Another chain restaurant topic - which ones are gone or just missing in action in your area?

[Eve & Wall-e]

I wish Earl of Sandwich was in my area!

 

[bcla]

* Straw Hat Pizza (Silent Movie/Comedies were shown) * Shakey's (pizza)*

* Farrell's (sit down ice cream place . the original "Kitchen Sink"

wait-staff would sing Happy Birthday and there would be a big to-do) *

* Bob's Big Boy * A & W Rootbeer (Drive-in with Car-Hop) *

* Chicken Delight (Delivery had a Big Rooster on the roof of the car) *

* San Diego CA *

Straw Hat still exists. I mentioned Folsom, CA, which still has one. I’m not sure about Shakeys because I always though it was a Southern California chain, but the last time I ate at one was in Thailand.

I remember Farrell’s and the look for their buildings. The last time I thought of Bob’s Big Boy was when my kid posed with one of the statues at Universal Studios Hollywood.

I’ve been to A&W recently. Of course not drive-ins. All the ones I’ve seen are combined with a KFC, even though Yum sold off A&W. The others I haven’t heard of.

 

[JoanneAZ]

Der Wienerschnitzel, Tasty Freeze, Black Angus Steak House, Bob’s Big Boy, Broasted Chicken, Shakey’s Pizza (loved the sing alongs), Sizzler Steak House (I miss the cheese toast and the salad bar), Organ Stop Pizza (local chain each location had a full pipe organ and a guy who played it several times each evening), A&W Rootbeer, Farrell’s Ice Cream (The Zoo a huge ice cream sundae that was run around the store on a stretcher accompanied by sirens, lots of fun for parties), El Pollo Asado, Appetito’s Subs, Swenson’s Grill & Ice Cream.

That’s all I can think of, I’m sure there’s more. (This is in the Phoenix area.)

 

[Pea-n-Me]

Lifelong Boston area:

#1 Brigham's! https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brigham's_Ice_Cream
My sister worked there all through HS and used to come home with bags full of coins that were her tips. Franchises all closed by 2014, but Hood still makes their ice cream, which is a staple for parties in my family. (Vanilla, Chocolate, and Just Jimmies [bits of chocolate jimmies* and waffle cone inside] are favorites; Peppermint around the holidays!) *OT - I always found threads here interesting about "Regional Names" like jimmies, which are usually called sprinkles elsewhere, I believe.

Re some of the pp's comments:

We do still have quite a few Friendly's around, in fact I was at one this past week! Similar to Brigham's.
Here you go, @Colleen27 ! https://friendlys.olo.com/locations/ma

We also still have a very old A&W on Cape Cod (food is just eh, but the root beer is great, they even have Diet) and I visited a drive-thru A&W in upstate NY last summer which was older but really nice (and clean!); no KFCs attached.

Howard Johnson's, begun right here in Wollaston, MA, and ironically, @leebee , has just one location left - in Bangor, Maine!
Fun pics: https://newengland.com/today/living/new-england-history/howard-johnsons-restaurant/

We still have quite a few Dairy Queen's around. They are building new ones, too, that feature [mediocre, at best] food as well as ice cream. College-student DD likes it as you can get a whole meal w ice cream for like $5!

Boston Chicken, now called Boston Market, which is also from this area, still has lots of locations around and I go there sometimes. Not a bad meal on the go.

We also liked the Ground Round with its peanut shells all over the ground!

Now some more of my own:

Counter service at Woolworth's! Need I say more! Grew up going to the one in Downtown Boston, where we shopped.

I liked Bickfords for a quick breakfast or burger. (And I remember being there when I got some great, life-changing news one day!) I don't have any near me but apparently there are still a few around the area.

Not exactly a chain, but DH and I loved the Wursthaus and used to go there regularly when we were dating.

