What about flair?
Heh, that new Fridays is as sterile as a Hollywood script.
The new Friday’s looks like a generic, mid level restaurant.
I once stopped at a Cracker Barrel in Georgia and saw an exact copy of my very first guitar (an big, fat, Harmony archtop with F-Holes and quarter-inch action) hanging on the wall. It gave me such a good feeling that I tipped big!
I actually like some “industrial” style decor, but only when it’s funky and steam-punky.
I do NOT like sterility in design.
BTW, the picture of the gentleman on the old Harley is yet another piece of nostalgia for me. While the retro look was preserved with the subsequent EVO Engine, even Harley has strayed into “modernizing” it’s look in the past couple of years. Although there may not be a direct correlation, the design changes have corresponded with a slump in sales.
These restaurateurs had better be careful and consider the Ancient Wisdom of the Proverb:
“If it WORKS, Don’t FIX it!”
Looks like the cafeteria at IKEA! How do these people get these jobs? They take something that ain’t broke and fix it....instead of perhaps making the food and service better. I love the Decor in Friday’s but the food and service has gotten very average.
Visited in 2004 while on liberty. Wanted a quiet place to eat some food and drink some beer. Upon entering, we were immediately accosted by throngs of Chinese and Russian prostitutes. who wouldn't leave us alone. They were swarming around like angry hornets and they'd grab us by the arms and wouldn't let us go. Once we got a booth to eat, they hovered above us.
We called it "running the gauntlet" and visiting TGIT's would become a fond memory of my early days in the Navy.
FWIW, there was a great Mexican restaurant/bar one floor above it, "Pancho Villa's". Typically, TGIT would shut down in the early evening and all the hookers would head upstairs to Pancho's which would morph into a loud hip-hop club. It would literally be a quiet restaurant and then all at once the doors would open and hookers would file in by the dozens.
At first I thought the headline was telling me Ric Flair had died.
Woooo!
wow that was huge. how about a warning next time so i don’t click, thanks
So ...
The Antiques are Still Working!
Good.
Such fun memories! A relative was assigned to open the Friday’s in Boston. I have warm memories of stopping in on a Saturday afternoon and relaxing at the bar with a Keoki Coffee. Yum! Also, does anybody remember, from the mid 70’s, all the Lettuce Entertain You restaurants in Chicago? Started with R J Grunts, IIRC the first salad bar in the country, and the only other restaurant I remember from this franchise is Jonathan Livingston Seafood. The first restaurants to abandon reservations and a first come, first serve for tables. Often more than an hour wait for a table, but loved the food and atmosphere.
I always thought that most of the Cracker Barrel type stuff was reproductions.
99% real
Well, if they have a nice, big old Chicago & North Western depot/bridge sign, I have a home for it (at least until I, like "flair," pass on).
Mr. niteowl77
That is really hideous.
It could not be more vanilla and nondescript if they tried.
Wow.
Great post. Fascinating back story that I was almost totally unaware of. The writer’s angle is interesting in that it’s from the antique collector perspective and written for that world.
I'd like to hear his thinking on this.
Thanks—a fascinating read.
Love this article. Thank you for posting it! Sending it to a local auctioneer friend.
Maybe hire a cook that knows how to produce something besides nearly raw and burnt to a crisp?
I know it is not nearly as interesting as putting fake "antiques" in your restaurants but you might get people to eat there more then once.
Just a thought.
Bkmk