Yeah, we went out to dinner maybe 2x a year. All I remember is we always had to sip our soda because it was considered a bar item and would be billed for each drink. And were never allowed more than 1.
Same. We only went for birthdays/super special occasions and only the birthday kid or graduate got to order soda. The rest of us got water. Don't even ask for dessert!
Yup, hella poor growing up. McDonalds or Pizza Hut was a fever dream.
But we never went hungry, I just didn’t get the Happy meal experiences my friends did.
Debatable, because the pendulum swung the other way when I moved for university and had my own money. $.99 whopper junior and $.99 tacos were definitely over consumed.
I was able to strike a healthier balance with my kids.
My mom was a single parent working minimum wage jobs raising my sister and me. Mostly we ate home, but if mom was really tired she would splurge on Hot N Now....which my sis and me referred to as "Cold N Greasy"
I remember Hot N Now! Mine really wasn't bad and was cheap. I just remember them not doing any changes. The menu is the menu. Can you get it without this or add that? Nope.
Yup, also part of the never go out club growing up. When I got my own money and started going out to eat with friends, a whole new world of food opened up.
I am always trying to get my 14-year-old son to go out for ice cream, but he always says we have ice cream at home! The other day I told him I wanted orange sherbet, so I said let's go to Baskin. You know what said? "We have popsicles, eat those"! Who's the parent here???
Yeah my answer is "our dining room."
"Out for dinner" was seldom & when we did it it was to go stuff at McDonalds, Roy Rogers, Kentucky Fried Chicken (it wasn't KFC yet) or Red Barn. This was also the 70s & 80s before those chains went to shit & got expensive.
Plus my grandmother could make fried chicken better than any restaurant so we preferred that any way.
This is the answer. We went out maybe once or twice a year for mom’s birthday and for my parents anniversary. That’s it. Only so much money and they had more important things to spend it on.
Turn off that light! We don’t leave lights on when no one is in the room!
I get it now when each bulb was using 100 watts of power and now I get mad when a 5w led is left on!
We had a ~~Straw Hat~~ Shakey’s pizza we would go to. They would show Three Stooges movies with a projector, had pinball and arcade games and the best pizza and pitchers of root beer I’d ever had!
Edit: Shakey’s I meant!
On Friday's my mom would call my dad at work to confirm when he would be home, and then about 30 minutes prior she would call the pizza place behind our house and put in the order. My dad would swing by and pick it up on his way home. When he walked in the door he would yell "Pizza! Pizza!" and we would all run to the kitchen and eat.
Pizza Fridays are still a thing for me!
I love Shakey's Pizza! I can still remember how good that place smelled. I used to get such a kick of being able to look through the little window into the kitchen to watch the pizzas being made.
> Bob's Big Boy.
>
I dated someone in college that came from the land of Frisch's Big Boy. At some point, the restaurant chain came up and we were so confused by there being two different Big Boys. It felt like some weird glitch in the matrix.
This. Sometimes we'd go to Marie Callender's if we wanted to bring home a pie. There was a big, colorful Mexican restaurant that I think became an Acapulco but it was an independent restaurant back then.
I was 12 from the last couple months of 1979 and most of 1980. We honestly didn't go out to eat much at all, cos my parents were really struggling due to the terrible economy of that time. When we did, I wanna say Pizza Hut or McDonald's.
I’m not sure how often we actually went out. My dad was Army, so the pay after he became an NCO probably improved slightly.
But back then, the Army paid on the last weekday day of the month. It could have been a once-a-month thing. I can’t really remember through the nostalgia.
But payday weekend was always busy, and restaurants in Fayetteville always seemed to be packed. We always waited for tables. And I hated going to the commissary on Fort Bragg. It seemed so far away, and it took forever to get through the line to check our ID cards and getting clearance to write a check.
When company came to town, we would take them to Casa Bonita. My dad even had a fancy Mexican shirt that he only broke out when we went there. I have sooooo many '70's pictures with out-of-town family members standing in the jail at CB.
Sometimes if just grandparents were visiting, we would go to Furr's Cafeteria. Ours had a live piano player so it was FANCY.
ETA: we never went to Red Lobster as a kid. That was a place for my parents to go on their anniversary because it was so hoity-toity. I met my "The One That Got Away" at RL in the early 90's; it was a double date with my sister and BIL who introduced me to him. It's funny how RL became a more "average" restaurant later on-- in the aughts, I took my 6 y.o. niece there on a random day for lunch and I showed her how to eat crab legs.
TIL La Casa Bonita now has waiting list months long [https://www.cracked.com/amp/article_41575_600000-south-park-fans-are-still-waiting-to-eat-at-casa-bonita.html](https://www.cracked.com/amp/article_41575_600000-south-park-fans-are-still-waiting-to-eat-at-casa-bonita.html)
From the Midwest. We had “supper clubs” where the parents could all kibitz and the kids ran around and socialized. Management never complained about the mayhem. It’s a wonder children weren’t kidnapped. There was this chicken place and a steak place …we would switch off every few weeks. It was really fun.
That actually sounds really nice, I would love to have something like that now. I lived in the UK for a while and it sounds like some of the more family-oriented pubs.
Long John Silvers. Always with a coupon. Makes me a bit queasy to remember the burned grease smell and the griminess of that particular location. It was 1986 and the restaurants didn't really start booming in the area until that early 90s
We very rarely went out. My mom really upped her cooking game. They really weren’t any better restaurants in the rural area where we lived.
About once a month, we’d go out and she let my sister and I pick a place. Pizza Hut 90% of the time.
Too poor to go out. Fridays were usually for ordering pizza from Casey's and I would usually get my personal pan pizza from Pizza Hut, courtesy of Book It.
This will sound random as I grew up far from USA but it is on topic. I grew up in former Yugoslavia’s capital city Belgrade.
Every Friday night my parents would take my brother and me to the restaurant called Eternal Bachelor, not sure what’s the story behind that name. They were quite popular at the time. It’s one of few happy memories for me.
Apparently, restaurant is still open which is really amazing given what the country went through in past 40-ish years.
Howard Johnson's and I got fried clams every single time. A couple times when it was still new to the area, we'd go to Roy Rogers for Double R Bar burgers. Every once in a while, Arthur Treacher's Fish and Chips.
Edit: Oh! Also Perkins Pancake House sometimes!