DH is from a different area of MA than I am and he had a lot of chains in the city he grew up in that mine didn't have.
Sambo's, Jack in the Box, York Steak House, Geno's, Dog and Suds, Joe and Nemo's

Came across this article* similar to subject of OP for other New Englanders, if interested.
http://www.visitingnewengland.com/remember.html

*Nick's (Originally Charlie's) Beef and Beer was somewhere my brother and I used to go regularly growing up, great Shish Kabobs! http://old-school-boston.blogspot.com/2011/09/nicks-beef-and-beer-house-in-cambridge.html

 

[_19disnA]

Quizno's and Arby's have terribly cheap meat so people stop going there. Cheap lunch meat makes a terrible sandwich.

KFC has a problem with quality control. At one location the food is good at others, chicken tastes greasy or cooked by someone who doesn't know how to follow the recipes. You never know when you go to a new location what it will be like. Every couple of months they come out with a 'new' product that is just some kind of sauce poured over their chicken. Used to be a good place, now not so much.

 

[Nayan]

Krystal was the one place I would drive almost an hour to get to. Those have been gone around me for awhile .
Shakey's! I loved that place when I was a kid. Good food and a lot of fun.
Bennigans was a fave for lunch. Loved the fried vegetables, onion rings and burgers.
Captain D's was Friday night dinner (they used to have a big family pack of fried fish, oysters and clams. It was soooo good!).

I agree with the PP about KFC. I hadn't been to one in years and my son wanted to try it for his b-day. It was the worst meal . Horrible chicken, sides were bland and the biscuits were rock hard. Never again.

 

[nicolita3]

Der Wienerschnitzel, Tasty Freeze, Black Angus Steak House, Bob’s Big Boy, Broasted Chicken, Shakey’s Pizza (loved the sing alongs), Sizzler Steak House (I miss the cheese toast and the salad bar), Organ Stop Pizza (local chain each location had a full pipe organ and a guy who played it several times each evening), A&W Rootbeer, Farrell’s Ice Cream (The Zoo a huge ice cream sundae that was run around the store on a stretcher accompanied by sirens, lots of fun for parties), El Pollo Asado, Appetito’s Subs, Swenson’s Grill & Ice Cream.

That’s all I can think of, I’m sure there’s more. (This is in the Phoenix area.)

There are still Der Wienerschnitzels around in Arizona. There is one kinda close to Westgate .

 

[soccerdad72]

Friendly's closed all their Ohio locations a couple years ago - so we see them from time to time elsewhere, but nothing by us anymore. Food was always barely passable, but we miss the ice cream. We can get cartons in the store, but it's just not the same.

 

[RedAngie]

Counter service at Woolworth's! Need I say more! Grew up going to the one in Downtown Boston, where we shopped.

l

Also some larger Woolworth's had a Harvest House cafeteria within or next door to them. We would go occasionally when I was a kid/teen.

KFC has a problem with quality control. At one location the food is good at others, chicken tastes greasy or cooked by someone who doesn't know how to follow the recipes. You never know when you go to a new location what it will be like. Every couple of months they come out with a 'new' product that is just some kind of sauce poured over their chicken. Used to be a good place, now not so much.

I don't know how KFC stays in business. The ones in this extended area never seem to have more than two or three cars in the parking lot, no matter the time of day.


I thought of two others. Horn & Hardart and Chock Full 'O Nuts automats. Self-service sort of like vending machines. There was a wall of little doors with windows in them. The kitchen and employees were behind the wall. You put coins in a slot to make your selection and then go sit down in the cavernous dining room.

 

[Meriweather]

Der Wienerschnitzel, Tasty Freeze, Black Angus Steak House, Bob’s Big Boy, Broasted Chicken, Shakey’s Pizza (loved the sing alongs), Sizzler Steak House (I miss the cheese toast and the salad bar), Organ Stop Pizza (local chain each location had a full pipe organ and a guy who played it several times each evening), A&W Rootbeer, Farrell’s Ice Cream (The Zoo a huge ice cream sundae that was run around the store on a stretcher accompanied by sirens, lots of fun for parties), El Pollo Asado, Appetito’s Subs, Swenson’s Grill & Ice Cream.

That’s all I can think of, I’m sure there’s more. (This is in the Phoenix area.)

