Restaurants that are no more

[Dopey's twin Dippy]

we just got back from visiting family in Alabama. we were near Enterprise,Dothan and Ozark area and there is a PO FOLK restaurant. i thought the name was so funny. i remember Jack in the Box ,back in high school, and Ground Round--we Really liked the Ground Rounds.

 

[Aimeedyan]

also KRYSTAL BURGER.....in OCALA....we always stopped on the way to and from Gator games...gotta have my Krystal fix you know...now, it is no more!

We have one here now but I've never eaten there. I've been told it's like White Castle?

I remember Whattaburger too. And D'Lites (great concept...WAY before it's time, which I think is why it failed). And Judy Judy Judy. I was too young to remember any of their food, but I do remember the restaurants.

We have Whataburgers everywhere - my favorite fast food meal is their chicken strips and fries with white gravy. YUM!!!!!!

There used to be a little chain of Mexican fast food places in the Denver area called Taco Cabana. They were pretty good. I don't know why they all disappeared.

I just had Taco Cabana for dinner last weekend - they are still around here.

Can't forget about Woolworths Grill. Something about their grilled cheese and those roasting, rolling hot dogs.

I miss Woolworths, too.

I was surprised when we lost The San Francisco Steak House. I thought those were practically institutions.

ME TOO! I loved that place, esp the swing and the big block of swiss cheese. I drove past it the other day and realized it was closed. So odd.

Orange Julius

DH was THRILLED when we moved here and discovered one in our mall. So yummy.

 

[chrissyt27]

The Don Pablos are closed here in Orlando too, at least all the ones that I know of.

We still have 3 here in Indy. Down from 5. They did get bought out, so I don't know if they will be around for much longer. I hope they stay open.

My family also loved Chi-Chis. and El Torito. We ate in one in Ariozna a few years ago. There is an El Torito grill that opened where one of our old ones used to be. It's not the same, it's more fancy mexican food.

I think both Bennigings are closed here.

 

[Poohbear123]

OOH Beef Steak Charlie's used to be where we would go for cheap beer in nyc when we would go to go out. $.05 pitchers. Oh and the Sangria!!!

OMG I forgot about this! Shrimp was the Best, I got DRUNK on the Sangria Pitcher!

 

[chrissyt27]

I had my 7th birthday party at Ground Round lol. I remember my grandma slipped on the peanut shells and my aunt had to take her to the hospital They used to have those sundaes that they served in a little plastic baseball helmet. They just closed the last one around here about 5 years ago.

This brings back sooo many memories. I forgot all about the baseball sundaes. We used to them when we ate there. We had tons of those hats. I loved the Ground Round. I was very sad whey they closed. The one building sat empyt for almost 15 years. My aunt took us there on kid's day. you paid what you weighed. I don't remember the peanuts though. or maybe i do, it's kind of foggy.

 

[Poohbear123]

Anyone remember VICTORIA STATION? The restaurant was inside a red train caboose and had the *best steaks ever*! I ate at one in Charlotte, Atlanta and Tampa. Maybe they were only in the southeast?

Yep, I forgot about them, there used to be one not too far from where I live now, it was AWESOME!

 

[chrissyt27]

anyway...my big missed place is somewhere I'm certain they didn't have in the north and not sure if it even exists anywhere in the south anymore...but it was Po Folks...checkered table clothes, drank out of mason jars, they had the BEST fried chicken and had the most awesome shirts that every one had when I was little:

My family loves loves loves this place. It was a sad day when they closed. Then my dad learned that there was on in Clarksville, 3 hours from Indy and we would drive to eat there!! We would also go to their indoor mall with amusment park, but I really think it was really just for the chicken.

At Disneyland there is one. Well nearby. We went and ate and I called my dad. He regretted not going with us once he learned they had one there. I love eating the biscuits with sorgham. and their catfish is good.

I picked him and my aunt a bumber sticker.

 

[themepark]

I had no idea Burger Chef and Duff's were chains! Those were two of the very few places to eat in the town I grew up in. I remember going to Shakey's as a kid in Atlanta. I saw one recently somewhere...Vegas maybe?

Other places mentioned in this thread...

Krystal is like White Castle and Krystals are all over the southeast with HQ in Chattanooga.

Red Robin. I saw one in Memphis about a month ago.

A&W Drive In. We have a few around my area. One is fairly new.

 

[lulubelle]

Well, I haven't heard of most places mentioned, but a few favorties that are gone now from here that I remember as a child are:

Farrell's Ice Cream Parlor
Tastee Freeze
Sambo's
Love's BBQ Pit

We have tons of Sizzlers (good, but only for the salad bar), El Torito (way overpriced but good Mexican food) and Shakey's (Nasty with a capitol N - sorry, but it is true).