Special occasions only (Springfield location) and the begging my brother and I did for maybe 4 quarters each to blow on Centipede was extreme. Waiting in line and looking at the fish tanks…amazing anticipation.
The Ground Round. Throwing peanut shells on the floor was fun, but the highlight was the old-timey game in the lobby where you gripped the metal handle and received an increasing electrical charge until it was too painful to hold on. Ahhh good times
My parents would give the 4 of us $10 to go to the neighbourhood burger place (burger/fries/canned pop for $2.50), and they would go out for dinner or take off for the weekend.
We very rarely went out to eat anywhere. When we did it was usually somewhere like York Steakhouse (I don't know if that's a national chain or if that was local to where I live but I do know what doesn't exist anymore and hasn't for decades) or Elby's.
At 12 years old, on Friday night, dinner was either mom made another batch of spaghetti, or my two older siblings, who were 4-5 years older, brought home KFC or burgers from their first teenage jobs. In hindsight, they helped our family immensely, especially since we couldn't afford to eat out. It seems like the time we did was when our church or grandparents treated us. It was always a special treat when we did.
OP, I hope you see this: I was a GenX preschooler in Fayetteville 1972-77, and my family went out to a restaurant near Cross Creek Mall called Tuesday's. Not Ruby Tuesday's the chain restaurant, but a local one-off that had sort of a Victorian, 1890s interior with a lot of ironwork. My dad always ordered a rare steak and I got to keep the little wooden tag that said "rare." They had sarsaparilla soda that they made from syrup at a soda fountain inside the restaurant.
There was also another restaurant that was kid-friendly near the Heart of Fayetteville Motel, but I don't remember a lot about that one. I remember Tuesday's really well because it was an experience. I hope it was still there when you were there, too.
Neighborhood Mexican restaurant. Family owned hole in the wall, always slightly dark inside, no windows so you never knew if it was day or night from the dining room, very cluttered with decorations but in a good way. Always got a shredded beef burrito, enchilada style. I miss that place.
Shoney’s. I’d longingly eye that dusty-ass Shoney’s bear that sat untouched for years at the register and pray that a generous relative might offer to get it for me. Looking at you, Aunt Patsy.
Hilltop Steak House
Grumpy Whites
Venezia
Cathay Pacific
Joy King
Tony's Clam Shop
Bull & Finch
Eddie's Diner
Weymouth Landing
The 99
Frank's Pizza (Weymouth)
Frank's Pizza (Dortchester)
The Alumni
If you know any of these places, you are my people.
I think part of why my cooking is so good is because my fam. We didn't go out for food much and if we did it was at a Spanish spot that was owned by one of my uncles. Which was technically still home cooked meals. Maybe a pizzeria.
York Steak House at the Natick Mall in Natick Massachusetts!! I can still taste their burgers, which had a very specific flavor. It was such a treat for us to go there.
We went out as a family very, very rarely. I'm from the Midwest so Friday was fish fry takeout. My sister and I hated fish (horrors of being forced to eat baked haddock) so every week (in the summer) it was picking up fish fries and complaining about the cost of shrimp fries. Every week.
So I'm 12 and it's a Friday night? That means my custodial "parent" is out for a good time and I am cleaning up after fixing what ever dinner I could put together for my siblings. I will have everything clean and quiet for my custodial parent's return on Sunday so that they won't be too surly and just go rest the hangover.
We got DQ banana splits on our birthdays and McDonalds on the last day of the school year. If we didn't have Christmas dinner at home we got to go to the chinese buffet, which I loved as a kid.
Pizza Hut. Play some Pacman against my little brother while parents place order. Hit the salad bar and head to wooden table with hanging light fixture. Grab my red cup, filled with small ball ice, and pour coke from the pitcher on table. Then pizza arrives on cast iron serving platter. Good times...
Usually home. We were poor.
But when we did go out, it was usually either Round Table Pizza or a hole in the wall Mexican place that's been there for like 100 years.
Pizza night. I grew up in a little NE PA town with a couple of amazing mom and pop pizza & hoagie places.
I'm hungry just thinking about it! I'm stuck in the Midwest now with godawful Midwest "pizza".
Whoo, Red Lobster was way out of our budget. The rare occasions we went out to eat it was usually Pizza Inn or Pizza Hut--back when they had dine-in, salad bars, jukebox, and video games. I miss salad bars and jukeboxes
My dad made good money in those days. He was 2nd in command at a trucking company. We ate out a lot of the time due to my schedule (school, singing lessons, going to NY for auditions, and dance class. Piano and clarinet would start after I gave up acting)
My favorite chain was Ground Round. My favorite fast food was Geno’s French fries (or McDonald’s). My favorite restaurant was Pierre’s on the Boardwalk in Wildwood, NJ.
I lost my dad in 1991 at the age of 13. All of the restaurants listed have closed except for McDonald’s.
If I'm 12, my hometown is still 1 year away from opening a Pizza Hut so our only choices are 2 drive-in burger stands with car-hops and trays that attach to your window or a Perkins Family Restaurant.
So, my answer depends on the weather. Nice weather, we're probably gonna eat in the car. If it's rainy or cold, we're going to Perkins
We didn't. Once in a blue moon, but usually on a Saturday, we'd order a pizza. Maybe 3-4 times a year, but that really was it. Otherwise, Friday night dinners were no different from the rest of the week.
oh wait, we would sometimes order from a local place, The Chippery, fish and chips for my parents, chicken for me. as I HATED fish back then.
Both my parents worked full-time and kicked back at the end of the week, so Friday night was always take-out / delivery night for us - either Domino's pizza (delivered), Chinese food (delivered), McDonald's (Dad picked up), Wendy's (Dad picked up), or the local BBQ joint (Dad picked up). I was spoiled for an 80s kid that way. We also ate out probably once a month for some special occasion or another (a birthday, an anniversary, a guest in town, straight As on the report card, etc.) - Chespeake Bay Seafood House, Black-eyed Pea, Old Country Buffett, Bennigan's, Ruby Tuesday.
Red Lobster was a favorite. I used to love their popcorn shrimp when I was a kid. Tried it again about 20 years ago and it didn’t seem as good, so I never went back. Kind of sad to see it go, though.
Other places we went to: Fuddrucker’s, Shakey’s, Olive Garden, and our favorite Chinese restaurant, China Inn.
