Shitty chains that you don't know even know why they exist

Does this look good to you?

Boston Chicken is good

I love Boston Market, you monster. The meat loaf is to die for.

Long John Silver's is another!

Sizzler

Arby's.

I'm so old (38) that I remember when it was Boston Chicken.

The Cheesecake Factory.

Runner-Up: Arby’s

R5 - TBH they used to be pretty darn good back in the 1980s and up until the late 90s had good quality meat and veggies.

R8 - the endive, walnut, pear and gruyere salad (assuming they still have it) was the only thing I liked at Cheesecake Factory.

Yoshinoya.

Applebee's-- easily the worst of the TGI Fridays-Chilis-Applebee's trifecta.

Anyone remember Coo Coo Roo? They had one on Beverly Drive and I was a young 20 year old law clerk working next to my mom and we used to go for the creamed spinach and rotisserie chicken and saw Eartha Kitt there once a week.

Boston Market is for fat whores who have absolutely NO taste whatsoever. Their food is beyond awful. Anyone who eats there would eat shoe leather and like it.

I mean, I can see why someone would go to a greasy chain for something really decadent. But Boston Market is literally hospital cafeteria food with a salt lick's worth of sodium in it.

BJ Brewery - sorry but the food sucks yet the Beignets are off the charts but soooooo inauthentic.

Olive Garden!!

R14 - I have low sodium due to my seizure meds so I like it once in awhile.

R16 - that is the ultimate suburban fare.

R6/R8: But not all of us want to put on our technicolor apron and spend 4 hours cooking a sandwich!

What is Long John Silver's?

Subway and quiznos. Ick.

R19 - gay of the day award for that post. I bet however they were better tasting then...they still looked like labia, but I would try anything once.

R20: Why, Where America loves to Go Fish!

Panera is pretentious fast food.

Iwent to an IHOP once about four years ago, and the place was filthy. The food was all grease and sugar and gross. Runny eggs, undercooked bacon and the pancakes were too sweet. So I would definite;y include IHOP.

Yes to Olive Garden And Arbys. Ugh. And I will add Wendy's and Waffle House. No mater people in the South are dumb. THeir diets are gross.

R20 - I don't know but I would taste John's long anything even if it is silver...

Well, I personally have no use for Boston Market. I cannot eat meat off the bone; it's a life-long food prejudice. Cooking meats 'bone-in' produces a reek and a flavor that makes me hurl; in supermarkets, I cannot venture too close to where the rotisserie chickens are being cooked. Then there's also all the cartilage and stubborn connective tissue - just thinking of it makes me ill.

Long John Silver's is another matter, since theirs is damn near the only way I'll eat fish - boneless, battered, and deep-fried. Lots of malt vinegar, tartar sauce - Mmm-mmm!

R21: Oh come on! Wouldn't you like a toasty sandwich hawked by screaming rodents. This was a real commercial by the way....

Burger King -- awful burgers

They had 800 stores in the 1970's. They're down to seven: three in metro NYC and four in Ohio.

But at Olive Garden, the Best of Italy is yours!!!

R30: Never heard of them. As an aside, the IHOP by me has never done me wrong. But I am in Metropolitan Chicago, so maybe being up north makes it better? I don't know.

I don't like my sandwiches toasted, R28. Hated that innovation since it was introduced.

R33: BUT THEY HAVE A PEPPER BAR!!!!!!!

R27 - totally agreed about the rotisserie chicken. I don't know why I also feel that way. I will say that I have used the breast meat added to lemon orzo soup and it worked. Gelson's in a super high end Jewish grocery store that has good rotisserie chicken and so did Coo Coo Roo as the other poster noted but the rest....ewww. and this from someone who knows how to make broth from the bones and neck (makes the tastiest broth and soup base) and who can cook a whole bird.

R32 - very decent IHOP in Glendale California too but maybe it's all about management or area?

I always found Wendy's to be good food when I was younger. But I haven't been in years. Half the appeal was Dave Thomas and the spots he used to do.

Long John's is vile. It gives me the shits,.

How many here brought their entire Thanksgiving meal to go from Boston Market?

About 30 years ago I ate at Long John Silver's and it made me violently ill from both ends. Never touched it again.

I'm skipping the posts to tell you that I LOVE BOSTON MARKET! Their rotisserie chicken and their meatloaf is excellent.

KFC has the best mashed potatoes and gravy since mom made it for holidays.

Fuck you, OP

R27 I feel your pain.

Boston Market is for

people

with

NO

TASTE

Subway used to be good back in the 90's but now they only use fake meat.

[quote]Panera is pretentious fast food.

But it's CLEAN food!

Why get Boston Chicken when you can get Kentucky Fried? They Do Chicken Right!!!!

How they are still in business in 2020 is beyond me.

At IHOP I asked server if the pancakes had fresh blueberries. He said "blueberry compote." When I said "you mean blue glue" he burst out laughing.

R41: You go girl! You do you! FAT WHORES REJOICE!!!!!

All chains are shitty fucking slop machines. Why you sheep even eat there is beyond comprehension. Disgusting.

Well smell Miss R49!

Sonic is the one I don't understand. Great advertising campaigns, at least in the past. But the food is mediocre. I could the same stuff at Burger King or Hardee's. What's so special about Sonic?

Popeye's I understand why it's around, but it does my system a mischief. Too spicy for me. But when they opened one here a few years ago, there was a line of cars onto the street to get some.

I don't see how Boston Market can stay alive. Every grocery store in the country seems to sell rotisserie chicken now.

R52: That's the thing, your local (chain) grocer is going to put them out of business. Back in the 90s, it was much rarer for stores to offer meals like that, so they filled the niche. Now it's par for the course at any good deli.

[quote] They had one on Beverly Drive and I was a young 20 year old law clerk working next to my mom and we used to go for the creamed spinach and rotisserie chicken and saw Eartha Kitt there once a week.

R13 wins for the greatest run-on sentence ever.

R49 is one of those yuppies who pretends he only wats from Whole Foods salad bar while secretly driving down the freeway noshing on Cick File (so?).

There’s a Boston Market, Burger King, Arby’s and Taco Bell at one intersection near me. They all seem to be ghost towns every time I pass by, but still they persist. They seem like relics of days gone by at this point in time. I wonder if they’re fronts for a drug cartel or human trafficking or something.

I don't know anyone who doesn't eat at Taco Bell occasionally no matter how much they deny it. You just KNOW....

I can't stop eating Chipotle.

R48 Thank you! I'm getting a double order of mashed potatoes to celebrate!