Black Angus in Mesa and Chandler, Der Wienerschnitzel in Chandler, Mesa and Tempe, Sizzler in Mesa, looks like Tasty Freez is in Wickenberg

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

Elephant Bar. It was kind of an odd concept, but there was one near where I worked at the time, and several locations were near where I used to go a lot. They called it a "pan-Asian" theme, but it was more like a casual dining with an adventure theme. Some of the menu items were distinctly American, but others were Asian inspired. There's only one location left near me. I used to have a difficult time getting a table, and that was one place that all my coworkers would agree to since they had such a varied menu and well-priced lunch specials.

Our Elephant Bar closed down a few years ago and is now a Brazilian Steakhouse (all you can eat style). I've eaten at the new place once. Issue is all you can eat normally don't appeal to me due to the cost aside from Chinese places. This Brazilian Steakhouse is $50 PP plus drinks and desserts and we found it was just way too much food. Haven't been back since we tried it out.

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

Probably the most notable one that I can think of is TGIF which left the area years ago.

Our Applebee's locations are slowly dwindling.

We do have several Ruby Tuesday's left.

Maybe the stuff of legends but White Castle originated in my state but hasn't had one location here in the state for around 80 years lol

There used to be more Quiznos around me but now in my metro on my side of the state line there's only 1 left but 2 left on the other side of the state line.

 

[bcla]

Black Angus in Mesa and Chandler, Der Wienerschnitzel in Chandler, Mesa and Tempe, Sizzler in Mesa, looks like Tasty Freez is in Wickenberg

I've been to that Black Angus in Chandler. I was in the Phoenix area on a business trip a few years ago. The strange thing was getting all the way down to that street and there was basically nothing built south of the freeway. When I was talking to my server, she asked me what I thought of the area. When I said "suburban sprawl" she say that "Yeah - we've got plenty of that".

 

[havaneselover]

Pei Wei whenever we visit my parents in SW FL we go a few times. I don’t understand why we can’t get one. We do have PF Chang’s but it’s 30 minutes away and overpriced imo.

 

[bcla]

Our Elephant Bar closed down a few years ago and is now a Brazilian Steakhouse (all you can eat style). I've eaten at the new place once. Issue is all you can eat normally don't appeal to me due to the cost aside from Chinese places. This Brazilian Steakhouse is $50 PP plus drinks and desserts and we found it was just way too much food. Haven't been back since we tried it out.

The one in Emeryville closed due to a fire and never reopened as anything. This was well before they started contracting. It's really odd since it's in the Bay Street complex where as soon as one tenant leaves, another is operating in the space within a month. That one just seems to be going nowhere. It's a large, custom built space that hasn't been gutted yet. It would take a lot of work to change all that.

We passed by the one in Concord on the way back from Six Flags Hurricane Harbor (formally Waterworld). It's boarded up right now. I found this (with a photo) and it still looks like this.

http://claycord.com/2017/06/22/the-...illow-pass-rd-in-concord-what-should-move-in/

I remember seeing a sign in Vacaville that said that an Elephant Bar was going to open at the Nut Tree shopping center, but that never materialized.

 

[Cannot_Wait_4Disney]

Straw Hat still exists. I mentioned Folsom, CA, which still has one. I’m not sure about Shakeys because I always though it was a Southern California chain, but the last time I ate at one was in Thailand.

I remember Farrell’s and the look for their buildings. The last time I thought of Bob’s Big Boy was when my kid posed with one of the statues at Universal Studios Hollywood.

I’ve been to A&W recently. Of course not drive-ins. All the ones I’ve seen are combined with a KFC, even though Yum sold off A&W. The others I haven’t heard of.

Shakey's started in Sacramento. It was a northern California chain. There aren't many left and most of them left are in Socal. Some of the franchisees hung on even through the corporate problems. The only Norcal location left is Oroville. There is one down in Auburn Alabama and a couple up in Washington.

 

[bcla]

Thinking of a few more in my area.

