When you were a kid, did your parents have a go to restaurant to take the family?

Too many to mention. I do recall they had a fondness for a little local Italian restaurant. They said they'd go there when they were dating. They had all sorts of Italian dishes but if we just wanted pizza on a Friday night, my Dad would go pick it up because they didn't deliver.

Thanks for bringing back some fond memories, OP.

Shakey's Pizza!

We went to La Fonda's Mexican in Camp Verde once a week in the 70s. It's still there.

Sizzler or Shakey's

Ponderosa and Big Boy

We never had fast food or pizza really. But at least once a month, we ate at one of those two.

We went to Shakey's Pizza in Tucson in the early 70s. They showed silent movies sometimes.

My dad was sort of out of “Mad Men” kind of guy during those years and would go out for cocktails after work. We lived in Altadena back then - early 70s. My mom and I would drive up Lake St and drive thru Jack in the Box for tacos and Strawberry shakes (I know - ick combo). My mom is laying here right now with dementia. Sweet daffy old thing. can you believe that Jack in the Box survived the Eaton fire!

I forgot all about Shakey's.

I was an only child and had a good childhood until my dad died when I was 10.

For me they would always take me to Chi-Chi's - which my parents hated.

And a place called the Ground Round because I loved that it had peanut shells on the floor.

I thought I was a baller as a kid due to my "fancy restaurants" and Bugle Boy pants!

In reality I was a miniature trashy basic bitch with great parents.

#r6 & #r8 Shakeu’s had those little juke box thing on the tables. I remember playing Olivia Newton John’s “Have you ever been mellow” over and over again!

R7 My friend from the west coast always told me that she loved Tacos from Jack In The Box (and generally all Jack In The Box fare)

She was fat though, but fun as hell.

I love the word daffy and I hope that your mom will be as okay as possible-

I love slice of life stories that these threads bring-

Like that song from a great episode of Mad Men-

The best things in life are free. (Or simple, I guess)

When I was 6 or so money was very tight we occasionally went to an international House of Pancakes, but what really wanted was McDonald’s - they were advertising on tv, but were still pretty rare, we didn’t get on near our house until I was 13.

Since I was a very persistent kid my dad finally took us to a local hamburger joint called Cosmos and he told me and my sister that Cosmo was Ronald McDonald’s cousin.

[quote] Bugle Boy pants!

I forgot about those.

Big Boy, which I used to call “Fat Boy.” Maybe it’s no surprise that this 1960s gayling ended up on DL!

My favorite restaurant when I was a kid in the 1970's was a pancake house called Bickford's. They had THE best Apple Pancake. It was the size of a personal pizza and was delicious. Lots of apples and cinnamon and a yummy pancake. It was the specialty of the house.

My parents took my brother and I out to dinner only very rarely. When we did go out it was almost always with the grandparents coming along too.

Our go-to places were Bonanza, Howard Johnson’s (for Friday night fried clams), IHOP, and one of the local pizza places. Not a lot of choices back in the seventies and early eighties. So many more restaurants in my hometown now than forty or even twenty years ago.

Our regular rotation included: Ponderosa, Friendly's, Ground Round, Howard Johnson's, and Denny's. My mom needed at least one night a week off and she demanded a meal out. She wasn't a snob...chains were fine.

R17- We would eat at Friendly's too. They're food was good and I especially like their Sundaes. Even the basic Sundae was good portion- at least in the mid 1970's but as time went by the standard Sundae became much smaller.

I remember going to Ground Round with my parents in the early 1970's. I don't recall their food being particularly good. I do remember these young guys walking around twisting balloons into animals for little kids like me.

The local Mexican restaurant. We'd eat refried beans covered in iceberg lettuce, cheddar cheese and a glob of sour cream the size of an ice cream scoop.

I didn't realize it was shitty until my teens. Ah small town life.

We went to a local Chinese restaurant for Chinese food. Was it The Golden Dragon?

Pekin House for Chinese. Carson's for ribs. Mr. Rickey's for deli.