IHOP - the one in Harvard Square where the breakfast wasn't bad, but I don't need to go back. I used to like Denny's when I was drunk -- I see people eating there when sober (me OR them) and don't quite get the appeal.. Oliver Garden was another one-off but the salad was very good and (as I wrote in another post) my brother worked at one and he said the kitchen was immaculate. Chili's is the worst.

I used to go to a central office for meetings every six weeks and my guilty pleasure was going to an out-of-the-way Wendy's on the way back to work. I would take my time, do crossword puzzles, read the papers, and go back to work to say the meeting went long and I was beat, so I'd go home. I miss those meetings.

Golden Corral. It’s a filling station for the masses after they shop at Walmart.

Is Black Angus still around? Was that only a California chain?

R62 - yeah but quality went down. Least in the SFV...used to be good.

Hometown Buffet is the official Hispanic all you can eat...sometimes it has good stuff but the rest...no way.

R38 and R40 - you lose your gay card if you can't take a bit of that for some of John's long anything?

Subway is vile.

R52, it's not just the chicken, it's also the sides. Like greasy macaroni and cheese and overcooked broccoli.

Not to divert the thread but anyone remember how Dr. Ben Carson said he was at a robbery at Pioneer Chicken while eating his bucket of chicken and kept on eating it?

Bill Maher contradicted a guest who said Carson wasn't "black enough" by quoting that story and saying being in an armed robbery situation at Pioneer Chicken and continuing too eat...doesn't get much blacker than that.

Starbucks food is usually ok, but their pastries are hard as doorknobs or just slabs of fat and sugar.

r58=Audra McDonald

[quote]Bill Maher contradicted a guest who said Carson wasn't "black enough" by quoting that story and saying being in an armed robbery situation at Pioneer Chicken and continuing too eat...doesn't get much blacker than that.

It would be blacker if he'd been at Church's Chicken. A black friend told me that if you see a Church's Chicken, it's bound to be in an area with a large black population.

Starbucks sandwiches are also hard. Hard food and bitter coffee should be their motto. I like the coffee, though.

Louis Vuitton

I love Boston Market. Whenever I make the trek to NYC I make sure to visit the BM on W 23rd St. Broadway and BM rotisserie chicken are my NYC traditions!

Oh honey R54, you must be new here. I’ve seen entire 100+ word paragraphs without any punctuation on the DL. The grammar trolls damn near lost their minds.

R13, I LOVED Koo Koo Roo. I would eat their chicken Ceasar salad all the time.

Is Denny's still around? They're worse than the IHOP.

Golden Corral, Krystals

Itchy’s

Auntie Anne's. What the fuck IS it, and why is it in every mall and airport?

Is there that much pent-up demand for pretzels?

R55 would eat a pile of shit if it was covered in cheese and was only $1.99.

R80, good one. I would add Hot Dog on a Stick, but assume it has its fans.

Applebee’s (Grossest of the chains)

In and Out (most overrated burger on earth and shitty fries).

Chik Fil A (not that great and homophobic)

Cracker Barrel (Kraft Mac and cheese, stove top stuffing and the like)

Captain Ds

The same person who types

"but it's my treat! my special treat! my little $3 splurge at McDonald's twice a week is my only splurge!"

is the same one that will pop on here in a few weeks to post the semi-monthly

"I need to lose 15 pounds in 5 days! Help!"

I, too, remember when Boston Market was Boston Chicken. It was actually pretty good. For a while, I would walk all the way over from my side of Dupont Circle to Connecticut and R, where it was located, something I had never done before for fast food.

Then McDonald's bought it and turned into Boston Crapfest.

All fast food is gross. I'll eat Taco Bell maybe twice a year. I always regret it. The rotisserie chicken at my grocery store is 100% better than Boston Market

ihop is revolting. Subway is the worst. The meat is sliced in some factory and trucked to the stores. By the time you get it, the meat has been sliced and sitting around for days. The bread is good, but the meat is old lunch meat that's just about on the last day of expiration. And it's such low quality meat

I'd rather eat at home. Leftovers or a homemade flatbread pizza is so much better. If you have to grab something quick, Wendy's is okay.

R79 - not after that hook up at the mall.

When I eat Taco Bell I throw up. Always.

Checkers. Disgusting.

R89 - You're implying you've eaten there more than once.

If you vomited the first time, why go back for a return visit?

R82 - used to see the Kardashians (Kris and her 2 youngest $ pups) at the one in the Westfied Topanga there like 8 years ago. They really are food retards. They consistently would eat at the crappiest places on Ventura Boulevard and buy the worst crap in the supermarkets. Former Bruce was always eating protein bars with iced tea at the Coffee Bean and staring into space. They supposedly were generous with the tip cups.

I love fast food

R91 - insanity and convenience.

R80 - Cinnabun is another one but kinda good too.

There's a Long John Silvers I drive past occasionally. No cars in the parking lot ever. I wonder if it's for money laundering.

Panda...greasy but their orange chicken (probably not chicken) is like candy. I kind of like it sometimes.

Did someone mention Long Dong Silvers?

R60 The Denny's on the Sunset Strip was open 24/7 and when I was a young punk rocker in the 80's, we would go there drunk after the later show at the Whiskey or The Starwood. Fun times!

I had my wallet stolen at a club in Manhattan a a few years ago, and it turned out my debit card was used at the IHOP in Harlem and the charge was some $80 and change. The cops were laughing at how someone could spend so much money at an IHOP.

Fuck you, Long John Silver's and Arthur Treacher's haters! Every time I go back to Ohio I eat at one or both. That's childhood relived for me and I look forward to it.

My daughter wanted to try Arby's a few weeks ago. It was as salty and tasteless (but for the Horsey Sauce) as always, but I enjoyed it and was happy about the nostalgia.

In my view, Red Lobster is shitty and pretentious. Nothing there does not arrive frozen. They overcharge for "fresh seafood" that is thawed and fried or grilled.

What's the chain for which Dorit does the decorating?

That one

Do any DL Queens remember Ground Round?

We went there in the 1970's. A man would walk around twisting balloons into different creatures while you were waiting for your meal. Their food was mediocre.

Boston Market (Chicken) used to be somewhat decent decades ago. They also had a really good rotisserie chicken sandwich on a fresh crusty role with fresh vegetables. I used to like swing by their drive through for lunch.

R30- My parents went to Arthur Treachur's Fish And Chips in the 1970's and enjoyed the food. Unfortunately they got very sick that night.

Boston Market I loved during college days. The sides: baked beans, corn bread, etc.

Carl's Jr. tasted awful to me.

A sandwich on a "role"?

Hahahaha!

