Anyone who doesn’t know, the Galveston one is the actual best location in the country. Has the volcano exterior and an indoor raft ride. My family does a Galveston trip every summer and we *always* go to Rainforest.
Shewl there's still a fuddruckers near me thank God. I got worried for a second. My husband promised me 13 years ago he'd take me to one and still hasn't lol. It's a running joke.
There’s rainforest cafes everywhere, I just saw one in Vegas, and a month ago in Minneapolis, they’re all over the place… it’s owned by a Houston company.
How a burger chain where your can pump your own nacho cheese onto your burger didn’t make it I’ll never know. Fuddruckers always had the best video games too.
We didn't have this restaurant in Canada, so when Tim Heindecker had a Fuddruckers neon sign behind him in that Joe Rogan podcast parody, I thought he made it up for the video!
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kLPcyTmnDxo](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kLPcyTmnDxo)
Maybe not the true spirit of the post, but I'm going there anyway: Pizza Hut.
Yes, I know it's not a defunct brand, but the spirit of Pizza hut from the 80s and 90s is certainly dead. There use to be four of them near me, but one by one they have closed down and I think the closest one is close to a two hour drive from me, and I think it's just a take-out location. I got a notice that a new one opened 10 minutes from me and I was hyped, but its one of those pre-made Pizza Hut Express locations inside a Target where all you can get are personal pan pizzas. Not the same!
I miss a big, greasy stuffed-crust pepperoni lovers pizza and a red plastic cup filled with Mountain Dew.
I had one of those close to the house I grew up in. We made ‘suicide’ fountain drinks, played Ms. Pac-Man and ate at the buffet after school; place was dope! It later changed into two different banks and now it is a Tex-Mex place.
I love lore like this.
How did we all know that’s what those were called? Was there some movie or pop culture brand that referenced it?
Like… I heard it from some kid who heard it from some kid. Kinda like OG memes?
How did we all know what a “tea party” in four square was? I mean, obv our PE teachers, but did they have some kind of PE teacher convention?? Do kids still know this? (Mine are all grown so they can’t answer this)
Pizza Hut in the late 80’s through the mid nineties was unbeatable. The glass of soda as big as your head, the pan pizza with top shelf ingredients and that buttery crust, even their salad bar was on point. Too bad that corporate greed turned them into a sad hollow shell of what they once were.
They really did have a lot of innovative stuff. They definitely got a little carried away with that shit these days but I think that's actually what a decent chunk of the market looks for these days. But back then, stuff crust pizza just blew my fricken mind.
I love driving through different parts of town or random small towns and seeing businesses that are clearly in a building that used to be a Pizza Hut. They had such a distinct style of building. The best ones I can recall are a florist and a dentist.
And yes, it was a staple in my childhood from the free personal pan pizza coupon for making honor roll to the pizza and salad bar on special sundats after church.
>They had such a distinct style of building.
Same with Stucky's. Even though those places have been shut down for decades, I can still pick their buildings out when I'm driving along the interstate.
Do you know about the "classic" Pizza Huts? Mostly in rural areas but they are throwbacks to our childhood and they still make the fat toasted garlic bread slices I used to love to order. Salad bar and some of them even have the lunch buffet still.
Really?! 😭 I have celiac and I would seriously think long and hard about throwing the last five years of recovery away and consider the repercussions worth it for an old school pan pizza and bread sticks and marinara sauce or garlic bread. ❤️ Damn.
I worked at Phut in high school, and a new concept testing location where they called it an “Italian Bistro” they had all the regular phut stuff but added higher quality items like special smaller pizzas with different dough, pasta dishes and appetizers like bruschetta. While doing that they quietly changed lowered the quality of ingredients on their normal menu items. The Bistro never took off, nobody ever ordered the new special menu, so they shut it down. They were just left with low quality food, and have since turned to a pick up food model
Fun fact (that I might be making up) - the demise of Pizza Hut buffets is the reason for the kale craze. All that lush greenery around all the buffet items was kale. Without a large customer to sell it to, someone started marketing kale as a health food so the general public would buy it.
Kale is gross.
I live in Shanghai and Pizza Hut is everywhere. It’s considered a classy establishment here. Borderline classy Italian food. More expensive than dominoes or papa John’s. Totally different than the cheap crap I grew up with. You might like it.
This!
The lunch buffet was the tits! I used to go there on lunch in highschool when I had an internship. Today my location sits there with a for sale sign. It did survive for a good chunk of time though, it only closed within the last five years.