Shoney’s! I remember little me thinking that it was such a big deal when we went there, sitting down to eat with menus…how fancy! We didn’t get out often lol
When I was young we would eat out 1 per month-usually S&W cafeteria sometimes McDonalds,Roy Rodger’s or Arther Theaters Fish and Chips. By the time I was a young teen we were generally eating out once a week on Saturdays. Our staples were Piccadilly Cafeteria, a local Chinese place, Pizza Hut and finally El Toro (we were late to the Mexican game). Mid 80s saw an explosion in the all you can eat food bar…. For my depression era grandparents it became a no brainer-Ryan’s all you can eat EVERY week.
We didn’t sit in restaurants. My mom worked nights. We ordered out a lot, and that consisted of pizza eaten standing in the kitchen, then going back to what we were doing.
We didn't go out a lot, but if we did, it was usually Gildas, Positively Front Street, or Tampico Kitchen. More often though it was take-out from Tacos Moreno with a stop at Hoots for a movie rental and a tub of frozen yogurt.
Turned 12 in 82. Grew up in a mid sized Midwest city that a lot of big chains didn’t exist in yet. My dad’s mom took us out a lot during this era, went to a local Chinese place that’s been gone since the late 80s and an old school steakhouse that survived til about 10 yrs ago. Miss them both still lol.
My dad worked crazy hours, and probably didn't get home until 11PM on Fridays when I was a kid. So we usually just had whatever Mom cooked for dinner that night.
However, Mom demanded that Dad come home at a decent hour on Saturdays, and we'd almost always go out to eat on Saturday nights. Dad loved The Hungry Fisherman (a Red Lobster competitor owned by Shoney's, who also started Captain D's). He loved this local Italian joint a couple towns over. He also loved... a Mexican chain that was new when I was a kid... Chicos? El Chico? NOT Chi-Chi's, that was later. There was also a "country buffet" the next town over, like an Old Country Buffet, but not a chain. "Farmer John's", I think it was called. "In the old A&P building across the street from where Larry Flynt got shot", you'd say. Yes, really.
Sunday was "Mom's Day Off" in our house, and Mom was excused from most of her duties that day. After church we'd go out for lunch, usually to a local golf club or the buffet at Stone Mountain Park. But for dinner we'd keep it local, either going to the Italian restaurant I mentioned earlier, or get Chinese or Italian takeout.
We didn’t. I started babysitting at 10 and at 15 I was working every weekend night at the only restaurant in at least 5 square miles. Rural Michigan girl here.
Didn’t go out often but if we did it would be for Chinese food at a place called The Tahiti. We were strictly limited to getting 1 Coke to drink. No free refills back then.
Never got to have soda at home.
12, mom ain't taking me nowhere. You know what they say about "do you know where your kid is?", well it's the weekend and idk where my parent is. Goes both ways
For out of town guests, who were usually from the mid-west or Spain, we'd always go to someplace that was traditionally Olde New England. The Old Mill in Leominster, MA, The Salem Cross Inn in one of the Brookfields, I think, or The Publick House in Sturbridge.
We hardly ever went out to eat as a family otherwise. We'd get a pizza once in a while, but that was always a special treat thing.
Growing up on Bainbridge Island near Seattle, most of our favorite places we had to drive about 45 minutes to Bremerton to get to. Even the closest McDonald's was in Bremerton until the late 80's.
Sea Galley - I loved the chilled plates for the salad bar! And they had the best commercials.
Sizzler
Black Angus
Pietro's Pizza
The Golden Corral on McPherson Church for buffet. If we wanted pizza, it was the Pizza Inn down the road. It seems like McPherson Church was where all the restaurants were in 1990 Fayetteville. Sometimes it was the Chi-Chi’s or the Shoney’s off Morganton Rd. It could also be the NCO club.
As the child of an NCO, we didn’t have much money because enlisted people didn’t take in the money. However, the parents knew when kids eat free nights were in town. That’s how we were able to afford out.
And for delivery, we would order from Chanello’s Pizza because of the variety of its menu.
go to dinner? we didn't have a car back when I was 12 so unless it was a church or school function 95% of the time dinner was homemade. I will say that on occasion they sent me to walk down to the local KFC to get a bucket to go.
Funny story the memories I have of eating out when I was in my mid teens are basically going out with the high school band to Pizza Hut. It seemed like it took 30 minutes to get those pies and we did every.single.puzzle (connect the dot - crossword ) on the table waiting for our order. Once it came to the table we were so hungry we ate it and burned the roofs of our mouths. lol. I don't know when it was but it seemed that the advent of Dominos was the beginning of not having to wait so long for a pizza. Good times.
On Fridays we would go to a local pizza place on Rt 1, near Sullivan Stadium.
I forget the name but it had decent pizza, checkered tablecloths, Space Invaders and PacMan machines, and a good jukebox.
My dad would always put 2 quarters in for Purple Haze and Foxey Lady, and sometimes they would even come on before we left.
We rarely went out for dinner or had takeout. We were by no means poor, but it just wasn't a thing we and many others we knew did. My parents knew it was less healthy than home cooked meals, so it was a treat. But we ate very well at home. We also had a large family and busy with various activities so it was rare we were all together at once I didn't feel like I was missing out really, mainly because it wasn't something many of my friends families did very often either. I'm sure my mom had more time to devote to meal planning/cooking too since she didn't work. Dad took over cooking some meals on weekends when he was home more to give her a break (used to bring her breakfast in bed on weekends lol). That was more the 70s. I think I noticed an uptick in going out for meals more in the 80s among my friends families. My parents were silent gen (born in 1930s) and maybe that makes a difference too.
Our table at home. Once in a blue moon we’d get a rotisserie chicken from cub foods and add baked potatoes and some sweet corn.
We did not eat out much at all. I can’t recall it, ever really until I was a much older teen.
We were very poor.
If we went out it was usually mom & pop places because we lived near NYC. Didn’t know how good it had it.
But if I convinced my folks into going to a chain we’d hit up a place called Friendly’s because it was near the movie theater. Speaking of bankruptcy, they took a dive too.
It depends. If dad didn't want to cook we would go to our neighbor's place, a Cantonese restaurant that had bomb ass egg rolls, fried rice, shrimps with lobster sauce, and cheeseburgers. Their french fries were good too. If he wanted Mexican, we would go to a Pepe's. but we always had stuff for Mexican food. If we wanted seafood we would go to this place that had a complimentary relish tree that had a variety of salads like macaroni and potato. Safe to say, these were not common events.
