When Bennigan's was nice that's where my hard working parents would take me and my siblings for a special treat. It couldn't have been easy for them. In retrospect they bent over backward for their kids. As a kid you're oblivious to the sacrifices your parents sometimes make.
I was a cook for Bennigan’s starting in 1984. They had some good products and quality service. They started sliding downhill in 1988, and I quit at that time. Mostly good memories working there.
Ponderosa Steakhouse. Great salad bar included with every dinner. You got to choose the cut of steak you wanted, and it was cooked to order. Dessert was included in the dinner price, I believe.
Howard Johnson's declined once the original family sold it. The food was originally plain, but very well cooked. Once the original owners left, the quality control left and plain became dull.
I loved Howard Johnson's. The restaurant was so relaxing. My favorite on their menu was their clams. We did not stay at their hotel on trips but ate at their restaurant near our house.
@@AlexGamingConsolepeople call McDonald’s, Burger King, Wendy’s fast food. No one called Bennigan’s, Chi-Chi’s, and many of these other restaurants in this video “Fast Food” But thanks for playing.
@@AlexGamingConsolethis segment is specifically called Casual Dining. Differentiated by sit down service and reusable dishes and flatware. These are industry standard terms.
I loved Victoria Station in its early days. Great prime rib. Arthur Treachters was another favorite back in the 60s. It was never a fan of fish until I tried it there. As a kid, we used to go to a HoJo's in Naples, Maine. I loved the firied claims and the Frappes.
Could not agree with you more! I never liked fish until I started drenching it in malt vinegar at Arthur Treachers! HoJo ice cream selection was way before we had Baskin Robbins and a treat if we 'cleaned our plates' 😉
My late ex -husband and I LOVED to go to LUM's. They had great hot dog and a hot dog and pint was his favorite. I'd go for a hot dog and Coke (I was the driver in the family). Good times.
Anybody else notice a theme, where a big corporation which has nothing to do with the restaurant industry either opens, or, more usually, buys a successful restaurant chain, and soon after, the restaurant fails? Maybe companies that don't know anything about restaurants shouldn't be trying to...run restaurants? But no, even though they're already mega-successful multi billion dollar companies, these greedy mfers always want more. So they try to put their fingers in everyone's pie, and end up spoiling most of them. It's disgusting, and infuriating.
as a Chief Petty Officer retiring from the US Navy mess operations after a 28-year career and serving almost 15000 hungry sailors everything from breakfast to mid-rats meals at midnight and everything between. I was always proud of the food that was turned in my galley. serving on ships like the Nimitz and the last being the George Bush, it was a Joy to work in the mess halls.
My brother Peter started his Navy service as a cook on the Nimitz in the mid seventies before transfering to the air squadron on the ship. He still loves to cook and is really good at it!
@@DonnellOkafor_hateslgbtq yes, my brother went to cooking school at Great Lakes before getting his assignment. But while deployed on the Nimitz an opening became available on the bridge and he decided he would be happier seeing more daylight
All of these owners and management teams neglected to give the people what they want: Good food & service at a reasonable price! Such a simple concept that was beyond them all.
@@BerryBerry1465 I don't consider Ho Jo's and Steak places "fast food" or junk food. It's actually real food, vs. the chemical junk that is KFC, Mickey D's and such.
I haven’t been in years. They used to offer an ok meal for around 5-6 dollars. They had a dollar menu. Those days are gone. Now you can expect to spend about $11 for a sandwich & fries, and still be disappointed. And it’s not just McDonald’s.
I loved Bennigan's. That was my favorite casual restaurant of the Chilis, TGIF, Applebee's, Red Robin and Ruby Tuesday type restaurants. I realize they still have 15 locations remaining in the US, but the one near me is not nearly as good, as it was back in it's heyday during the 80's.
The last remaining Howard Johnson’s wasn’t in lake George, it was in lake placid. I used to go up there a couple times a year to ski. Always hit the Hojo’s breakfast buffet first.
AI generated crap. You don't "deliver them low quality food", you "deliver low quality food to them." Bennigan's was NOT "fast food", it was full service - and what's with showing Arby's while talking about Bennigan's?. One and a half minutes in and its crappy AI is showing already. EDIT: What a sh1tshow! Hardly any of these restaurants are from the 1980s, and the facts presented are completely off! That's a picture of Bob Hope, not S. Robert Davis! Apparently EVERY restaurant is "fast food" and they all failed due to "a decline in the quality of the food" - BS! This is so horrendously bad, I'm ROFLMAO!
I agree about Bennigan's. It was not fast food. However, I went there to drink, not to eat. The common factor I see in most of these failures was that the chain was taken over by a corporation.
Wow, didn't know about Pepin... Not that the name would mean anything to me back then. The restaurant was well enjoyed by my parents, my brother and me.
Over the last 40 years I have seen hundreds of restaurants go belly up, in fact the only restaurants I know that are still in business is Burger King, Arby's , McDonalds, and White Castle. That's about it. Wrong business to be in!
Howard Johnson's was great. It was ruined by a couple of things 1- the energy crisis led to decreased road trips, therefore the motels and restaurants suffered 2- When Marriott bought it they absolutely drove it into the ground 3- people started getting health conscious so they steered away from burgers, hot dogs, and ice cream.
3-Tell that to McDonalds, BK, and other fast food chains. They no longer offer salads or grilled chicken on their menus because they weren't selling. I think it started when people are on the road they want their food FAST and not necessarily go to a sit down restaurant on the highway. Tastes change with times. I thought drive-thrus were the ultimate in lazy convenience, but they are now trumped by delivery services. The world and people's preferences evolve (or in this case....devolve?).