There was California chain called Pasta Pomodoro started by an Italian immigrant who wanted simple food similar to what he grew up with. I thought it was pretty good, and I knew several Italians who thought it was about as authentic as any place they could find in the US. I'd describe it as a modern aesthetic. The menus were mostly black on white with only a little bit of color. I wasn't a theme restaurant like Olive Garden. They also had some stuff I never saw at any other Italian place like skillets. Later on the owners sold it off to a group that I don't believe understood what they had. They started changing up everything and they closed shop abruptly.

They had one at the Bay Street complex in Emeryville, California. Even after almost two years it's still not occupied, although they use the front patio as a performance space.

Starbucks seems to feature prominently in some chains shutting down. They bought a local cafe chain called Pasqua. I'd seen it as far as NYC on a trip, but once Starbucks bought them they lasted maybe a couple of years before all the locations were converted to Starbucks. They also bought a small bakery chain called La Boulangerie (not to be confused with Le Boulanger). Not sure what they did with the brand later on other than using the brand for its in-house pastries. The owner took on the lease of several of those old locations and now operates as "La Boulangerie de San Francisco".

https://www.businessinsider.com/why-starbucks-closed-la-boulange-bakeries-2015-6
http://www.laboulangeriesf.com/about/

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

The one in Emeryville closed due to a fire and never reopened as anything. This was well before they started contracting. It's really odd since it's in the Bay Street complex where as soon as one tenant leaves, another is operating in the space within a month. That one just seems to be going nowhere. It's a large, custom built space that hasn't been gutted yet. It would take a lot of work to change all that.

We passed by the one in Concord on the way back from Six Flags Hurricane Harbor (formally Waterworld). It's boarded up right now. I found this (with a photo) and it still looks like this.

http://claycord.com/2017/06/22/the-...illow-pass-rd-in-concord-what-should-move-in/

I remember seeing a sign in Vacaville that said that an Elephant Bar was going to open at the Nut Tree shopping center, but that never materialized.

It's a shame when you hear of places that close down due to fires, or floods, etc

And yeah sometimes a place stays vacant for a while even in a good location just because the space is so customized it would take just the right tenant to make it work. We've had that a few times in my area.

 

[bcla]

Shakey's started in Sacramento. It was a northern California chain. There aren't many left and most of them left are in Socal. Some of the franchisees hung on even through the corporate problems. The only Norcal location left is Oroville. There is one down in Auburn Alabama and a couple up in Washington.

I'd read that before. However, it was more my own perception that it was a Southern California chain since there weren't many in the Bay Area, and there were tons in Southern California. The big chains in the Bay Area were Round Table and Straw Hat. When I visited family near LA in the 70s and 80s, that's the pizza place they wanted to go to. I even remember a caricature of myself done I think at Magic Mountain, and when I asked they show me eating pizza, they represented me as being at a Shakey's location.

 

[bcla]

It's a shame when you hear of places that close down due to fires, or floods, etc

And yeah sometimes a place stays vacant for a while even in a good location just because the space is so customized it would take just the right tenant to make it work. We've had that a few times in my area.

That one in Emeryville went over the top. They had glass lighting, a fiberglass elephant, and these fans on the top that flapped in unison. It was certainly a fun place. My favorite item there was the lunch jambalaya special, which I think was maybe $7, and the braised lamb shank. And also their strawberry lemonade that was made on the spot with strawberry puree. If I wanted a steak, they had an open-faced NY steak sandwich was only about $11. The whole theme of the restaurant was one thing, but I like it because I thought the value was excellent.

As for customizing buildings, I know of a doozy. There was a restaurant in Berkeley, California called Santa Fe Bar and Grill, that was opened by celebrity chef Jeremiah Tower. I couldn't quite figure out what it was supposed to be, but now I found out it was originally the Santa Fe passenger train depot in Berkeley. I can't find any photos of it as a restaurant, but right now it's occupied by some private school, and still has that dome. The old Southern Pacific depot in Berkeley is more Mission Revival, which was later repurposed as a Chinese restaurant (China Station) and later Brennan's (a hofbrau and bar). The old Santa Fe depot on the left here: