What resturant do you miss that is not around anymore?

[Geoff_M]

I am going with Swensen's Ice Cream Parlour, that used to be all over the U.S. The one in our neighborhood was in Carmel, CA and they served ice cream sundaes that were unimaginably decadent in the early 70s. It was a huge treat to go there, and I loved the old-fashioned, turn-of-the-century look of the place. It was the first place I ever had chocolate sprinkles. Chocolate ice cream with hot fudge and those sprinkles served in a stemware glass. Yum. We would window shop down the tree-lined main street afterwards, looking into the warmly lit shops where artists made creations out of redwood and abalone shells. It was the first place, outside of Disneyland, that decorated trees with little white twinkling lights.

There are still a few left, and strangely they are a growth franchise in Asia.

I'll go with a similar chain: Farrell's. However, there are a couple locations left in California after their national effort imploded.

It'd also add that I miss Rax due to their BBC sandwich (roast beef, bacon, and sharp cheddar sauce). I hear there's one or two left in Ohio.

 

[aprilchem]

I miss Fuddruckers - they're still in existence, but all of the Fuddruckers in my city closed up. I really don't enjoy going out to eat but I LOVED Fuddruckers for some reason.

 

[chiefmickeymouse]

Steak & Ale

Kae

We loved Steak & Ale too. My husband always called it "Steak Inhale".

 

[Gumbo4x4]

The Brown Derby from years ago. I know they have recently started reopening but they are not the same. The prices used to be very reasonable. Not so, today.

TC

Total sidebar, but there is a chain of convenience stores called "Brown Derby" in Springfield, MO. Every year, the owner's son used to take a u-haul trailer down South & buy up all the good fishing lures he could find & then sell them at Dad's stores. Eventually, his lures sold so well he put out a catalog & eventually a retail store called "Bass Pro Shops".

 

[SamRoc]

When i was really little i sort of remember the automat in manhattan! i also used to like Cookies and Mario and Luigis in Brooklyn that have closed. But the one i miss the most is Diamonds in ortley beach. it was right on the ocean (next to the surf club) but was destroyed after hurricane sandy.

 

[pryncess527]

Chick-fil-A is still around (obviously), but I miss their hamburgers!!! They used to serve the best hamburgers in their Dwarf House restaurant. But when they started the Eat Mor Chiken campaign, I think they must have stopped selling them. They were my favorite.

I do really miss Mrs. Winners. Not the finest of dining, I know, but I loved their chicken biscuits, and they served them all day. It used to be my favorite ritual whenever I visited my home town to get a Mrs Winner's Chicken Biscuit, but it closed a year or two ago and I haven't see another location anywhere.

 

[LBIJim]

When i was really little i sort of remember the automat in manhattan! i also used to like Cookies and Mario and Luigis in Brooklyn that have closed. But the one i miss the most is Diamonds in ortley beach. it was right on the ocean (next to the surf club) but was destroyed after hurricane sandy.

Never went to Diamonds or any other place in Ortley Beach. It was strictly Seaside Heights/Park for me.

I was thinking of automats part of the way thru reading this thread, but you beat me in posting it.

In Manhattan and environs I think the automats were Chock Full 'O Nuts, while in the Philly region they were Horn & Hardart. For anyone not familiar, plates of food were displayed in little cubicles covered by a glass door. You put coins into the slot next to your selected cubicle, then opened the door and retrieved your meal. I don't remember how beverages were handled.

I can't recall if the food was any good, but as a kid, that wasn't the point. I was fascinated by the technology.

I also remember Harvest House cafeterias in some of the larger Woolworth's.

 

[Jennasis]

OMG yes! Forgot about Fuddrucker's!

 

[Subrbnmommy]

Chi Chi's
Olive Garden - none in Ontario anymore
Ginsburg and Wong
The Three Crowns Steakhouse
The Crock and Block - no locations near me anymore

I loved Ginsburg and Wong!!!

 

[STLDisney_Freak]

Well in St Louis, I miss our Casa Gallardo. They all closed down and I loved that place. It was one of the first places DH and I ate together.

Next would be Tippin's. I love their pies and they do sell them in the grocery stores, but I miss their homestyle meals.

My final one would be our local Ponderosa. We used to have one right up the road and it closed down.