I love how whenever you mention “low quality”, you show stock footage of Arby’s, even though you’re talking about a totally different restaurant chain.
The ironic thing here is the absolute low quality of this production, a lot worse than the "low quality" restaurants that were featured! I got a real kick out of "conventional" United States during the Shakey's chapter! Yikes!
I loved going to SHAKEY'S PIZZA as a kid. Dad would always order a big pitcher of beer. ... and yes, sometimes guys would show up in old clothes and play piano and banjo.
I liked Howard Johnsons. We would be on a toll road in Illinois and stop for lunch or dinner depending on where we were at on our trip. The waitresses were so nice and the food was family style and served with a smile.
The Culver's in my town is on the fast track to going out of business, the management needs to be reviewed. Every car at the drive thru has to pull forward and wait. Business seemed to be good but the parking lot is not that large.
When I was a kid, my father would take us to Victoria Station! That place was excellent and it should be on a list of the BEST restaurants of an era gone by. I have been a vegetarian for over 20 years. However, I can still remember how terrible the food was at The Sizzler; how mediocre it was at The Hickory Pit; and how delicious it was at Victoria Station when I was very young. Also, Howard Johnson's had the best late-night potato skins any teenager could wish for.
Lost my virginity in a Howard Johnsons. By lost I mean basically begging any girl in my high school to take it. I feel I should add the HoJo had a motel component.
Hojo's was a motel too. I remember traveling the east coast with my mom and her boyfriend and staying at Howard Johnsons. They had stationary in the rooms and I would insist on writing grammy about our trips. I found one of my letters in her things years later. 😢
Unfortunately when the founders of any business that they built into a success is either sold, becomes public traded, or taken over by their offspring decline and failure do to cheapening the product and or the service seems to be inevitable. I have a hard time understanding how someone can buy a highly successful company and not understand what got it there. Maybe the new owners have only greed in mind and the founder had vision?
It's stupefyingly monotonous same story: Corporations acquire the chains, shareholders demand ever increasing profits/dividends (so their stock price increases). However, traffic being the same/steady (only so many meals can be eaten per day) wages must be lowered, together with both quality and quantity, to satisfy the greed of the shareholders for increased profits. It's ALWAYS the SAME result: Customers notice, and stay away, and the inevitable and usual outcome happens... You'd think they would learn - but they don't. Outback is next... Their quality has gone down also. After a long hiatus, (being out of the US for a number of years) we went to Outback last week. We're not going back any time soon...
Back in the day both , Howard Johnsons and York were great back in the day. Another few missed restaurants are Ground Round, The Brown Derby, Arthur Treachers Fish and Chips, and Chi Chi's!😢
Ground Round was owned by Howard Johnsons. Also if you want Arthur Treachers Fish and Chips, there is one still open in Cleveland Ohio (Rockside Rd and Turney Rd) 🍟
@roberth3793 They are re-opening The Arthur Treachers in Cleveland Heights! It was there from the 1970's until it closed. Right by Heights High School on Cedar Road!
No. No Arthur Treacher’s. I ate at one in Ohio in about 1996. I didn’t feel right until 2003. In actuality, my buddy and I ate there right before driving from Ohio to New York. It was a long ride.
A hilarious note regarding the Steak and Ale that was near the corner of highway 60 and HS 19 in Clearwater, Florida: Not only did the restaurant close and the building torn down, but the land it had been on was dug out and turned into a retention pond. The same thing happened a little North of it, where an Arigato Japanese Steak House Restaurant was also replaced by a retention pond. Just tearing them down was not enough!
H. Salt Fish and Chips, here in Canada. Lightly battered fish, and thick cut fries. They were relatively expensive for a takeout place, and therefore did not last very long. The f & c were really good, though.
Seems all the closed restaurants have a common thread: when quality goes down and prices go up, customers go away. All we want is a good meal at a good price. Provide that and people will stay loyal.
I`ll admit, after watching this video I wish I could have the opportunity to go to each of these restaurants and eat there at least once, just to see how it`d be like in person.
Chi-Chi's was truly legend ,but Hepatitis A outbreak ruined them for good. I was truly love Seafood Mexican's Pizza, Carne Sada, Chile Con Queso, Seafood Nachos, and Chip & Salsa. I always ordered Dr. Pepper. Unfortunately, I can't remember how to make Seafood Mexican Pizza. I also remember Druther's (Burger Queen) in Danville, KY ,but I remember it's pretty good burgers.
Gino's was my very first restaurant job in High School. Shakey's Pizza, Arthur Trracher's, Lum's and Steak & Ale (Scratch & Sniff, lol) were all really great in their heyday.
Boston Market and Kenny Rogers would be the 1990's. Boston Chicken was founded late 80's ad started franchising in 1992. Kenny Rogers Roasters was founded in 1991.
Kenny rogers roasters did make it. They just didn't make it in the usa but they sold the chain to some company in asia. I have eaten there many times here in the philippines. It is not fine dining but it is decent quality food and much better than something like mcdonald. Anyway i think they have something like 250 locations in asia. Although i think almost nobody knows that this is named after some singer named kenny Rodgers. 😅
The Sambos in Santa Barbara, the first one, had a great breakfast. Shakey's was the bomb in the 60's. Their pizza was so good. My family would go to Disneyland and have a pizza at Shakey's on the way home. Disneyland food was expensive even back in the day.
I loved Bennigans. It was a great sit down bar and restaurant. It closed in 2008. We went to Howard Johnson's on road trips with our grandparents. Good memories. We have the last Arthur Treachers right up the street. It's still good. Just as it was growing up. 😊 I worked at Chi-Chi's. Loved their chicken taco salad and shrimp fajitas.
