When I was younger, every time we would go out to eat, I desperately wanted to dine at Fresh Choice. I loved having total control of my meal at the self-service restaurant. I chose the ingredients that went into my salad and selected what kind of soup to slurp. The ability to create my own dinner was empowering and I fondly remember the food being delicious. Although it's been years since I ate at Fresh Choice, it still holds a special place in my heart.
How about you? What were your favorite places to eat as a child?
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The Velvet Turtle!!! And Farrell's Ice Cream!
1We had this restaurant called Ella's Deli that opened right around the time I was born. It had a carousel outside and the inside was decorated with all sorts of cool, kitschy old toys and things. It was kind of a cross between an old-fashioned ice cream parlor and a New York deli. They had THE BEST ice cream and they served all kosher food. I always used to get either a kosher beef hot dog, kugel, or a Reuben sandwich. Then we'd get an ice cream cone and ride the carousel. Now I take my little nephew there when I go visit him...it totally brings back memories!
2We used to go to the MetroWest Country Club after church almost every Sunday and i loved the "fancy" hamburgers and fries (french hamburger buns and steak fries). When i drive past it these days it always makes me smile
3there was this place called 'Beefsteak Charlies' that we used to go to all the time when i was younger (ok, only when my grandmother came to town but still) and it was the BEST.
they had a buffet that had the best stuff, and a 'make your own sundae' cart which is a kids fantasy!
4I was allll about Fresh Choice as a kid.
5I remember the adults in line were always impressed with how much salad i would have on my plate haha
I used to love to go to Friendly's...we would always order an appetizer of mozzarella sticks, and then I would usually get the Fishamajig sandwich and a sundae for dessert!
6Farrell's Ice Cream Parlor!! I still miss it.
7Ryan's steakhouse,Shoney's,and Perkin's.
8I loooved going to Tony Roma's in NY because it made me feel so grown up!
9Farrell's and Organ Grinder Pizza Parlor. Egads - I just realized how gross "organ grinder pizza sounds". No bodily organs were ground up - but they had a killer Wurlitzer and a bubble blower and black and white movies.
10Portillo's was my favorite!
11the only restaurant my father ever took us to was red lobster :S
12The Hilltop Tavern. It sat maybe 20 people, max, and was run almost soley by an old silver-haired woman who made the best burgers, slaw and potato salad you could dream of. Long gone, The Tav was consistantly on the list of 50 best burgers in the nation back in the day.
13ella's was my favorite restaurant too spectra! my grandparents lived in madison, and every time we went to visit them, my sister and i would beg to go there!
14Like many kids, I liked McDonald's. A close second was dim sum (it's a Chinese thing, for those of you who don't know).
15The Kosher Nosh, I also loved Blue Smoke and Angelo and Maxie's in NY, we went all the time with my grandparents.
16Old Spaghetti Factory...Fresh Choice is still the bomb...and at the Ferrell's in San Jose we went to when I was a kid, they had a giant drum they would bang on when it was someone's birthday and it used to scare me to tears, every time! lol
17I'm was always old fashioned (and my family was in the lower-middle class when i was very young, unlike now- complete turn around) but we loved going to Friendly's. I love ice cream, always have. We'd go after my vocal lessons in Toms River, NJ when I was 5... those were the days!
18I grew up in Illinois, NW suburbs of Chicago. My favorite restaurant was Lum's and Beef & Barrel. Excellent food, you can't find anything like it today. At Lum's, you would walk in and a roast beef would be turning on the spit that they would use for sandwiches. I can taste it now!!!!
19Favorite places to eat when I was a child were local - there was a deli in the mall called 'Our Gang' that I loved and then there was the restaurant at The Broadway (Macy's) Department store. The Broadway's restaurant was where "ladies who lunched" would go and my mom was a "lady who lunched" so she'd pull me out of elementary school to lunch with her and her friends. had my first Cobb Salad at that restaurant while some woman modeled the newest fashion available at the store.
Our city did not have any fast food joints or chain dining establishments until the late 70's, early to mid 80's. And when we got a McDonald's it was dine in only.
I used to dream about going to Farrell's near my cousin's house in Woodland Hills, then I went and watched my cousin eat 'The Pig' and never wanted to go back.
20Glowing Moon, I was reading through these thinking I was the only one! It was all about the Happy Meal.
21Omg I totally forgot family night at SHAKEY'S PIZZA.
22Nasty but they had an arcade
Bluebellknoll, you must be from Portland! I used to love the Organ Grinder when I was a kid too - we didn't go very often as we don't live in PDX, but I loved the games and the prizes and of course, the pipe organ! Funny that I have no recollection of how the pizza was. :0)
23I am viejo....as a child we never went out unless we went on our own with friends....we used to ride our bikes 2 miles to get a 5 cent (yes) ice cream cone or 3 scoops for 15 cents. Or else it was the one mile ride north to McD for a 15 cent burger. Still my fav was the one mile ride south to taco bell! With all that bike riding we never got fat.
24My favorite restaurant when I was really little was the cafeteria at the department store Kresky's because you got your own soda and could mix the flavors. Then as I got older Guilifty's in Villanova for Napoleon and pizza and Coco's in King of Prussia for birthdays because the mere mention of a birthday brought out all the servers singing their special song with balloons and cake (I wish I could remember the whole song). Sadly they are all gone now.