Mr, Ricky's menu

My Mom loved Shoney's. I would get the fish & chips.

We didn't really go out for food. I remember going to Bennigan's once or twice. Loved the mozzarella sticks as a kid. I didn't know they were just cooking frozen shit.

R23 is a chav.

[quote] Bennigan's once or twice. Loved the mozzarella sticks as a kid.

Same here.

No, because we have food in the house.

Sambo's (early west coast) and Beefsteak Charlie's (late 70s Florida). I miss both those restaurants.

[quote][R17]- We would eat at Friendly's too. They're food was good and I especially like their Sundaes. Even the basic Sundae was good portion- at least in the mid 1970's but as time went by the standard Sundae became much smaller.

I loved Friendly's!

As a kid/teen in the '90s, my favorite meal from there was a garden salad with blue cheese dressing, mozzarella sticks with salsa for dipping, and a big glass of orange soda.

**Early 70s**

Hamburger Hamlet, Du-Pars, El Torito

R29- Friendly's was purchased by Hersheys around 1982 and then was sold again. My father and I ate at a Friendly's in Massachusetts in 1995 on the way home from Provincetown and the food was awful by then. It was only good up until about 1984.

Model Cafe - Allston

Pleasant Cafe - Roslindale

Demos Restaurant - Watertown

We didn't do fast food.

I was a young fatty growing up in Cleveland, Ohio. I loved eating out. So many memories brought up in this thread. Ponderosa for sure. Ground Round for the peanuts on the ground. Brown Derby.

I was a huge fan of all you could eat places because you could get dessert AND go back for soft serve I scream as a topper. Sveden House for that. James Tavern for brunch. And then of course an Oreo Speedwagon at TGI Fridays.

The Ground Round

There was a local Italian restaurant we'd go to a lot, too

If we were traveling in the US it was Howard Johnson's, Lumm's, Friendly's.

At home it was Chalet BBQ or Pumpernick's

Yes Shakeys I remember the three years we were in Minneapolis.

With dad and my paternal grandparents - Shoney's breakfast buffet, Village Inn, a local pizza buffet, or Chinese

With mom and my maternal grandparents - Sizzler or a local Mexican place

In L.A.: Shakey's for pizza, Bob's Big Boy for burgers, and Love's Wood Pit Barbecue for special occasions.

In the DC metro area in the 1960s, we often went to a nearby TOPS Drive-In restaurant (a local chain), which also had inside seating. The thing I remember most of all is that their hamburgers had the most delicious pickles on them. Sliced sideways and laid across the top of the burger, I still remember how they tasted, and I’ve never had pickles that taste like that anywhere else.

TOPS restaurants were the first in the country to serve Kentucky Fried Chicken, because the owner had a connection with Colonel Sanders, who was just starting his business then. I liked to eat that, too, because I had never eaten fried chicken that tasted so good.

After McDonalds became popular, the TOPS chain went out of business and sold their locations to other chains like Big Boy, Shoney’s, Roy Rogers, and even KFC.

We ate at all the little diners in our small Midwest town where you would usually order chicken fried steak. The Southside was a bar and grill where my alkie uncle hung out. It was fun because they had all the cool Hamms Beer signs and the individual juke boxes in the booths and the shuffleboard game. They had great steaks and tenderloin sandwiches.

When my mom went back to work, she worked evenings so on many Mondays our dad took us to Pizza Hut because they had discounts on Mondays. He'd get annoyed because I didn't really want pizza...I liked the sandwiches.

A special treat visiting family in Topeka was going to the Red Dragon for Chinese food which was VERY exotic and hard to find in the Midwest before the mid 80s. Red Dragon had the best Almond Chicken...never have found a place that made it like they did. And, terrific appetizers.

Oh, and Dairy Queen when we went to Grandmas because our town didn't have one, though we did have similar type places.

was it a Dairy Queen Brazier r41? Do those still exist?

Los Tios or El Chico because they were everywhere.