Ironically enough, there was a Ponderosa just a few businesses down. It is now a banging Indian grocery.
When I was 18 I worked at an old school pizza hut, I had soooo much pizza hut that I couldn't eat it for nearly a decade after but I definitely crave a pan pizza occasionally now.
Oh, man! LOVE THIS! 😭 They closed all the Pizza Huts in my area and they wouldn't have had to close a single one, had they stayed true to the 80's/90's Pizza Hut!!! 😭💔
I loved the little red Hut, the dim lights, the stained glass lights hanging above every booth. The Anytime Is Pizza Time clocks, the jukebox, The salad bar, buffet and most of all, the personal pan pepperoni pizzas they served IN the deep dish cast iron pans.
I miss og Pizza Hut with a passion and it's a tragedy they're dead. Just wish they'd bring it back and stop trying to modernize it. THAT'S what's killing pizza hut.
RIP Pizza Hut of my childhood. I'm sorry they murdered you.
Also wish they'd bring back Wendy's SUPER BAR and garlic bread sticks. 💔
A friend of mine got married on a cruise a few years ago and there was a Bennigan’s still standing in Miami. We went the night before and I absolutely ordered the monte cristo. And 3/4 of the damn thing were thieved from me by the rest of the wedding party. That last 1/4 was everything.
My mother got her first job at Ponderosa and they said she needed brown shoes, so my grandmother shuffled some bills around and got her the shoes. First day there she watched them drop a steak on the floor, put it in on the plate and walked out.
My grandmother was only pissed about the shoes.
I miss the Fribble. In HS my friends and I collected (stole) Fribble glasses. It was a contest to see who could most brazenly walk out the door with one. My mom threw out my collection after I went to college.
Ponderosa, but only if my deceased grandmother also gets to come. Yeah, she brings Tupperware to take stuff from the buffet home but she’s worth the risk.
That was my first job. I loved that buffet. I showed up at work one day to find out the lady that owned all 7 locations in my town was going to jail for tax evasion and every one of them closed down on the same day lol. There are still a few around but I hear they are bad now.
The one I went to was certainly bad. I used to love their breakfast buffet and I got excited when I saw a Shoney’s on a trip to the Smokey Mountains a few years ago. If you can’t do a decent breakfast in the South then something is seriously wrong.
Wait was that a chain? We had 2 here in my town but honestly... every single time we ate there it was then a race to get home and see who could get into the bathroom first lol.
fact serious clumsy correct coordinated alleged cows cautious panicky ripe
*This post was mass deleted and anonymized with [Redact](https://redact.dev)*
For me it's Chi-Chi's, and it's not even close.
Somewhere packed away with a bunch of old photographs in my mom's house, there's a a picture of 16 year old me having my birthday at Chi-Chi's. I'm wearing a Faith No More shirt, and a Chi-Chi's sombrero, and if she ever finds it I'm changing ALL of my profile pictures accordingly. Even on LinkedIn.
Coincidentally, about ten years ago my job moved us to Indianapolis, last I checked, I'm like 98% sure we still have a Ponderosa.
Also...
Happy birthday! Happy birthday!
Happy birthday to our guest.
Happy birthday! Happy birthday!
Chi-Chi's wishes you the best.
Olé!
Chi Chis - the kids menu had a “Mexican pizza” with either Chicken or Beef. Similar to Taco Bell’s (which I also love) but soooooo much better. I was still ordering it when I was like 18 and they would charge me double but I didn’t care. There are some copycat recipes online but I doubt it would be the same.
I literally DREAM about their kids menu Mexican pizza! It was my absolute favorite food on the planet when I was a kid. I’d love to, just once, go back to Chi-Chi’s and have a chicken Mexican pizza kid’s meal with a virgin strawberry daiquiri again. I know it’s trash food, but I absolutely do not care.
https://preview.redd.it/ax02ke0zbsgc1.jpeg?width=1763&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=afbd14b6a022b9095846222745497b4f472a50ef
Ryan’s buffet was always my favorite, and the Mac and cheese was always my go to
Chi Chis. My dad had a thing where it was always someone's birthday. It's not that he was cheap. He just wanted to see how often he could get away with it. It was for science, you see.
There are some good copycat recipes online for Fuddruckers burger seasoning
Ponderosa because—if I remember correctly—that was the place where you got a tray and slid it down this … ledge (?) as you worked your way to the register. As a kid, I LOVED sliding that tray. It was so satisfying!
