Lately I've found myself wishing there were more easy, family-friendly places to take the kids out for dinner. Not fast food. Not something trendy or overpriced. Just a simple sit-down meal, the kind we used to have all the time growing up.
When I think back to the 80s and 90s, I remember how normal it was to go out as a family to places like Old Country Buffet, Piccadilly Cafeteria, Friendly's, and Shoney's. The food wasn't anything fancy, but it was good enough, filling, and you didn't have to worry about how the kids were behaving every second. It felt casual, welcoming, and affordable, something you could do on a weeknight or after church without it being a big production.
Then there were places like Chili's, TGI Fridays, and Applebee's. We went to those too. They used to feel like fun family destinations with cheesy appetizers, colorful menus, and the occasional balloon or birthday song. But something's changed. A lot of them have tried to become more upscale or modern, and in doing that, they've lost the charm that made them family staples in the first place.
What's really missing today is that middle-ground dining experience. It feels like we've gone from "pull up a chair and let's eat" to either a drive-thru window or a place with a cocktail list and small plates. That's tough when you're just trying to have dinner with your kids without spending a hundred dollars or wiping ketchup off your lap in the car.
I get that times change, and not every memory from childhood holds up perfectly. But there was something special about knowing there were places built with families in mind. Places that expected kids to be part of the picture. Where you could order a fried chicken or a cheeseburger, have a scoop of ice cream at the end, and head home without feeling like it was an ordeal.
It makes me wonder what places other families went to when they were growing up, and if anything today even comes close. If you have a memory like that or a spot you still go to, share with the group. Let's see if any of those old favorites are still holding on somewhere out there.
Comments
I miss those places as well. Out here in Hampton/York Co, we had the Greek owned steak houses. I'd love to be able to take my wife and kids to Sammie and Nicks again and get a nice steak, large baked potato and a Greek salad.
I live in Atlanta and I can name at least a half dozen of these places within 3 miles of my home.
It's a different experience than friendlys/shoneys, but much better imo
Edit: talking to my wife about this, I think our generation might view eating differently. If we're choosing not to eat at home, there has to be a reason: the food must be something I couldn't cook at home, or it's something faster/easier than I would cook at home. Friendlys/Shoneys/Fridays/Applebees are neither of those things.
This right here. I grew up with all those chain restaurants. They were pretty terrible. There are dozens of places nearby to me that we regularly take our kids that are MUCH better than Friday's or Friendly's ever were.
I didn't want to sound so pretentious given that Fireman seems to have some nostalgia for these places... but I agree lol.
My memory of those places was that we went to them when we were already nearby (ie; we went shopping or ran errands right before dinner, and Friday's was our only (easy) sit-down option. We were never like "oh, it's Saturday night, let's go to Applebees!" We had our neighborhood spots that we would go to in those situations - Adam's Ribs, Rivera's, The Gingerbread Man, Rocky Run were the ones I remember - while the names of the restaurants were rememberable, the food was not lol.
"places like Old Country Buffet, Piccadilly Cafeteria, Friendly's, and Shoney's. The food wasn't anything fancy, but it was good enough, filling, and you didn't have to worry about how the kids were behaving every second. It felt casual, welcoming, and affordable, something you could do on a weeknight or after church without it being a big production.
Then there were places like Chili's, TGI Fridays, and Applebee's."
Been to all of them except Piccadilly Cafeteria. Don't remember ever hearing of them, but maybe I've just forgotten. The closest things I can think of that match the desired profile would be your individual or small chain (i.e., 2-4 location) diners or pizza/Italian/deli-type places.
Some of the ones you mentioned seemed to really go down hill. Went to a Shoney's on vacation last summer and was really disappointed in the food. Maybe I was less picky in my late teens and early 20s? But that was not good and Friday's was uninspiring the last time I was there - which was the first time I had been in quite a while. Not terrible, but not worth going to again.
EDIT: oh, and maybe you could try Texas Roadhouse. That may be more expensive than you are looking for, but it's not bad, going during the day is very family-friendly and it is probably our favorite large chain restaurant.
We do go to Texas Roadhouse but sometimes depending on kids they struggle to find something to eat on the menu. I could just live off the rolls honestly.
I hear you. My daughter is the same way in that she likes it the most for the rolls. Last time we were there, I think she just ordered 2 sides (mac-n-cheese and something else, probably fries) and did not get an entree.
Maybe Red Robin too. Just thought of that.
We always take two to go boxes of rolls home.
One Last Texas Roadhouse in Roanoke all the others closed. It's the one up on top of the hill south of town.
It is what it is- loud, honky tonk atmosphere- the rolls are great- give you that, but its not a good/quality steak. Go for the beer/tvs and get something edible- sure it fits that bill.
I agree, I don't get steak out anymore. Like the guys above stated, unless it's an other than usual cut, I can do better at home. Can't get picanha here. Hopefully that will change.
We only go out to eat if ferrying the girls is too complicated to cook at home. Our experience with mid range restaurants mirror the one we had Sat night with the beer order wrong, the bill incorrect, the food order incorrect and none of the staff or management paying any attention at all to the things going on around them.
The Texas Roadhouse in Harrisonburg is decent. We eat there quite often and their steaks are usually good. Longhorn Steakhouse on the other hand is absolutely terrible. Subpar steaks, subpar seasoning on the sides, subpar service.
I guess for a good eat out steak you have to go to a Ruth's Chris but then you're paying mighty for it.
I don't do buffets and shoney's and Golden Corral are about equal with or maybe one step above dogshit.
5 Guys is okay but overpriced, as is McCallisters.
At some point this week while we're in Florida we'll probably try Whataburger for the first time.
Whataburger is decent- not bad, not special. Get the standard one with the sauce on it- that's their thing.
The Patty Melt. That is my go to Whataburger order, although these days I have been trying to avoid fast food as much as possible.
Patty melt and sweet n spicy bacon burger are the shit. Also they have the best fast food fries.
Well, we tried Whataburger. Nothing special, it was okay. The issue I had was; there was a shit ton of people working, not real busy and it was exactly 30 minutes to get our takeout order. Probably has nothing to do with Whataburger itself and more likely it's that particular location.
Regardless, it's not something I'm gonna go out of my way for in the future (maybe not at all)
Lived in both Pensacola and Jax, and if I was gonna get fast food it was usually whataburger. Stopped at one in Tennessee a couple years ago, and another in Vicksburg during a road trip. Across the board, it's still whataburger and I still liked it, but the food and experience are noticeably lacking compared to Whataburger in Texas. Hell, the one in the Dallas airport is better than the locations named above.
All that to say, don't let Florida Whataburger dissuade you from trying it again if you find yourself in Texas.
You are also located kind of in between so the selection isn't going to be there until that area builds up a little more. Cracker Barrel would work but you don't have one close enough. I think there's a Golden Corral on Blanding in Orange Park...quite a ways for you (35 minutes?) but it would probably be what you are targeting. Culver's is not far from you. It's fast food but a greater variety on the menu; lots of people go there to eat in and the kids can be kids; and you can do the free ice cream coupon thing with the receipts...tho you do have quite the flock.
Yea we have the Culver's and what a burger on 210 but both feel overhyped (except for what a burger gravy, that shit is good). Myself and oldest like woodpeckers bbq for lunch, I'll go up to Angie's for lunch too.
Woodpeckers is great! Owner there is also a client at the hair salon where our lead singer works. Very nice folks.
If/when you take your crew to the zoo, Juniors Seafood (I haven't done their sandwich shop) is a laid back, informal family friendly place. Very good fried shrimp. It's on 17 just north of Heckscher.