 

[Poohnatic]

Lulubelle, there are still Tastee Freeze in Maryland. Those were nasty, IMO!

Cyber, I thought that Pizza place was My Pi for a while. Then it became Gourmet Pizza and Things and a friend got several of us to go there to meet up with her and her new hubby. It was awful. Heck, the Capri pizza in the mall itself was better than that place was! At least the friend knew about the fire and asked to be seated as far from the fire as possible!

Anyone on LI remember Zipz? You'd get a bowl of soft serve ice cream and you got to use the toppings bar. Most of the year, they had baseball caps and boy, we'd bug those poor employees for the Mets ones.

Please tell me Borelli's is still there! I plan on visiting next year and DH and I have been talking about them for weeks!

Suzanne

 

[ChrisFL]

I didn't read every post, but a few notes...

I'm pretty sure I read that the entire Don Pablo's chain went under a few months back, so don't expect to see any of them left.

East Side Mario's...I worked at the first one they opened in Orlando, in fact I got to sample everything on the menu and it was all excellent...surprisingly they had really good hot wings too.

There's another italian restaurant that used to be on I-drive here in Orlando called Bertucci's...they had the best brick oven baked pizza I've ever had.

I also fondly remember Rax, I used to go there all the time as a kid. I remember York steakhouse, People's, Ryan's Steakhouse, Chi-Chi's, Casa Gallardo, Taco Tico, Victoria Station, Darryl's, Sizzler, Farrells, Foster's Hollywood (had a lot of great memories of the one in Altamonte Springs, FL)

Those who said Big Boy, they just opened one recently in Maitland (north of Orlando)

 

[lemondog]

Red Robin. I saw one in Memphis about a month ago.

And one just opened down the road from me a couple of months ago. I loooove their freckled lemonade!

 

[lemondog]

Casa Gallardo

I swear, my dad used to haul us there ALL THE TIME when we were kids. At least once a week. I remember they had those big palm-frond chairs with the huge round backs at some of the tables...I always wanted to sit in one so bad!

Darryl's

I used to love all the different kinds of booths they had. The one near my house had a booth that was actually a huge ferris wheel seat...was that in all of them?

 

[lemondog]

What about Perkos...are those still around?

Do you mean Perkins? We used to have one here. It was great for middle of the night hangovers, lol!

 

[crazyme5kids]

I must have missed that one! My parents used to love going to Beef Steak Charlies for a "parent's" night out when my brother and I were little. Then it closed.

Anyone from L.I. remember Big Barry's? DH and I really miss the Tuesday 10 cent wing night!

Big Barry's, just how big was Barry ?

Does anyone remember Cookies Steak Pub? Mmmm, the banana bread and all you could eat shrimp from the salad bar.

Another one I miss is Hamburger Choo Choo.

 

[mickeysgal]

Anyone on LI remember Zipz? You'd get a bowl of soft serve ice cream and you got to use the toppings bar. Most of the year, they had baseball caps and boy, we'd bug those poor employees for the Mets ones.

Zipz!! I remember them (Chicago). It was such a different concept at the time.

 

[Planogirl]

Those who said Big Boy, they just opened one recently in Maitland (north of Orlando)

Was that the same as Kip's or am I confusing it with the fact that Kip's served the Big Boy?

 

[sha_lyn]

Was that the same as Kip's or am I confusing it with the fact that Kip's served the Big Boy?

I don't know about Kip's specifically, but I do know tat there are/were several different chains of big boys

When Big Boys went under many many yrs ago they were sold off.
Most of them in the SE became Shoney's. In other parts of the country some also changed the name altogether, and others kept Big Boy as part of the name.

ETA: seems I was a little off. Big boy didn't go under back then. They went franchise

 

[sha_lyn]

just found this

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Big_Boy_(restaurant)

yes Kip's is list as a chain that was/is under the franchise

The link keeps messing up for some reason. If it doesn't work, just search for Big Boy restaurant at wikipedia

 

[mom2boys]

There might be a few around somewhere else ... but not one around here ... Roy Rogers. Remember the barrels made into seats that you'd sit on?

Again, gone in this area but might live on somewhere else ... Bennigans.

We still have Roy Rogers in our area. I googled it and found that there are still some in the "mid-Atalantic" region. Here's the link http://www.royrogersrestaurants.com/Index.cfm/mode/locator.htm Roy's has always been my favorite fast food restaurant. I love the real roast beef sandwiches with a little BBQ sauce.

I passed a Bennigans in El Paso TX on St. Patrick's Day. It was mid-afternoon but they were setting up the parking lot in anticipation of the St Paddy's Day celebration.