R106 Never eaten at one of their restaurants but I know their TV dinners are gross.🤢

Piccadilly Cafeterias. They’ve closed most of them but there are still a few hanging on. The average age of their customer base was about 80 ten years ago when I last was in one, so I guess they’ve been continuously dropping like flies ever since. My parents loved the steam-table cafeteria concept, but it’s lost it’s appeal for younger people who aren’t as enthusiastic about eating liver and onions or getting to choose which color of jello they want for dessert.

Piccadilly Cafeterias. They’ve closed most of them but there are still a few hanging on. The average age of their customer base was about 80 ten years ago when I last was in one, so I guess they’ve been continuously dropping like flies ever since. My parents loved the steam-table cafeteria concept, but it’s lost it’s appeal for younger people who aren’t as enthusiastic about eating liver and onions or getting to choose which color of jello they want for dessert.

I feel like I see fewer Applebees and I think that's a good thing.

Del Taco

My grandparents would take us to Arthur Treacher’s all the time. I loved putting vinegar on fries and loved how silly they would get with us.

R11 Dirt poor for two years of grad school I only ate once a day at the Yoshiniya’s right off campus — a large beef. I kept adding piles of bright pink ginger as I ate to stretch it out. Now whenever I’m back in LA I get one for old time’s sake.

Subway has always been the blandest of the bland. When I learned their bread had sawdust in it, it didn't surprise me.

And Jimmy John's baffles me. I mean, it's literally all the shit I can make for myself at home in 30 seconds.

[quote] Fuck you, Long John Silver's and Arthur Treacher's haters! Every time I go back to Ohio

Ah, sometimes the mysteries solve themselves.

(All jokes aside, I thought all the Treacher's closed down years ago)

R13 Yes to Koo Koo Roo in the late 90s.

WeHo by home and Mid-Wilshire by work.

Weho is a Shake Shack now. Not sure about Mid-Wilshire location as I no longer live in LA.

I haven't had any in over 15 years but when I did it was delicious. Everything they had was delicious, the chicken, meatloaf, baked ham, and other mains and just about every side dish and the desserts. I have no idea what the quality is these days but it was one of mine and my dad's favorites back in the day. Very high in sodium though. I remember that.

Stonefire Grill is great.

Stonefire Grill....HATED working with fat conservative women in the burbs because, instead of a nice Persian place with fresh salads and grilled chicken marinated in turmeric, the cunts wanted to eat there and I was the oddball from LA.

Cold Stone Creamery. Who wants their ice cream kneaded up, texture ruined, cheap candies mixed throughout?

Actually, r119, Coldstone is even worse without the mix-ins. Absolutely no flavor whatsoever, besides "sweet."

R120 And 'sweet' is bad?

OP, were you ever poor? I survived on ketchup soup and saltine crackers. Ketchup was free in NYC automats, made soup with free hot water. God bless the 'Saltine' company...their crackers were free and added salt to the soup.

I'm too old for this shit.

This thread is suddenly even more depressing than before.

While time traveling, though, where did you get your loosies back then R122?

R123 - on the upside, a lot of these crappy chains now offer a healthy alternative so even Taco Bell and Chili's has a novelty option. Chili's chicken margherita breast is pretty good.

McDonald's owns this thread

R122 - why not just make a hardboiled egg and add to Ramen for protein and some carrots and frozen spinach? I did that and I was not poor, just in a hurry with work and an MBA. Wal Mart had those veggies cheap. Potatoes and yoghurt with some chives and butter were great too.

R125 - yet about 99 percent of us eat it at least once a year whether we admit it or not...it's like Taco Hell...we all do it, but we are "closeted".

R127 statistically you are wrong. In the US 47% of the people eat there once a year or more. 53% do not eat there ever.

I don't know why ANYbody would spend money at an Auntie Anne's, ESPECIALLY if they've ever been to a WETZEL'S.

Try Norms...you'll love it. Quaint 24-hour diner.

[quote]I make the trek to NYC I make sure to visit the BM on W 23rd St. Broadway and BM rotisserie chicken are my NYC traditions!

Please stop saying "BM."

Golden Corral! My poor great aunt who was in failing health picked that place. I was visiting and said I'd take her out for dinner anywhere she'd like to go. It was like being in a Zombieland of WalMart shoppers--but they were all eating! I've never seen so many fat people in my life. The all you can eat concept didn't stop them from piling their plates 6 inches high! IT was inedible.

Whatever happened to Sambo's?

I remember as a kid they had the cutest little knick knacks for decoration.

Is California Pizza Kitchen still a thing? I haven't seen or heard about one in years.

[quote] Is there that much pent-up demand for pretzels?

Wow. I don't think I've had a pretzel since the '90s...

Texas Roadhouse. Their food is way too salty. You might as well pour an entire bottle of salt into your mouth and call it dinner. It would basically be the same thing.

Hardee’s

r122 I feel like I missed out by never having been to an automat. Although I'm old, by the time I made it to the east coast (the '80s) they were all gone.

Sambo's still exists-- they have one remaining restaurant (the original) in Santa Barbara. And it was just in the news because they were CANCELED and finally agreed to change their name.

R71, funny you should mention that. I read an article about Church's Chicken yesterday. It said they went into the areas KFC wouldn't. That's why they are mostly in poor black neighborhoods.

Subway! Shitty sandwiches with nothing that resembles genuine meats. All bread and vegetables. My husband's father used to joke about bad restaurants, "The food is terrible and they don't give you enough of it."

Such a novel joke, R141.

I have to admit I love Auntie Anne’s pretzels. But each one is like a Big Mac in calories - they slather it with butter. But carbs, butter and salt are my addictions - not sugar.

The Coon Chicken Inn.

Something about the place was just off.

I'll also add a black ball in the bowl for IHOP. It's bland and bad food - and it's NOT cheap! It's just eggs, toast or pancakes, yet it's hard to get out of there for under $15 per person. Runny eggs, cheap bread for the toast, ho-hum has browns - I just don't get it.

And I've tried Olive Garden 4 times over the years, thinking that maybe I just had bad experiences. Expensive, salty, no real flavor. It really boggles my mind. I could see maybe if you live in some smaller town in a red state and there are no good Italian restaurants around. But these places are popular in and out of BIG CITIES - where there are literally hundreds of real Italian restaurants.

And don't get me started on the endless breadsticks, soup and salad. Tasteless pieces of dough plunged in butter, iceberg lettuce with a suggestion of carrot, and watery soup. ALL YOU CAN EAT! I don't want a single bite of any of that shit.

You can get fresh steamed veggies, greens and brown rice at Panda. I like the Kung pao chicken and they have calorie counts of everything. McDonalds survives on the basis of its fries. Culver's isn't bad.