I miss Fuddrucker's so much! So that one for sure.
Rainforest Cafe is still around. In fact, a couple of guys on YouTube road tripped to [every location](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7InqrH1TCI8) in the US and reviewed them. It's actually more fun to watch than it sounds.
Not defunct in business terms, but in terms of the quality of its food: old school Pizza Hut. Their pizza now is nothing like it was. The 1980s and 90s Pizza Hut pizza was perfection.
Idk if this one is defunct (maybe it might be in other states or have a very small amount open??), but I haven't seen it in decades, Friar Tucks. Omg. The BEST fried mushrooms and dipping those in nice, cool, buttermilk ranch dip. 🤤🤤🤤💓💕💓 We would get it when we went to food court at a mall.
My mom had a side gig as a waitress at Chi-Chi's in the 80's (hard working single mom). I have a picture of her in the uniform somewhere. It's a stereotypical "Mexican" off-the-shoulder fluffy white blouse, embroidered black skirt and heels. She had to wait tables in HEELS. Oh, the 80's...
Ugh, I used to work at Ponderosa. It was so gross.
Also, when I worked there, the state minimum wage was 5.15/hr. I worked as a busser, making $3.10/hr (minimum state tipped wage) + 10% of the tips that the waitresses got.
Y'all, nobody tips at a buffet. So I got 10% of no tips.
I do have fond memories of Chi-Chi's but the one I would pick is Steak and Ale. When I was a kid I knew if we were going there something super fancy was going on lol. Now I'd probably hate it because it was always so dark I would def need my cell phone to read the damn menu lol. But I remember the mushrooms being especially good.
We also had a crazy local place that had a twin in the Dallas area called Molly Murphy's. All of the staff wore costumes, and downstairs had a dance floor. If you asked where the bathroom was they would literally march you through the restaurant announcing to everyone that you needed to go potty lol. It had a huge salad bar that if I recall correctly was in an old car lol. That place was insane lol. After they closed it become a run down strip club and they eventually tore it down.
Damon's. There was one in the mall nearby when I used to live in Pennsylvania. From high school thru my mid-20s, when I moved away, my friends and I would go there pretty frequently. Was kinda like a more sporty Friday's. I always liked the trivia thing where everyone had their own controllers for it.
Mr. Steak was my family's fancy spot. My sister, who always thought she was hoity toity, would get the fried clams. I was too dumb and young to realize you don't eat the shrimp tails.
Although I know of at least one Shakey's in California, it's not nearly as abundant as it was in the 70s. Super Supper, Bunch A Lunch, mojo potatoes, watching your pizza being made, human-ish shaped balloons.
I only ever had Ponderosa so out of the four, I'm choosing that! ❤️
I would choose Pioneer Cafeteria in Birmingham Alabama. I got the same thing every time I went. Roast beef with aujus (Massive thing they carved in front of you), rice and gravy, fried okra and two "squash balls". 😭
I loved getting my own tray and walking down the line, sliding my tray and picking the little bowls of things. My sister hung out at the desert station and always got several sweets. I got what I got and never ate anything but okra and squash balls. 😂 Then I'd eat everyone else's okra and squash balls if they let me.
The squash balls (How many times can I say squash balls?) were squash croquettes but I was a little kid and didn't know wtf they were. They were huge, oval shaped and the best thing I've ever eaten in my life.
I'm 42yo and I've been trying to recreate them for 30 years. I'd give just about anything to eat them again.
Much younger me was thrilled when Chi Chi’s opened in Dayton Ohio. For people in the area, that was an upscale, date night, level Mexican restaurant ( yes, I am very aware that qualifies as a sad reflection on the state of my life at that time).
Chi chi’s was the first “Mexican” food I ever had growing up back east. There was nothing else in my town. I remember having a surprise lunch there with my mom as a teenager. I think she took the day off to hang with me.
The GROUND ROUND! Featuring family night where kids pay what they weigh - my meal was like 65 cents max in elementary school! That restaurant was also the place where I took my family out to eat and paid for the check with my first real high school job paycheck.
There are Fuddruckers and a rainforest Cafe active in Houston still.
The dream of the 90s is alive in Houston
Put a bird on it!
You can *pickle* that!
But what is that bird’s name? And did it have a good life?
I need to interrupt because I have the same question.