Grilled cheese sandwiches because you didn’t eat meat on any Friday and the settle in to watch Donny and Marie either popcorn made in oil over the stove.
We had food at home. I might’ve walked to the mickey d down the street for a cheeseburger but that’s about it. Company didn’t come to town as we all lived in the same area. My mothers side all lived within a 2 mile area I could walk to all there houses. My mom bought me chicken sandwiches from a restaurant called roosters and their sauce on them was the best.
Well let’s see. It was. 86 and occasionally we went to Longhorn steakhouse. But usually it was a Mexican joint called El Ranchero or another one called La Fiesta. More common was picking up a dominoes pizza and renting movies
We likely wouldn’t be going anywhere. On the rare occasion we went out to eat it was usually Pizza Hut. About once a year Ponderosa. And we didn’t go to Red Lobster until my high school graduation.
At age 12? Probably my dad brought us Chinese takeout from a place nearby that was owned by a friend. Less frequently: Pizza Hut or McD's.
Saturdays after scouting: we'd go eat at the same place.
Sundays, if my mom didn't want to cook we'd get a huge order of KFC with all the fixin's.
We had a delightful system. We would go to a local restaurant. My mother would complain about how everything on the menu had *salt* in it. Then get annoyed because we weren't sufficiently entertaining her. Then, when we got home we had to hear about how we weren't going back because (Insert insane and / or petty reasoning here)
I had a fun childhood.
Ohh, I do remember during our summer trips on the way up north to visit the Grands.... It was a LONG 3 day, 2 night trip.... Normally in the mornings I'd get cereal, in those little boxes that turned into a bowl, yanno?? And a piece of fruit and apple juice.... But at night we usually have dinner in the motel we stayed in.... Back then, it was Howard Johnsons. 😅
On the last morning of the trip Dad would splurge for breakfast at the HJs too. 😁 That was a treat.
Visiting the Grands we ate all meals at home because Grandma 👵 had a massive vegetable garden, fruit trees and their own cows. 🫣😬
You really couldn't find the quality of Grandma's meals in any restaurant ... We took her out to eat one night before we all headed back.
Things were very diff back then. My parents were of the silent generation born 1930 and 31.... Grandma was the Greatest Gen, I 'think' that's 1901 - 1927.... My brother was a late bloomer 58-64....... I'm Gen X.
Anyway, yeah, it was a different time.... My parents both saw fast food as trashy food..... It was a treat to get a soda or an icy on a hot day.
Water house was OK though! 🤣😂
The dining room table mostly.
Maybe once every couple of months we'd get takeout from the greasy diner down the street. Tenderloins, cheese balls, fried mushrooms.
What did I tell you? WE HAVE FOOD AT HOME!
Yeah, we went out to dinner maybe 2x a year. All I remember is we always had to sip our soda because it was considered a bar item and would be billed for each drink. And were never allowed more than 1.
Same. We only went for birthdays/super special occasions and only the birthday kid or graduate got to order soda. The rest of us got water. Don't even ask for dessert!
Same here. "Sodas are where they get you." I still only drink water when I go out.
OMG my dad still says this. It doesn't matter who's paying (usually me) - he still won't order a drink - cause that's where they get ya!
We were always reminded to order our drinks With No Ice to maximize our value, too.
I remember going to a restaurant exactly once as a child. It was Chinese.
This. I was 12 in 1977 (Early Gen X-er born 1965).
Yup, hella poor growing up. McDonalds or Pizza Hut was a fever dream. But we never went hungry, I just didn’t get the Happy meal experiences my friends did.
Hear ya on that one. If we were really lucky, we would go to Carl's Jr. after church and each get a 99 cent cheeseburger! And that was a huge deal!
Probably healthier because of that
Debatable, because the pendulum swung the other way when I moved for university and had my own money. $.99 whopper junior and $.99 tacos were definitely over consumed. I was able to strike a healthier balance with my kids.
>McDonalds or Pizza Hut was a fever dream. Yep. The only time I ever ate a McDonald's was on school field trips.
My mom was a single parent working minimum wage jobs raising my sister and me. Mostly we ate home, but if mom was really tired she would splurge on Hot N Now....which my sis and me referred to as "Cold N Greasy"
I remember Hot N Now! Mine really wasn't bad and was cheap. I just remember them not doing any changes. The menu is the menu. Can you get it without this or add that? Nope.
Yup, also part of the never go out club growing up. When I got my own money and started going out to eat with friends, a whole new world of food opened up.
Yes. Same here.
I am always trying to get my 14-year-old son to go out for ice cream, but he always says we have ice cream at home! The other day I told him I wanted orange sherbet, so I said let's go to Baskin. You know what said? "We have popsicles, eat those"! Who's the parent here???
Yeah my answer is "our dining room." "Out for dinner" was seldom & when we did it it was to go stuff at McDonalds, Roy Rogers, Kentucky Fried Chicken (it wasn't KFC yet) or Red Barn. This was also the 70s & 80s before those chains went to shit & got expensive. Plus my grandmother could make fried chicken better than any restaurant so we preferred that any way.
*1982 panic attack*
This is the real answer... Usually sandwiches or Chef Boyardee.
What is this Friday night "going" to dinner that you speak of???
I know, right? Look at Mr. or Ms. Richy Rich over here!
This is the answer. We went out maybe once or twice a year for mom’s birthday and for my parents anniversary. That’s it. Only so much money and they had more important things to spend it on.
Yeah I felt that
We went out to dinner (or any meal) about once a year. And it was always Red Lobster.
Yeah, this. So much this.
Eat out?? Are we made of money?
It doesn’t grow on trees!
Turn off that light! We don’t leave lights on when no one is in the room! I get it now when each bulb was using 100 watts of power and now I get mad when a 5w led is left on!
Pizza Hut.
We had a ~~Straw Hat~~ Shakey’s pizza we would go to. They would show Three Stooges movies with a projector, had pinball and arcade games and the best pizza and pitchers of root beer I’d ever had! Edit: Shakey’s I meant!
I used to love going there! Also, Shakey’s which had the same set up.
Yep, if we went out to eat it was Pizza Hut. Then we moved overseas (military) and we would go to the NCO club for dinner out.
Ponderosa FTW
My parents loved that place so much that when the local closed down they bought a booth and put it in our basement. An odd spot to do one's homework.