I've given up on Chipotle and stopped eating at Wendys, Subway and Popeye when I was no longer broke. Panera doesn't strike me as a good value. Einstein's Bagels is dark, dirty and depressing. No compelling reason for Starbucks. Dunkin Donuts I equate with desperation.

R122, Olive Garden tastes like ketchup soup poured over mushy pasta...

R4 - I really like Long John Silvers but there are not many left. It is not bad for fast food.

A Jennifer Aniston film followed by lunch or dinner at the Olive Garden. Equivalent to an orgasm for some frauen.

R30 - In Florida Arthur Treacher's Fish & Chips merged with Nathan's Hotdogs. Both eateries are under one roof.

[quote]In and Out (most overrated burger on earth and shitty fries)

This may be the truest thing I've ever read on DL.

There was an Arthur Treacher's in the food court at Baybrook Mall in Houston back in the 90s. I loved their chicken strips and they had the best honey-mustard dipping sauce.

Chili's had great burgers when it was only the original restaurant on Greenville Ave in Dallas. Back then, the menu was just burgers, fries, tacos and chili. They knew what they wanted to do and they did it well. The Chili's of today barely resemble the original.

R143 Sugar is carbohydrate.

It didn't work, but they tried. This one was at 1089 Rutland Rd in Brooklyn

There was an Obama Fried Chicken and Pizza at 110th St. at Nicholas Ave in Manhattan, too.

r138 Automats were a real treat when I was growing up. Usually every shopping trip downtown included a stop there for lunch. They were famous for a lot of nostalgic foods: Chicken potpie, baked macaroni, Navy bean soup, meatloaf, creamed spinach, rice and tapioca puddings, Harvard beets, baked beans, stewed tomatoes and various baked goods( babka, pies of all kinds especially lemon meringue and huckleberry, apple dumplings, egg custard et al) People thought their coffee was outstanding, when you were at the automat it was dispensed from a big silver spout embedded in a marble wall(you put in your coins, turned a big silver handle and out it came) Real cream for the coffee used to come in small glass containers, just about thumb-sized. Their motto was :"Less Work for Mother."

Operating the little windows where you got your food was the best treat for a kid. You put coins in a slot, turned a knob and the little window sprang up so you could get what you paid for. If you looked carefully through the open window, you'd see a nice lady reloading what you just removed. The film "That Touch of Mink" has a delightful scene between Doris Day and Audrey Meadows, their dialogue takes place via one of the little windows.

Thank you for mentioning the Automat, it was a nice stroll down Memory Lane.

R154, that sounds wonderful.

r154 Bronzie, did they have automats in Philadelphia, or did you have to go to New York?

I know this thread is aobut SHITTY food but I wanted to mention a sandwich chain that's pretty good- NJ Mikes Subs.

Yeah, r157. I went to a Jersey Mike's last year. It didn't suck. The food was good and the employees were pleasant. I had the number four (#4), no onions.

r155 I'm all verklempt. I got shpilkes.

r156 At the height of their popularity we had FIVE Horn & Hardart's in CC Philly. There were automats at 8th and Chestnut, behind Gimbel's, one at 11th and Chestnut(where they also had cafeteria and also waitress service) IIRC, there was one West of Broad Street. There was an H&H opposite City Hall, you had to go below street level to access, which made it easier for the people who came to CC on the subway.

New Jersey Mikes is good overall but their biggest sandwich size is pretty expensive. I paid about $16 for the jumbo sandwich. Their sandwiches are FAR better than Subway. Yes R158 their employees are pretty nice too.

R157/R158: YES! Jersey Mike's is probably the best chain for sub sandwiches now. Get the SuperSub, it's provolone, ham, prosciuttini, and cappacuolo. On Rosemary Parmesan bread.

Eating at Yoshinoya in Japan is superb. In the US, Yoshinoya is crap.

r161 Haven't heard of pru-zoo-teen in years. It's been a real nostalgic food day today.

For some reason whenever I have a colitis or IBD flare-up the only fast food I can tolerate are McDonald's cheeseburgers and I am usually a health nut.

The Yoshinoya drive thrus in LA got me through UCLA, however.

Crown Chicken is a guilty pleasure. Especially the meat pies and air fried chicken or fish. They only seem to be in big cities on the East Coast. They supposedly cook halal. But their collard greens are so salty.

[quote]Jersey Mikes is good overall but their biggest sandwich size is pretty expensive. I paid about $16 for the jumbo sandwich.

Good god, R160! Jersey Mike's biggest sandwich could feed two or three people. How much of a fat whore are you?

Sad that apparently none of you live in a city with local restaurants.

I like Boston Market well enough, although the chain appears to be circling the drain. Or at least that's the case here in the Chicago area, where more than half of its restaurants have closed in just the past couple of years.

R167, I was in my local Jersey Mike's last year. 3 tall, but thin high school boys each ordered their own Giant sub. They were chowing down and LOVING it! But you're right. It's pretty much a sandwich that feeds 3 or more people.

I have ONE Blimpie's left near me (by the Rockaway Townsquare Mall in Morris County, NJ). It's in a convenience store but they still freshly sliced the cold cuts for the BB (Blimpie's Best). It brought back some nostalgia and tasted pretty much the same.

Does Dairy Queen really need to exist snymore?

So in essence, all chains are shitty since EVERY chain has been mentioned. You are all a bunch of lying cunts who eat at all these places but then deny it. Gimme a break.

California Pizza Kitchen.

DQ has gone downhill.

I wasn't a big soft serve fan but it was a decent option and if you had a store that also sold burgers, etc. those were solid (if not the best burger in existence). They grilled their burgers and they were better than, say, McD's. You could get a meal and a Blizzard for under ten bucks.

But in the last five years or so, I can tell they have cut quality significantly.

[quote] So in essence, all chains are shitty since EVERY chain has been mentioned.

Well, Mary, the title of the thread does ask, "Shitty CHAINS"

Boston Market serves some healthy meals.

I have no idea how Pizza Hut exists in New York and the New York burbs. There's good semi-good pizza parlors all over the place where I live, however Pizza Hut remains on Central Ave in Yonkers. WTF? I don't even know how to describe their shitty "pizza," I don't know how they can even call it pizza.

Up further on Central Ave is a Boston Market. No one is ever in there. I went in out of curiosity. Asked the clerk something specific about an item, and he gets out the menu and READS it to me. No wonder why no one is ever in there. The photo of one of their meals posted above - it looks like a Swanson TV Dinner. No thanks!

r171 If it didn't, where would I get my Hawaiian Blizzard(pecans added, please)?