We ate out as a family about twice a week. There was a steakhouse we frequented but we would also try new places. We occasionally went to Shakey's as my dad knew the owner of the franchise. Mom was not fond of pizza joints so it wasn't a place we went often. We usually ate Chinese on Sundays where we would often run into other members of our small Jewish community.

Family of 7 and we dined out often on weekends in the 1960s and 70s. My father was a business executive, so money didn't dictate where we ate, but it was a regular rotation. Also, my grandfather was a wealthy surgeon who liked to take us all out to dinner to the very formal Claremont Hotel in Berkeley where we had to wear the "church clothes" we never wore because we never went to church. Everyone -- including my 3-Martini minimum father -- was on their best, most mannered behavior.

I remember that it was fun because the food came in multiple courses and it was so colorful. Dessert of course, was always the star. Cool things like flaming crepes. I liked the pomp and circumstance. It was the culinary equivalent of dialing the phone with a pencil.

In the restaurant rotation was Spenger's, a fun and loud seafood place, an Italian place in SF that served a family style menu, and my favorite, a huge restaurant in Chinatown where the food was served banquet style at round tables on a big Lazy Susan.

In the 70s we'd go to a sort of high-end chain called The Velvet Turtle.

These were the few occasions where the whole family did not try to kill each other.

For our birthdays, my parents would take each kid and just the parents to Shoney's. We could order whatever we wanted, including dessert. I always ordered the hot fudge cake which was great.

Sometimes on Friday night - LATE! - we would go to Shoney's for their breakfast buffet. I don't know why they had it on Friday night, but it was a lot of fun for us. Bacon at 11 p.m.!

Either a local red sauce Italian restaurant or pizza place. We were a big family so these outings were rare.

R32 I only had the mozzarella sticks, salad, and soda, and they were really good, IMO. (My family enjoyed whatever else they had.)

But in the early 2000s, Friendly's switched from the 6" sticks to the smaller 3" -- which tasted different to boot -- to that's when I stopped eating there.

Howard Johnson’s! My drunken father didn’t want to go with us.

We were a buffet family. Originally it was Ponderosa but then Ryan’s (they sang a special birthday song for you). My sister claimed they didn’t hire straight, white men. Lol. Later there was a place called Sweden House (eventually Dane’s Buffet) that had a bunch of seafood options on their buffet on Fridays. I remember my dad having my brother and I lie about our ages for years because they charged by the year.

"My parents took my brother and I ... "

There was a restaurant that also made pizza three blocks from our house. My father would bring it home a couple of times a week. It was my favorite thing to eat. Sometimes we'd eat there, and have cheeseburgers or steaks. There was another place called a rathskeller where we'd get cheeseburgers and my parents would drink beer. And there was a seafood restaurant farther away, on the highway. This was all in North Jersey, so the pizza was really good.

We ate at local restaurants and once a month at the country club because there was some sort of minimum you had to spend there each month - it wasn’t fancy.

Kless Diner in Irvington NJ.

We didn't have chain restaurants till the mid- late '60s, just local spots. And we rarely went to those. Big family, not rich.

I remember when our town got our first Kentucky Fried Chicken and everyone was talking about their buckets.

r55, my mother hated KFC but we went just to get a bucket because it came with a 45 of Andy Williams singing Moon River. Funny memory...

Incidentally, when did they start calling Kentucky Fried Chicken "KFC"?

I was watching the '80s dance film FAST FORWARD (directed by Sidney Poitier) about a group of friends who travel to NYC to compete in some dance competition, and they referred to the chain as "Kentucky Fried."

Yes, it was called the Pot Luck Supper at church.

We traveled the summer 60s and 70s pow-wow circuit.

A & W and, when we came across one, Dog 'N Suds, still had those drive-up spots with a speaker.

Mom and Dad would order for us (our parents pre-dated the "My child is a picky eater" era. We ate what they put before us) and we'd be quiet as church mice, excited to watch Dad talk into the speaker.