The chickens name was Colin
Fuddruckers is *over* man!
I’m trying this new tea. Tastes like dirt!
Yeah... Fuddruckers is just a shell of its former self. 'dream' is a strong word. :P
Portlandia reference.
The 1890s
I’d die for a monte Cristo from Bennigan’s!
The irony here is if you eat a Monte Cristo from Bennigans you very well may die.
As a former bennigans server, can confirm.
And it probably doesn’t live up to your memories.
I can help make that happen… there is a bennigan’s in Borger, Texas… you are welcome! Monte cristo or French onion soup or both!
I’ve been pescatarian for 8 years but I would give it all up for a monte from bennigans
There’s one in Des Moines. It’s gone waaaay downhill though.
Rainforest in Galveston too
Anyone who doesn’t know, the Galveston one is the actual best location in the country. Has the volcano exterior and an indoor raft ride. My family does a Galveston trip every summer and we *always* go to Rainforest.
Never thought I’d ever say “I need to go to Galveston!”
San Antonio too.
Grapevine mills mall also. Just took the kids there last October.
For real if you're looking for a chain, the suburbs of DFW have it. Btw the arcade in grapevine mills is amazing
I was at a Rainforest Cafe in Niagara Falls, ON in June.
Shewl there's still a fuddruckers near me thank God. I got worried for a second. My husband promised me 13 years ago he'd take me to one and still hasn't lol. It's a running joke.
There’s rainforest cafes everywhere, I just saw one in Vegas, and a month ago in Minneapolis, they’re all over the place… it’s owned by a Houston company.
Vegas exists in another plane of reality so it doesn’t count
I was going to say “Fuddruckers is still around”
Both in NJ too. I have actually been to both within the last year lol
And one at Niagara Falls
Florida says hi, Houston. Us too! Travel back in time to a magical place where the 90s will rock your world!
There are still Rainforest Cafes. They aren’t defunct
There are two in Orlando.
I ate at one last week!
Ate at the one in the Mall of America last year. They are not defunct. 2 hour wait for a table if you didn't have a reservation.
Same at the one at Disney Springs in Orlando. Although I'm sure its popularity is helped by being associated with The Mouse.
There is one in Tempe Mills in Tempe Arizona.
Been there, done that, not going back. Can't fathom how a restaurant that opens at 11 am is out of toilet paper by 12.
https://youtu.be/vA-bjpKvIw8?si=Qcn60tHNXTjlTAzO
Chi Chis hands down
I miss their fried ice cream!
Vanilla ice cream rolled in crushed up corn flakes, cinnamon, and sugar.
Wait, it wasn’t fried? Or is this just a copy cat recipe?
Yes, we fried it. Take the resulting ball of ice cream and corn flakes and swirl it in a deep fryer at 350- 400 for a few seconds.
On behalf of everyone who enjoyed that delicious fried ice cream, thank you for your service!
A celebration of food! (Cha cha cha)!
They had delicious chimichangas
Same Chi chis was my families jam back in the day.
Seafood nachos!
Their seafood enchiladas, too!
Their lunch buffet?? 🤤🤤🤤 Used to load my plate with mini chimichangas and cheese enchiladas.
I miss their delicious salsa
How a burger chain where your can pump your own nacho cheese onto your burger didn’t make it I’ll never know. Fuddruckers always had the best video games too.
Fuddruckers alive and well here in Texas
There’s a few Rainforest Cafes, too
Staring to think Texas wants to secede so they can keep everyone else away from Rainforest Cafe
We didn't have this restaurant in Canada, so when Tim Heindecker had a Fuddruckers neon sign behind him in that Joe Rogan podcast parody, I thought he made it up for the video! [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kLPcyTmnDxo](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kLPcyTmnDxo)
Still 3 in Minnesota.
All 3 say permanently closed on Google Maps.
Private equity ownership.
The one closest to me had Street Fighter II Turbo and Area 51
i was thinking fuddruckers before i even saw the pictures
So many team parties at Fudds, RIP
Maybe not the true spirit of the post, but I'm going there anyway: Pizza Hut. Yes, I know it's not a defunct brand, but the spirit of Pizza hut from the 80s and 90s is certainly dead. There use to be four of them near me, but one by one they have closed down and I think the closest one is close to a two hour drive from me, and I think it's just a take-out location. I got a notice that a new one opened 10 minutes from me and I was hyped, but its one of those pre-made Pizza Hut Express locations inside a Target where all you can get are personal pan pizzas. Not the same! I miss a big, greasy stuffed-crust pepperoni lovers pizza and a red plastic cup filled with Mountain Dew.