I installed refrigeration equipment at several new Chi Chi’s in the south. They didn’t last long due to a recession and fierce competition from other Mexican restaurants. Never ate there so I had no clue if the food was any good.
You forgot about Burger Chef. But I can still feel the feeling of a pie shaped piece of Arthur Treachers fried cod fillet in my hand. That sht was good. Fast food was different Back then
The entire list: "This restaurant eventually fell victim to a decline in quality and customer service...Which is nothing like how this next restaurant failed: This restaurant finally fell victim to a decline in quality and customer service..."
Our town, State College, Pennsylvania had a restaurant that was turned into an Elby's Big Boy from a drive in, A&W. My mom named her poodle, Elby. Couldn't stand that dog. She barked when I came home and when I tried to lie, no go. Naw she was ok.
I've eaten at Howard Johnson, Sambos, Bonanza, Bennigans, Shakey's, Chi Chi's, and Steak & Ale. Don't remember thinking any of them were bad food per se, average to slightly above average on most counts. Cafeteria style restaurants come to mind as well during the 70s and 80s like Furrs or Luby's, but I think those two chains made it well past 80s despite Luby's having the fourth worst mass shooting to date in the U.S. ...24 killed and 27 wounded in 12 minutes by two semi-auto pistols at a Killeen Texas Luby's in '91
Up until the early 1990s Pizza Hut had a really good product. The original pan pizza was to die for. I wish somebody could sell a pizza like that again.
My mother absolutely loved Chi-Chi's, always ordering her Monterey Chicken enchiladas. About a year after we last went there, the Chi-Chi's about two miles from our home was the store that got smashed with the hepatitis A outbreak in Pittsburgh. Something about contaminated field onions from Mexico. We never went to Chi-Chi's again.
I remember a number of these but steak and ale sticks out. They had a bottomless beer ,wine and champange option. As a 22 year old at the time, I LOVED It!
Sambos name didn't affect me. They had good food and i never thought once it was racist. People that don't like a name, just go somewhere else. Is that hard for you to do? Don't destroy things for everybody else.
My brother worked at Steak & Ale after graduation. He made bank and then he got on at DuPont. Pretty sure the restaurants mentioned had healthier food than the slop restaurants of today. Btw, Bennigans was the inspiration for that movie with the restaurant called "Shenanigans." Forgot the movie name. That Ryan Reynolds dude was in it, pretty sure. 😂😂
The movie is named “Waiting”. I was a cook at Bennigan’s starting in 1984 for four years. The food was never contaminated as it was depicted in the movie at least not on my shift, nor did I hear of anyone else ever doing that. The rest was pretty accurate.
What? No mention of Roy Roger's restaurants?!? Man, I used to love the double-R Bar burger! I make my own now, but it's just not the same. I like the fried chicken there too.
Roy's was one of the very few fast food restaurants actually worth going to... The Double R-Bar Burger is top tier... their fried chicken and when they started serving Hardee's breakfast really put them on top... 😋 👍... too bad they dropped off
Fast food or not, it seems a common reason for the demise of these eateries was a decline in quality. It happens over and over again where a restaurant tries to keep costs down rather than quality up and customers abandon them. When will they learn?
We had a much beloved, privately run restaurant in my hometown that was built from a closed Howard Johnson. The guy than ran it retired and closed it. But the quality of his food and service was top notch till the very last day. Most of these restaurants' reputation were in the sewer when they closed, but others go out in a blaze of glory and with a good name.
We had a place called Burger Chef when I was young.I don't know if it was a franchise or not.They would sell you your food and you would go to the condement bar and you would fix your burgers the way you like it.I've never seen that in any burger joint before or after them.There is now a dry cleaners at that location.Someone should bring that idea back.
My Mom really liked Arby’s roast beef! Howard Johnson’s was my favorite; their fried clams and ice cream. Most of these I’ve never heard of. Maybe because I grew up in NYC area. We went to locally owned diners and other one-of-a-kind restaurants.
DBC was a pain in the ass to prepare, and as such was rarely prepared correctly. Prior to DBC they had a product called Brownie Bottom Pie that was made by Zarda, and it was superior to DBC.
Howard Johnsons? Sambo's? Shakey's? Arthur Treachers? Steak and ale? Whoever made this list wasn't alive in the 80's? The restaurants I listed were better than anything operating today short of high end restaurants like Ruth Chris. Howard Johnson's, Sambo's and Shakey were the best there ever was. They didn't go down because of the food but because of bad leadership choices. Shakeys used to put chocolate malt o'meal on the pizza pan that used to give the pizza an unbelievably good flavor, Steak and Ale are being reopened all over the country, they just opened another on close to me in Burnsville Minnesota. The last time we went on vacation we drove 200 miles out of our way to go to Arthur Treacher's and one of the last open Dogs and suds.
We went to the opening of Shakey’s Pizza in Saudi Arabia when we lived there in the 80s, any American food was highly sought after in those days before the internet, and international restaurant chains.
The photo you showed of Brewsters, is actually the Red Rooster in Pauling NY. They were popular for their ice cream. I've been there many times as a child.
I would KILL for a Bennigan's near me. My late wife LOVED their broccoli bites better than anything at any other restaurant. And NO, it was NEVER "fast food." It was a sit-down restaurant. Arthur Treacher (TREE-cher) was better known by then as the "sidekick" of Merv Griffin, on his afternoon talk show. My first girlfriend worked at the Arthur Treacher's in Lakeland, FL, in 1973. I LOVED their "chips," which were like wavy steak fries. I would also KILL for a Bonanza steak house near me. BTW, why did you put pictures of "Ponderosa" (a different steak house chain), in your Bonanza segment? OOPS! I worked at the Burger Queen in Lakeland, Florida, in 1973. The mascot was "Queenie B" (a queen bee). Their jingle was "Follow Queenie B to Burger Queen for me."