I realize now a chilled, glass, kids mini-mug of A & W Root Beer was a taste-bud spiritual experience.

And then Mom and dad would leave a cash tip on the window tray.

Red Lobster, Morrison's Cafeteria

R23- In the mid 1970’s my parents went to Arthur Treacher’s Fish 🐠 and Chips and they said the food was good. Unfortunately they got food poisoning from it. That was the first and the last time they ate there.

In January 2004 I ate at Dallas BBQ . The food was really good. Unfortunately I got food poisoning from it and that was the first and last time I ate there.

Yes. It was a staple in my southern Brooklyn neighborhood from the late 1940s to the 1980s. Several rooms. As you entered there was a large bar with booths around it. At one end of the bar, there was a table set before a fireplace with a portrait of the founder over it. Two other large rooms with tables. One room had a large swordfish on one wall. The waiters all wore black trousers, short jackets, and bowties. My Dad was very friendly, and he would often engage the waiters in conversation. The menu had all the old staples...shrimp cocktail, crabmeat au gratin, liver. We would go there often.

Kansas/70s: Wendy’s, KFC, Furr’s Cafeteria, and Sirloin Stockade.

I just looked at the Dallas BBQ menu- A lot of it sounds like stereotypical black food.

Hamburger Hamlet.

God, I loved that place—Westwood was the usual place. Century City for a while, because my mom worked in one of the office towers.

“ Yes, it was called the Pot Luck Supper at church.”

Dinner on the grounds in parts of the South

R64 meet you on the corner of 23rd/8th.

BBQ in Chelsea? More like BBC!

R19 Shakey’s had the player piano. You could pick out a roll and they’d load it on the piano for ya.

R31 is a good LA boy. Like myself.

Here it is!

When I was a kid in the 60s-70s, their pizza was five cents a slice. We would go there and my dad would order 30+ slices for the five of us, and believe me, it would all get eaten. And this was real Italian pizza; cut in squares, the dough was heavy and fluffy at the same time, with a sprinkling of Parmesan cheese and chunks of cooked tomatoes. It was to die for. I have never had any other pizza like it, and even that pizza changed over the years, and it was no longer like the original. Too bad. My family mourned its passing.

No, I'm not Italian. But my father was a salesman and one of his clients cleared us for membership there. I have great memories of that place and the food. Makes me feel sorry for those of you who were relegated to Bob's Big Boy and Shoney's, that's for sure!

Local non-chain steakhouse

Ahem, R69....a good Valley *Girl*. Hamburger Hamlet, Du-Pars & El Torito were all within a one-mile (or so) stretch on Ventura Blvd.

We were crushed when our Hamlet bit the dust in 1979, a casualty of disco. Seriously. The owners of HH decided to close the Encino location (which always seemed busy; it was on the ground floor of a 15-story office building, so it did great lunch business), and turned it into a disco called Le Hot Club. Right as disco was on its way out. Dumbasses.

Love it. Too bad you were in the Valley.

South Bay kid 😘

My alcoholic dad could not be counted on to drive far, so we went to a little bar-slash-diner near us. I remember drinking soda by the pitcher because the pizza we always got had approximately 7 pounds of salt on it.

In Chapel Hill, the "Rat" and after Carolina football games, Papagayo. For birthdays, Slugs. All gone. IFYKYK.

We knew enough not to grow up in North Carolina.

Our local Big Boy chain was neither a Bob‘s nor a Shoney’s. It was an Abdow’s. I loved the Big Boy burger. We went pretty regularly as we had one right at the corner.

When we would drive South to see my dad’s family, I remember the DC metro area having places called The Hot Shoppe which we would stop at. I don’t remember much about them or the food though.

Oh, and a few times when we went to a bigger city....Sambo's.

I remember it transitioning from the stereotypical lil black Sambo mascot to a little WHITE Sambo mascot, which made no visual sense. Then, they changed the name slightly...then, it was gone.

And, King's Food Host which was fun because you used phones at the booth to call in your order.