Avoid the chains and hit the more local diner instead. We have several options for food here in our tiny rural town, and only a couple are pricey and only one really fancy. The point is that the eateries serve the population that lives here, a rural and less affluent base supplemented in the summer by the more affluent influx of the people who own the big fancy million dollar waterfront homes, and those folks don't tend to eat out much here in town. Everything's pricey, except for the Hardee's on the corner, but that's everywhere you go these days, it seems to me. Locally owned is the norm here, and Hardee's is the only exception among the 9 eateries within 5 miles of my house.
I would love to hear what your favorite options are, as I just moved to the area. (Heathsville, to be precise.) Since you mentioned Hardees, I'm assuming you're in Warsaw?
(At least I thought you've mentioned living in the NNK. I may be wrong though.)
I grew up with local restaurants more than chains. Tony's Pizza, Camden's Restaurant and Bowling Alley, Champlain's, etc. But Friendly's and Newport Creamery were for special occasions, the food we could make at home. It was the ice creams and shakes that were the specials.
Close, but no cigar. Mathews is the only town I've lived in for more than a year or so since I left the Army, and it ain't much of a town. Warsaw is a metropolis by comparison. If you decide to cross the two bridges and hop down to the Middle Peninsula, holler at me and I'll buy you a beer...or try to cadge one outta you! We do have a decent pub-like place with a whole bunch of beers on tap, Southwind Pizza.
I'll take you up on that. Might have to route a motorcycle ride that way soon.
Other than the bridges, it's not a bad ride down and not too far. Decent backroad riding here in the county, as well. You can reach me at new river angler, jam 'em up and add hotmail and you'll get me.
I think chains largely died because they failed to adapt. They kept doing the same mediocre thing while the internet made their customers better cooks. When I was ten I fucking loved chilis because of the ribs and fajitas. I'm no great cook, but I can do better than them at home, for less money. I used to like steakhouses, but between my wife and I, we do better beef at home, with better wine pairings, at half the price. When we go out, it's to get something we can't do at home. Those places are usually small menu, mom and pop kinda shops.
With 4 kids and busy schools, sports and other activities some weeks it would be nice to have a consistent easy place to get a family dinner. Other than our Friday night Mexican it's always a struggle to find something all four will agree on. Living in a relative new suburb area means not a lot of old stand alone restaurants and the new ones are all niche or trying to be "special". Where consistence problems are an issue and cost isn't great.
As I'm reading through the comments, the only thing that came to my mind like that now is your local Mexican restaurant. When I was a kid in Bristol we had Shoney's, Bonanza, Western Sizzlin', and Ryan's that fit the bill. My parents always took us there because there was a salad bar, if not a buffet, and it didn't break the bank. However, I don't think any of these served what I would now consider good food. It was edible and there was a lot of it.
I'm the same way. There's a Friday's that I occasionally drive by and I'm always amazed that it still exists with all the local places that are far superior.
Yes sir to this. I never get a grilled rib eye out as good as I make them, and the only brisket I will order that I don't make is in texas. Don't even talk to me about garbage like Outback and Texas Roadhouse- choice meat garbage and overcooked 90% of the time. Only reason to go to either is if they have a beer on draft you can't get elsewhere.
Food poisoning killed a lot of these places. But ultimately they just weren't good.
Chicraple has had more food poisoning than any of them and yet it's still going. As for "just not good" I disagree they were cheap, consistent and easy, I knew what I was getting each and every time.
Chipotle survives because it's a smaller footprint, less overhead, larger scale, simpler kitchen that isn't just combi oven cooked food, and until the last couple years, used to be only $7-$8 for a filling burrito.
The huge bigger than your head california style burrito was around (burrito bros) long before Chipotle... but they made it faster, cheaper at the time and more convenient. They broke huge when your other choice for fast mexican was taco bell using fake meat and extenders and child size burritos. They seized a vaccum big time.
I dont understand why they have a following, they aren't good. Their meat sucks, if my family wants it then I get vegetarian. I dont understand how they survive with Moe's, Qdoba, California tortilla and Baja fresh, however moes is the only one that hasn't closed down around me in the past 10 years.
Its like outback, I have no idea how they are still open but people love it for some odd reason. Outback was atleast good years ago when they made food in the restaurants instead of heating it up. But I guess that plays into it, these restaurants haven't kept with inflation so they had to cut costs.
Let me show you what has happened to good old family diner restaurants thanks to millennials in a picture:
Yep Five Guys quickly went down this rabbit hole. Burgers went from like $5-6 to $13-$15. All the other new one offs took note of it and here we are.
My air fryer makes better burgers than almost all of them and the one exception closed near me (BGR)
In and Out still very affordable- half the price of 5 guys
Not when you factor in the gas it would take me to get to the nearest one
Nearest In and Out to me is 1,328 miles away in Dallas, TX. 19 hours and 53 min drive time.
lmao- I am spoiled here in phoenix- we have plenty of in and out and culvers- which is better than 5 guys too.
When I lived in PHX/scottsdale from 2000-2004 my go to was all the Filiberto's Mexican 24hr drive thrus. I'd get out of work at Keegan's and hit those up all the time.
Still a million of them here. You have to pay attention though- same color scheme but some are fillibertos, some are fillaritos, some are other "close" names as I'm sure you know.
"Filibertos. The name you know." LMAO!
I went on a road trip a few years back after my ex fiancee left me. Went to Albuquerque to visit a friend and then swung through Texas to see my best friend in Port Arthur. I thought on the way there I'd have time to try an In n Out and a Whataburger, but I wound up only having time for one.
I picked Whataburger because it required less of a deviation from the route. I enjoyed it, but looking back I kinda wish I'd picked In n Out instead
Next time you're in ABQ make sure you hit up Blake's Lotaburger and get yourself a green chile cheeseburger.
When it comes to In-and-Out I was honestly pretty disappointed once I finally got to try them when I moved here to Dallas. I guess it was just so built up for me given all the hype that I was expecting some kind of religious burger experience, and it was just another burger to me. Honestly, I think Shake Shack is better.
I may be alone on this one but I really miss Tastee Freeze
I couldn't help myself:
Always a leg for Tom McGovern / Wolves of Glendale
Wolves of Glendale are so good. I just recently discovered them when "Ricky" showed up on a playlist. Vapin' in Vegas is also really good.
I also found In and Out wildly disappointing when I finally tried it.
We have a few small or "chain like" places recently open around us here in Manassas, some have been good. Others like Jersey Mike's I'll never step a foot inside.
What? You don't enjoy spending $23 for a 8" Italian sub? But they cut the meat right in front of you
/s
I would argue than in and out is not a competitor to five guys as they are entirely different quality levels.... in and out is a reasonably good fast food burger. Five guys competes as a legitimately awesome burger at sit down prices.
Disagree. What makes 5 guys burger- which they griddle right in front of you from the same patty as in and out and countless others- special/sit down quality? You literally watch them put a 1/4 patty on the griddle and add salt and pepper to it. Honestly don't know why that is different than in and out or Culvers?
I hadn't thought of the air fryer for burgers. Does it actually do a good job?
Absolutely. It puts a crust on the outside while remaining juicy in the center. I usually do 390 degrees for 12-14 minutes on about 3/4 inch thick patties. Use it to make homemade meatballs as well.
Will have to try.
Ok boomer.
I worked at Ground Round(off-shoot from Howard Johnson's midwest.Northeast based but had a few locations in VA including Richmond and NoVa) in the early 90s-exactly the type place you describe...
https://www.yahoo.com/lifestyle/articles/restaurant-chain-ground-round-w...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ground_Round
American food,wide variety. popcorn or peanuts ,
Tuesday night "penny a pound for kids-eat for what they weighed-clown on those nights and Saturday afternoons and balloon for each kid; cartoons running on screens on the non-bar side.