Funny how many of these failed because food quality dropped. People get greedy and start cutting corners and then customers stop showing up. A prime example of what Steven Covey's P/PC balance.
The "Wags" sign and storefront is not part of the chain restaurants listed here. It's in Frederick, Maryland and is known for their burgers. And they are still open!!
I remember going to Sambo's with my aunt and grandma. I remember there being a great big mural in the entry way. I can't remember exactly what it was, just that I thought it was pretty. It was located in Vallejo, Ca. Went to Shakey's for their lunch buffet.
When Bennigan's was nice that's where my hard working parents would take me and my siblings for a special treat. It couldn't have been easy for them. In retrospect they bent over backward for their kids. As a kid you're oblivious to the sacrifices your parents sometimes make.
I was a cook for Bennigan’s starting in 1984. They had some good products and quality service. They started sliding downhill in 1988, and I quit at that time. Mostly good memories working there.
Howard Johnson’s was great, it was a treat for us when I was growing up in the 60s and 70s the fried clams were the best
Ponderosa Steakhouse. Great salad bar included with every dinner. You got to choose the cut of steak you wanted, and it was cooked to order. Dessert was included in the dinner price, I believe.
Howard Johnsons was my absolute FAVORITE RESTAURANT as a child!! I LOVED THEIR FRIED CLAMS!!
GREAT SEAFOOD OFFERINGS
I totally forgot those, they were good.
Would love to have some.
Howard Johnson's declined once the original family sold it. The food was originally plain, but very well cooked. Once the original owners left, the quality control left and plain became dull.
I loved their chocolate ice cream in those metal dishes
You do not speak for everyone. I'd love to have back Gino's, Arthur Treachers, Ho Jo's, Chi Chi's, and Bonanza/Podarosa
I'd give my left... err... Big toe... to have Chi Chi's back. I loved that place!
My first job was at Arthur Treachers Fish and chips. 1976. I loved it.
It's a bit of mild clickbait
My first job was at Gino's in Atlantic City on the Boardwalk in 1969. Geezz...that was so long ago.
Howard Johnson's All You Can Eat Fried Clams was a gem.
I noticed a very common trend that caused the final nail in the coffin. Every time a cooperation takes over a restaurant that spells the final kill.
I loved Howard Johnson's. The restaurant was so relaxing. My favorite on their menu was their clams. We did not stay at their hotel on trips but ate at their restaurant near our house.
Why did they refer to these as Fast Food? They were not Fast Food, which by the way, for decades have been called QSR. Quick Service Restaurants.
Almost all mentioned were called CASUAL DINING RESTAURANTS and not FAST FOOD.
Its called fast food. Whatever Americans as a mass calls it that's its name. That's it.
@@AlexGamingConsolepeople call McDonald’s, Burger King, Wendy’s fast food. No one called Bennigan’s, Chi-Chi’s, and many of these other restaurants in this video “Fast Food”
But thanks for playing.
@@AlexGamingConsoleCool. Americans didn’t call Bennigan’s or Chi Chi’s fast food. Just like they don’t call Outback or Chili’s fast food.
@@AlexGamingConsolethis segment is specifically called Casual Dining. Differentiated by sit down service and reusable dishes and flatware.
These are industry standard terms.
I loved Victoria Station in its early days. Great prime rib. Arthur Treachters was another favorite back in the 60s. It was never a fan of fish until I tried it there. As a kid, we used to go to a HoJo's in Naples, Maine. I loved the firied claims and the Frappes.
Could not agree with you more! I never liked fish until I started drenching it in malt vinegar at Arthur Treachers! HoJo ice cream selection was way before we had Baskin Robbins and a treat if we 'cleaned our plates' 😉
So many people will fail to see that the actor in the commercial for Brewsters Chicken is none other than Steve Carell.
Caught that.😅
Yeah except it was an ad for Brown's Chicken, not Brewster's. Whoever made this video is an idiot.
Me too!!
But that was for Church's Chicken.
That's what she said! 🤣
Bonanzas and Ponderosas are the saddest missed ever!!!!!
There are a few still around.
I know. 😢😢❤❤
One Ponderosa left in PA....Butler, pa.
One in West Virginia at least it was there last year, I not been back that way..
I worked at a ponderosa once and let me tell ya, if you knew the staff there, you wouldn't have eaten there.
When I was in college in Boca Raton, FL in the early 1970’s, Lum’s was our go to place. Incredibly, there was no McDonald’s in Boca in those days.
My late ex -husband and I LOVED to go to LUM's. They had great hot dog and a hot dog and pint was his favorite. I'd go for a hot dog and Coke (I was the driver in the family). Good times.
We had a Lums in Stuart as well.
Lums was "ho-hum"
loved the Ollie Burger
Shakey's was soooo much fun back in the day! The best pizza and fried chicken ever.😃
We still have Shakey pizza in California
@r0ckstar666 Yep , I think there is 2 in Bakersfield , CA !!!
@@angelsutton416 the one closest to me is Redlands California
They rocked. 👍👍
MOJO'S
Anybody else notice a theme, where a big corporation which has nothing to do with the restaurant industry either opens, or, more usually, buys a successful restaurant chain, and soon after, the restaurant fails? Maybe companies that don't know anything about restaurants shouldn't be trying to...run restaurants? But no, even though they're already mega-successful multi billion dollar companies, these greedy mfers always want more. So they try to put their fingers in everyone's pie, and end up spoiling most of them. It's disgusting, and infuriating.
Stop calling sit down places fast food.
It's an automated voice reading an AI script.
Clearly no one proof read it.
as a Chief Petty Officer retiring from the US Navy mess operations after a 28-year career and serving almost 15000 hungry sailors everything from breakfast to mid-rats meals at midnight and everything between. I was always proud of the food that was turned in my galley. serving on ships like the Nimitz and the last being the George Bush, it was a Joy to work in the mess halls.
Thank you for your service. My cousins husband is on a submarine right now doing what you did
My brother Peter started his Navy service as a cook on the Nimitz in the mid seventies before transfering to the air squadron on the ship. He still loves to cook and is really good at it!
Tysm for ur service!
Cooks in the navy actually go to cooking school l was told.
@@DonnellOkafor_hateslgbtq yes, my brother went to cooking school at Great Lakes before getting his assignment. But while deployed on the Nimitz an opening became available on the bridge and he decided he would be happier seeing more daylight
All of these owners and management teams neglected to give the people what they want: Good food & service at a reasonable price! Such a simple concept that was beyond them all.
back in the day junk food was really cheap , now its crazy expensive
And it remains junk food.
To be honest, the quality of all fast food has deteriorated.
@@BerryBerry1465 I don't consider Ho Jo's and Steak places "fast food" or junk food. It's actually real food, vs. the chemical junk that is KFC, Mickey D's and such.
Blame the Dems, period.
But it was healthier than the crap restaurants out now.
I'm absolutely astounded McDonalds is still operating. The food is horrendous and the cost astronomical.
I rarely ever ate at McDonald’s. When I had no other option and was staving one day, I got a Quarter Pounder. It made me nauseous. Never again.
I haven’t been in years. They used to offer an ok meal for around 5-6 dollars. They had a dollar menu. Those days are gone. Now you can expect to spend about $11 for a sandwich & fries, and still be disappointed. And it’s not just McDonald’s.
In the late 70's, York Steak House became a Friday night family dinner out for us. We absolutely loved it and would love to see it make a comeback.
I loved that place! I went to the one in Danvers, Ma quite often.
I loved Bennigan's. That was my favorite casual restaurant of the Chilis, TGIF, Applebee's, Red Robin and Ruby Tuesday type restaurants. I realize they still have 15 locations remaining in the US, but the one near me is not nearly as good, as it was back in it's heyday during the 80's.
Everybody loved Howard Johnsons
I last ate there in the 1960's and I remember the double decker hamburger.
QUALITY. FANTASTIC TIME THERE! ATE THERE DOZENS OF TIMES TRAVELLING
The last remaining Howard Johnson’s wasn’t in lake George, it was in lake placid. I used to go up there a couple times a year to ski. Always hit the Hojo’s breakfast buffet first.
I saw them all the time but I don't think we ever ate there.
Now I feel left out.
Sorry, my family and many of our friends did not care for HJ at all.
AI generated crap. You don't "deliver them low quality food", you "deliver low quality food to them." Bennigan's was NOT "fast food", it was full service - and what's with showing Arby's while talking about Bennigan's?. One and a half minutes in and its crappy AI is showing already. EDIT: What a sh1tshow! Hardly any of these restaurants are from the 1980s, and the facts presented are completely off! That's a picture of Bob Hope, not S. Robert Davis! Apparently EVERY restaurant is "fast food" and they all failed due to "a decline in the quality of the food" - BS! This is so horrendously bad, I'm ROFLMAO!
I agree about Bennigan's. It was not fast food. However, I went there to drink, not to eat. The common factor I see in most of these failures was that the chain was taken over by a corporation.
I don't think it was AI - an actual human did a really bad job!
Also, while he's talking about the "Sloppy Spatula" he's showing us Burger King food. Their uniforms are Burger King's as well!
I liked Benigans. Ours was the victim of being in a bad location.
Spot on! Lazy and false content simply for likes and clicks. This content creator must be desperate for human attention.
Steak &Ale had the best salad bar.
My brother had an “Ache and Stale” sticker when we were kids. LOL!
100% agree with you! Always went to the Steak & Ale in Hampton, Virginia when I worked at Langley AFB.
My parents used to take me there as a little girl. It was good!
And they had nice discreet seating to
I liked Steak & Ale. I always had a good meal and service there.
Howard Johnson's was actually good in the 60's because they had Jacques Pepin developing recipes for them.
I was a kid in the 60's and LOVED HOWARD JOHNSONS. ALL YOU CAN EAT TUESDAY'S. QUALITY AMBIANCE AND GREAT FOOD. THE SERVICE WAS WONDERFUL.
Wow, didn't know about Pepin... Not that the name would mean anything to me back then. The restaurant was well enjoyed by my parents, my brother and me.
Oh yeah. You could definitely feel Pepin’s influence in the Humpty Dumpty.
Over the last 40 years I have seen hundreds of restaurants go belly up, in fact the only restaurants I know that are still in business is Burger King, Arby's , McDonalds, and White Castle. That's about it. Wrong business to be in!
Howard Johnson's was great. It was ruined by a couple of things 1- the energy crisis led to decreased road trips, therefore the motels and restaurants suffered 2- When Marriott bought it they absolutely drove it into the ground 3- people started getting health conscious so they steered away from burgers, hot dogs, and ice cream.
3-Tell that to McDonalds, BK, and other fast food chains. They no longer offer salads or grilled chicken on their menus because they weren't selling. I think it started when people are on the road they want their food FAST and not necessarily go to a sit down restaurant on the highway. Tastes change with times. I thought drive-thrus were the ultimate in lazy convenience, but they are now trumped by delivery services. The world and people's preferences evolve (or in this case....devolve?).
I love how whenever you mention “low quality”, you show stock footage of Arby’s, even though you’re talking about a totally different restaurant chain.
I love Arby's!
The ironic thing here is the absolute low quality of this production, a lot worse than the "low quality" restaurants that were featured! I got a real kick out of "conventional" United States during the Shakey's chapter! Yikes!
Me too.@@RicoCosta317
Arby's is great
It is ridiculous.
These videos really take me back. I feel like I'm older than dirt for remembering about 85% of them.
I’m 68 and know how you feel.
I loved going to SHAKEY'S PIZZA as a kid. Dad would always order a big pitcher of beer. ... and yes, sometimes guys would show up in old clothes and play piano and banjo.
Kids liked Shakeys but the chicken was scary and the pizza was just okay.
I loved Shakey's as a kid and still do.
I loved Sambo's restaurants the food and service was always good, we lived in a twin city area and we always ate there several times a month.
One of my first jobs was at Sambos. Always busy. Great tips for the 70s. Politics got in the way.
Illinois, Iowa or Sherman, Texas? We had a Sambos back in the day, and Sherman and Denison were known for being the twin cities.
@@swearenginlawanda, ain't that the truth. I ate there too.
I liked Howard Johnsons. We would be on a toll road in Illinois and stop for lunch or dinner depending on where we were at on our trip. The waitresses were so nice and the food was family style and served with a smile.
Ho Jo's were the ones that ran the original service plazas along the new Pennsylvania Turnpike in 1940.
The Culver's in my town is on the fast track to going out of business, the management needs to be reviewed. Every car at the drive thru has to pull forward and wait. Business seemed to be good but the parking lot is not that large.
I miss Howard Johnson's. Such wonderful childhood memories!!!!
THE BEST OF TIMES HOWARD JOHNSONS. NEVER DISAPPOINTED!
I knew someone that got food poisoning at a Howard Johnson's. I went to HoJo's once. I was not impressed. Blaah food and lousy service.
@@randilevson9547 it was great in the 60s. Family loved it. But we didn't visit it in the 80s.
When I was a kid, my father would take us to Victoria Station! That place was excellent and it should be on a list of the BEST restaurants of an era gone by. I have been a vegetarian for over 20 years. However, I can still remember how terrible the food was at The Sizzler; how mediocre it was at The Hickory Pit; and how delicious it was at Victoria Station when I was very young. Also, Howard Johnson's had the best late-night potato skins any teenager could wish for.
Wags was a Walgreens restaraunt, my sister worked at one in a Mall. Shakys is still in countries abroad.
"Nobody wants to eat at" - Never end a sentence with a preposition, folks.
I really miss the old, original Howard Johnsons.
Man, I loved HoJo's fried clams. Big time nostalgia for those.
Lost my virginity in a Howard Johnsons. By lost I mean basically begging any girl in my high school to take it. I feel I should add the HoJo had a motel component.
It was a treat for us growing up the fried clams were the best
Hojo's was a motel too. I remember traveling the east coast with my mom and her boyfriend and staying at Howard Johnsons. They had stationary in the rooms and I would insist on writing grammy about our trips. I found one of my letters in her things years later. 😢
Unfortunately when the founders of any business that they built into a success is either sold, becomes public traded, or taken over by their offspring decline and failure do to cheapening the product and or the service seems to be inevitable. I have a hard time understanding how someone can buy a highly successful company and not understand what got it there. Maybe the new owners have only greed in mind and the founder had vision?
It's stupefyingly monotonous same story:
Corporations acquire the chains, shareholders demand ever increasing profits/dividends (so their stock price increases).
However, traffic being the same/steady (only so many meals can be eaten per day) wages must be lowered, together with both quality and quantity, to satisfy the greed of the shareholders for increased profits.
It's ALWAYS the SAME result: Customers notice, and stay away, and the inevitable and usual outcome happens...
You'd think they would learn - but they don't.
Outback is next... Their quality has gone down also.
After a long hiatus, (being out of the US for a number of years) we went to Outback last week. We're not going back any time soon...
Steve Carrell should open his own fast food place called"The Office"....I'm sure he doesn't own the rights to that name, though.
I thought I was the only one that noticed that was s
Steve Carrel 😂
I worked at Victoria Station as a waiter. The Prime Rib was AMAZING!!!. I really enjoyed working there.
Back in the day both , Howard Johnsons and York were great back in the day. Another few missed restaurants are Ground Round, The Brown Derby, Arthur Treachers Fish and Chips, and Chi Chi's!😢
Ground Round was owned by Howard Johnsons. Also if you want Arthur
Treachers Fish and Chips, there is one still open in Cleveland Ohio (Rockside Rd and Turney Rd)
🍟
@roberth3793 They are re-opening The Arthur Treachers in Cleveland Heights! It was there from the 1970's until it closed. Right by Heights High School on Cedar Road!
Arthur Treachers have several venues on The Florida Turnpike.
No. No Arthur Treacher’s. I ate at one in Ohio in about 1996. I didn’t feel right until 2003. In actuality, my buddy and I ate there right before driving from Ohio to New York. It was a long ride.
Arthur Treacher was awesome
A hilarious note regarding the Steak and Ale that was near the corner of highway 60 and HS 19 in Clearwater, Florida: Not only did the restaurant close and the building torn down, but the land it had been on was dug out and turned into a retention pond. The same thing happened a little North of it, where an Arigato Japanese Steak House Restaurant was also replaced by a retention pond. Just tearing them down was not enough!
You've got to love those Gino's commercials. The husband made all the decisions, and the women knew their place. Jesus, were those days even real?!