And, Bishop's Buffet was a very big deal because it was "pricey". But, I loved the Strawberry Pie. That's all we cared about.

1970s, working single mom. she did budget going out to eat weekly on fridays, clearly an advantage for her, and each week for a couple years it was Furr's cafeteria. it was WAY nicer than I see now, there was a pianist who played in the lobby and table service for some things.

I went to furr's decades later and it was a functional but sort of sad place for old people.

R78 why would it make no visual sense? In a visual sense there’s no racial connotation at all. Culturally and symbolically it is bigoted as hell. But not visually.

Once a week after my brother’s piano lesson we got usually Pup n Taco or McD. At McD I was allowed to get a hamburger, not a cheeseburger, as “it’s cheaper to add the cheese at home”.

That was middle class in the 70s.

Also, I miss Pup n Taco.

Meh.

El Terasco! Our teachers would take us there at the end of field trip, before we were dismissed

Oops Tarascó

York Steak House. We were too poor for Ponderosa.

R80 because they just made Sambo white but he was still a little jungle boy with a spear and animal print loin cloth.

He might have still talked in black dialect but I can't be certain...it was 50+ years ago. Even at a young age I thought it strange and not very logical.

Are you sure?

The restaurant mascot was not the book’s image

Oh we had a few. My dad worked in in the theater district/Times Square so he'd take us to this HUGE Chinese restaurant called China Peace. It had a koi pond and these little bridges that you could watch them from. We'd devour huge red spare ribs and egg rolls. We also had our favorite Italian place, Stangos, The Ginger Man and O'Neals' for burgers ("the waiter is gay" my mom would whisper after our order was taken), and a place called My Pi for Chicago-style deep dish pizza.

When we'd visit my grandma in Grand Rapids, Michigan we'd get dressed up and go to this fancy place called The Embers. Their brunch bar was fabulous!

Neither Ginger Man nor O’Neal’s were in TS.

R77 Our Big Boys were Elby’s. When I went off to college, they were Frisch’s. The first Bob’s I saw was in Burbank, CA.

"Neither Ginger Man nor O’Neal’s were in TS."

I didn't say they were, genius. That comment was specific to the Chinese place.

Every Sunday to Chinese Restaurant for "Family Dinner" Menu .... One for Column A - Two From Column B. Learned early on they didn't serve bread.

Nope. We were working class, lived in council housing and we were never taken to eat out. My mom could really make the money stretch, so to us, it seemed like we were never short of Anything. New clothes were bought in the January and Summer sales; food was only bought from large supermarkets; never from expensive local shops. And things like takeout or eating out were never a part of life. I see families struggling today yet, going into Nandos, during an afternoons shopping, and i imagine 100 quid is spent, easily. The family next door growing up did things like eat out but never had new clothes or decent Xmas presents. 😕

Thank you. Clear writing is a DL poster’s best friend.

Bob's Big Boy, Sambo's; very occasionally Love's (also LA). Later it became various Chinese places, Two Guys from Italy, Marie Callender's or El Torito.

My cheap ass parents started taking us to Beefsteak Charlie's in Glen Burnie, MD when they started doing all-you-can-eat peel 'n eat shrimp. Kids could get in for a nickel. Mom would bring the big purse with several zip lock bags. Then she'd make shrimp salad sandwiches for the rest of the week!

Yes, a long time ago…Marie Callender’s was considered a very good mid-price restaurant. My sister was a witness there in high school.

Don’t forget Tiny Naylor’s, Van de Kamp’s and Ships.

Waitress, too. ;)

Golden Corral as well-my cheap ass dad liked the $8 steaks.

for Chinese and pizza we ordered in.

R22, Do/did go to Hackney’s in Glenview on occasion?

R98 loved all those places! OMG Ships!

I grew up in a city-adjacent suburb and we never had chains, we’d go to a “family restaurant” or perhaps one of the many Mexican restaurants.

My best friend paid for all 4 years at UC Santa Barbara by slingin’ hash at Tiny Naylor’s. She killed in getting tips from flirty old men.