AYCE(all you can eat) wings for $10(equivalent today prob about $18-20), AYCE flounder fillets Friday nights
Great steaks and ribs; excellent price to value, and large portions
Full bar for the adults, too
Claw game plus couple pinball machines
Great employee benefit was being able to buy food at cost to take home (e.g. full rack of baby back ribs for $4; 8 oz burgers or 6 oz boneless chicken breasts for 50 cents)
Closed in early 2000s-though a single store exists in Shrewsbury, MA that's trying to revive the experience https://www.groundround.com/
You mention something that you don't see much any more - AYCE fish on Friday's used to be a staple for local/regional restaurants around here. It was something I used to plan my week around. It seems like the fish Friday correlation has slowed down a bit in recent years, but I miss it. It was a good break from burgers, pizza, and Mexican.
I used to be the prep-chef at a restaurant that offered ALCE fried flounder and scallops on Friday and Saturday night. I prepped so much fish and scallops those days. You put the fish in the egg wash, then flour, back to egg wash, then bread crumbs. The wet hand would have a half inch of caked flour on it after 30-40 lbs of processing.
Yeah- obviously one of the main correlations was the Catholic church policy of not allowing red meat for Catholics on Fridays of Lent(and out of habit perhaps continuing at other times of year0; with the relative decline in religious identification (and even fewer with strict adherents and regular attendance), there are fewer folks who abstain from meat on Fridays...
Man I miss ground round. They weren't close but if we saw one on a trip we tried to eat there or the Brown Derby.
Back then there were franchises in Danville and Lynchburg, and corporate stores in Richmond, Manassas, Woodbridge, Fairfax and Alexandria. I subbed as manager in all the NoVa stores at one time or another.
Market research has proven the drive-thru is king now. There's a reason why there's a double drive-thru at McD's in most locations now. 70% drive thru business. When McD's pushes this info out there, there aren't many that will buck the trend and sink money into expensive real estate on the hope that families walk in. And if they do, it's difficult to keep it to under $100 for the family of 4 with rent and wages factored in.
Wife works at chickfila corporate, and their data shows that that an overwhelming percent of orders fall into two categories: drive through/takeout or a sitdown order that includes 4+ meals on it (which they define as 'family'), so they're going to lean into that heavily.
Yeah, CFA has a lot of 4 top options inside, from the booths to keep the kids corralled while trying to eat to bench on one side and chairs on the other. Small percentage of single or two-top options. And they are now doing 2 drive-thrus and even double pick up lanes with people walking food to you under a covered section.
Chick-fil-a has the drive thru pre-order down pat. They are the best at it. Surprised no one has come close to them in their efficiency.
I worked at Hot Shoppes when it was not owned by marriott. It was a fredericksburg institution- had an old school soda counter and huge buffett- which kept them afloat. The place was relatively clean- even in the basement, etc. I think what killed it was simply competition- Central Park in Fredericksburg opened and literally every restaurant chain is in there- all of them.
Oops sorry. That was at least partially me. I was doing the water/sewer design for the Silver Companies when they did that complex.
Golden Corral or those like it were prevalent but not any more. Only one in Northern Virginia now I think. Most of those other chains mentioned (Applebee's, TGI Fridays, etc) have greatly reduced their locations. Loudoun County seems to go through phases. Right now it's a chicken sandwich place phase. Like 8 new versions in our area at the moment.
I do miss Friendly's 5 Scoop Ice Cream sundae. Instead it's Froyo places that charge by weight. Family of four getting small cups costs as much as 5 or 6 full cartons of ice cream from the grocery store.
My local go to's are Joes Diner, Santinis, Buffalo Wing Factory, Velocity Wings, Miller's and McAlisters. A step up are the Great American Restaraunt Group and the Bungalow Lakehouse.
Too much froo froo places come to bougie LoCo to keep track of but almost all come with comparable price points.
I love Santinis and BWF. I would also add Glory Days as a cousin to the the Chilis/Applebees void that Fireman mentioned. It's pretty decent bar food, inexpensive, and a nice laidback vibe. The $5 jumbo margarita's on happy hour are hard to beat in this area.
The Wing Factory started to lose me a little bit when they tried to rebrand as "craft beer and craft wings". Personally, I liked it better when your feet stuck to the floor.
Yeah Glory Days is a bit outside the "convenient" radius for us now. Used to have one about a mile away. Now closest is in Reston but kind of a pain to get to. I would have put Silver Diner on the list but they recently overhauled their menu with like a Mediterranean theme which really limited the menu for me.
Wing Factory almost lost me when they went to those metal chairs. Apparently enough people complained though so those are gone. Love their Sweet Firecracker sauce.
lol - the metal chairs was definitely around that time for them.
But agreed - they do non-traditional sauces (outside of standard Buffalo sauce) better than just about any other wing place i've been to. The Fiery Garlic Parmesan is my favorite.
Yeah Fiery Garlic Parm is really good.
Glory Days used to be our go-to for cheap decent bar food when we didn't feel like cooking. But they raised the prices and the food has gone downhill (at least at the location next to my house). The last 2 or 3 times we went, we were very underwhelmed. It's now close to the same cost as much better options.
I didn't go to wing factory for a few years just be ause im big on wings, but I liked their food when I first moved here ~20 years ago, but we went for school fundraisers and I remember better food. The fries weren't as good, the chicken was burnt, could have been a few off nights where they had a lot of middle schoolers but it used to be better to me.
Texas Roadhouse gets our money. Clydes was great value until they went after a higher market crowd 10 years ago or so. Santinis and McAllisters also get our money. GARG sometimes gets our money, we just aren't doing things near them as much. The girls love cheesecake factory (which is dont really like as it has the same issue as apples bees, all the food isnt good and I could make a lot better myself).
We dont really do buffets so golden corral, old country, shoneys aren't really places we'd go.
They definitely went through a bad phase, especially the Ashburn location. The one in Sterling has always done a better job.
If you like bigger wings, definitely try Velocity. Honestly wish I could merge BWF sauces with Velocity Wings. Sauce selection there doesn't offer the wide variety.
I forgot to add, Anita's is a staple. Breakfast burritos all day long!
Don't get there nearly enough.
The Golden Corral in Roanoke still does a big business. Felt on the chicken sandwich part, it seems like Popeyes is planning to occupy every street corner down here in Rumandcoke. Still a step up from Hardees though...
The Golden Corral off the I-66 at the Manassas Battlefield exit is the only one I'm aware of. There was an Uno's Pizza there that my boys liked so of course it closed.
Over on my end of town we are starving for nonchicken places. On Liberia Ave, we have at least 5 Peruvian chicken places, BW3, CFA, Raising Cane opened last year, East Coast Wings just opened and theres a rumor Popeyes is also supposed to build a store.
The Red Robin is horrible and I like Glory Daze less every time we go. The Ruby Tuesdays became El Barco, which is a pretty good Mexican ceviche & seafood place.
Kinda OT for this OP, but I hope my kids work at Chick-Fil-A... Seems like everyone who works there are well mannered (or learns to be), pays well, learns how to give great customer service, plus selfishly I want free Chick-Fil-A lmao.
Knowing that they always have Sundays off (at minimum) is great too so you always have family time with them.
Purchase a franchise... it's cheaper than you think - the catch is that the franchise owner has to work 60 hours a week for a year or so. Look into it- pretty sound investment from what I'm told.
I have heard the same thing. I think it's a lottery system and the one(s) who are selected pretty much hit a gold mine since they do all the buildout and staffing but I think the catch is you have to move to where they open the new franchise. Yea the hours are brutal but one can probably stomach the 10-12 hour days with the money the generate.
Damn the founder for making sure they never go public lol.
