Pros
I can only speak for the Lettuce Restaurant "hot spots" in downtown Chicago. The money is excellent, they hire great support staff and there's plenty of room for advancement. (But you must understandably kowtow to management and the partners.) The kitchens always run quite smoothly, and any shortage issues (silverware, glassware, etc) is always taken care of very quickly.
Cons
Point blank: the dynamics within management are petty and dog-eat-dog. This, unfortunately, spills over the rest of the staff and can make for a challenging environment to work in. Earning favor with managers is more effective than doing a great job. It gets you better shifts, sections and ultimately more money. (If you get on a manager's bad side, you will get shown the door quite quickly for very minor rule infractions.) Mandatory training-style meetings are called frequently at inconvenient times, comprised of mostly "filler" to justify lasting an hour. As most of the employees travel quite a ways to get to work, it always puts a wrench in your day. The guests are understandably challenging. If you encounter a very difficult customer (there are quite a few at these locations), management will almost always side with the guest. This results in free gift certificates and other rewards, which encourages poor guest behavior.