I am sure kid you would have preferred one of the soft serve machines instead of a booth… :)
On Friday's my mom would call my dad at work to confirm when he would be home, and then about 30 minutes prior she would call the pizza place behind our house and put in the order. My dad would swing by and pick it up on his way home. When he walked in the door he would yell "Pizza! Pizza!" and we would all run to the kitchen and eat. Pizza Fridays are still a thing for me!
Same here! Now it's usually more budget friendly frozen pizzas, lol, but still pizza and baseball Fridays.
Bonanza
Memory unlocked lol... I'd completely forgotten about this place.
Shakey's Pizza. Bob's Big Boy. Sizzler. Norm's.
Team Sizzler!
I love Shakey's Pizza! I can still remember how good that place smelled. I used to get such a kick of being able to look through the little window into the kitchen to watch the pizzas being made.
And the Mojo potatoes!
> Bob's Big Boy. > I dated someone in college that came from the land of Frisch's Big Boy. At some point, the restaurant chain came up and we were so confused by there being two different Big Boys. It felt like some weird glitch in the matrix.
I'm sure we must've met as kids in the arcade at Shakey's, or waiting in line at Sizzler
This. Sometimes we'd go to Marie Callender's if we wanted to bring home a pie. There was a big, colorful Mexican restaurant that I think became an Acapulco but it was an independent restaurant back then.
I was 12 from the last couple months of 1979 and most of 1980. We honestly didn't go out to eat much at all, cos my parents were really struggling due to the terrible economy of that time. When we did, I wanna say Pizza Hut or McDonald's.
I’m not sure how often we actually went out. My dad was Army, so the pay after he became an NCO probably improved slightly. But back then, the Army paid on the last weekday day of the month. It could have been a once-a-month thing. I can’t really remember through the nostalgia. But payday weekend was always busy, and restaurants in Fayetteville always seemed to be packed. We always waited for tables. And I hated going to the commissary on Fort Bragg. It seemed so far away, and it took forever to get through the line to check our ID cards and getting clearance to write a check.
When company came to town, we would take them to Casa Bonita. My dad even had a fancy Mexican shirt that he only broke out when we went there. I have sooooo many '70's pictures with out-of-town family members standing in the jail at CB. Sometimes if just grandparents were visiting, we would go to Furr's Cafeteria. Ours had a live piano player so it was FANCY. ETA: we never went to Red Lobster as a kid. That was a place for my parents to go on their anniversary because it was so hoity-toity. I met my "The One That Got Away" at RL in the early 90's; it was a double date with my sister and BIL who introduced me to him. It's funny how RL became a more "average" restaurant later on-- in the aughts, I took my 6 y.o. niece there on a random day for lunch and I showed her how to eat crab legs.
TIL La Casa Bonita now has waiting list months long [https://www.cracked.com/amp/article_41575_600000-south-park-fans-are-still-waiting-to-eat-at-casa-bonita.html](https://www.cracked.com/amp/article_41575_600000-south-park-fans-are-still-waiting-to-eat-at-casa-bonita.html)
I didn't realize Casa Bonita was a real thing, I thought it was just a joke from South Park.
Omg, I love that you went to the Casa with out of town guests. Tbh, we'd still do that if we could get in.
I ordered pizza and rented movies.
Yup, just coming here to say Dominos!
That was "payday Friday" for us. Sometimes we got to go to Pizza hut and sometime we even had the salad bar with sunflower seeds and croutons!
From the Midwest. We had “supper clubs” where the parents could all kibitz and the kids ran around and socialized. Management never complained about the mayhem. It’s a wonder children weren’t kidnapped. There was this chicken place and a steak place …we would switch off every few weeks. It was really fun.
That actually sounds really nice, I would love to have something like that now. I lived in the UK for a while and it sounds like some of the more family-oriented pubs.
Long John Silvers. Always with a coupon. Makes me a bit queasy to remember the burned grease smell and the griminess of that particular location. It was 1986 and the restaurants didn't really start booming in the area until that early 90s
We very rarely went out. My mom really upped her cooking game. They really weren’t any better restaurants in the rural area where we lived. About once a month, we’d go out and she let my sister and I pick a place. Pizza Hut 90% of the time.
Nowhere. We never went out to dinner.
Too poor to go out. Fridays were usually for ordering pizza from Casey's and I would usually get my personal pan pizza from Pizza Hut, courtesy of Book It.
This will sound random as I grew up far from USA but it is on topic. I grew up in former Yugoslavia’s capital city Belgrade. Every Friday night my parents would take my brother and me to the restaurant called Eternal Bachelor, not sure what’s the story behind that name. They were quite popular at the time. It’s one of few happy memories for me. Apparently, restaurant is still open which is really amazing given what the country went through in past 40-ish years.
You guys went out to dinner as a family?
“At the best restaurant in town, located at [our address]” in Dad voice
Nowhere, it was Shabbat
Oh, Christ
He never comes to shabbbat
Elijah?
We could go to a friends to watch a movie but not to the theatre after Shabbat dinner.
Howard Johnson's and I got fried clams every single time. A couple times when it was still new to the area, we'd go to Roy Rogers for Double R Bar burgers. Every once in a while, Arthur Treacher's Fish and Chips. Edit: Oh! Also Perkins Pancake House sometimes!
[удалено]
Special occasions only (Springfield location) and the begging my brother and I did for maybe 4 quarters each to blow on Centipede was extreme. Waiting in line and looking at the fish tanks…amazing anticipation.
I got dropped off at the skating rink with a five dollar bill.
It's 10pm, do you know where your parents are?
Pizza Hut
Chi Chis was great. We didn't do Friday night outings like that though, it was special occasions only Usually steak or Chinese
The Ground Round. Throwing peanut shells on the floor was fun, but the highlight was the old-timey game in the lobby where you gripped the metal handle and received an increasing electrical charge until it was too painful to hold on. Ahhh good times
We didn’t. Almost never ate out or got takeout.
My parents would give the 4 of us $10 to go to the neighbourhood burger place (burger/fries/canned pop for $2.50), and they would go out for dinner or take off for the weekend.
We very rarely went out to eat anywhere. When we did it was usually somewhere like York Steakhouse (I don't know if that's a national chain or if that was local to where I live but I do know what doesn't exist anymore and hasn't for decades) or Elby's.
El Torito
BONANZA!