R154 - thanks for all the details of the Automat, my parents, especially my dad would talk about how much they liked them growing up in the 40s & 50s. Dad said he was most impressed by the guy who would give you a handful of 20 nickels for your dollar just by feel, not counting then out. He also loved the coffee dispenser as you described it - the spout was shaped like a Roman dolphin head.

R138 - my parents took us to the last one in NYC around 1980 - it was on the corner of East 42nd and 3rd I think. The food wasn’t as good as it had been, but it was a great experience. Most of the NYC automat locations became Burger Kings in the 70s.

R122 - I’ve read that the free automat “tomato soup” was a common thing during the depression, and I assume beyond for those who were hard up. Lucille Ball talks about how she ate that when she was a struggling model in NYC, and her “one donut man” trick; she’d look for someone who had ordered two donuts and a coffee but left the counter without eating their second donut — she would slide into the seat, use the nickel tip to order a coffee and eat the remaining donut.

If things like pot roast, roast chicken and mashed potatoes are your comfort food and you never learned to make them yourself I can see wanting to swing by Boston Chicken Market. But I always found their food pretty bland.

Denny's. I finally went to one in Pittsburgh last year. Just, No!🤭

R181 what were you expecting? and honestly some of these chains do vary in quality due to management, upkeep, cooks, location and just ones own personal liking to wanting their way. some of these joints can be the best when you're in a pinch, broke, on the road doing a cross country trek, drunk/high.

r179 Oh yeah, the Nickel Lady(invariably large-bosomed, middle-aged females) Her fiefdom was an oval, marble kiosk, surmounted by clear glass panels, one rounded side had a series of shallow depressions in it, which is where the nickels were strewn for the customer to pick up.

H&H must've cornered the marble market back then, it was everywhere, even the floors were marble. Easy to clean and lasted forever.

The free automat tomato soup was possible because at each table(most were sit-downs, but there were always a few tall, small diameter stand-at tables) was a glass and chrome ketchup bottle, the same style bottle was used to hold sugar.

R179, I went to the last Automat, it was at 40th or 41st and 3rd, in 1989 or 1990. Terribly disappointed with the food, the sliced "chicken" in the sandwich was that gelatinous garbage you can find in packs in the grocery store.

There's a California Pizza Kitchen on Central Ave, it's always packed with children and grandmothers. Perhaps it serves the purpose that Howard Johnson's did for me when I was a kid (it was also on Central Ave). I've had a few salads and sides at CPK, don't know what the other food is like. It was okay, sometimes good, it's the inflated PRICES I can't stand. But I can see why they're still in biz.

So Jersey Mike's is a go? There's a newish one on Central Ave in Hartsdale, and I thought it was another Subway. Maybe I'll try it.

Slightly off topic - do any of you Westchester people remember Tung Sing on Central Ave in Hartsdale? It was one of the only Chinese restaurants around until the late 1970s, then the Wok places took over. Hunan Garden was terrific (near the original Carvel), there was a 20 min wait for a table unless it was Rosh Rashanah. .

Arby’s, McDonald’s, Wild Wings, Wendy’s, TGIF Fridays’s.....all of them

Jersey Mike’s is MUCH better than Subway, in my opinion.

Shake Shack - the lower level of GCT reeks of grease now.

I'm feeling slighted.

R184: Jersey Mike's slices the meat in front of you on the old back-and-forth meat slicer thingy. It's not per-packaged like Subway. You'll love it!

R170: Oh, to be 16 and be able to eat whatever. I miss that metabolism. By the way...where the boys good looking at least?

I loved Howard Johnson's when I was a kid. Our parents hated it but knew it was kid-friendly.

I find the Shake Shack on Central Ave (where else) near where Turcos used to be pretty good. It's 100%+ better than something called Westchester Burger Co. WBC can't be called a chain I guess because there's only a few, but it's beyond gross. Everything is overcooked crap, and it's always empty. They need an intervention.

[quote]Denny's. I finally went to one in Pittsburgh last year. Just, No!

If you have to eat at a chain in Pittsburgh go to King's. They're much better. But avoid Eat n Park like the plague.

only dumb cunts and karens go to chains

Boston Chicken became a thing because the comfort food they served appealed to lots of people (Boomers) who weren't in the mood for fast food, and who didn't have the time or inclination to make it themselves. Roasting a chicken and making 2 or 3 side veg is a moderately messy, complicated affair. Your range will be fired up for a couple hours. Then you have to clean the greasy roasting pan and the dinner dishes.

As with everything in capitalism, it got reduced to its lowest acceptable quality and highest prices. The chickens are the size of guinea pigs. The sides vary wildly in appeal, with the more popular ones now providing additional profit in the form of surcharges. Several forays into higher margin items (ribs, prime rib) haven't been doing very well, because the customer base for fast-casual chains is usually looking for something reasonably priced and doesn't want to pay $20+ to eat prime rib in a dining area that looks like a hospital cafeteria.

PANERA BREAD

IF you think CPK salads are bad, you've never had Panera's. Everything's frozen at Panera until they heat it up. The tuna salad is made with some greasy shit I cannot identify. Soup stays on the heat for hours, I once had a chicken noodle where the noodles had actually MELTED. Several years ago they sold a summer lobster salad sandwich. Lobster was frozen, okay, but no one instructed the worker to remove the grizzle from the eatable meat before adding the mayo. And they charged $16.

R179- The last Automat in NYC was on the Upper East Side and it closed in 1989.

[quote]Cold Stone Creamery. Who wants their ice cream kneaded up, texture ruined, cheap candies mixed throughout?

And then they have the nerve to be expensive as hell. Went there once and that was enough. Ice cream from the grocery store is better than that shit.

R184- Then you must remember BICKFORD'S on Central Ave across from Scarsdale Ford. It's now a Walgreen's

I loved Bickford's Apple Pancakes. It was the size of a smallish pizza. Bickford's closed in 1976.

[quote] I've given up on Chipotle and stopped eating at Wendys, Subway and Popeye when I was no longer broke. Panera doesn't strike me as a good value. Einstein's Bagels is dark, dirty and depressing. No compelling reason for Starbucks. Dunkin Donuts I equate with desperation.

The most Datalounge paragraph in history.

R184 If you’re near Central Ave, give Siam Thai a try!

Starbucks still has good drinks. Their pastry is terrible, though.

Dunkin Donuts...the one near me always has crazy people who park their asses there al day...but there was a time (80s and before, I guess) when the donuts were actually good! They used to have one shaped like a Q that was the Dunkin Donut. Very simple and nice texture, not too sweet. I remember having it as a child.