R86 Am I sure about what? The imagery in the restaurant was originally of a BLACK little Sambo and then they changed it to a non Black little Sambo ie the "Indian" version, who looked very white.

Ships! Toasters on the tables!

Sambo’s was started in Santa Barbara in 1957. It’s logo used the “Indian” caricature.

Thanks for reminding me that my parents were divorced.

I remember going to Sambo's in Ventura. The panels on the wall telling the story of Little Sambo were so cool. Still very nostalgic for me.

[quote]Mom would bring the big purse with several zip lock bags.

😱

[quote]When you were a kid

You expect me to remember when I was a kid? Fat fucking chance.

For a special birthday treat, Mom would take us to Farrell's Ice Cream Parlor.

No wonder why we’re all mostly fat whores.

Did you finish the giant banana sundae?

The original Sambo was decidedly black. They 'Indian'd' up later.

My favorites were the Ground Round and Bonanza. The Ground Round had a popcorn machine in the corner with unlimited popcorn.. Bonanza was cafeteria style, and as a little kid it thrilled me to be able to strut through that line and actually choose my own food.

That’s not their logo.

Read the article fuckface.

I visited Marie Callender for the first time in the late eighties and thought I had died and gone to heaven. The only place doing ing pie in my city was the forerunner to Bakers Square, where everything had an agar-like consistency.

The article where the writer expressly acknowledges that they are unsure of the original logo? I did read it.

The neighborhood diner

"And right above me is the same orange-tile mural of jolly little half-naked Sambo that’s been hanging over the short-order kitchen since Sambo’s first opened its doors on June 17, 1957. It’s not the only sign of Sambo’s unusual past still lingering in this restaurant."

You have reading comprehension problems.

And, apparently enjoy calling people liars. I ate in a fucking Sambos restaurant where they had BLACK Sambo art then they changed it. I'm thrilled that the Sambos you ate at back in the day only apparently featured the Indian version but...that's not my Sambos, dumbfuck. It was a huge chain and apparently the individual managers had leeway when it came to each restaurant. I lived in a VERY racist part of the country so apparently they weren't in a hurry to change all their signage to Indian Sambo which they eventually did.

Done with your stubborn stupidity.

I recall occasionally eating at Bonanza, Pizza Inn, Shoney's, and Captain D's. But my family's go to place was a locally-owned Dairy King restaurant on the way to the town my grandmother lived in. I was happy to discover a few years ago that their burgers and shakes are just as good as I remembered them from the 1970s, probably because the same grill, shake machine, and recipes are still in use.

Originally from the suburbs of St. Louis, specifically South County. There was a landmark restaurant on the corner of Lindbergh Boulevard and Lemay Ferry Road called Dohack's that was famous for its deep fried "jack salmon" dinners. The joint was always busy but Friday nights were mob scenes. The owners were some serious, hard core restauranteurs so crowds were never a problem. It was always such a treat to eat there for thislocal delicacy.

Whenever my parents went out for the evening, they would get us Dohack's take out for dinner.

My parents were kids of immigrants of Ellis Island

My father was making good money back in the 50/60/70, but we lived like poor immigrants. Although our house was nice in a nice area, but we NEVER ate out, never took vacations (even to the beach, movies or bowling), no paid college (back when college was cheap!), no toys, no nice furniture (we did had a TV) and shitty food

My older brother and sister were kicked out of house at 17 and 16 yrs old. I was the youngest and my parents divorced when I was 11.

The first time I went to a movie, I went with a neighbor

“ It’s unclear whether this was the original 1957 Sambo design. “

I grew up in the South during the 60s-70s. I don't ever remember seeing or even hearing of a Sambos restaurant. Was that just out west or in the northeast? I vaguely remember the book and in my mind he had a turban like a Sikh or Hindu. I do remember the term "little Black Sambo", though. My parents were big liberals and active in the civil rights movement. They wouldn't have intentionally exposed me to racial caricatures.