It is not a lottery system, but people say it's 'like winning the lottery' because they are so selective. Source: wife works at chickfila corporate.
To counter your last point, I think a main reason they still are the way they are is because they DIDNT go public.
It's about $10k to start a franchise. But you have to go through a rigorous interview process that will take 1-3 years. In addition to having the money, and the qualifications, you need a number of references - coworkers, subordinates, employers, and most importantly, community members. Chickfila operators (they are called operators, not franchise owners) are expected to be active in the community - the whole reason that Sundays are closed are not (directly) because of church, but that's the day when operators are expected to be active in the community - doing little league teams, driving philanthropy, etc.
This. They ARE a gold mine, and they are also very difficult to land. You can't just buy your way in.
I worked that much for 2 years at the Ho Grill location. Damn, apparently I should've just bought a store.
Yeah, that's it? Just 60 hours?
To be fair I was also completing my degree at the same time...
Chickfila has the worst customer service. For the last 10 years I've been timing my breakfast orders for McDonald's, Wendy's, and chickfila with multiple locations for each and Chickfila messes up the most while taking the longest to order. The whole experience sucks. They all need to stop trying to interact with me and just take my order. Its no wonder the mcdonalds down the street has a way longer line, they've never messed up my order and it takes 1/4th the time to get my food. At least wendys make a fresh egg when I order but they are still twice as fast.
Also why is there always like 5 people around just watching others work. Two people man the wendys in the morning.
Your the first person I've ever heard say this. I like my burgers without cheese, and McDonalds messes that up literally 50% of the time. I've never once had an issue with a chickfila order.
Yeah, I was wondering if it was in jest.
The one by us is efficient and fast and has a long drive thru line that moves quickly.
Perhaps his local one sucks.
Nope, no lines and takes 9 minutes. Its over 90 seconds just ordering while mcdonalds is done in under 30. They screw up the drink half the time. They cant even get my name right so I have to go by Ben or I waste more time spelling my name, which is stupid to ask for a name when I'm the only one there and my receipt just says gray sedan anyways. They are so inefficient that they need a long line to hide their inability to deliver food in a correct and timely manner.
I order the same thing at each place too.
What's your order/location. I'll ask my wife to pull numbers on that location lol
Bacon egg and cheese meal with a coke zero no ice.
43520 Yukon Dr
Ashburn, VA 20147
45440 Dulles Crossing Plz
Sterling, VA 20166
22015 Dulles Retail Plz
Sterling, VA 20166
Bro you stalking me? Drawing triangles near my house
The one at
46920 Community Plaza, Sterling, VA 20164 does a pretty good job. Owner is really active in the restaraunt.
Does a much better job than Lowes, Wegmans and Loudoun Station locations.
That's basically a triangle around my house. The community plaza is a lot further away and not on my way to anywhere I go
they are probably just baffled you are ordering a coke with no ice for breakfast. you from europe?
clearly not if it's a coke zero
If it was cane sugar coke I'd go with that but it's not
Proper storage of coke is 34 degree Fahrenheit so you don't need ice. This is per Coke's directions.
One of the reasons McDonalds Coke tastes so much better. Syrup kept cold in aluminum containers. Water lines go through chiller and a significant filtration. They also use wider straws to impact flavor.
And if buying in a store/machine, glass bottles are the best! In my years at VT, we lived on the 8 packs of returnable 16 oz bottles of Coke; regular price (ignoring deposit cause you got that back/covered it with the ones you returned) was $1.79 an 8 pack and constantly on sale for $1.39 and once in a while for $0.99! Put em in the dorm fridge and they were amazing on a hot day!
I do want to address the stalking charge, no im not stalking you because I am you, think about it ...
- grew up in north central WV
- went to VT
- pledged APO, we know all the same people
- live in Loudoun county
- we eat at the same restaurants
Is he your brothers wife second cousins college roomate?
I used to play music with a guy who was my wife's sister's husband's sister's husband.
From None But the Lonely Heart-
Spike Jones
No, John. It's best that we part, John. You have another wife, and I have another husband, and he has another wife, and she has another husband. It isn't the simplest sort of arrangement. It isn't. No, after all our years of wedded bliss, it's auf wiedersehen, John. We must think of the child. After all, we do have a child, and he has a child, and the child has another wife, and she has another husband, and he has a child, and that child, John, is our child. I must go away somewhere and figure this thing out. Auf wiedersehen, John, auf wiedersehen
But, Mary dear, I know you have another husband, and that he has another wife, and that she has another husband, and that our own child, through marriage, is now my uncle and your sisters father on your grandmother's side, but can't we talk this over. There is still time, our divorce doesn't become final for another five minutes
We'll talk it over some other day, John, but not today
Why not, dear?
Today I am to be married. Bon soir, John. Prosit. Auf wiedersehen. Au revoir. Adios. Aloha
How do you like that? She didn't even say 'goodbye'
Yeah, but who's on third?
Yeah, but who's on third?
I don't know.
Maybe the greatest comedy skit ever.
Who's on first; I Don't Know is on 3rd....
edit-drinking
Right? The only problem I've ever had with a Chick-Fil-A order was when I was given the bag for another person with the same first name, last initial, and similar vehicle.
Then again, I almost always use the app, so I can drive around the mouth-breathers that are staring at the menu wondering what they want today.
1000% this
as someone who only goes to chic-fil-a a couple times a year, at most, I am absolutely one of the mouth breathers that looks at the menu to figure out what I want
the last chic-fil-a I went to had a drive-thru with workers holding Ipads to take your order - I am not familiar with chic-fil-a's offerings so I asked the guy for a menu and he had to go borrow one from someone else because he didn't have one handy.
Overall, my experience was fine - I have no complaints - I just found it odd that they didn't have a menu posted at the drive-thru - they just expect that everyone coming knows exactly what they have to offer.
This is what is great about in and out- 4 things on the menu plus drinks.... simple.
But then you have to know about (and what's on) the secret menu....
My complaint with CFA is that the sandwiches are totally mediocre and the nuggets are terrible. Fries are quite good though.
Honestly, you're not wrong. But I always go for the burrito, because their jalapeno salsa is great.
In my experience, Chik FilA has BY FAR the best fast food service I've ever gotten. I can't remember when its ever been slow or my order was messed up. I missed a tee time in myrtle beach because Hardees took 20 mins to microwave a hot ham and cheese. I have seen 10 people be asked to "pull up" at a mcdonalds in grand junction CO. I have seen many other bullshit things. Never at chik fil A that I could ever recall.
Chic Fil A is awesome, but if you're ever in extreme SWVA or NETN you should try a Pal's. Their service is unbelievable. They've won the Malcolm Baldridge National Quality Award multiple times, and they were the first restaurant chain in the country to do so. Their food is great, consistent, and the service is unparalleled. They are drive through only and they have it down to a science.
"Malcolm Baldridge National Quality Award"- was on the local DC committee for this for a while. lol
PAL's is so famous it was a case study in our leadership and management class for one of my masters.
But not so famous that they aren't more branched out than Tennessee and SW VA.
Apparently that's by choice. It used to be any way. The East Tennessee kids that went to University of Tennessee used to beg and plead for a Pal's in Knoxville, but Barger said he didn't want to expand so far out that he couldn't drive to visit any 2 locations on a given day. I also think he wanted to keep the brand known as a unique SWVA/NETN location.
Agreed. I met Pal on one occasion and talked with him for a bit. He seemed like a man that was content on doing things right in a local sphere and, like you mention, keeping his footprint where he could pick up and drive to a location to see firsthand how things were doing. Sometimes staying small and local does not preclude success.