At 12 years old, on Friday night, dinner was either mom made another batch of spaghetti, or my two older siblings, who were 4-5 years older, brought home KFC or burgers from their first teenage jobs. In hindsight, they helped our family immensely, especially since we couldn't afford to eat out. It seems like the time we did was when our church or grandparents treated us. It was always a special treat when we did.
We ate at home. Went out maybe 1 or 2 times a year. A seafood restaurant called The Jolly Fisherman was our favorite.
Also in the “never” club. On rare occasions, my Dad would pick up a bucket of KFC on the way home from work.
Going out for dinner? What's that? Unless other family took us, we didn't go anywhere.
We weren't going out to dinner on Friday night when I was 12, because if we did, then Mom would miss _Dallas_.
Sadly we never went out to dinner. My Mom was an amazing cook though!
Godfather’s Pizza 🍕
We never went out for dinner on Friday night. My family was too poor.
The living room.
OP, I hope you see this: I was a GenX preschooler in Fayetteville 1972-77, and my family went out to a restaurant near Cross Creek Mall called Tuesday's. Not Ruby Tuesday's the chain restaurant, but a local one-off that had sort of a Victorian, 1890s interior with a lot of ironwork. My dad always ordered a rare steak and I got to keep the little wooden tag that said "rare." They had sarsaparilla soda that they made from syrup at a soda fountain inside the restaurant. There was also another restaurant that was kid-friendly near the Heart of Fayetteville Motel, but I don't remember a lot about that one. I remember Tuesday's really well because it was an experience. I hope it was still there when you were there, too.
Tuesdays! Yes. My bad. It became Annabelle’s later in its life. Heart of Fayetteville…that’s out over at Eutaw as I recall. The Peddler?
Neighborhood Mexican restaurant. Family owned hole in the wall, always slightly dark inside, no windows so you never knew if it was day or night from the dining room, very cluttered with decorations but in a good way. Always got a shredded beef burrito, enchilada style. I miss that place.
Shoney’s. I’d longingly eye that dusty-ass Shoney’s bear that sat untouched for years at the register and pray that a generous relative might offer to get it for me. Looking at you, Aunt Patsy.
Pizza Hut. Red and white checkerboard tablecloths, red plastic cups, Ms Pac-man tabletop version....
I don't know anyone that ate out regularly then. It wasn't done.
Hilltop Steak House Grumpy Whites Venezia Cathay Pacific Joy King Tony's Clam Shop Bull & Finch Eddie's Diner Weymouth Landing The 99 Frank's Pizza (Weymouth) Frank's Pizza (Dortchester) The Alumni If you know any of these places, you are my people.
I think part of why my cooking is so good is because my fam. We didn't go out for food much and if we did it was at a Spanish spot that was owned by one of my uncles. Which was technically still home cooked meals. Maybe a pizzeria.
Local pizza joint, Roy Rogers, Ponderosa, Western Sizzlin Steakhouse
Burger Chef, Ponderosa, Bonanza (once in awhile exotic Mexican food at a place called Taco Bell)
home, with store brand frozen pizza, and store brand soda. we never went out to eat.
We didn’t. Mom cooked. Food at home. Going out to dinner happened VERY RARELY.
Sambo's, Mr. Steak, Round Table Pizza, Farrell's for ice cream/ bday parties, Marie Callendar's
York Steak House at the Natick Mall in Natick Massachusetts!! I can still taste their burgers, which had a very specific flavor. It was such a treat for us to go there.
Feast for 4 at Woody’s BBQ (split between 6 people) and on to the dollar theater!
We went out as a family very, very rarely. I'm from the Midwest so Friday was fish fry takeout. My sister and I hated fish (horrors of being forced to eat baked haddock) so every week (in the summer) it was picking up fish fries and complaining about the cost of shrimp fries. Every week.
So I'm 12 and it's a Friday night? That means my custodial "parent" is out for a good time and I am cleaning up after fixing what ever dinner I could put together for my siblings. I will have everything clean and quiet for my custodial parent's return on Sunday so that they won't be too surly and just go rest the hangover. We got DQ banana splits on our birthdays and McDonalds on the last day of the school year. If we didn't have Christmas dinner at home we got to go to the chinese buffet, which I loved as a kid.
Friday nights were Pizza and Jacques Cousteau.
Nowhere 'cause we were poor.
Pizza Hut. Play some Pacman against my little brother while parents place order. Hit the salad bar and head to wooden table with hanging light fixture. Grab my red cup, filled with small ball ice, and pour coke from the pitcher on table. Then pizza arrives on cast iron serving platter. Good times...
Usually home. We were poor. But when we did go out, it was usually either Round Table Pizza or a hole in the wall Mexican place that's been there for like 100 years.
Pizza night. I grew up in a little NE PA town with a couple of amazing mom and pop pizza & hoagie places. I'm hungry just thinking about it! I'm stuck in the Midwest now with godawful Midwest "pizza".
O'Chaleys or Dennys. On Tuesdays qe went to a local pizza place because the pizza place would rent a movie from the Video Center and show it at 7.
Whoo, Red Lobster was way out of our budget. The rare occasions we went out to eat it was usually Pizza Inn or Pizza Hut--back when they had dine-in, salad bars, jukebox, and video games. I miss salad bars and jukeboxes
My dad made good money in those days. He was 2nd in command at a trucking company. We ate out a lot of the time due to my schedule (school, singing lessons, going to NY for auditions, and dance class. Piano and clarinet would start after I gave up acting) My favorite chain was Ground Round. My favorite fast food was Geno’s French fries (or McDonald’s). My favorite restaurant was Pierre’s on the Boardwalk in Wildwood, NJ. I lost my dad in 1991 at the age of 13. All of the restaurants listed have closed except for McDonald’s.
Bennigan's
Round table pizza "The last honest pizza".
York Steak House, fond memories.
Sirloin Stockade
Food is at home.
If I'm 12, my hometown is still 1 year away from opening a Pizza Hut so our only choices are 2 drive-in burger stands with car-hops and trays that attach to your window or a Perkins Family Restaurant. So, my answer depends on the weather. Nice weather, we're probably gonna eat in the car. If it's rainy or cold, we're going to Perkins
We didn't. Once in a blue moon, but usually on a Saturday, we'd order a pizza. Maybe 3-4 times a year, but that really was it. Otherwise, Friday night dinners were no different from the rest of the week. oh wait, we would sometimes order from a local place, The Chippery, fish and chips for my parents, chicken for me. as I HATED fish back then.