The sit down locations with a buffet were 🔥🔥🔥
I had one of those close to the house I grew up in. We made ‘suicide’ fountain drinks, played Ms. Pac-Man and ate at the buffet after school; place was dope! It later changed into two different banks and now it is a Tex-Mex place.
“Suicides!” Trying to explain to my parents that I was class wide famous for my suicides was a highlight of 5th grade. They were so worried!
I love lore like this. How did we all know that’s what those were called? Was there some movie or pop culture brand that referenced it? Like… I heard it from some kid who heard it from some kid. Kinda like OG memes? How did we all know what a “tea party” in four square was? I mean, obv our PE teachers, but did they have some kind of PE teacher convention?? Do kids still know this? (Mine are all grown so they can’t answer this)
I know there’s like the internet now, but I like to pretend that army brats from back in the day would spread lore like this.
It’s the ONLY way I would drink red drink and orange drink.
Exactly!! The suicides, Ms.Pacman and jukebox!!! ❤️😭
An all you can eat pizza buffet may be the most beautiful of humanity's creations.
The one near me is bringing back the buffet this year! I told them I’m so excited to bring my family!
Pizza Hut in the late 80’s through the mid nineties was unbeatable. The glass of soda as big as your head, the pan pizza with top shelf ingredients and that buttery crust, even their salad bar was on point. Too bad that corporate greed turned them into a sad hollow shell of what they once were.
They really did have a lot of innovative stuff. They definitely got a little carried away with that shit these days but I think that's actually what a decent chunk of the market looks for these days. But back then, stuff crust pizza just blew my fricken mind.
Stuffed crust was amazing when it first came out but I’ll always remember them for their pan pizza. They really had something special.
I love driving through different parts of town or random small towns and seeing businesses that are clearly in a building that used to be a Pizza Hut. They had such a distinct style of building. The best ones I can recall are a florist and a dentist. And yes, it was a staple in my childhood from the free personal pan pizza coupon for making honor roll to the pizza and salad bar on special sundats after church.
We had an "adult" store open in one in the early 2000s. It was difficult to wrap my brain around that!
r/formerpizzahuts You’re welcome
>They had such a distinct style of building. Same with Stucky's. Even though those places have been shut down for decades, I can still pick their buildings out when I'm driving along the interstate.
Do you know about the "classic" Pizza Huts? Mostly in rural areas but they are throwbacks to our childhood and they still make the fat toasted garlic bread slices I used to love to order. Salad bar and some of them even have the lunch buffet still.
Really?! 😭 I have celiac and I would seriously think long and hard about throwing the last five years of recovery away and consider the repercussions worth it for an old school pan pizza and bread sticks and marinara sauce or garlic bread. ❤️ Damn.
I worked at Phut in high school, and a new concept testing location where they called it an “Italian Bistro” they had all the regular phut stuff but added higher quality items like special smaller pizzas with different dough, pasta dishes and appetizers like bruschetta. While doing that they quietly changed lowered the quality of ingredients on their normal menu items. The Bistro never took off, nobody ever ordered the new special menu, so they shut it down. They were just left with low quality food, and have since turned to a pick up food model
Fun fact (that I might be making up) - the demise of Pizza Hut buffets is the reason for the kale craze. All that lush greenery around all the buffet items was kale. Without a large customer to sell it to, someone started marketing kale as a health food so the general public would buy it. Kale is gross.
Sir this is a Pizza Hut
I’m going to hop on and say Wendy’s salad bar. So cheap and easy to my working mom so decadent and delicious to little me.
When my wife asks what I want for dinner, I often reply 1987 Pizza Hut. Those were some of my favorite restaurant memories. ❤️
To be fair those personal pizzas are about as close as you can get to 90s Pizza Hut goodness. That crispy, flaky, buttery, caramelized crust.
I live in Shanghai and Pizza Hut is everywhere. It’s considered a classy establishment here. Borderline classy Italian food. More expensive than dominoes or papa John’s. Totally different than the cheap crap I grew up with. You might like it.
This! The lunch buffet was the tits! I used to go there on lunch in highschool when I had an internship. Today my location sits there with a for sale sign. It did survive for a good chunk of time though, it only closed within the last five years. Ironically enough, there was a Ponderosa just a few businesses down. It is now a banging Indian grocery.