Perkins

r201 I miss those Q-shaped donuts as well, the crust was yummy and it had a built-in handle for dunking. A nice, simple and as you said not too sweet pastry. I don't know why the heck they got rid of them, it had to be the cheapest donut to make.

r196 I don't remember when Philly's last Automat closed, but the company that occupied the building soon after mounted a few rows of the little windows in one of their big picture windows. There were always people taking photos of the display, or explaining just what the Automat was.

"Backward, turn backward, O Time, in your flight....."

R194: It was also the anti-KFC. KENTUCKY FRIED Chicken is unhealthy and Southern. If you want good, healthier Northern chicken, then you want BOSTON ROTISSERIE Chicken. That was clearly the pitch. But then it became market because they were pushing turkey, ham and prime rib and all that jazz.

KFC briefly tried 're-branding' themselves as Kitchen Fresh Chicken during the Atkins diet/health craze years in the mid-00s.

It didn't work.

KFC is so expensive now. ugh!

Does anyone remember Ted Turner Montana Grille? They started off pretty strongly...good entrees and somewhat reasonable prices. I’d make my bosses take me there for Administrative Professional Day. Up until 2011, when they closed down after a few years of increasing mediocrity. Then one day....POOF!

WHET to Kenny Rogers Roasters? It was much better than Boston Market.

r208 Go ask Kramer.

Ruth Chris.

What crap.

I haven't had a good experience with a BM in years. Runny red sauces, hard rolls, salty chicken and salty everything. A friend loved to eat BMs and I went along with it but every bite was just not worth it. Like reheated, predigested TV dinners. So quit acting like eating from the BM menu is excusable. It's all crap of different colors and you're tasting it for two days after.

Panther Coffee.

More expensive than Starbucks.

But the coffee is even worse.

And the decor is two steps down.

Don't know if it's still there, but there used to be an automat display in the National Museum of American History (part of the Smithsonian, in DC.) They took an entire panel of windows and set it up in their restaurant.

Koo Koo Roo's thunder got stolen by El Pollo Loco. And same goes, in a way, for Boston Market.

R201 The donuts at DD used to be good because they made them fresh in each store. Now they just set out stuff that gets delivered; even the “eggs” in the breakfast sandwiches are pre-made and just reheated. If you’re old enough you may remember the “it’s time to make the donuts” spot.

R215 I'm old enough to remember DD had counters and a cup of coffee was ten cents.

R195 has no life

So many fat whores

R215- Make the donuts , Make the donuts.- At the end of the commercial the announcer would say-Made Fresh Daily.

NOT ANYMORE

R172 - bs...we admit we eat it even when we are fat or vomit it right back up.

Some of these chains simply went out of fashion. IMO, people deny that they liked the chain just because it's now out of fashion.

R217 - oh please, you are on a thread about shitty chains of crap food like everyone else including R195...call out other people when you can discuss fine dining oo the Champs Elysee.

You notice how Mexican food themed chains are not really being mentioned. Cuz those spices mask everything...

Sorry. I thought I might have something to say here.

I would rather support great local restaurants, but there were two chains that, when I had them about 15-20 years ago, seemed to be really decent, or at least I was eating at a location run by a good franchisee.

They were Qdoba and Quizno's.

But either my tastes have changed since, or they have cut corners, because I've had both in the last year or so and they are both terrible, sadly.

R98 not the sisters at R38 and R41 who complain of anything long in either end.

I love Boston Market. Dinner for 3 for $28.

Well, yeah, if your idea of dinner is salty chicken and macaroni and cheese that doesn't taste as good as Kraft from the box...

When I came out to Romania I was amazed at how Pizza Hut was good and sophisticated, had a full bar, modernist decor and a nice view. In fact, I think the lack of hormones, fillers, and artificial crap makes KFC, McD, and Subway taste way different than back home. Obviously, there are 10K ingredients that are illegal in the EU that are commonly used to process food in the US.

Qdoba is the poor man's Chipotle.

Moe’s is the poor man’s Qdoba

[quote]IF you think CPK salads are bad, you've never had Panera's. Everything's frozen at Panera until they heat it up.

My one-and-done visit to Panera Bread involved a bowl of salad, the bottom of which was brown iceberg that actually had ice crystals on the leaves.

Cafe Rio is the Mormon Moe’s.

I guess White Castle is good enough to not have been mentioned yet?

The ONLY thing to EVER get at IHOP is the Cinnastack pancakes (or now Mexican Churro pancakes)

They are delicious.

Make sure they put the cinnamon goop in between each pancake and don't let them forget the cream cheese icing.

You don't even need syrup.

DO NOT POLICE MY FUCKING SYRUP INTAKE, R235!

R196, I believe that was a Horn and Hart, but it was not an Automat. I ate there in 1988.

R198, no, I don't remember Bickfords! I do remember an IHOP there in the 1960s. A Ground Round in the 70s. There was a Charlie Browns around there, or maybe it was further down in Yonkers...a few greasy diners too, a place called Mont something, I knew people who would go to the bar in the 70s/80s.

In the 60s I used to go to the five and dime Kresge's next to Korvette's (where Shop Rite is now), on Central Ave in Yonkers, and had what they called a submarine sandwich, never heard of it. Cold cuts with L&T and oil and vinegar - looooved it! It was a treat my mother let us have once and a while. And speaking of treats, you must remember the original Carvel, near Four Corners on Central Ave in Hartsdale. It used to have an ice cream cone figure on top of the building. Anyway, there was a fast food take out place attached that sold milk shakes and little hamburgers pre-loaded with ketchup, pickles and chopped onion. The wrapper said Hubie Burgers. A kid's delight! This was before McDonalds opened around here.

Sure, R200, thanks. Funny, that space has been a Thai restaurant for decades and decades – before those kinds of restaurants existed around here. I’ve driven past it for years…never ate there because of the lack of parking.

Not food related, but I hope you remember Shoe King Sam, an indie shoe store where the shoes were in a bin with the laces tied to keep the pair together - across the street from Carvel. I went there in the 60s, but they could have been around since the 40s for all I know.

[quote]In the 60s I used to go to the five and dime Kresge's next to Korvette's (where Shop Rite is now), on Central Ave in Yonkers, and had what they called a submarine sandwich, never heard of it. Cold cuts with L&T and oil and vinegar - looooved it!

We had those in New Jersey—north Jersey, that is—and I looooved them, too. Still do. I live in Pittsburgh now, and for years, it was impossible to find a cold sub here. They would bake them here and call them hoagies.

Now you can get regular subs at most places, including mom & pops. I can even get one at the local chain supermarket—well, I could pre-corona at least—but for years, the baked "hoagie" version was your only choice.

R237 - W.T. Grants had the same type of lunch counter. My grandmother took me there one day a bought me my fist Club Sandwich. It is still the best Club Sandwich I ever had. Really good traditional Club Sandwiches are very difficult to find.

Boston Market (née Chicken) is very tasty!

R238 I grew up in Pittsburgh and never realized it but I guess you are right, I can't really remember cold subs ever being available when I was a kid. I loathe Subway but I guess they brought that idea into the area.

Hoagies seemed to be more bar food or something a pizza place offered, so they were always warmed/baked. And usually more of an Italian (I mean, Eye-talian) thing, so very much with those kinds of meats, salami, pepperoni and the like, maybe a meatball hoagie, but you'd never see a turkey or tuna sub, etc. and chicken only if it was chicken parm.

I didn't know they were called something other than "hoagies" until I was an adult!

Glad some of you had good luck at lunch counters, but let me be clear - the subs I had at age 8 at Kresge's was pretty lame. It was good only because I was a kid and had never had one before and was used to my mother's awful bologna or olive loaf on white with mayo lunches.

R189, the boys were cute but tall and lanky with no muscle definition. They were probably eating the Giant subs to gain weight.

R201, that was actually called a Dunkin Donut. That's why it had the little handle. They were my go-to when I would stop there during an early morning drive to a client site. I also used to like their Coffee Roll. Sadly, neither the DD or CR have any flavor now. I do prefer DD over Starbucks coffee and only drink decaf. Starbucks always tastes burnt to me. Maybe because they don't serve much decaf?

KFC in the US is disgusting. It’s much better in other countries. The worst chain is Panera Bread. Tasteless crap. And it’s not “clean food”.

More Central Avenue: has anyone eaten at the Candlelight Inn? I used to know the Traceys who owned it, have no idea who does now. At one time, Central Ave was almost completely barren except for a few tiny shopping strips - and the Candlelight Inn.

Is the Candlelight Inn part of a shitty chain, or is it shitty all by itself?

R237- Do you remember DAIRY MAID it was on Mamaroneck Avenue in White Plains. You could make your own sundae's there. It was fun going there when I was a kid in the 1970's but I don't think any of their food tasted particularly good.

R245- I remember the Candle Light Inn in the 1980's- Abandoned and kind of tipping over. Was it a bar/restaurant. Was it also an Inn?

[quote]You could make your own sundae's there.

Oh, dear.

Candlelight Inn

i'll tell you what I've observed. Contractors, guys who work construction, home renovations, agricultural workers, etc. all of them are fast food and jun eaters. I same a roofing contractor and his team subsist on Orange soda pop and McDOnalds for 6 days.

R251, gasp!

I think I need a translator.

R252 made me laugh.

R250- I was referring to a building that was on Central Avenue near Hartsdale Avenue. I only remember it being abandoned.

Island's Restaurant is pretty much a 90's relic...I had a hostess job there at 17 and they made us wear Hawaiian shirts, khaki shorts and white socks with white tennis shoes. They had these vegetarian tacos that were super good though and the chicken teriyaki ones with pineapple were ok. I could have eaten anything back then and stayed thin as a rail.

There’s several recipes online that claim to mimic the taste of KFC... I love their chicken. It’s better than Popeye’s. But the latter has rice and beans that are out of this world...

R257 - they have these breast pieces that are in a spicy batter out here in Europe...left some in the box overnight and no grease. Am starting to understand why people aren't so fat here.

R40 OMG, not from both ends, now that is vile.

R75 Good Lord, that’s unacceptable

R251 here. Sorry for all the typos. But I do want to emphasize that the construction workers and hourly workers, day laborers, etc. have terrible nutrition and very bad teeth. They end up with untreated injuries on the job, they eat maybe once a day. I've seen them start working at 7 AM and not take a break to eat until 2-3, and then it is junk food. That's what keeps these shitty fast food chains open.

These are the working poor and they're everywhere in the Southern states. I come from the industrial midwest and I had no idea how much better shape the auto workers, etc were in. The standard of living in the North, thanks to collective bargaining that gave people a decent wage and healthcare benefits really made a difference. The Republicans have lowered the standard of living for the average worker so much you cannot avoid noticing it.

All the good chains have gone to pot. And that was before Covid.

It’s like a war zone out there

The grammar troll has given up on me altogether.

r263 Sweetie even St. Jude (patron saint of lost causes) would give up on you.

R255, north corner at four corners - the original building burned down in the 1960s. Later they rebuilt, it was last a furniture store, then a Duane Reade. It's been empty for several years, Nothing to do with the Candlelight Inn which is south.

R265- No . I'm not talking about the empty former Duane Reade building. This was on the same side where the Excercise Equipment store in the converted gas station is.

I remember frequenting an Arthur Treacher on 6th Avenue near 8th Street many years ago. I always felt queasy after dining there but kept returning. The recycled oil was oddly intoxicating.

Some of the best middle eastern food I've had, comes from gas stations. A lot of gas stations are owned by Middle Eastern families, and they open up a food court type operation (very modest) inside the gas stations, and you can get kebabs, shwarma, gyros sandwiches either chicken or lamb, hummus, baba ganoush, the hot flat breads, Fatoush, and it's delicious. In the South the Mexican food at gas stations is outstanding. Tacquerias, serving tacos, enchiladas quesadillas, beans and rice, SO GOOD.

Hmmm. It totally escapes me, R266. Maybe we should meet there today at 3PM, ha ha.

This is Tung Sing on Central Ave in 1961. Not like anything I remember somehow.

I love when people on DL just mention streets like we all live in their city and know what they are talking about.

Oh, wait, over by the Duane Reade--oh, yeah I know where you mean.

C'mon, r271 -- it's right over where the Henny Penny market was before it burned down. You know -- down the street from that ice cream shoppe that turned into a Burger Master and the a Fotomat. Jeez!

Oh, FFS, r271. They've been talking about Central Avenue in Westchester County for about 50 posts now. I've never been there, either, but I've gleaned it goes through Yonkers, Hartsdale, Scarsdale, and White Plains, at least.

Geez.

I am glad someone was interested enough to follow this bizarre little subthread.

I think it is interesting that people are responding passionately about old chains that do not have much presence now. Who knew Arthur Treachers would get such a response!

But there is less said about the currently prosperous chains like Panther Coffee.

Kon Tiki was a high school graduation tradition.

What's predictable is you old fat unfucked whores assumed "chain" only means fast food restaurants!

EMS a shitty annoying overpriced sports store chain in the Northeast. Hope it dies soon.

And LV as a luxury chain, polluting every fancy town in Europe. It needs to die in a grease fire. Here in Crans.

Since I just got two unsolicited massive catalogs in the mail from them - Restoration Hardware. I don’t like their aesthetic, don’t have room for the massive McMansion scale of their furniture, and can’t afford it anyway. RH can kindly fuck right off.

