Mediocre chain restaurants

[ursus arctos]

This is an intrinsic part of their appeal

[Patrick Thistle]

Cracker Barrel is one of the worst culinary experiences of my life. Rubbish gift shop too.

[caja-dglh]

Americans seems to laugh about IHOP but I once had a transcendental sugar crash on the Las Vegas Strip after IHOP pancakes and it's one of the best worst decisions I ever made in my life. (Not so much the pancakes as the jugs of syrup I doused them in)

I am being 100% genuine. IHOP is fantastic. The fact remains that IHOP is only ever the answer you are looking for in very odd circumstances (say in a group of 20 on a Rugby tour in North Carolina at 10pm).

[WOM]

I went to the Pickle Barrel in a mall outside Toronto. I think that's a chain, right? Anyway, they had good pancakes too. Better than IHOP.

It's a chain that seems to go up and down in cycles. Big in the '80s...dying in the '90s....back up again lately. It's very odd.
The owner's daughter and I were colleagues for years at another restaurant.

[Patrick Thistle]

I am being 100% genuine. IHOP is fantastic. The fact remains that IHOP is only ever the answer you are looking for in very odd circumstances (say in a group of 20 on a Rugby tour in North Carolina at 10pm).

I'm being genuine too. I love IHOP. The nice lady in the Shrewsbury, Massachusetts branch (guess why I was in Shrewsbury, Massachusetts!) gave me a mug to bring home after I asked if they did merchandise and it's safely ensconced in the far reaches of the mug cupboard.

[Jah Womble]

Cracker Barrel is one of the worst culinary experiences of my life. Rubbish gift shop too.

Why would you go there anyway? Aren't they also guilty of some of the worst serial discriminating of the past few decades?

[ad hoc]

When I discovered that you can order beer with breakfast in Denny's was when I was really sold.

(In California anyway)

[Patrick Thistle]

Why would you go there anyway? Aren't they also guilty of some of the worst serial discriminating of the past few decades?

Was it?

Someone was going on about how brilliant their Biscuits 'n' Gravy were. Tried them. Horrendous. Never trusted that friend's recommendations about anything ever again.

Boycotting them will be easy.

[ad hoc]

Not sure if there are "good" biscuits and gravy mind you

[ursus arctos]

For those not familiar with WOM's reference



There was a famous branch in Times Square that lasted into the 2000s that of course didn't look like that, but was one of the greatest people watching spots in the city, especially in the early hours of the morning.

[Jah Womble]

Was it?

Someone was going on about how brilliant their Biscuits 'n' Gravy were. Tried them. Horrendous. Never trusted that friend's recommendations about anything ever again.

Boycotting them will be easy.

I seem to recall a number of scandals and lawsuits - and the Wiki entry appears to concur. (Even worse than I thought, actually.)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cracker_Barrel

[Hot Pepsi]

People can get a cheeseburger anywhere, ok? They come to Chotchkie's for the atmosphere and the attitude. .

[WOM]

More specifically, these later gems. These were the road-going dining rooms of my '70s childhood.

[ursus arctos]

Treibeis would have liked the motor lodges

[ursus arctos]

The Times Square branch in its "heyday"

[WOM]

I've stayed in motor lodges that would have had him weeping openly. I really do miss those places.

So much so that I have all my parents' Florida postcards from their honeymoon. I read them all again the other night. <sigh...>

[Hot Pepsi]

The building where our Howard Johnsons used to be is for sale. Maybe somebody will bring it back. I think it stopped being an HJ around 1980. It became a Tex Mex place that my parents didn't like, so we didn't go. Then for a long time it was a somewhat overpriced Italianish place that lasted a long time, but the people that own it closed because the people that own it want to focus on the other restaurants they own around here.

The restaurant split from the hotel/motel part in 1986. A few hung on for a while, but they didn't have much investment. I recall going to one in Harrisburg when I worked there the summer of '94.

Wyndham owns the hotel part and there are almost 400 of those. But there's only one Howard Johnson's restaurant left. It's in Lake George, NY and it probably won't last.

Wiki has this information.
The Lake George Howard Johnson's restaurant sign proclaims "Last One Standing", however in January 2017 its parcel of land went up for sale, putting its future in question. More so when on October 12, 2017, owner John Larock was arrested and charged with sexual abuse of 15 female employees, and a year later, on October 31, 2018, began serving a six month jail sentence.The restaurant continues to operate under Larock, but is open limited days and hours. With all the food commissaries long since defunct, and no support or official connection with Wyndham, the restaurant operates entirely as an independent entity. Use of the Howard Johnson's restaurant name is still permitted due to a grandfather clause. Despite retaining the original building and trademark name, its authenticity as a true Howard Johnson's restaurant has been put in question due to its dissimilar menu and negative reviews.



I love the idea, if not the reality, of old diners as written about by Kerouac and shown on Happy Days and in Swingers, Heat, Pulp Fiction, Reality Bites, and of course, Diner. They didn't have a "theme" or a "concept." The concept was a place you can eat decent food for a decent price and just sit, either by yourself or other people.