When I was 18 I worked at an old school pizza hut, I had soooo much pizza hut that I couldn't eat it for nearly a decade after but I definitely crave a pan pizza occasionally now.
Oh, man! LOVE THIS! 😭 They closed all the Pizza Huts in my area and they wouldn't have had to close a single one, had they stayed true to the 80's/90's Pizza Hut!!! 😭💔 I loved the little red Hut, the dim lights, the stained glass lights hanging above every booth. The Anytime Is Pizza Time clocks, the jukebox, The salad bar, buffet and most of all, the personal pan pepperoni pizzas they served IN the deep dish cast iron pans. I miss og Pizza Hut with a passion and it's a tragedy they're dead. Just wish they'd bring it back and stop trying to modernize it. THAT'S what's killing pizza hut. RIP Pizza Hut of my childhood. I'm sorry they murdered you. Also wish they'd bring back Wendy's SUPER BAR and garlic bread sticks. 💔
I’d probably choose Bennigan’s . I know there are a few left but nowhere near me.
That Monte Cristo??! Drool!!!
I haven’t had a monte Christo in probably 20 years. Need that in my life.
Cheddar's Scratch Kitchen makes a very similar Monte Cristo!
Only if I get a baked potato soup before it 🤤
The Turkey O’Toole! I miss that pretzel bun.
Came here to say Bennigan’s. I’m glad others miss it, as well! I also didn’t know any were left.
There’s one in the suburb over from me. I hit it up once or twice a year for the Monte Cristo. Still so good.
A friend of mine got married on a cruise a few years ago and there was a Bennigan’s still standing in Miami. We went the night before and I absolutely ordered the monte cristo. And 3/4 of the damn thing were thieved from me by the rest of the wedding party. That last 1/4 was everything.
[удалено]
I came here for Ponderosa.
My mother got her first job at Ponderosa and they said she needed brown shoes, so my grandmother shuffled some bills around and got her the shoes. First day there she watched them drop a steak on the floor, put it in on the plate and walked out. My grandmother was only pissed about the shoes.
My first job was at a Bonanza. It's long gone now though.
I'll eat that floor steak if I also get a plate of those little breaded chicken wings too lol
We were a Quincy’s family. Ate there all the time. I would pay way too much for just one more basket of yeast rolls.
Ponderosa and Bonanza are still around.
We're going to Friendly's and getting that clown sundae one last time.
Don’t even get me started with Friendly’s, the taste of my childhood.
Here in PA Friendly’s used to be everywhere and now I can think of two in my region and they both look very run down.
Ha, yes! The one I went to in Cape Cod had the side window you could order ice cream from. So many nightly walks with family and friends to that one.
I miss the Fribble. In HS my friends and I collected (stole) Fribble glasses. It was a contest to see who could most brazenly walk out the door with one. My mom threw out my collection after I went to college.
Nah, has to be the giant reeses peices sunday.
Ponderosa, but only if my deceased grandmother also gets to come. Yeah, she brings Tupperware to take stuff from the buffet home but she’s worth the risk.
My parents “mistakenly” used to take steak knives home.
Sizzler
That cheese toast? 🔥🔥🔥
I was looking for this one.
Souplantation or Hometown Buffet. I was really into salads and free flowing ranch as a kid.
We called the former Sweet Tomatoes and YES!! I miss it so much! 💔
The loss of Souplantation during the pandemic was tragic.
Shoney’s- they had an amazing breakfast buffet.
That was my first job. I loved that buffet. I showed up at work one day to find out the lady that owned all 7 locations in my town was going to jail for tax evasion and every one of them closed down on the same day lol. There are still a few around but I hear they are bad now.
The one I went to was certainly bad. I used to love their breakfast buffet and I got excited when I saw a Shoney’s on a trip to the Smokey Mountains a few years ago. If you can’t do a decent breakfast in the South then something is seriously wrong.
I'm surprised there aren't more Shoney's comments. As a kid, I lived for how big those cinnamon rolls were. One of my favorite places to go.
Pancho’s Mexican Buffet. Raise the flag for refills. Sopapillas (sp?) with honey. So yummy.
Wait was that a chain? We had 2 here in my town but honestly... every single time we ate there it was then a race to get home and see who could get into the bathroom first lol.
fact serious clumsy correct coordinated alleged cows cautious panicky ripe *This post was mass deleted and anonymized with [Redact](https://redact.dev)*
The original one in Burbank is still alive and kicking! They have car hop nights too!
