reviewers calling it "heavenly" and the meal as a whole like something fresh from the teppanyaki grill. We think it's worth a try if you're craving a teppanyaki experience but don't have the funds to make it to the actual restaurant.

Pot pies are having a day of it when it comes to not living up to the home cooking (or restaurant quality) of consumers' expectations, and Boston Market's Chicken Pot Pie Bites are no different. The fast-casual restaurant that originated in 1985 in Massachusetts has impressed plenty of customers with its frozen foods, including the actual chicken pot pie it offers. However, when it shrunk down that tasty meal into a bite-sized, pizza pocket-esque format, responses weren't quite as enthusiastic.

These bites contain all the elements of chicken pot pie — white meat chicken, peas, and carrots in a gravy — but the ratio was way off. Many customers complained that these Pot Pie Bites had "no filling inside of them, just crust" and that the price wasn't worth the meagre amount of actual food inside the pockets. Those who did get some filling weren't very impressed, either, describing it as tasting "like leather" and "overly salty."

Frozen pizza is a mainstay of anyone shopping their grocery store aisles looking for a quick and easy dinner. It's a crowd-pleaser for everyone, from picky kiddos to those with more refined palates. If you're shelling out the dough for a frozen pie to wow a crowd, then it had better be good. Luckily for us, Rao's Uncured Pepperoni Pizza is one of the best.

It's a simple pie, made with Rao's famous pizza sauce, mozzarella, uncured pepperoni, and Italian seasoning, but it's the quality of the ingredients that allow this pizza to shine. While this frozen meal is a little on the pricey side compared to its competitors, many customers say the taste is worth the cost. Reviews raved about the "perfect crust," "amazing sauce," and called it "one of the best frozen pizzas," which is pretty high praise in such a saturated market. If you're looking for the authentic flavor of a brick oven pizza but can't make it to your nearby trattoria (or pizzeria), we think Rao's Uncured Pepperoni Pizza is an excellent alternative.