Anyone Remember SIZZLER STEAK HOUSE? They had a Great Salad Bar which could be a meal itself..
H. Salt Fish and Chips, here in Canada. Lightly battered fish, and thick cut fries. They were relatively expensive for a takeout place, and therefore did not last very long. The f & c were really good, though.
H. Salt and Arthur Treachers Fish and Chips were expensive fast food so we never ate there but I always wanted to try the fish.
Seems all the closed restaurants have a common thread: when quality goes down and prices go up, customers go away. All we want is a good meal at a good price. Provide that and people will stay loyal.
I`ll admit, after watching this video I wish I could have the opportunity to go to each of these restaurants and eat there at least once, just to see how it`d be like in person.
Chi-Chi's was truly legend ,but Hepatitis A outbreak ruined them for good. I was truly love Seafood Mexican's Pizza, Carne Sada, Chile Con Queso, Seafood Nachos, and Chip & Salsa. I always ordered Dr. Pepper. Unfortunately, I can't remember how to make Seafood Mexican Pizza. I also remember Druther's (Burger Queen) in Danville, KY ,but I remember it's pretty good burgers.
Gino's was my very first restaurant job in High School. Shakey's Pizza, Arthur Trracher's, Lum's and Steak & Ale (Scratch & Sniff, lol) were all really great in their heyday.
Confucius say, "Do not eat at Chinese restaurant with pigeon coup on roof." 🙂
some of these places never heard of
Most I never heard of
You forgot Boston Market and kenny Rogers Roadters. Kennys, especially,was quite good. I never understood why theydidnt make it😮😮
Boston Market and Kenny Rogers would be the 1990's. Boston Chicken was founded late 80's ad started franchising in 1992. Kenny Rogers Roasters was founded in 1991.
Kenny rogers roasters did make it. They just didn't make it in the usa but they sold the chain to some company in asia. I have eaten there many times here in the philippines. It is not fine dining but it is decent quality food and much better than something like mcdonald. Anyway i think they have something like 250 locations in asia. Although i think almost nobody knows that this is named after some singer named kenny Rodgers. 😅
The Sambos in Santa Barbara, the first one, had a great breakfast. Shakey's was the bomb in the 60's. Their pizza was so good. My family would go to Disneyland and have a pizza at Shakey's on the way home. Disneyland food was expensive even back in the day.
Same here miss the time there after the beach
I loved Bennigans. It was a great sit down bar and restaurant. It closed in 2008. We went to Howard Johnson's on road trips with our grandparents. Good memories. We have the last Arthur Treachers right up the street. It's still good. Just as it was growing up. 😊
I worked at Chi-Chi's. Loved their chicken taco salad and shrimp fajitas.
Bennigans was garbage
I installed refrigeration equipment at several new Chi Chi’s in the south. They didn’t last long due to a recession and fierce competition from other Mexican restaurants. Never ate there so I had no clue if the food was any good.
You forgot about Burger Chef. But I can still feel the feeling of a pie shaped piece of Arthur Treachers fried cod fillet in my hand. That sht was good. Fast food was different Back then
Dude, that’s Bob Hope!! 😂😂
The entire list: "This restaurant eventually fell victim to a decline in quality and customer service...Which is nothing like how this next restaurant failed: This restaurant finally fell victim to a decline in quality and customer service..."
good to know, next time I enter my time machine to travel back to the 80's, I'll skip them...thanks!
It's such a shame that HoJo's never made it into space. Kubric missed the mark there! :)
Mrs. Garrett even worked at Howard Johnson’s in an episode of Facts of Life!
Ya left out Shoneys Big Boy. Which i remember being really good
There is still the original Bobs big boy in Pasadena CA.
@@swearenginlawanda outstanding!!
It was called Elias Bros. in MI
Our town, State College, Pennsylvania had a restaurant that was turned into an Elby's Big Boy from a drive in, A&W. My mom named her poodle, Elby. Couldn't stand that dog. She barked when I came home and when I tried to lie, no go. Naw she was ok.
I've eaten at Howard Johnson, Sambos, Bonanza, Bennigans, Shakey's, Chi Chi's, and Steak & Ale. Don't remember thinking any of them were bad food per se, average to slightly above average on most counts. Cafeteria style restaurants come to mind as well during the 70s and 80s like Furrs or Luby's, but I think those two chains made it well past 80s despite Luby's having the fourth worst mass shooting to date in the U.S. ...24 killed and 27 wounded in 12 minutes by two semi-auto pistols at a Killeen Texas Luby's in '91
Big surprise bad food at a restaurant kills the restaurant
I loved in the 80's that Pizza Hut had all you can eat pizza and salad bar for $5! As a college student I'd sit there for 2 hours and do my studies.
Up until the early 1990s Pizza Hut had a really good product. The original pan pizza was to die for. I wish somebody could sell a pizza like that again.
Most chain restaurants now serve crap, you've sat down, you've ordered, you've eaten their slop, now you must pay.
My mother absolutely loved Chi-Chi's, always ordering her Monterey Chicken enchiladas. About a year after we last went there, the Chi-Chi's about two miles from our home was the store that got smashed with the hepatitis A outbreak in Pittsburgh. Something about contaminated field onions from Mexico. We never went to Chi-Chi's again.
Nobody went to ChiChi's after that. They all closed down from all the lawsuits.
I loved Chi-Chi's too. My dad used to live near one and took us there a lot.
I remember a number of these but steak and ale sticks out. They had a bottomless beer ,wine and champange option. As a 22 year old at the time, I LOVED It!
The bread they brought you before the meal was excellent!..