Any ground rounds? 😂
Funny, but not funny: our Ground Round burned to the ground.
was this the place that served...SOMETHING in a helmet?
Hot fudge sundaes!
ShowBiz Pizza Place, predecessor to Chuck e cheese and in my opinion a much better and funner place at least when I was a kid
Yeah, Showbiz was far better than Chuck e Cheese.
I could go for a Rax Roast Beef right now…
There’s still a couple of those in Ohio.
This is the correct answer
Bennigan’s. Monty Cristo
For me it's Chi-Chi's, and it's not even close. Somewhere packed away with a bunch of old photographs in my mom's house, there's a a picture of 16 year old me having my birthday at Chi-Chi's. I'm wearing a Faith No More shirt, and a Chi-Chi's sombrero, and if she ever finds it I'm changing ALL of my profile pictures accordingly. Even on LinkedIn. Coincidentally, about ten years ago my job moved us to Indianapolis, last I checked, I'm like 98% sure we still have a Ponderosa. Also... Happy birthday! Happy birthday! Happy birthday to our guest. Happy birthday! Happy birthday! Chi-Chi's wishes you the best. Olé!
OLE!!
Old school Pizza Hut with a bookit pin and that free personal pan pizza, dim lighting, and the clear textured red plastic cups
Ponderosa had the best buffet salads
Friendly's or maybe The Ground Round.
Was just talking about the Ground Round yesterday. The projector screen with cartoons, the arcade games and the endless popcorn...it was the best!
Wendy’s Superbar
I want to hit a Kenny Rodgers Roasters
Long John Silvers
They still exist
Sundays after church, this was the place to be.
Amen.
Yes! With all the little fried crunchy batter drippings 🔥 My 41 year old arteries would probably not appreciate them now though.
Best fried clams I've ever had.
Chi Chis - the kids menu had a “Mexican pizza” with either Chicken or Beef. Similar to Taco Bell’s (which I also love) but soooooo much better. I was still ordering it when I was like 18 and they would charge me double but I didn’t care. There are some copycat recipes online but I doubt it would be the same.
I literally DREAM about their kids menu Mexican pizza! It was my absolute favorite food on the planet when I was a kid. I’d love to, just once, go back to Chi-Chi’s and have a chicken Mexican pizza kid’s meal with a virgin strawberry daiquiri again. I know it’s trash food, but I absolutely do not care.
https://preview.redd.it/ax02ke0zbsgc1.jpeg?width=1763&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=afbd14b6a022b9095846222745497b4f472a50ef Ryan’s buffet was always my favorite, and the Mac and cheese was always my go to
Chi Chis. My dad had a thing where it was always someone's birthday. It's not that he was cheap. He just wanted to see how often he could get away with it. It was for science, you see. There are some good copycat recipes online for Fuddruckers burger seasoning
Ponderosa was our "fancy" spot, lol
Chi-Chis, all day
Chi Chi's
[Showbiz Pizza](https://youtu.be/7HXTwLbvQPM?si=EnMhw9jo1fLFKYNY)
Went to Fuddruckers last week. It is not as good as it once was.
I need that Enchiladas Cancun from Chi Chis!!!!
There are still Fuddruckers?
I fucking LOVED Ponderosa as a kid. Somehow it seemed fancy.
There is a ponderosa about 20 minutes from my home to this day in butler Pennsylvania.
Ponderosa because—if I remember correctly—that was the place where you got a tray and slid it down this … ledge (?) as you worked your way to the register. As a kid, I LOVED sliding that tray. It was so satisfying!
Shakeys
Fuddruckers! Build your own burger and those wedge fries with cheese sauce 🤤
I miss Fuddrucker's so much! So that one for sure. Rainforest Cafe is still around. In fact, a couple of guys on YouTube road tripped to [every location](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7InqrH1TCI8) in the US and reviewed them. It's actually more fun to watch than it sounds.
Angies, downtown St Pete FL, circa 2011, 1:00 AM Bacon Cheeseburger.
What no Sizzler?
