Earl's gets four stars for self awareness. For a chain that offer a spacious and nicely designed semi-sports bar vibe and modern fusion-y bar food (downtown), they deliver on this unsurprising mainstream promise rather well. It's not economy but it's not fancy pants either. We were there on a Saturday afternoon so it was busy, but not crazy busy, and the service was friendly and efficient. I had a burger and it was a pretty good burger - so high praise for that.
Full disclosure: The first time I ate at an Earl's was in the 80s in Red Deer Alberta. I was a young teen and not exactly worldly. And they had this thing called a 'Teriyaki Burger' that came with a pineapple slice on it. Man that was some crazy international cuisine. I loved that burger.