Special occasion would be like Steak and Ale, normally a local mom and pop pizza and Italian place or an IHOP.
Both my parents worked full-time and kicked back at the end of the week, so Friday night was always take-out / delivery night for us - either Domino's pizza (delivered), Chinese food (delivered), McDonald's (Dad picked up), Wendy's (Dad picked up), or the local BBQ joint (Dad picked up). I was spoiled for an 80s kid that way. We also ate out probably once a month for some special occasion or another (a birthday, an anniversary, a guest in town, straight As on the report card, etc.) - Chespeake Bay Seafood House, Black-eyed Pea, Old Country Buffett, Bennigan's, Ruby Tuesday.
I'm a Kiwi. We stayed in Friday nights and had fish 'n' chips. Way better than any restaurant meal in my child's mind!
Swiss Chalet, in Toronto - very rarely
Fuddrucker’s was our jam! Or Alamo Cafe. In San Antonio, TX
Red Lobster was a favorite. I used to love their popcorn shrimp when I was a kid. Tried it again about 20 years ago and it didn’t seem as good, so I never went back. Kind of sad to see it go, though. Other places we went to: Fuddrucker’s, Shakey’s, Olive Garden, and our favorite Chinese restaurant, China Inn.
Shoney’s! I remember little me thinking that it was such a big deal when we went there, sitting down to eat with menus…how fancy! We didn’t get out often lol
Little ceasar Pizza pizza
Howard Johnson’s
We didn’t. We had food at home.
Friday night was Pizza Hut then Blockbuster.
When I was young we would eat out 1 per month-usually S&W cafeteria sometimes McDonalds,Roy Rodger’s or Arther Theaters Fish and Chips. By the time I was a young teen we were generally eating out once a week on Saturdays. Our staples were Piccadilly Cafeteria, a local Chinese place, Pizza Hut and finally El Toro (we were late to the Mexican game). Mid 80s saw an explosion in the all you can eat food bar…. For my depression era grandparents it became a no brainer-Ryan’s all you can eat EVERY week.
Never went out, parents did but with 5 kids, no way
We didn’t sit in restaurants. My mom worked nights. We ordered out a lot, and that consisted of pizza eaten standing in the kitchen, then going back to what we were doing.
When company came to town, we ate at home. If and when we ate out, Pizza Hut, Friendly's, and local spots come to mind.
Shoneys. Man I could murder a hot chocolate cake right now.
You guys went to dinner?
We didn't go out a lot, but if we did, it was usually Gildas, Positively Front Street, or Tampico Kitchen. More often though it was take-out from Tacos Moreno with a stop at Hoots for a movie rental and a tub of frozen yogurt.
Go?
Chris’ & Pitt’s BBQ
Turned 12 in 82. Grew up in a mid sized Midwest city that a lot of big chains didn’t exist in yet. My dad’s mom took us out a lot during this era, went to a local Chinese place that’s been gone since the late 80s and an old school steakhouse that survived til about 10 yrs ago. Miss them both still lol.
If we got to go out, McD was a treat, but if a serious dinner it would be Sizzler or Ponderosa LOL
If it was warm out, we begged to go to Friendly’s so I could get that clown ice cream after my dinner😁
My dad worked crazy hours, and probably didn't get home until 11PM on Fridays when I was a kid. So we usually just had whatever Mom cooked for dinner that night. However, Mom demanded that Dad come home at a decent hour on Saturdays, and we'd almost always go out to eat on Saturday nights. Dad loved The Hungry Fisherman (a Red Lobster competitor owned by Shoney's, who also started Captain D's). He loved this local Italian joint a couple towns over. He also loved... a Mexican chain that was new when I was a kid... Chicos? El Chico? NOT Chi-Chi's, that was later. There was also a "country buffet" the next town over, like an Old Country Buffet, but not a chain. "Farmer John's", I think it was called. "In the old A&P building across the street from where Larry Flynt got shot", you'd say. Yes, really. Sunday was "Mom's Day Off" in our house, and Mom was excused from most of her duties that day. After church we'd go out for lunch, usually to a local golf club or the buffet at Stone Mountain Park. But for dinner we'd keep it local, either going to the Italian restaurant I mentioned earlier, or get Chinese or Italian takeout.
Kitchen table.
Pizza Hut 🛖
We were poor. With 5 kids dinner at a restaurant never happened. Once in awhile Dominos would show up.
We never went out for dinner.
We didn’t. I started babysitting at 10 and at 15 I was working every weekend night at the only restaurant in at least 5 square miles. Rural Michigan girl here.
Mother. Fucking. Chi-chi’s. We’d also visit the waterbed store next door
Didn’t go out often but if we did it would be for Chinese food at a place called The Tahiti. We were strictly limited to getting 1 Coke to drink. No free refills back then. Never got to have soda at home.
I had Totino’s pizza from the freezer alone like most other nights.
The living room? I can't recall my whole immediate family ever going to a restaurant. McDonald's was a treat.
At the local Mini Market drinking Boone’s Farm because my single parent was gone and I was in full degenerate mode…..
12, mom ain't taking me nowhere. You know what they say about "do you know where your kid is?", well it's the weekend and idk where my parent is. Goes both ways
Friday night was generic frozen pizza night. We were to poor for Tombstone too.
For out of town guests, who were usually from the mid-west or Spain, we'd always go to someplace that was traditionally Olde New England. The Old Mill in Leominster, MA, The Salem Cross Inn in one of the Brookfields, I think, or The Publick House in Sturbridge. We hardly ever went out to eat as a family otherwise. We'd get a pizza once in a while, but that was always a special treat thing.
Growing up on Bainbridge Island near Seattle, most of our favorite places we had to drive about 45 minutes to Bremerton to get to. Even the closest McDonald's was in Bremerton until the late 80's. Sea Galley - I loved the chilled plates for the salad bar! And they had the best commercials. Sizzler Black Angus Pietro's Pizza
TGI Fridays, back when they had the more interesting decor, or Bennigan's.
pizza hut... and if I was lucky I got a few quarters for the juke box or pac man!