Wish more business owners had that mindset
Pal Barger took the original McDonald's fast food model (watch The Founder if you haven't. Great movie) and injected it with standardization and adapted tactics he learned in the Marine Corps. The process is documented and standardized for every location. For a new menu item to be introduced, there has to physical space inside the kitchen for it to be integrated into the "dance" and then the new changes are rigorously tested to make sure they don't slow down the delivery times.
They also test employees on each role even managers and regional employees have to know roles within the restaurant.
The best managers are the ones that worked their way up. I remember that McDonalds required franchise owners to operate McD's as a manager before they could buy a franchise (at least in the late 80's).
Well going to hardees is your first issue
Edit: fixed autocorrect
In his defense, he found somebody's discarded coupon.
Well, speaking of Hardee's, I won't eat anything on the menu but the country ham and egg biscuit. Nobody else in this podunk town serves one and they always have to make it up fresh so it's always hot. Nothing else worth eating there, but a few times a year, I get a yen for one and they actually fill the bill. Still, over five bucks for a biscuit is absurd, but that's the times we live in, eh?
I'm never eating Chickfila again after the bullshit spicy chicken sandwich I got from them at the restaurant next door to the Barclays in Brooklyn when I was there for the ACCT a few years back. Lame ass piece of barely seasoned chicken half the size of the bun with 1 fucking little pickle on it when I opened it outside. I would have gone back and gave them shit, but the line was long and I just said screw it.
Sticking with Team Popeyes FTW.
Team Bojangles here but maybe its just because I don't really have access to them here in Dallas. I'm actually flying home tomorrow and connecting through Charlotte, and every time I make sure I have enough layover time to stop and get a Cajun chicken biscuit.
This. Pickle brine shmickle brine, the sandwiches are mid.
Best chicken sandwiches I've had in my life are from HCK Hot Chicken in Vinton.
edit: whoever DV'd this, I hope you stub your toe on your way to the bathroom at 3am.
Not mid for what they are- fast food. They give you a hot, well seasoned, decent sized chicken breast on a toasted buttered roll- in 3 seconds. You can get many many better pieces of fried chicken elsewhere, but for what it is, its great IMO.
Mid or worse for what they are. Small chicken, soggy breading, mediocre flavor. There are a half dozen places near me that are infinitely better, including Popeyes.
Popeyes has the best fast food crispy chicken sandwich hands down. Also, it's cliche, but you can't beat KFC extra crispy chicken breast.
Yes, it's called original recipe thighs.
Ah a thigh man I see, excellent taste
100%! Thank you. their food is not good.
I just got back from a trip to the States and on one drive the people I was with wanted Chic-fil-a and I had the worst chicken sandwich in 20 years. Fries are bland. The ONLY thing they have is sauce which they desperately need to cover up how shit the food is.
the pickle brine tastes like dishwater and "spicy" is barely noticeable. There are so many better fried chicken sandwiches. Give me Bojangles any day. Anything over this shitty food.
Bone in chicken, bojangles 90% of the time. Sandwich and tenders, popeyes.
Outside of those two the rest of the bigger chains aren't great, raisin canes can be an okay change up (the toast is best thing they have)
It seems like you miss "fast casual" type dining circa 20 years ago. Which is fine, I certainly enjoy those kind of places from time to time too. But everyone else in here has mostly hit the high points of why they've fallen off, I probably agree with HT the most (and though I'm a millennial who is tired of the slander, I also agree with VTJ, haha. The gourmet burger thing has spiraled completely out of control.) If a sufficient mom n pop type place is a no go, maybe check and see if there's an O'Charleys or an Olive Garden or a Ruby Tuesday in a reasonable radius? Texas Roadhouse/Red Robin as others have mentioned are also good options. I'm also assuming you don't want to subject your kids to a Waffle House/Denny's type experience.
Just here in Roanoke, the TGIFridays at Valley View closed within the last year (no great loss). We did finally get a Chilis in the area and it's pretty good although yes, terrible price point. Private equity killed Red Lobster, though the one in Cburg is still open as far as I know which is a testament to folks up in the NRV treating it like fine dining all these years. Covid did a number on Shoneys, which I was never all that crazy about to begin with.
I LOVED Friendlys as a kid living outside Philly, I still miss their food as an adult honestly. Haven't been there in ages. I'd probably still enjoy it just for nostalgia alone.
Fast Casual- Capitalism for shit fast food we charge more for.
And capitalism cannibalized itself through Private Equity groups buying these chains and either selling off every asset and bankrupting it or killing whatever soul those places had so now it's the same restaurant as every other chain, but with a different color scheme.
Honestly, larger breweries have become my go to for food that is filing, pretty good, and reasonably priced in a setting that I don't need to worry about my kid being loud. They're usually loud already and often have games like cornhole, jenga, cards, etc. kids can enjoy and at least at the ones by me, also a dozen other families there at any given time. Food is sort of typical pizza, sandwiches, nachos but is often solid and gets the job done.
I rarely drink also I've read like a dozen articles about how wild kids are ruining breweries.
I think this slant has been way overblown. I do not have kids and spend probably 1-2 Saturdays a month at local breweries or wineries in the area and have never once been annoyed by kids. But people seem obsessed with talking about kids at breweries.
Maybe at a more urban brewery (like maybe a Dacha in DC), where there isn't as much space and it's more of a young adult crowd. But in Northern VA/Loudoun County, it's a total non issue for me.
and then there's the opposite side of this
last night we went to a local tavern that is very kid friendly (we go there a fair amount with our 3.5 year old and have friends who live right up the road and they are there with their two kids (3, 1) all. the. time.) They had some live music playing and we were just enjoying the music and my son was dancing around and stomping on the lights projected to the floor from the disco ball. There was a table of older women near where he was dancing and one of them kept giving me the stink eye and shaking hear head. I made eye contact with her at one point and she said that she didn't appreciate my son dancing near her table, which made him cry. We walked outside to take some space and then those ladies left. One of them came up to me and apologized for her friend saying she was a B*tch (her words, not mine) and that was that. The bartender told our friends (who are regulars there) that the table of older women were crappy people/patrons. Our friends had never seen them before and they know all the regulars. It goes both ways. Young people ruin things just as much as old people do.
As long as people are getting together, there are going to be people who are easily irked and easily upset. People are going to get their feelings hurt and people are gonna be ass-holes. It just is what it is.
This is what I would call a 'bar' that brews their own beer (vs a brewery; which IMO implies a lot of open space).
Dacha is a German beer garden (actually two locations in DC). It's definitely very different from a brewery and more like a bar. The amount of space at breweries is very dependent on the region's zoning laws and what type of brewery you're going to. A lot of them are in industrial or office parks where they have rented out a good bit of space and can easily fill it with open space - or locations with a bunch of green space. In places like DC, where zoning is more relaxed, you end up breweries that are functionally a big taproom/bar for the patron with little other space. I can't say they're great for letting kids run around, but it's not like kids can't be there.
At the end of the day, these sticks in the mud need to get over kids being at breweries. Breweries are really struggling right now. Margins are super tight and market share is shrinking. If you want your favorite craft brewery to stay open, you should be happy that people are there purchasing their product. And seriously, a child dancing in an open space or playing with lights on the ground is cute and completely innocuous. If someone can't appreciate that, then they should re-evaluate their life.
Honestly don't know where yall are finding good food at an actual brewery?? because it aint around Phoenix or Baltimore Maryland or Vegas, etc. It's food trucks at best, bar food standards- wings, etc. I've never had good sit down food AT an actual Brewery.