[quote] When we would drive South to see my dad's family, I remember the DC metro area having places called The Hot Shoppe which we would stop at.

R77 Until I read your post, I had completely forgotten that my family used to eat at Hot Shoppes in the DC metro area back in the 1960s. Hot Shoppes were owned by the founder of Marriott.

Coffee was served in individual glass beakers similar to the ones shown in the link, and I remember that when my parents poured their coffee into their empty coffee cups, I liked the smell of the coffee.

Perhaps those frequent exposures contributed to the coffee addiction I developed in the 1970s!

I saw commercials for Sambo's but never an actual restaurant.

I remember Sambo’s as a kid but I think they had wiped away all the mascots by then. Eventually they just changed the name to “No Place Like Sams” but it died soon after.

This was in the Northeast.

This thread has reminded me that another reason I liked eating out with my family when I was a kid in addition to the food is that my parents had to stop yelling at each other, which was standard operating procedure at home. It was nice to eat in peace for a change.

Central Jersey in the 80s---Perkins, Buxtons, Bobs Big Boy, Friendly's, Ground Round, Ponderosa, Seville Diner

"The Diner," although that encompasses a number of establishments over the years, all with predictable but vast menus and rather-be-doing-anything-but-this waitresses.

I remember some little place near our house....I cannot remember the name but it was a cute local little place and after going to the doctors a few times a year (allergies) I would get to go and have a treat - I'd always get a turkey devonshire or, sometimes, an ice cream sundae.

I was obsessed with salad bars when I was a kid. I had to put EVERYTHING on my salad, including two kinds of dressing. My mother would always say, "Now, don't eat too much salad, or you won't have room for your entree."

Remember—ONCE around the garden!

DC area: Sir Walter Raleigh’s, which was a Steak and Ale kind of steak place in a colonial setting. Dark lighting and a big salad bar. Also Chesapeake Bay Seafood House which was an all you can eat place. The menu was arranged so that whatever you ordered you could get that item and lower priced menu items as all you can eat. So if you ordered something expensive like crab legs you could go wild, but if you ordered something cheap like popcorn shrimp you’d only get unlimited on that and items that cost less like trout or the mysterious “white fish”. At least bottom of the barrel tilapia wasn’t a thing back then. That would really be sad.

R41, I remember the Red Dragon well. And I recall the odd plate of white bread that was presented to the table at the beginning of the meal. Plain- white- grocery store sandwich bread ( and butter) at a ‘Chinese’ restaurant. I guess it is a Kansas or Midwest thing. Po’re Richards was another great place to eat (with those weird green Chinese lady portraits hanging everywhere.

York Steak House (was located conveniently in the mall.) There is still one left and I try to go a couple of times a year for the nostalgia.

We had several and at different price points. My father was an engineer and my mom a head nurse. I guess we were comfortably middle class. I know we weren't affluent. My parents liked to spend their money and enjoy it.

Warmuth’s (with Mom) or Dini’s Sea Grill (with Nana) for lunch.

The Parker House or Locke-Ober for dinner and celebrations.

All in Boston, and all but the Parker House now long gone.

The Sea Crest Clam Bar in Newark NJ.

It was a well known seafood joint in the 1960/70s. It was all shared tables. You started out sitting with strangers and by the time you got your entree you were sharing food and exchanging phone numbers.

Kelsey’s in Schererville. Big Boy, Casa Gallardo, Oddessy and Giordano’s in Merrillville. Round the Clock anywhere in the Region. Commander in Munster. I used to meet my Grandmother at Phil Schmidt’s for dinner after she met my brother at the casino in Hammond when I’d come home from Loyola on the weekends. Purple Steer with Grandparents and their siblings.

Edith’s Steakhouse in Melonville

I grew up in Colorado, and we had two main places we would go to when we'd go out to eat, which was very rare for our family.