20 Worst restaurants is really the 19 worst. I kept wanting around for number 20, and it never showed up.
Sambos name didn't affect me. They had good food and i never thought once it was racist. People that don't like a name, just go somewhere else. Is that hard for you to do? Don't destroy things for everybody else.
One of my favorite memories is eating at Sambos with my grandpa.
I grew up going to Howard Johnsons. Loved their buffet
Excellent work
My brother worked at Steak & Ale after graduation. He made bank and then he got on at DuPont. Pretty sure the restaurants mentioned had healthier food than the slop restaurants of today. Btw, Bennigans was the inspiration for that movie with the restaurant called "Shenanigans." Forgot the movie name. That Ryan Reynolds dude was in it, pretty sure. 😂😂
The movie is named “Waiting”. I was a cook at Bennigan’s starting in 1984 for four years. The food was never contaminated as it was depicted in the movie at least not on my shift, nor did I hear of anyone else ever doing that. The rest was pretty accurate.
What? No mention of Roy Roger's restaurants?!? Man, I used to love the double-R Bar burger! I make my own now, but it's just not the same. I like the fried chicken there too.
I remember Roy Rogers
Roy's was one of the very few fast food restaurants actually worth going to...
The Double R-Bar Burger is top tier... their fried chicken and when they started serving Hardee's breakfast really put them on top... 😋 👍... too bad they dropped off
Fast food or not, it seems a common reason for the demise of these eateries was a decline in quality. It happens over and over again where a restaurant tries to keep costs down rather than quality up and customers abandon them. When will they learn?
We had a much beloved, privately run restaurant in my hometown that was built from a closed Howard Johnson. The guy than ran it retired and closed it. But the quality of his food and service was top notch till the very last day. Most of these restaurants' reputation were in the sewer when they closed, but others go out in a blaze of glory and with a good name.
The food od the 80s was real. NO synthetics. Little preservative. No GMOs.
We had a place called Burger Chef when I was young.I don't know if it was a franchise or not.They would sell you your food and you would go to the condement bar and you would fix your burgers the way you like it.I've never seen that in any burger joint before or after them.There is now a dry cleaners at that location.Someone should bring that idea back.
My Mom really liked Arby’s roast beef! Howard Johnson’s was my favorite; their fried clams and ice cream. Most of these I’ve never heard of. Maybe because I grew up in NYC area. We went to locally owned diners and other one-of-a-kind restaurants.
I miss Bennigan’s Death by Chocolate.
That just flared a childhood memory!
YAAAAAASSSSS!!!
DBC was a pain in the ass to prepare, and as such was rarely prepared correctly. Prior to DBC they had a product called Brownie Bottom Pie that was made by Zarda, and it was superior to DBC.
Howard Johnsons? Sambo's? Shakey's? Arthur Treachers? Steak and ale? Whoever made this list wasn't alive in the 80's? The restaurants I listed were better than anything operating today short of high end restaurants like Ruth Chris. Howard Johnson's, Sambo's and Shakey were the best there ever was. They didn't go down because of the food but because of bad leadership choices. Shakeys used to put chocolate malt o'meal on the pizza pan that used to give the pizza an unbelievably good flavor, Steak and Ale are being reopened all over the country, they just opened another on close to me in Burnsville Minnesota. The last time we went on vacation we drove 200 miles out of our way to go to Arthur Treacher's and one of the last open Dogs and suds.
We went to the opening of Shakey’s Pizza in Saudi Arabia when we lived there in the 80s, any American food was highly sought after in those days before the internet, and international restaurant chains.
Was that Steve Carell in the Brewsters commercial?
Yes
I was reading through the comments to see if anyone caught Brick Tamlin there... 😆
I'm 59 and never heard of Bennigans. So not all 80's kids heard of it.
I still remember the mushroom gravy at York steak house. I'd pay alot of money for that recipe
Steak and Ale was great. I thought the separate room for the salad bar was cool. It was kind of dark in there which gave it a supper club feel.
Brewster's Chicken. THat was Steve Carrell in the commercial. Howard Johnsons in our area were dining and motels.
That's what I thought, too.
The photo you showed of Brewsters, is actually the Red Rooster in Pauling NY. They were popular for their ice cream. I've been there many times as a child.
I would KILL for a Bennigan's near me. My late wife LOVED their broccoli bites better than anything at any other restaurant. And NO, it was NEVER "fast food." It was a sit-down restaurant.
Arthur Treacher (TREE-cher) was better known by then as the "sidekick" of Merv Griffin, on his afternoon talk show. My first girlfriend worked at the Arthur Treacher's in Lakeland, FL, in 1973. I LOVED their "chips," which were like wavy steak fries.
I would also KILL for a Bonanza steak house near me. BTW, why did you put pictures of "Ponderosa" (a different steak house chain), in your Bonanza segment? OOPS!
I worked at the Burger Queen in Lakeland, Florida, in 1973. The mascot was "Queenie B" (a queen bee). Their jingle was "Follow Queenie B to Burger Queen for me."
Funny how many of these failed because food quality dropped. People get greedy and start cutting corners and then customers stop showing up. A prime example of what Steven Covey's P/PC balance.
The beginning of Brewster is actually a Browns chicken commercial! 😂😂😂 who made this video?
The "Wags" sign and storefront is not part of the chain restaurants listed here. It's in Frederick, Maryland and is known for their burgers. And they are still open!!
I remember going to Sambo's with my aunt and grandma. I remember there being a great big mural in the entry way. I can't remember exactly what it was, just that I thought it was pretty. It was located in Vallejo, Ca. Went to Shakey's for their lunch buffet.
Arby's is alive and well still.
I worked as a busboy at HJ in the 60's
I remember HOJO and the restaurants. They were a decent place to eat a meal.