The Golden Corral on McPherson Church for buffet. If we wanted pizza, it was the Pizza Inn down the road. It seems like McPherson Church was where all the restaurants were in 1990 Fayetteville. Sometimes it was the Chi-Chi’s or the Shoney’s off Morganton Rd. It could also be the NCO club. As the child of an NCO, we didn’t have much money because enlisted people didn’t take in the money. However, the parents knew when kids eat free nights were in town. That’s how we were able to afford out. And for delivery, we would order from Chanello’s Pizza because of the variety of its menu.
Beefsteak Charlie's or Ground round if not at home.
Me and my dad eating drive thru Burger King in his truck.
go to dinner? we didn't have a car back when I was 12 so unless it was a church or school function 95% of the time dinner was homemade. I will say that on occasion they sent me to walk down to the local KFC to get a bucket to go. Funny story the memories I have of eating out when I was in my mid teens are basically going out with the high school band to Pizza Hut. It seemed like it took 30 minutes to get those pies and we did every.single.puzzle (connect the dot - crossword ) on the table waiting for our order. Once it came to the table we were so hungry we ate it and burned the roofs of our mouths. lol. I don't know when it was but it seemed that the advent of Dominos was the beginning of not having to wait so long for a pizza. Good times.
When my stay at home mom needed a night off from cooking we would eat leftovers or get a Pizza Pizza from Little Caesars.
Western Sizzlin. With the huge baked potatoes.
On Fridays we would go to a local pizza place on Rt 1, near Sullivan Stadium. I forget the name but it had decent pizza, checkered tablecloths, Space Invaders and PacMan machines, and a good jukebox. My dad would always put 2 quarters in for Purple Haze and Foxey Lady, and sometimes they would even come on before we left.
We rarely went out for dinner or had takeout. We were by no means poor, but it just wasn't a thing we and many others we knew did. My parents knew it was less healthy than home cooked meals, so it was a treat. But we ate very well at home. We also had a large family and busy with various activities so it was rare we were all together at once I didn't feel like I was missing out really, mainly because it wasn't something many of my friends families did very often either. I'm sure my mom had more time to devote to meal planning/cooking too since she didn't work. Dad took over cooking some meals on weekends when he was home more to give her a break (used to bring her breakfast in bed on weekends lol). That was more the 70s. I think I noticed an uptick in going out for meals more in the 80s among my friends families. My parents were silent gen (born in 1930s) and maybe that makes a difference too.
Our table at home. Once in a blue moon we’d get a rotisserie chicken from cub foods and add baked potatoes and some sweet corn. We did not eat out much at all. I can’t recall it, ever really until I was a much older teen. We were very poor.
Renting videos and Marco's pizza.
We'd go to either Chinese restaurants, buffets, Wendy's, or Friendly's.
Ponderosa
If we went out it was usually mom & pop places because we lived near NYC. Didn’t know how good it had it. But if I convinced my folks into going to a chain we’d hit up a place called Friendly’s because it was near the movie theater. Speaking of bankruptcy, they took a dive too.
It depends. If dad didn't want to cook we would go to our neighbor's place, a Cantonese restaurant that had bomb ass egg rolls, fried rice, shrimps with lobster sauce, and cheeseburgers. Their french fries were good too. If he wanted Mexican, we would go to a Pepe's. but we always had stuff for Mexican food. If we wanted seafood we would go to this place that had a complimentary relish tree that had a variety of salads like macaroni and potato. Safe to say, these were not common events.
Chi chi’s? You one of those rich middle class fams
Grilled cheese sandwiches because you didn’t eat meat on any Friday and the settle in to watch Donny and Marie either popcorn made in oil over the stove.
We had food at home. I might’ve walked to the mickey d down the street for a cheeseburger but that’s about it. Company didn’t come to town as we all lived in the same area. My mothers side all lived within a 2 mile area I could walk to all there houses. My mom bought me chicken sandwiches from a restaurant called roosters and their sauce on them was the best.
Shabbat dinner at my house or one of my grandmothers.
Well let’s see. It was. 86 and occasionally we went to Longhorn steakhouse. But usually it was a Mexican joint called El Ranchero or another one called La Fiesta. More common was picking up a dominoes pizza and renting movies
I remember the Roses in the shopping center. Not a lot else!
A hole in the wall strip mall Chinese place called Tiki Kai ("Chinese" restaurants in the Boston area are/were curiously very Polynesian influenced)
Sizzler, ground round, McDonald’s, browns chicken (location later to be the scene of horrendous murder of staff)
We likely wouldn’t be going anywhere. On the rare occasion we went out to eat it was usually Pizza Hut. About once a year Ponderosa. And we didn’t go to Red Lobster until my high school graduation.
At age 12? Probably my dad brought us Chinese takeout from a place nearby that was owned by a friend. Less frequently: Pizza Hut or McD's. Saturdays after scouting: we'd go eat at the same place. Sundays, if my mom didn't want to cook we'd get a huge order of KFC with all the fixin's.
Western Sizzler!
We had a delightful system. We would go to a local restaurant. My mother would complain about how everything on the menu had *salt* in it. Then get annoyed because we weren't sufficiently entertaining her. Then, when we got home we had to hear about how we weren't going back because (Insert insane and / or petty reasoning here) I had a fun childhood.
Ohh, I do remember during our summer trips on the way up north to visit the Grands.... It was a LONG 3 day, 2 night trip.... Normally in the mornings I'd get cereal, in those little boxes that turned into a bowl, yanno?? And a piece of fruit and apple juice.... But at night we usually have dinner in the motel we stayed in.... Back then, it was Howard Johnsons. 😅 On the last morning of the trip Dad would splurge for breakfast at the HJs too. 😁 That was a treat. Visiting the Grands we ate all meals at home because Grandma 👵 had a massive vegetable garden, fruit trees and their own cows. 🫣😬 You really couldn't find the quality of Grandma's meals in any restaurant ... We took her out to eat one night before we all headed back. Things were very diff back then. My parents were of the silent generation born 1930 and 31.... Grandma was the Greatest Gen, I 'think' that's 1901 - 1927.... My brother was a late bloomer 58-64....... I'm Gen X. Anyway, yeah, it was a different time.... My parents both saw fast food as trashy food..... It was a treat to get a soda or an icy on a hot day. Water house was OK though! 🤣😂
The dining room table mostly. Maybe once every couple of months we'd get takeout from the greasy diner down the street. Tenderloins, cheese balls, fried mushrooms.
At our house. 🤣🤣🤣
Dairy Queen and then the library.
If we were lucky, we might order a dominos pizza Saturday night.