11 Once-Popular Restaurants Gen Xers Miss Dearly

Generation X is built different, straddling the generational divide of the tech boom and witnessing the transformation from rotary dial phones to wristwatch communicators.

It's not just changing tech that Gen Xers grew up with, because in the 80s and 90s, going out to eat was affordable, and the average family didn't need to use tricks and hacks to stretch a restaurant budget.

Now, many of those dining establishments are gone, but the nostalgia for these restaurants lost to time is still strong. Here are the restaurants that left a food-shaped hole in Gen Xers' hearts.

Before the children's casino that is Chuck E. Cheese, there was the wholesome ShowBiz Pizza that offered dinner and a show along with games and rides, which made it every Gen X kid's favorite birthday party location.

The show was performed by the legendary Rock-afire Explosion, which was comprised entirely of animatronic anthropomorphized animals that played a variety of classic rock, pop songs, and country music and provided the perfect soundtrack while children consumed enough sugar and caffeine to transform into tiny wall-climbing energy goblins.

Generation X will never forgive Charles Entertainment Cheese for swallowing ShowBiz Pizza whole and spitting out an inferior experience.

These steakhouses were named after the iconic television show Bonanza, which was set at the fictitious Ponderosa Ranch. For Gen X, it's probably the first steakhouse they begged for as a kid and where their families went to celebrate personal wins. 

The star of the buffet-style restaurant was the soft-serve ice cream bar that let kids turn a respectable dessert into a monstrosity of toppings that was not entirely unlike drinking hot fudge straight from the fountain.

The good news is these restaurants aren't entirely gone yet, but they are critically endangered. Much like the Javan rhinoceros, there are only about 15 of these food-tanks left as of December 2024. In 1989, there were about 700 locations, and that huge reduction in footprint has left many believing they went out of business.

When Gen X wanted Mexican food, they almost certainly stopped by a Chi-Chi's — at least until 2004 when the North American owner declared bankruptcy. 

Just speaking the name of this fast casual Mexican restaurant is likely to make people of a certain age start drooling for that special fried ice cream with the chocolate drizzle over the top.

The now dormant chain might just be making a comeback this year, though, as two locations are scheduled to be opened in Minnesota before the year is over.

The Steak and Ale chain of restaurants pioneered some of the main concepts that are now part of the foundation of all fast-casual steakhouses. 

The restaurant was one of the first to offer an unlimited salad bar with every entree, normalized free drink refills, and served a complimentary honey wheat bread to every table. Sadly, in 2008, the iconic chain declared Chapter 7 bankruptcy.

Several teaser revivals occurred between 2013 and 2020, but in 2024, the famous chain was finally reborn with the first (and only, so far) location in Burnsville, Minnesota.

Affectionately nicknamed HoJo's, this hotel brand also used to be the largest restaurant chain in the U.S., with over 1,000 locations feeding and housing roadside travelers under their iconic bright orange roof. That bright splash of color beckoned customers from the highway to come and enjoy the "wonderful world of 28 flavors" of ice cream that was part of Howard Johnson's iconic marketing.

HoJo's restaurants survived the stock market crash of 1929, World War II, and went on to support the LGBTQ+ community in achieving equal rights when New York liquor laws prevented restaurants from serving gay customers.

What finally drove Howard Johnson's restaurants under was being sold to Wyndham Hotels and Resorts. The hotel chains survived under a rebrand. However, the restaurants did not have enough money to maintain their operations and suffered a slow fade until 2022, when the last one was closed.

HoJo's wasn't the only restaurant chain founded by Howard Johnson. He created Ground Round with the intention of using it as a springboard for upgrades to his underperforming dining locations. 

Instead of focusing on travelers, Ground Round was targeted toward local residents as more of a pub or local bar and separated itself from the competition by playing silent movies, cartoons, and other popular media on a big screen.

Another claim to nostalgic fame was Ground Round's policy of handing out peanuts, and the shells were tossed on the floor much in the same way Thor disposes of empty beer glasses. 

Sadly, in a now all-too-common tale, Ground Round struggled with constant changes in ownership, ending with reverting to privatization that increased its debt burden. They filed for bankruptcy in 2004 and now have only four remaining locations in the U.S.

The Big Boy Burger was the first double-decker hamburger, invented by the chain's founder, Bob Wian, in 1936. The fast food chain remained steadfastly popular until the 90s, when it was sold and nearly all locations were rebranded outside the Big Boy name. 

As of 2020, there were only four remaining locations, all in the Los Angeles, CA area.

The iconic Big Boy logo inspired giant statues to be made for each restaurant, some as tall as 16 feet. Even those who have never dined at Big Boy's will recognize the classic checkered overalls and swooping pompadour hairstyle.

If you want a roast beef sandwich nowadays, you go to Arby's — but Gen X remembers when the alternative option was Roy Rogers. Roy Rogers sprang from the acquisition of RoBee's House of Beef chain of Fort Wayne, Indiana, by the Marriott Corporation. The competition was so strong that Arby's sued the restaurant chain to change its name because RoBee's sounded too similar, which led the company to approach Roy Rogers, the King of Cowboys, about a licensing deal to use his name — but they continued to sell their famous roast beef sandwiches.

In the 90s, the chain was acquired by Hardee's. Customers were not having it, though, and even reverting the locations back to Roy Rogers branding couldn't undo the epic fail. 

Instead of returning to the original menu, they continued to implement Hardee's policy and eventually were forced to sell most locations to fast food giants, like McDonald's and Wendy's.

There are currently two remaining Roy Rogers locations, with a third planned to open this year in Leesburg, VA, that will bring back the iconic Fixin's Bar that was loved as much as the roast beef sammies.

Casual dining was practically invented by Bennigan's, an Irish pub-themed restaurant created by the same guy who founded Steak and Ale, and it suffered much the same fate — U.S. locations were shut down when the parent company declared bankruptcy in 2008. 

There are still 21 locations operating in the U.S. as of 2025, but expansion is focused on international development, so it won't make a comeback for Americans anytime soon.

Gen Xers know the tradition of restaurants giving kids a free ice cream sundae on their birthday was started by Farrell's Ice Cream Parlour. This ice creamery had an early 1900s theme, including costumed employees, a player piano at every location, and menus printed as tabloid-style newspapers. 

They served a variety of different sundaes; however, the one that lives in Gen X's hearts is the "Zoo" sundae, which was intended for a group to share.

Employees in full garb would carry out the enormous treat on a stretcher while the sound of ambulance sirens was played throughout the establishment.

It's hard to imagine there was a time when every city didn't offer piping hot pizza slathered in cheese, but the first American pizza chain didn't enter the scene until 1954. 

Shakey's Pizza was where Gen X went with their teams after youth sports, and could watch their pizza being made through large windows into the kitchen.

The first pizza chain was founded by Sherwood Johnson, who got the nickname "Shakey" after being stricken with malaria during World War II.

Shakey pretty much just wanted to eat pizza, listen to jazz, and play the banjo, so his business strategy was just to open parlors, oddly enough, wherever Kinney Shoes opened new stores. There are still a few Shakey's Pizzas open in the California region.

Much like today's restaurant landscape, many of these beloved nostalgic chains went out of business after being sold to larger companies that managed several brands and viewed properties as salable, interchangeable parts. 

Today's economic situation is quite possibly more dire, as families are tightening their belts and looking for ways to scrimp and save money on groceries because dining out is no longer in the budget. 

The youth of today are likely to look back on our most popular restaurant chains with the same nostalgia, wondering what happened to them all.