I got so ill from their roast chicken

avoid !

R270- I remember going there to eat once around 1980. My favorite Chinese restaurant in the 1970's/1980's was Tung Hoy in Larchmont.

I didn't know Restoration Hardware sold chicken, r281.

On the West Coast, H. Salt, Esq. was the big fish-and-chips chain. They're still around, but with fewer locations.

R277 = Fat Unfucked Whore

I have NEVER understood the appeal of Restoration Hardware.

Went to an outlet of theirs a few years ago, and even at outlet prices it was way too expensive for things that I found to be so hideous that only fire could destroy them.

The other thing I noticed then is how ENORMOUS all their furniture was. It was definitely made for the McMansion crowd; some coffee tables were larger than twin bed frames I've slept on, it was CRAZY. And that market is shrinking.

If you have a not-so-shitty chain you actually LIKE please share here

Oops, forgot link

I've never heard good things about this place, except from one man, for whom I have little respect.

R289 What place?

I do miss the Woolworth's five and dime stores.

The Woolworth's lunch counter was heaven. I will forever associate with my grandmother who would take me there. I felt so grown up.

R251 What about their anal hygiene?

Denny's is disgusting slop.

I miss Korvette’s...a Pennsylvania thing. My mother would take us there every weekend post payday. It was like Woolworth’s...they had a lunch counter and my brother and I would always get the hamburger platter and a shake. It was so good. Making a plain old hamburger is a lost art. Now everything has to be “artisanal”.

[quote]I miss Korvette’s...a Pennsylvania thing.

A New York / New Jersey thing as well.

R295-Some of the old Sears Roebuck stores also had a lunch counter that served unpretentious American food.

R295, Korvettes was a NEW YORK THING. It spilled over to a few nearby states, but by no means was it EVER a PA thing. THERE WAS NO FOOD COUNTER, you are desperately confused. It was not, repeat, NOT like Woolworth’s. It was more like Target is today.

Now think about your insane post.

Korvettes was more of a lower-tier department store than a five and dime - lots of clothes. The Staten Island store had pet, photography and record departments where we’d hang out while mom shopped. I don’t clearly recall a toy section, but there was also a wig department for awhile. I don’t think they had a lunch counter but there was a kiosk by the entrance that faced the parking lot that sold popcorn & Italian ices. It seemed like part of the store to me as a kid, but it could have been a separate business.

chick-a-fil-a

[quote] by no means was it EVER a PA thing. THERE WAS NO FOOD COUNTER, you are desperately confused. It was not, repeat, NOT like Woolworth’s. It was more like Target is today. Now think about your insane post.

NO mother fucker, you think about your insane post. I'm not that poster, but I googled Korvettes, Pennsylvania. There were 6 Korvettes in Pennsylvania (including Philadelphia).

I don't give a shit what your Korvettes had. If that poster says there was a lunch counter in his Korvettes, THERE WAS A LUNCH COUNTER

Now STFU, go take a Xanax and have a lie down

There were Korvette's in the DC area as well. And they were definitely more in the Kmart/Zayre/Ames/Bradlee's/Woolco mold than Woolworth's.

Sears had "restaurant" or "coffee-house" not "lunch counter".

R301, I won't share your Xanax, you need ALL of it.

R299, Kresgie's was the five and dime - right next to Korvette's. Korvette's was a discount clothing store for the most part, they also had an expansive record (LP) department. Kresgie's did not.

Kresge's (not Kresgie's) begat KMart.

Neither Korvettes or Kresge exist so let's stop talking about them.

"I don’t clearly recall a toy section"

Yeah there were toys, and I bought every bicycle I had between 1962 and 1969 at KORVETTES. Baseball gloves too, I still have one I got for $7 in 1968. Snowflake R301 probably never had one - too busy coloring in Connie Steven's culottes in a photo from a movie magazine.

Macy's is a shitty shitty chain and should die. They obviously do not want to get better. Have you heard anyone say they enjoyed shopping at Macy's in the last 20 years? No.

[quote]Connie Steven's culottes

Oh, dear.

For the ignorant: Culottes

The Eight Jewish Korean War Vets also opened up shop in the metropolitan Chicago area. One of their stores just missed being flattened by the 1967 Oak Lawn-Hometown-Evergreen Park tornado.

Best music department in town, with brand-spankin'-new vinyl albums being sold for as little as a buck 99. I remember getting Ronstadt's classic "Heart Like A Wheel" there for $3.25, $3.50, if memory serves.

Sure do miss the place.

The Eight Jewish Korean War Vets also opened up shop in the metropolitan Chicago area. One of their stores just missed being flattened by the 1967 Oak Lawn-Hometown-Evergreen Park tornado.

Best music department in town, with brand-spankin'-new vinyl albums being sold for as little as a buck 99. I remember getting Ronstadt's classic "Heart Like A Wheel" there for $3.25, $3.50, if memory serves.

Sure do miss the place.

^^^ Double-post? Jeez Louise, Muriel . . .

I assume my gyms are still auto-withdrawing from my account even though I haven't gone since March 16.

Fuck off r298 and get back to your street corner. Nasty cuntrag.

Some of the larger W.T. Grant stores also had restaurants. The Grant Store in Owensboro, Kentucky did as I ate their many times with my mother and little sister on Saturday after shopping.

R315 = too much anxiety to re-think its insane post. There are drugs for that condition, dear.

R317 = farts make her caftan rise.

Shop the other Korvette's Shop the other Korvette's at KORVETTES!

R319 - I think that jingle started “For fashion...” - the move from low priced clothes to trying to sell more fashionable merchandise was one of the reasons Korvettes went bankrupt.

Hot Head Burrito's. It's an Ohio based chain and a flat out knock off of Chipotle. I hardly ever see anyone going in the ones near me.

Their meats are flavorless. Their flour tortillas are strangely super stretchy - you have to gnaw on them to get a bite. Their "Hot Head" sauce, I swear it's just corn syrup, red food coloring, and some pepper flakes - disgusting.

Sadly, there aren't many Mr. Hero's around where I live (the closest one is 30 min away). But I used to work right by one and would get their chicken philly sandwiches regularly. If you hold the mayo, they're only like 7 grams of fat.

Every time I see this thread this is what my mind sees

[quote] Shitty stains that you don't know even know why they exist

Than you r301, for letting r298 have it.

[quote]The Eight Jewish Korean War Vets

That's an urban legend.

Boston Market is STILL only for fat sows.

Neiman Marcus. The clothes is hideous.

WALMART

It's Bette at Korvette's in Brooklyn circa 1977