 

[Dizneefamily+4]

I too miss Chi-Chis! Some other chains I miss are Big Boy and Jack-in-the-Box. We still have a Fuddruckers pretty close by, so I can get a fix every now and then. I also miss a local (well, it was local where I grew up in the Illinois burbs) chain called Hackneys. I think they still have one location, but I live in WI so no Hackneys for me!

 

[Gumbo4x4]

Well in St Louis, I miss our Casa Gallardo. They all closed down and I loved that place. It was one of the first places DH and I ate together.

Next would be Tippin's. I love their pies and they do sell them in the grocery stores, but I miss their homestyle meals.

My final one would be our local Ponderosa. We used to have one right up the road and it closed down.

I finally found something I liked at Casa Gallardo just in time for them to close

The Ponderosa in Eureka has been "closed for renovations" forever

 

[tennvalgirl]

Bennigan's!

 

[poohfriend77]

I have two favorites, but neither were chains.

The first was a pizza place, but on Sunday nights they served all-you-can-eat fried chicken. It was so good! We found the place by accident one night when I was a kid, on the way home from my grandparents' house (in a town about halfway through the 4-hour drive). We'd stop there for dinner on the way home pretty much every time we spent the weekend at my grandparents' house.

We stopped traveling that route after my grandparents died, but I ended up going to college in that town. My dad was so excited to have reason to go there again, but the restaurant was gone.

The other was just a local fast-food spaghetti place that had the BEST bread! It was one of my pregnancy cravings, so I probably ate there at least twice a week for a few months. I may or may not have eaten an entire loaf of bread myself the night before I had DD. DH kind of gave me a hard time about eating that much, but then when I went into labor the next day, I informed him I had just been carb-loading for my "marathon." It closed about 5 years ago, and I still miss that bread!

 

[JanaDee]

OMG yes! Forgot about Fuddrucker's!

You can have ours. I have no idea how the place stays open, there is never anyone there.

We went there once when it first opened five or six years ago and haven't been back. If I'm paying $13 for a hamburger, you better be bringing it to my table.

 

[bcla]

It's the nature of the restaurant business that many close and new ones take their place. I could reminisce about all the places in my hometown that are gone.

I remember a great authentic Japanese restaurant. The owner/chef was from Japan and went through an apprenticeship. It was also just him and one employee most of the time, but maybe a second employee during peak times. It was a great value and probably some of the best food I'd had in a while. However, they could take a while to get an order done. They also catered to Japanese tourists in the area (it was near a college campus and there were quite a lot of Japanese tourists) who would see the signs in Japanese. One of the regulars was a Japanese expat living nearby, and he'd eat there several times a week and chat with the owner. I'm not quite sure what happened to the place. It might have been too small or the owner moved back to Japan.

One place I loved because it was cheap and good (lunch only), but the landlord evicted the business thinking he could get more rent from a restaurant that served dinner. This place mostly used the space as a wholesale business making pasta for sale to other restaurants, and they eventually relocated but didn't have a restaurant space.

 

[soniam]

Next would be Tippin's. I love their pies and they do sell them in the grocery stores, but I miss their homestyle meals.

Tippin's did have good pies. I don't remember the last time I saw or ate at one.

 

[figment80]

Tumbleweeds. Closed 7-8 years ago and still can't find a decent Tex-Mex type resturant to this date.

 

[Minnesota!]

Bridgeman's! That is a blast from the past. LOL There used to be a Bridgeman's in one of the Eau Claire malls. When I was little, we used to go in there with my Grandma and get the best sundaes!

http://www.bridgemans.com/retaillocations.html

You can have ours. I have no idea how the place stays open, there is never anyone there.

We went there once when it first opened five or six years ago and haven't been back. If I'm paying $13 for a hamburger, you better be bringing it to my table.

 

[LBIJim]

You can have ours. I have no idea how the place stays open, there is never anyone there.

We went there once when it first opened five or six years ago and haven't been back. If I'm paying $13 for a hamburger, you better be bringing it to my table.

Exactly....went once about 15 years ago. A burger, fries, and soft drink were well over $10 even back then. And you had to go up to the counter twice AND get your own drink. And the quality was mediocre at best. Gitouttahere!!!

We used to switch the F and the R around in Fuddruckers after that. The handful of them in this area have long since closed.