25Small town girl and the only choice was A&W or Mexican. I pick Mexican.
26Hands down Red Robin. I think I spent every birthday there. I love Friendly's but sadly didn't go there until I was an adult. I would have loved that place as a kid!
27the sushi restaurant at the fancy outdoor mall that had the sushi floating on the little boats. My parents rarely took me because I ate too much, and sushi is pricey.
28When I was little, Friday night meant Howard Johnson's fish fry. Always included a scoop of ice cream afterwards, always got peppermint!
29Wallbangers - a build your own burger place. Franks Spaghetti House - for their red garlic salad dressing and chef salads. Old Mexico - for puffy tacos smothered in queso!
30We had a Ground Round in Fresh Pond, MA, which was this great sort of local Applebee's-type thing. Only after they treated us really badly did we stop going there (an hour wait, and all we got was water? please). I think I was 12, I seem to remember it was my birthday, and it kind of stung. It's closed now, and the location has sort of attempted to reinvent itself several times over. I still pass the site a lot, and it brings back both good memories and that one really crappy one.
Apparently when I was really little in Michigan, I used to love the Big Boy, and would make the little Big Boy statue pose when my dad said the name. So I've been told - it was from before I formed conscious memories.
31I really loved Friendly's when I was kid, but my all-time favorite was Isaac's, which is a local fancy sandwich chain in Lancaster, PA.
32And McDonald's, especially after soccer practice.
33Chi Chi's---I loved wearing the hat on my birthday!
34McDonald's. Sadly I can't remember liking any place else.
35I loved to go to a local BBQ joint with my Parents called "Sammy's BBQ". Their onion rings were as big as my head, at least that is how my 7 year old self remembers it. My sister even had her rehersal dinner there. I have always wanted to go back, but my Dad says they have new owner's and the food is just not the same =(
36Put me down for Ye Olde Spaghetti Factory too. Anthony's, Confetti's, Cutters, Alfy's, Orchid Thai and Pan e Vino were my other favorites in the Seattle area, and Chateaulin was my favorite in Ashland, OR. My parents were in food service when I was little, so I had a kind of obnoxious palate from an early age. As for fast food, it was Ivar's all the way.
37Our family would take us to Valentino's for our birthdays, and I still get happy feelings when I go there today. On Sundays after church our dad would take us to Subway, so good memories there.
38For me and my brother's and sister's it was McDonald's/Happy Meal/The Play Place. I remember my parents had a hard time wrangling us to sit down and eat if we went to play on the "toys". Usually we had to eat first and then play, which drove us nuts.
Also, when we came over to my grandparents my grandpa would pile us into the VW Bug and take us to Dairy Queen for a double dipped chocolate cone. He would drink a cup of coffee and just watch us making a mess with our ice cream or jokingly telling us that there were ants in the bottom of the cone. He has been gone 9 years now and I still go in and have a cone and think about my grandpa.
I had a birthday party at Farrell's when I was about 5 years old. I had a big bowl of different kinds of ice cream in it and I blew out the candle. I have a picture of me somewhere blowing out the candle.
Ahhhh memories.
39When I was really young - Chuck E. Cheese. My godparents would take me for every birthday.
I also liked going to Ryan's buffet because I could get ice cream and put tons of toppings on it.
40McDonald's was my fine dining of choice when I was a young'un.
Also, Saunders Ice Cream parlor - they used to serve the ice cream in little silver dishes and if you wanted water they'd give it to you in a little paper cone.
Their cream puffs were to die for.
41to me restaurants doesnt mean fast food joint, thats a whole different catagory.
We rarely went out to eat, and would do so only on special occasions, and I always wanted to go to red lobster and get the King Crab legs.
42When I was small, my mum used to take me to Arby's on Tuesday nights, because they had 99 cent kids meals. So we would go about four in the afternoon, and I would eat at Arby's. My mum ate with me from time to time, but this mostly happened while she was pregnant with my baby sister and ate little to nothing. It was how I learned to eat properly in a public arena, and I am now brainwashed into loving Arby's.
Every other place is local. Wings'n'More in College Station, Pappadeaux and Pappasitos in Houston, tamales at the hole in the wall ((without a name)) an hour from nowhere, and barbecue at this place in Austin ((whose name I can't remember)).
Sibling and I liked Luby's too, and I got to try all kinds of new vegetables there, but I don't know if they're open anymore.
43OH and Matsumoto's Shave Ice in Haleiwa & Kincaid's in Honolulu whenever we would go back home to visit the family, but those were special occasion things since we lived on the mainland.
44We used to eat at Checker's after Sunday night church- loved their fries..still do, but i eat there rarely since I am a little more health-conscious now:)
45Shoney's was a favorite too- everytime we went to visit my grandaddy he would take us there.
When we went up north to visit my other grandparents, I pitched fits to go to Friendly's. I loved the ice cream clown thing that had the cone on top. lol
McDonalds XD Mainly because I didn't each much when I was little and when I did, it was mainly french fries or something that I would consider taboo now haha.
46Friendly's for sure
47Jojos and the Old San Francisco Steak House in Houston, TX.
48@becoming brina: I own a t-shirt from Matsumoto's! My mom was there in the 80s on vacation. Is that place still around?
My favorites were Arby's and Ryan's.
49This local place Stanney's...best ice cream around.
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