I made no comments about the food at a brewery or the availability for a sit down meal. But you're generally right that there aren't many restaurants at breweries nowadays. The closest thing that has started to happen is a brewery bringing in some sort of quick fast casual restaurant model into a section of the brewery like a permanent food truck. Frequently it's tacos or pizza where a lot of the food can be premade and/or quickly cooked. The first example that came to mind is Sapwood Cellars in Columbia, MD. They just opened a taqueria in their space. EDIT: just remembered Jailbreak in Laurel, MD that has run a restaurant at their facility for years and makes really good beer (I know the brewer).
It's that or bringing in food trucks, sometimes on a more permanent basis. Port City in Alexandria, VA brought in a permanent food truck this past fall. And I've had a lot of food trucks that make amazing food and it's a good partnership for the brewery. I'm fine with ordering from a food truck and grabbing my order from them, but that's not the conceit of Fireman's post I guess.
Twisted Track in Roanoke has a full kitchen and some very good stuff.
The Crooked Run location in Sterling that partnered with Senor Ramons for tacos was a brilliant move. I drive further to that location to get the tacos and the corn nuggets versus going to the one in Leesburg. Added bonus is the general noise level so if the boy gets too noisy for a few minutes, nobody notices.
Off the top of my head only thinking for 5 minutes in my area (centered in New Jersey), here's just a few I can think of which are breweries with full-blown excellent restaurants as well (not food trucks, or associated nearby restaurants which many breweries have and are sometimes really good). It would take me days to think of all of the ones I've been to. Almost all of these are single locations; a few have expanded to be a small chain...
Triumph Brewery, Princeton NJ.
Tun Tavern, Atlantic city NJ.
Woodbridge Brewing Co., Woodbridge NJ.
Harvest Moon, New Brunswick NJ.
Iron Hill Brewing, locations in NJ, PA, and DE.
Golden Otter, New Paltz, NY.
Crooked Hammock, Lewes De.
Big Oyster Brewing, Lewes DE.
Thompson island Brewing, Rehoboth DE.
Dogfish Head Brewery, Rehoboth DE.
Alternate Ending in Aberdeen NJ
Village Brewing Co in Somerville NJ
Triumph has a few locations too btw
Missed one of THE best ones...Dewey Beer co at the beach. (And Pizza Machine in Harbeson is top level pizza for the peninsula.)
Dewey Beer Co is great. We go to Delaware beach every year (leaving Thursday for 12 nights. Can. Not. Wait). We usually hit Dewey Beer on the inevitable rainy day for lunch. Quality beer and really good food.
Love Dewey Beer, but there's nowhere to park at the beach location every time I go by there. I stick with the Harbeson location. your right about the Pizza Machine. We had one last Saturday there the day after we saw you.
Also forgot to mention Burley Oak Brewing in Berlin, MD. they dont have food, but Burn Wood Fired Pizza cross the street is really good too.
Burley does have a small kitchen w some Mexican flair available at certain times. If you end up in Berlin, try Berlin Beer Co as well. Old brewery from burley.
Being at a brewery for long work days, I have had to corral wild kids in dangerous situations and one or 2 adults that were in sandals while the brewing process were going on, to the point of challenging my authority in my own brewery because....they knew an employee.
That's awful. These are the people that ruin things for everyone else and it puts you and your team in a really tough spot. The back of the house is an industrial area where people need proper PPE and there really shouldn't be any kids unless accompanied by a responsible adult and with permission of the staff.
Agree with nickm2. Totally overblown from my experience. I've only really experienced it once at Solace Outpost in Falls Church. A big group of douchy looking friends let their kids run wild, but they kept it pretty much exclusive to the game room area. A bit of a bummer for my kids that wanted to play some arcade games, but we were able to sit away from the game room and it didn't impact our dinner.
I wish there were more options for eating out. I don't always feel the need to have a beer and I know it annoys some people always having kids run amuck at a brewery, but it is just not an enjoyable experience trying to get both our kids to be relatively calm at a sit-down restaurant as much as I would like to take them. If we want to get out of the house to eat and actually enjoy ourselves a brewery or maybe a food truck are the only real options and in my experience most food trucks are at breweries now-a-days anyway.
I'm sure there are as many articles about dogs at breweries/tasking rooms as well....
This is a huge pet peeve (no pun intended) of mine. People who think their dogs should be allowed to go anywhere and everybody wants them around. I'm definitely a dog person. Grew up with a Saint Bernard and a half Saint Bernard-half Collie. And people know my dog sledding fascination. But you know what, not everyone is like that. And some people, like my wife, are allergic to them. Shows you how much I love her that I married her anyway even it meant no dogs for me. Not severely allergic, but enough to get vampire red eyes with the itch.
Yet people think their dogs should just run around off leash and jump on anyone in a park or on the street, crap on anyone's lawn, be held up to drink out of a water fountain at O'Hare (yes, saw that one personally), walk into WaWa's and then act like a total bitch when the manager points out no dogs allowed given the food service and that the young guy working behind the counter doeshave a severe allergy. I was so hoping the cops would come in and arrest her, but they finally got her kicked out before the cops came. Bugs me more because I like dogs so much but can't stand some of their owners.
Lady in my Dad's neighborhood used to let her dog piss on his truck until he publicly shamed her about it.
SAME. Our neighborhood brewery has unofficial kids night every friday where all the parents come drink while our feral children run wild. It's great. And from like 4:30 til 7 or so it's almost all parents, so no one feels bad
You have to be family friendly to survive as a brewery. That's what it's all about now - family friendly environment and activities, good relaxing atmosphere, good food/food trucks, music. The craft beer bubble has burst as far as market share and craze over new styles (only so many ways to make an IPA), so having a great atmosphere where people can take the family and relax is where it's at. Which isn't to dissimilar from what has been going on in England with pubs forever.
Yes, you have to be family friendly.
You still get families that think it's a playground for their kids though.
I pushed for a solution I noted widely used in taprooms in Portland, OR over a decade ago - Separate the kids into specialty areas designed for the kids. Parents would take turns watching them.
People that didn't want to be exposed to kids could self-segregate while families were catered to.
LOVE this idea. Happy medium so people with kids can get a much needed beer or three, and us non breeders can have some quiet.
I don't take issue with kids existing in those spaces, the problem is when people just let their kids go completely feral and do zero parenting, and employees just let it slide. Anywhere I take my dog there's a sign that usually specifies "well-behaved" dogs are welcome, with restrictions, and I as an adult human would get tossed out if I ran around a place screaming, but kids just get a pass.
*Before anyone gets triggered, no I do not think my dog is or should be treated the same as a human child. I just think places should hold equal standards when it comes to disruptive behavior.*
From a fellow non-breeder, and short term Highty Tighty, we're on the same page with this. And yeah, as a boomer, I am always struck by the non-parenting I see going on in public places, knowing without a shadow of a doubt, that my mom or even worse for us, my dad would shut that down in a skinny Tennessee minnit. But of course, things are different today, I hear every parent say...
My mom could and would (whether at the family dinner table at home or out in public) simply snap her fingers loudly underneath the table which would cause each of us kids to immediately: a) stop talking with food in mouth; b) not chew with mouth open; c) remove our elbows from the table; d) not reach across the table for something and instead ask politely for someone to pass us the item. We were always known for being the best behaved kids on the (very few) occasions we went out to eat(military family made it hard to have the finances to eat out much).
Also, we had it drilled into us that our behavior impacted-for better or worse-the position and reputation of my dad as a military officer.
Sounds like you grew up in my house with my five older siblings. My Dad would also occasionally mete out 'table justice' with the sharp rap of an iced tea spoon on the crowns of our unsuspecting heads or the firm jab of a fork in our elbow.
Yep. Military family as well, but dad was a Chief and mom also worked so things were tight. Only two kids, but eating out wasn't something we did often. Drive ins for BBQ or a burger was about it for us. Ditto about our behavior being a reflection on our parents and upraising.
Yeah McDonalds was a rare treat!