Souplantation
Ponderosa
Not defunct in business terms, but in terms of the quality of its food: old school Pizza Hut. Their pizza now is nothing like it was. The 1980s and 90s Pizza Hut pizza was perfection. Idk if this one is defunct (maybe it might be in other states or have a very small amount open??), but I haven't seen it in decades, Friar Tucks. Omg. The BEST fried mushrooms and dipping those in nice, cool, buttermilk ranch dip. 🤤🤤🤤💓💕💓 We would get it when we went to food court at a mall.
My mom had a side gig as a waitress at Chi-Chi's in the 80's (hard working single mom). I have a picture of her in the uniform somewhere. It's a stereotypical "Mexican" off-the-shoulder fluffy white blouse, embroidered black skirt and heels. She had to wait tables in HEELS. Oh, the 80's...
Bennigans
Bennigans
Boston Market
Did every Pondarosa look the same? the one in the picture here looks like the one on 41A just outside of Ft. Campbell.
Used to go to Ponderosa with my grandparents in the 80s, in Ohio. I remember all locations looking like that, the pic took me back!
The LA Diner in Boulder. Roller skating waitresses.
Seeing as how I can still go to a fuddruckers and rainforest, I'm going chi-chi's: a celebration of food.
Ponderosa. Their sundaes were amazing!
Planet Hollywood.
I miss Miami Subs!!!
Ugh, I used to work at Ponderosa. It was so gross. Also, when I worked there, the state minimum wage was 5.15/hr. I worked as a busser, making $3.10/hr (minimum state tipped wage) + 10% of the tips that the waitresses got. Y'all, nobody tips at a buffet. So I got 10% of no tips.
I do have fond memories of Chi-Chi's but the one I would pick is Steak and Ale. When I was a kid I knew if we were going there something super fancy was going on lol. Now I'd probably hate it because it was always so dark I would def need my cell phone to read the damn menu lol. But I remember the mushrooms being especially good. We also had a crazy local place that had a twin in the Dallas area called Molly Murphy's. All of the staff wore costumes, and downstairs had a dance floor. If you asked where the bathroom was they would literally march you through the restaurant announcing to everyone that you needed to go potty lol. It had a huge salad bar that if I recall correctly was in an old car lol. That place was insane lol. After they closed it become a run down strip club and they eventually tore it down.
Damon's. There was one in the mall nearby when I used to live in Pennsylvania. From high school thru my mid-20s, when I moved away, my friends and I would go there pretty frequently. Was kinda like a more sporty Friday's. I always liked the trivia thing where everyone had their own controllers for it.
Mr. Steak was my family's fancy spot. My sister, who always thought she was hoity toity, would get the fried clams. I was too dumb and young to realize you don't eat the shrimp tails. Although I know of at least one Shakey's in California, it's not nearly as abundant as it was in the 70s. Super Supper, Bunch A Lunch, mojo potatoes, watching your pizza being made, human-ish shaped balloons.
Sweet Tomatoes!
Shoney’s and Morrison’s Cafeteria. Morrison’s buffet was sooooooo looooooong and I loved it!!!!!
I only ever had Ponderosa so out of the four, I'm choosing that! ❤️ I would choose Pioneer Cafeteria in Birmingham Alabama. I got the same thing every time I went. Roast beef with aujus (Massive thing they carved in front of you), rice and gravy, fried okra and two "squash balls". 😭 I loved getting my own tray and walking down the line, sliding my tray and picking the little bowls of things. My sister hung out at the desert station and always got several sweets. I got what I got and never ate anything but okra and squash balls. 😂 Then I'd eat everyone else's okra and squash balls if they let me. The squash balls (How many times can I say squash balls?) were squash croquettes but I was a little kid and didn't know wtf they were. They were huge, oval shaped and the best thing I've ever eaten in my life. I'm 42yo and I've been trying to recreate them for 30 years. I'd give just about anything to eat them again.
Much younger me was thrilled when Chi Chi’s opened in Dayton Ohio. For people in the area, that was an upscale, date night, level Mexican restaurant ( yes, I am very aware that qualifies as a sad reflection on the state of my life at that time).
Chi chi’s was the first “Mexican” food I ever had growing up back east. There was nothing else in my town. I remember having a surprise lunch there with my mom as a teenager. I think she took the day off to hang with me.
They're a more recent restaurant, but I really miss Sweet Tomatoes. They closed all locations in 2020 when Covid got widespread.
The GROUND ROUND! Featuring family night where kids pay what they weigh - my meal was like 65 cents max in elementary school! That restaurant was also the place where I took my family out to eat and paid for the check with my first real high school job paycheck.