One was a restaurant near Denver called Holly West, and the inside was dimly lit and had dark red carpet and red leather booths. I thought it was very fancy. I liked going there because my parents would each order a drink before dinner and my brother and I would get a Roy Rogers. We felt very grown up, having cocktails with mom and dad while we ate the crackers in the wicker baskets at the table.

The other was an Italian place in the small town of Louisville called The Blue Parrot. The place always seemed to be packed whenever we went there. It was noisy and rowdy and much more casual than Holly West, but I loved their huge spaghetti plates which consisted of thick spaghetti noodles and two big meatballs on top.

My sister begged our parents to go to The Red Barn when we were visiting relatives in Buffalo.

She also begged to go to Carroll's in New England when they were giving away Warner Brothers cartoon glasses.

We went to neither.

No Chicago Chinese restaurant served white bread ever. Pekin House and a few others were known for their eggrolls made with a hint of peanut butter. Like Satay sauce in your eggroll.

My family's favorite go-to restaurant was a red sauce Italian joint called The Latin Villa across the street from the General Electric factory in Lynn, Massachusetts. We loved it.

The Palm Court at the Plaza.

We went once a week to a Mexican restaurant in downtown Carpinteria. We always sat at the big table in the front window and one time they took our picture, so I was front and center on the postcard the restaurant handed out.

R141- You sound like an up front and matter of fact guy and your parents sounded (sound) as cool AF.

I grew up in and still inhabit the DC area, so another vote for the Hot Shoppe. In the MD 'burb where I lived, there was a Hot Shoppe restaurant AND a Hot Shoppe cafeteria in the local shopping center. I preferred the restaurant because I wanted to be waited on. Plus the restaurant had my favorite sandwich of all time, the Mighty Mo, which was similar to a Big Mac only a lot better.

I remember those little glass carafes they served coffee in - they were called hottles. Other unique things about the Hot Shoppe is that instead of the waitress writing down your order, you wrote it down and gave her the slip, and then she read it back to you. I think that eventually changed to the waitress taking your order, but when I was a kid, I loved filling out the order slip. My whole family loved the Hot Shoppes (a cousin of mine worked in one in another suburb) and were really sad when they were no more.

r135, Sodini's in Squirrel Hill?

[quote] Marie Callender’s was considered a very good mid-price restaurant.

They had awesome hot fudge sundaes in large goblets.

[quote] the Ground Round

I recall unshelled peanuts too. You could throw the shells on the floor.

Sure R155!

R153 I had completely forgotten about the Mighty Mo sandwich at Hot Shoppes! I think my family went to one in Wheaton Plaza in MD, but it was way back in the 1960s, so I may be wrong about that location.

Yes, certain local ones on Saturday nights—and they remain some of my favorite childhood memories, including my falling asleep on the back seat on our way driving home. Dorky-sounding, I know, but one of my fave recollections of those nights was the local oldies radio station show my parents would tune into on our way, and especially I always loved “Johnny Angel” by Shelley Fabares. To this day when I hear that song played, it just makes me really happy (and hungry!) bringing me back to those childhood restaurant going-out memories with my parents.

In our town, the go-to place for Mexican food was Tony's Taco House, Later Phil's Country Barn. Marc's Big Boy, I loved their bacon cheeseburgers with a Shirley Temple, and my Archie's digest comic books, which I would get at the Mall. BJ's, Golden Coral. This was the 80s, so it used to be less trashy, more of a steakhouse; the buffet wasn't the main draw.

shakey’s pizza, o’farells, consuelos’s for mexican.

[quote] Howard Johnson’s (for Friday night fried clams)

Same. The only place we could all agree on.

It was called the Wild Plum. Was very exciting to us when we got to go there.

Local Chinese. Local Vietnamese. Seafood restaurant.

We used to go to Lenhardt's German restaurant in Cincinnati in the 80s. Great place, nice food, kind of expensive.

Also in Cincinnati there was a Jewish deli called either Iggy's or Ziggy's (can't remember) and it had the most awesome potato pancakes ever.

Dukes or Anthony's.

The Magic Pan, back when crepes were the latest rage.