Yep, we never ate out except for the rare McDonald's or Burger Chef (remember those?), and my Dad loved HoJo's $1.99 fish fry on Friday nights.
yes, I do
There were no McDs, and the Chef wasn't happening then either. Pizza was a foreign food, none of those around, and nobody ever heard of a taco or burrito. Hot dogs, burgers, bbq sandwiches and maybe mom would splurge for a fried shrimp basket with fries and tartar sauce in a foil package. Tiny frozen shrimp, but mom loved it. We'd sit there and eat in the car, then maybe dad would get us an ice cream cone. High times in Great Bridge, I tell ya.
Oh, and my first job in my life was at Burger Chef in Norfolk. I didn't last all that long, but man, I ate a ton of big burgers and we used to break a couple of apple pies on purpose so we couldn't sell them. Mmmmm mmmmm.
I must admit, the large hamburgers were delicious to a teen ager and better than most chain burgers today.
I would agree with you on good food options here. Ours tend to have co-op agreements with local restaraunts so you kill two birds with one stone. Only issue I have with them is in Loudoun they tend to be close to max capacity ...good for the business but a bit more chaotic for customers. LoCo has like 40 breweries, almost as many vineyards/wineries and a handful of distilleries. Only one that bummed me out was Capital Hive Meadery closed up shop. They had an awesome slushy option for their mead and ciders.
I think they died when they all went to pre-made and re heated food instead of made from scratch. I hardly ever eat at anything casual place because they all taste frozen and fried. Corporate demands for higher margins means it's fast food in the back and only restaurant in the front. We have a few family places that still make the mains, but the mashed potatoes are instant and all the veggies are canned.
Near us is a very eclectic food-wise place called Frozen Boba. Marlton, NJ. They have boba tea, fried chicken and Thai rolled ice cream as almost the entire menu. Some slushy-type deserts too. It is the exact opposite of what the places you are describing is like. Things are made fresh from scratch. Takes a long time, so we've learned to order our ice cream along with the chicken and have our dessert first while waiting. No waiters and pure fast food, self-seating, self-clean up layout for the seating area, but the food is great. Only gets so-so reviews by many, but that is because of the length of time needed for them to make the chicken. People are so impatient and don't want to wait for the good stuff. I want to tell these people whining about the speed:
'Guys, you can't have it both ways. Good food from scratch is not going to arrive in 5-10 minutes. If you want it in 5-10 minutes, go to KFC.'
Not really, the made from scratch places will have smaller menus because they can't turn out a huge menu in time. Most restaurants do the prep work or make large batches of the sides for the dinner rush. All the knife with done early and food in the walk in. Grab a handful of trimmed green beans and toss them in the running steamer, 5 min. Potatoes already cut and peeled and probably boiled 15 lbs at a time to make 30 servings. Stuffing by the sheet pan prepped in advanced, baked beans in a slow cooker started in the slower afternoon hours. Salads chopped and ready to toss together, etc. Scratch doesn't have to mean slow, just have to prep early and cook large batches in waves. If you make it good every time people won't care if the menu only has 10 entrees and 6 -7 options for sides.
You should visit Kernersville. Olympic Family Restaurant. CH Cafeteria. Route 66 Diner. Cagney's. Sixty-Six Grill. Doss Old Fashioned Ice Cream and Grill. Plaza Restaurant. Abell's Grill. Mad Greek. Banger and Alexa. Prissy Polly's. Clarks BBQ. Captain Tom's. All with 5 miles of my office. Almost as many of them as there are fast food. But not much in the fine dining category. Have to go to Winston, High Point or Greensboro for that. The new counter order chains have not pushed them out yet, though there is a new one trying every year. Guess we still have enough old people living around here who get together and sit in booths for breakfast, and not enough post boomer's who need everything modern looking and sound reflecting.
Somewhat off topic - but did Covid kill what was left of the "good" salad bars? That used to be a highlight of casual dining for me. Discuss, siting specific examples.
if salad is good, why does it need dressing?
Because lettuce literally has no taste. and that's 80% of a salad.
I think Sweetgreen/Cava/Chopt killed them. They're better than any salad bars I've every been to.
It sure hurt a lot. Both directly and indirectly. Directly, places had to stop. Some went out of business because of it (one in the town next to me, sorry, the name is escaping). Others just dropped that part and it never came back. Still others - Prospector's in Mt Laurel, NJ was one of them - wanted to bring it back later on but couldn't because they could not hire enough people to staff it.
Too many people got used to getting paid to sit home and do nothing. Prospector's was eventually able to open the salad bar back up once people started having to go back to work again after the money flow dried up and they realized it was not going to start up again.
For what it's worth, near where we live, the high school kids have struggled to find jobs and some are not working even though they actively have been trying to get hired. My daughter has a huge advantage over others her age in that she is a lifeguard. Where we live, if you (1) have up-to-date lifeguard certification and (2) can pass a background check, you don't even need to look for a job. The summer camps and pools find out about you, and they come hunting for you. She had 2 jobs last year when she was still 15. Both of them told her they would hire her at least a couple of years before she was eligible to work.
So true! O'Brienstein's (the Irish-Jewish mall restaurant in Regency Square in Richmond where I worked in my early 20s) had a HUGE salad bar with probably 40-50 items or more. The prep work involved in the initial daily setup was enormous not to mention the maintenance of refilling everything from the hordes of locusts...ummm... customers! Definitely made life as a server easier when 1/3 of the people ordered it though.
This was also a cheap local place to eat. Bagels at your table (instead of bread/rolls like most places), 52 flavors of daiquiris, 7 kinds of loaded baked potatoes, huge deli sandwiches and the aforementioned salad bar. The average per person check was only about $7 ($14 in today's $). They made up for it in volume (especially in the holiday shopping season; we would serve 700 people for lunch and another 700 for dinner on Black Friday and havea line of 50 people when the doors opened at 11am)
The Ruby Tuesday in Cburg actually has a good salad bar.
Whole Foods still has a pretty great salad bar.
Being in Raleigh, one of the things I have loved about the last 20+ years is that all the national shitty chains are being phased our and replaced by either regional chains or local joints with an emphasis on actually making good food. Sure, there are shitty places you can go if you want a quick bite, but for every one of them there are 2 or 3 other neighborhood local joints that serve food that is just as good if not better for a similar price.
And we have a very good Indian food scene in this area as well. Absolutely no shortage of excellent quality whenever you want some.
I appreciate that Raleigh is cool with food trucks. There's a lot of good food at reasonable prices because of that!
As far as Indian food goes. I've found and like Lime and Lemon. Are there any other places you'd recommend trying?
Highly recommend Urban Angeethi in Cary. Probably the best quality I've had. But there are just so, so many other places that are excellent as well. Bombay Curry on Strickland is a favorite of a lot of people around where I live.
As for other international flavors, G.58 in Morrisville off 540 has excellent Chinese food, and would highly recommend their Peking Duck. And if you're in the mood for something faster, I do love a good Mongolian Grill, my go-to being Crazy Fire. Might not have the best reviews, but man does it ever satisfy the craving when they hit.
Ah man, I can appreciate a good Mongolian grill. There's one on Capital that looks like it opened recently that I want to try too. I think it's called Gobi.
Thanks for the recommendations!
I am still mourning the closure of Indian Monsoon in Durham. That Tika Masala with plain naan for dipping is heaven on earth. Viceroy is an extremely popular place in Durham amongst my coworkers from India. Unfortunately I find that most of these places are incredibly expensive.
Alpaca Chicken slaps
Can confirm
One note is that in 1995 golden correl cost ~$30 for a family of 4, today it is ~$64. That is really all just inflation. So those cheap places cant exist at what most consider a cheap family friendly price point.
