Top 13+ Retro Restaurants That You Probably Forgot About

1) Howard Johnson's

1) Howard Johnson's, 2) Chi Chi's, 3) Bennigan's, 4) Arthur Treacher's Fish & Chips, 5) Planet Hollywood, 6) Bob's Big Boy, 7) ESPN Zone, 9) Blimpie

The precursor to places like Denny's, Howard Johnson's was a motel and restaurant brand beloved in the 60s and 70s, with more than 1,000 locations nationwide. Famed for its orange roofs and 28 flavors of ice cream, the chain served up soft beds and comforting grub to weary highway travelers. But all good things must come to an end, and the last surviving Ho Jo's restaurant, which was tucked away in Lake George, New York, closed its doors in 2022.

2) Chi Chi's

1) Howard Johnson's, 2) Chi Chi's, 3) Bennigan's, 4) Arthur Treacher's Fish & Chips, 5) Planet Hollywood, 6) Bob's Big Boy, 7) ESPN Zone, 9) Blimpie

In the 80s and 90s, Chi Chi's was almost inevitably the dinner part of any twosome's dinner-and-a-movie plans. The franchise was so popular, in 2000 SNL hilariously used it as the setting for a skit about a meeting between Al Gore (Darrell Hammond) and George W. Bush (Will Ferrell).

And then a 2004 Hepatitis A outbreak in the Pittsburgh area was traced to a local Chi Chi's. About 650 customers got sick, four people died, and that was the end of Chi Chi's restaurants. Until now. Last December, it was announced that the son of the brand's co-founder is looking to revive the Tex Mex, fajitas-and-fried-ice-cream formula that so enticed diners for decades.

3) Bennigan's

1) Howard Johnson's, 2) Chi Chi's, 3) Bennigan's, 4) Arthur Treacher's Fish & Chips, 5) Planet Hollywood, 6) Bob's Big Boy, 7) ESPN Zone, 9) Blimpie

There's still a handful of independently owned Bennigan's open in places like Iowa and North Dakota, but the once ubiquitous chain has been largely forgotten these days. Founded in 1976 in Atlanta, it was a casual dining date night fav for decades, with more than 300 restaurants across the country.

Maybe part of the problem was that for a place themed around an Irish pub, there was a distinct lack of things like shepherd's pie and corned beef and cabbage on the menu. Just giving generic dishes cutesy Gaelic-sounding names (Dubliner Quesadillas and the Turkey O'Toole sandwich come to mind) doesn't make them Irish, after all.

4) Arthur Treacher's Fish & Chips

1) Howard Johnson's, 2) Chi Chi's, 3) Bennigan's, 4) Arthur Treacher's Fish & Chips, 5) Planet Hollywood, 6) Bob's Big Boy, 7) ESPN Zone, 9) Blimpie

Founded in 1969 (the same year as Long John Silver's), this Ohio-based company fried up authentic British-style fish and chips using a recipe procured from England's very first fish and chip shop. By the late 70s, there were more than 800 stores in the U.S., though now only two remain. Named after an English character actor, Arthur Treacher's was co-founded by Dave Thomas, better known for starting a little burger brand called Wendy's.

5) Planet Hollywood

1) Howard Johnson's, 2) Chi Chi's, 3) Bennigan's, 4) Arthur Treacher's Fish & Chips, 5) Planet Hollywood, 6) Bob's Big Boy, 7) ESPN Zone, 9) Blimpie

The movie star equivalent of the Hard Rock Cafe, Planet Hollywood took over the, well, planet in the 90s, with some 60 locations worldwide and a half-billion bucks in sales. Action superstars Arnold Schwarzenegger, Bruce Willis, and Sylvester Stallone invested in the venture, which guaranteed glitzy openings with lots of luminaries in attendance.

But celebrity worship can only take you so far, and Planet Hollywood's mediocre food, unfettered overexpansion, and three bankruptcies all but killed the chain. The Terminator publicly washing his hands of the whole enterprise in 2000 probably didn't help. Today, there are just two Planet Hollywoods left, in New York City and Disney Springs, Florida.

6) Bob's Big Boy

1) Howard Johnson's, 2) Chi Chi's, 3) Bennigan's, 4) Arthur Treacher's Fish & Chips, 5) Planet Hollywood, 6) Bob's Big Boy, 7) ESPN Zone, 9) Blimpie

There are still some Bob's Big Boys sprinkled here and there, mainly in the Midwest and California. But the chain, which peaked at more than 1,000 locations in 1979, is a shadow of its former self. Founded in 1936, Bob's is best known for inventing the artery-clogging double cheeseburger and its creepy-to-some, cool-to-others mascot, Big Boy. After its sale in 1987, only a tenth of its outlets survived, with the chain declaring bankruptcy in 2000.

7) ESPN Zone

1) Howard Johnson's, 2) Chi Chi's, 3) Bennigan's, 4) Arthur Treacher's Fish & Chips, 5) Planet Hollywood, 6) Bob's Big Boy, 7) ESPN Zone, 9) Blimpie

For big-time ball fans, a trip to ESPN Zone was a dream come true. Huge TVs lined the interiors of the restaurants, screening sports content nonstop, and there were arcade games to play and a retail shop to peruse, too. Occasionally, ESPN would even broadcast live from one of the nine locations, bringing the magic that much closer to mostly men of a certain age (usually 35 and under). The first ESPN Zone opened in Baltimore, Maryland's Inner Harbor in 1998; the last, in Anaheim, closed a decade later.

8) TCBY

1) Howard Johnson's, 2) Chi Chi's, 3) Bennigan's, 4) Arthur Treacher's Fish & Chips, 5) Planet Hollywood, 6) Bob's Big Boy, 7) ESPN Zone, 9) Blimpie

The franchise responsible for kicking off the froyo frenzy thanks to flavors like White Chocolate Mousse, TCBY marketed itself as the healthy alternative to rich desserts. (No word on how much fat and calories all those toppings added...) The first location debuted in the early 80s in Little Rock, Arkansas, with the company eventually growing to include more than 3,000 (!!!) stores in every state and nearly 70 countries.

As preferences changed, TCBY worked hard to evolve, adding ice cream to its menu for a time as well as self-serve locations. But the bottom eventually fell out of the froyo market, and that shift, along with the pandemic, led to the brand's contraction. Today, there are only around 350 TCBYs left in the country.

9) Blimpie

1) Howard Johnson's, 2) Chi Chi's, 3) Bennigan's, 4) Arthur Treacher's Fish & Chips, 5) Planet Hollywood, 6) Bob's Big Boy, 7) ESPN Zone, 9) Blimpie

Whether you call it a sub, hoagie, hero, or grinder, just about everyone seems to love foot-long sammies (or six-inchers, if you're feeling only slightly peckish). But Blimpie, the chain that pioneered dishing out fresh subs fast, seems to have somehow fallen by the wayside.While the company debuted its first shop in 1964, a year before Subway, the latter brand now operates a jaw-dropping 37,000 locations around the globe. Blimpie, on the other hand, which had 2,000 restaurants 25 years ago, has since languished. There are now only around 100 outlets in existence, mostly headquartered in New Jersey.

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