I suspect I'm not alone, so I'd think that a major company - like Wyndham or Starbucks or Marriott could revive Howard Johnsons. The persistence, if not success of places like Silver Diner and Johnny Rockets, etc, as well as a number of actual longstanding diners with a massive menu - popularized by Guy Fieri - suggest there's demand for places that remind people of the mid 20th century and serve just about everything and anything. Or, at least, make the basic stuff very well and are friendly and not too expensive.

Or maybe not. A lot of those old diners are out of business or on their way out and it remains to be seen if the places that try to emulate a 50's/60's style diner will stay in business once everyone who actually remembers that time are gone. My favorite of this kind of place is called Nifty Fifty's - they have multiple locations near Philadelphia. Their slogan is "Taste the memories." Their core customer base has never even seem Happy Days let alone remember the 60s. It might not matter. They do great fries and what not and make like 300 flavors of soda (it's called soda in Philadelphia). The appeal of that may never die.

But it seems that people who just want something reliable and simple also want if fast. They might not want to even get out of their car, let alone deal with a waitress, so they drive-through. For example, there used to be a huge Howard Johnson's at a stop called Midway on the Pennsylvania turnpike. (actually it's midway between Pittsburgh and Harrisburg, which was the original extent of the turnpike) But now it just has Starbucks, Subway, Steak N' Shake (that's new, I think), Sbarro, etc. I can't recall the last time I saw or heard of a sit-down restaurant on a turnpike.

[Greenlander]

I can't get enough of IHOP for a late breakfast when I'm in America but will never make the mistake of one of my first visits when I went for the all-you-can-eat pancakes. I could barely munch through my first stack and the poor waitress was most upset that I didn't want anymore. 'But it's all you can eat' she kept reminding me and though she did bring me more they remained untouched.

[WOM]

What I would love to have experienced, but never really did, was little independent motels that had a 'coffee shop' right up at the front, facing the road. Presumably it was a convenience for the motel's guests, but I can only imagine the hit and miss nature of the owners - Harry and Gladys - also being your breakfast cooks. Some of the old motels in Niagara Falls and Buffalo still have that room up front, but it's never open as a going concern.

[Amor de Cosmos]

More specifically, these later gems. These were the road-going dining rooms of my '70s childhood.

Era defining for sure. It's no wonder they were one of the few exterior shots in Mad Men

[Hot Pepsi]

More specifically, these later gems. These were the road-going dining rooms of my '70s childhood.

Did they all serve cocktails? I don't recall ever hearing about people tying one on at the HoJos. But of course, I was a kid when the chain mostly died so I wouldn't know.


Incidentally, if somebody would like to get into the motor lodge business, the oldest motel in Pennsylvania, the Autoport, is sitting vacant and, perhaps, decaying, just about a mile from here. It closed a few years ago and is just sitting there. Nobody knows what's going on with it. Somebody cuts the grass and keeps it up to code otherwise, but all attempts by the local papers to figure out who owns it or what they're going to do with it have failed. The most recent proprietors didn't really know what they were doing, got into a lot of debt and couldn't make it work. They were on that Hotel Impossible show, which supposedly ginned up some investment interest, but it's just sitting there. Most of the places on that show and Restaurant Impossible fail anyway.

It's taking up a lot of property on the main road through town so it would make sense for the borough to do what it can to make sure some kind of taxpaying business is there. I'm sure something will happen eventually, but that might mean it gets torn down and replaced with a new development. To do well, either as a hotel or restaurant, it would have to maintain the charm of an old place without all the downsides of an old place. That would cost a lot. It is competing with a lot of newer hotels and demand is only high about 10 weekends a year.

I think WOM drove right past it. It's just down the hill from the Dunkin Donuts.

[WOM]

I think WOM drove right past it. It's just down the hill from the Dunkin Donuts.

I missed it. I was so focused on trying to spot the Dunkin, I probably ran over a bunch of little blonde haired girls carrying kittens.

[Hot Pepsi]

What I would love to have experienced, but never really did, was little independent motels that had a 'coffee shop' right up at the front, facing the road. Presumably it was a convenience for the motel's guests, but I can only imagine the hit and miss nature of the owners - Harry and Gladys - also being your breakfast cooks. Some of the old motels in Niagara Falls and Buffalo still have that room up front, but it's never open as a going concern.

Agreed.

I guess the equivalent of that today are the various value or budget brands like Hampton or Fairfield or Country Suites that offer a breakfast with the waffle-making station, etc. My parents have become connoisseurs of those places on their antique-buying trips. They're often owned by immigrants from south Asia and their extended family.

[Hot Pepsi]

I missed it. I was so focused on trying to spot the Dunkin, I probably ran over a bunch of little blonde haired girls carrying kittens.

It's easy to miss. If you really want to know the story just google Autoport. Because it's so old and was on TV, the stories about it have been picked up nationally.


This is a worthwhile short-read for those interested in diners.

https://www.smithsonianmag.com/arts-...aks-180964680/

[Jah Womble]

I can't get enough of IHOP for a late breakfast when I'm in America but will never make the mistake of one of my first visits when I went for the all-you-can-eat pancakes. I could barely munch through my first stack and the poor waitress was most upset that I didn't want anymore. 'But it's all you can eat' she kept reminding me and though she did bring me more they remained untouched.

'All-you-can-eat pancakes' sounds like a huge error of judgment from the off.

I mean, good as they can be, how many pancakes would a person plan to eat, let alone need to eat?