I can get a burger meal at Chili's for $14, Or $6 in 1995 dollars. My memory might be hazy but that seems about right for 1995.
How about Gifford's ice cream in Arlington?
Still think about it. One of the family members ruined it. A real shame
There's a Piccadilly right next to my work and to be honest, I've never been impressed with it. Several co-workers have had to go home in the afternoon due to stomach cramps.
Used to go to the one in Cloverleaf Mall in Richmond back in the day.
Anybody else thinking this thread feels like peak offseason?
Eh, no mayo or cheese arguments so maybe?
Why did you have to go there? Nothing good can come from from that....🤪
My family would hit the OCB (Old Country Buffet) about once a month. I loved it as a kid because of the macaroni, mashed potatoes, and the serve-yourself ice cream. While I miss it from a nostalgic standpoint, I don't think I would willingly go into a buffet style place today. Terrible tasting food that is terrible for you. Maybe because of our COVID experience, but I would be germophobic eating at a serve-yourself buffet.
I think another major trend difference is the focus on healthier foods or at least avoiding processed foods. There are not too many affordable family-style restaurants that fall within that trend. Affordable and "farm-to-table" are not coexistent.
Let's be honest most of these places have gone out of business because they serve mid (at best) food and the prices have gone up across the board.
Also,buffets are just, not good quality.
And to weigh in on fast food chicken biscuit/sandwich joints. There is Bojangles on top and every one else off in the very far distance.
Chik fil a biscuits are awful. They are way to sweet. Maybe they're like Yankee biscuits I guess. But extremely overrated.
I was struggling to think of family places I went to as a kid, but finally realized - we (as kids) did not go out. We stopped at McDonald's for lunch when driving to Philadelphia or Davenport to visit family. Mom and Dad had date nights where they went out, but we had a sitter and tv dinner. Maybe once a year to Pizza Hut or Golden Corral when dad was going to grill but it rained. I think I got a hamburger at dairy queen or a hot dog at tasty freeze at some point. I did not really go out at all until I was old enough to get a job and pay for it myself. Same thing when we had kids. Just could not afford it until the youngest turned 5, when places with really cheap buffets for kids became popular stops after a day of sports for 2 children. We did not like the food, but cheap, no waiting at the table for service with hungry children. Everyone could find something they would eat. Almost no buffets since then. I wonder how much of today's dinning options are driven by consumers waiting until they are older to have kids? More young couples on a budget going out, but not having the choices driven by what works best for the kids? Or have breweries with food trucks replaced them?
You know, this is a darn good point. Definitely makes sense. Growing up, I remember going out to eat was a couple of times a year, maybe. Not a couple of times a week like some people think it should be today. And, when you did go out, the kids' cheap eats drove things then but not now. Could explain a lot.
"I wonder how much of today's dinning options are driven by consumers waiting until they are older to have kids? More young couples on a budget going out, but not having the choices driven by what works best for the kids?"
FWIW, my wife and I married fairly late and both had good paying jobs when we met. Neither of us is into having fancy "things" either. When we had our daughter, we were going out a lot and I remember saying we need to shift things. Made it no more than 1 meal out a month unless a special occasion means another meal (i.e., someone's birthday, Father's Day, Mother's Day, our tradition of taking her out on the first and last day of school) or we are on vacation. I just did not want my daughter growing up like a typical stupid American who thinks you are supposed to eat out or get takeout 4-5 nights a week and then turns around and bitches about how hard it is to make ends meet.
I forgot the stat, but the number of restaurants today vs 40 years ago is insane. like a magnitude more.
Where i grew up we went out to eat, but it was always a family owned Italian place that was/is 25 cents per year old for kids under 13. It was that price 3 years ago as all my nephews aged out. Last time we went with 2 kids and fed 8 adults was like 6 years ago and spent under $100 with tip. We left with two meals of left overs for everyone too. So we went out a bit more but it was cheaper than any chain. In the late 90s we moved to Friday's as ear out night and went to the new outback alot, but my sister was in college so just 3 of us. There wasnt a golden correl or other buffet like that, we did local restaurants or roadhouse/ outback when they opened (mainly outback)
Saved a shit ton in botulism hospital bills and stomach pumps right there.
My parents wouldn't have gone there anyways, now my dumb ass as a high school student with friends, probably
I'm ashamed to admit the amount of food I ate at CiCi's pizza in high school
My, at the time, preschool daughter was so upset when the CiCi's near us closed down abruptly. Was her favorite place back then.
My kids still lament them closing. They would request it anytime we were in Leesburg or Chantilly and even now when we pass the former spots they will say how they miss it.
Perhaps idiots finally realized that owning/running a restaurant is way more involved than just liking food and maybe having decent cooking ability. When I was in the restaurant industry in the early 90's, Richmond had about 1400 restaurants BUT every year 200 new ones opened and 200 existing ones closed. That's a hell of an annual turnover! Add in the rise of Doordash and Uber Eats and the addition of dozens of "ready to eat" options in supermarkets and a demise in many restaurants is unsurprising.
Here in Loudoun the biggest reason given on closing restaraunts is that they can't get enough staff. You have restaraunts here now experimenting with robot waiters for this very reason.
It's a volatile industry to start with but if you can't staff the basic schedule you are doomed. It's also an industry many first time business owners try their hand at and get overwhelmed quickly.
The other trend thanks to UberEats and Doordash are Ghost Kitchens. Red Robin is doing it with a pizza chain but you also have restaraunt food that is delivery only coming from kitchens built in industrial parks. The kitchens reach deals with chain restaraunts to make their menu items strictly for delivery.
Honestly I feel like I grew up in a different time and place than yall. Richmond from '83 to early 2000's. Shoneys, Hometown buffet, Pizza Hut Buffett, weekly Mexican at Don Jose or when at the rescue squad Mi Hacienda, took dates to TGI Fridays, Applebees or Ruby Tuesdays in middle and high school, Black Eyed Pea's with the family or outback for birthdays, steak and ale for special occasions, red lobster some times, Picadilly Cafeteria at Cloverleaf mall for get together a with dads navy friends, Ukrops fried chicken when we needed quick meals at home, Bill BBQ near the diamond after school sports, Spaghetti Warehouss before school dances as a group, Fudruckers burgers during the tacky light tours at Christmas.
Yea - these were all places that my family never went to unless we had to. Grew up outside of Annapolis, about a decade or so younger than you it seems.
Ditto. The only time I got to go out was when we were traveling, my birthday or good report cards. The Chinese place in Odenton was my go to for my elementary years.
Then there was pizza hut for a personal pan pizza when you read so many books.
Kids ate at home a lot more when they grew up the in 70's and 80's as opposed to the 90's and 00's.
Lived in Chester, VA until I went to VT ('92 to 2010). I definitely went to most of these places, but several of them were more because I was a picky kid and my parents could get me to eat at Shoney's or Fuddruckers or [insert chain here]. Once my palate expanded, we mostly frequented independent restaurants.
The eighteen year plan.... excellent!!!
A "generation" of college- down the drain.....lol
There weren't many restaurants in Wise county when I was growing up. I have fond memories of Cricket's, a restaurant in Wise that existed up until about the time I left for college, maybe shortly thereafter. There was a drive in near Pennington Gap called the Patio Drive-in (this is circa 1970) that had the best jumbo cheeseburgers that I think I've ever had, but that was almost an hour's drive from home. The Big Boy drive in in Big Stone Gap was pretty good, too. The real change was when McDonalds and Pizza Hut opened in Norton. I understand that both of them set national sales records for their respective chains in their first quarter of operations. Most of the local places went by the wayside after that, with national fast food places coming in.
Keeping up with this thread during the workday makes me hungry frfr ong.