Restaurants have changed a ton over the last few decades. Everything from the food to the decor to dining culture itself has evolved in ways new generations might never realize once existed.
If you’ve ever wondered what restaurants used to be like, you’re in luck. A few weeks ago, Tasty readers took a trip down memory lane and shared the restaurant experiences they had in “the good old days,” and it’s giving me a serious case of secondhand nostalgia. Here’s what they had to say:
1.
“As a kid, I remember all the adult meals came with a side salad. And most importantly, those salads came with croutons and a pack of crackers. The croutons and crackers the adults didn’t want were my original appetizers!”
—dandelano
2.
“The first thing that would happen once you were seated in the restaurant is that the waitress would come to the table with a glass of ice water for each diner at the table, then ask everyone for their drink order. You also got a napkin, a knife, a fork, and a spoon. Nowadays, you’re lucky to get more than just a fork.”
—Arnold
3.
“Just the quality and taste of the food was better. Now the food looks and tastes like frozen microwave dinners.”
—slytree493
4.
“I would love to walk into a Pizza Hut again with the brick walls and the glass lights hanging down. It was such an atmosphere.”
5.
“Oh my god, Ponderosa used to have student nights where you could go to their buffet for under $10. During college, my friend and I used to not eat the entire day, hang out with our good friend ‘Mary,’ and then eat there. We normally wouldn’t even want to eat the next day. Great deal.”
—BitterCrocodile20
6.
“I miss the three silver containers that came to the table that had sour cream in one container, butter in another, and chives in the other. I also miss apple dumplings from Wendy’s.”
—Pam. 74, Texas
7.
“I remember going to the A&W drive-thru. They would bring your food out in roller skates, and the root beer was in real glasses: big ones for adults and little ones for kids.”
8.
“There used to be a completely separate area labelled for truck drivers at truck stop restaurants, and they gave a truckers discount as well (and they had smoking or non-smoking sections, too). This was only in the US, though. Canada never had that.”
—Patti, 61, Canada
9.
“KFC used to have a buffet! It was amazing home-cooking-style country food like beans, biscuits, gravy, and mashed potatoes.”
—Anonymous
10.
“I miss the way McDonald’s restaurants USED to be. Many of them were often uniquely decorated to reflect the city in which they were located. When we traveled when I was younger, we would often see a McDonald’s that had different decor than any other we had ever been to. And Ronald McDonald and his friends were often a colorful presence.”
11.
“It used to be easy to find a nice Chinese-style food restaurant that was not a buffet with menu items like Flaming PuPu Platter, Happy Family, Phoenix and Dragon, and an extensive drink menu. You would all order one dish apiece, which you could share with your dinner mates.”
—Blinky Bo
12.
“Personally, I miss restaurants with crayons and coloring page menus or other little games for kids. A lot less annoying to see kids busy with those, instead of on a tablet without headphones.”
13.
“The Little Caesars in Kmart is the only time Little Caesars has been good. It must have been something special in those little kitchens.”
—Ambam8813
14.
“If they brought back an old video game that takes one quarter to play, like Centipede, Asteroids, Defender, or Pac-Man, there would be people on that machine all night long. I stopped playing them when they came out with games costing more than a quarter that only last for a couple of minutes.”
—edgycat84
15.
“Parsley was put on plates as a garnish. It’s a natural breath cleaner that you can chew on to remove any bad breath or taste from whatever you ate at dinner. I discovered that working in a Chinese restaurant. Pretty cool.”
16.
“They used to have kale as just a salad bar decoration. It was not meant to be eaten.”
—Michellew4b8eb1500
17.
“Instead of bread and butter, restaurants served WisPride cheese spread in a crock or ball covered in slivered almonds and an assortment of crackers.”
—Chip
18.
“I would kill for a great salad bar. Buffets in general these days just don’t hit the same.”
19.
“I miss having real maple syrup at the table. I miss real pepperoni on my pizza. I miss my Burger King beef patty coming fresh off the flame broiler and not from a stainless steel drawer. I miss when Arby’s would steam their beef sandwiches.”
—Tim
20.
“I miss the lunch counters at department stores. Our dad used to take us girls to JCPenney’s counter for cocoa after our Saturday morning dance lessons. My mom and I would stop into Rea & Derick (a drug store) for a cherry coke, and when we’d go to the mall with friends, we would go to the counter at McCrory and get their French fries. They were the best.”
Can you think of anything else that’s changed about restaurants in the last few decades? Let us know in the comments, or fill out the anonymous form below!
And if you’re finding yourself craving the taste of your youth, download the Tasty app to browse everything from KFC-style fried chicken to salad bar-style salads — no subscription required.
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