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Sizzler…just…wut (2 Viewers)

Mrs. Rannous said:
Hot Sauce Guy said:
Cowboysfan8 said:
Zow said:
Cowboysfan8 said:
Wth is cheese toast?
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I mean, the title is pretty descriptive...
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So, you go in and sit down and they bring you toast with cheese on it?

Sounds great :oldunsure:
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It’s more like toasted bread with melted Parmesan, similar to cheesy garlic bread without the garlic
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It looks nasty. And leaving off the garlic? Are all their customers from Iowa?
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Hey let’s not go acting like Iowans can’t handle anything spicy actually no wait that checks out.
 
Ilov80s said:
know Ponderosa- are those still in business?. Never heard of Bonanza. Not sure Sizzler ever made it to Michigan.
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Both Ponderosa & Bonanza were owned by the same company, that included Dan Blocker (Hoss) from the tv series. The Bonanza theme song lives on in those penny horse rides that Meijer still has in their box stores. I saw a couple of chunky teenagers actually break one of those mechanical horses.
 
So when I was a kid my dad's favorite restaurant was a place called the Clarkston Cafe. For anyone familiar with South East Michigan it was the name of the place before it became the Union woodshop under a new owner.

We would go there all the time and order just salad or soup and the homemade cheese toast. Funny side note to that story is we did this a lot while I was in highschool and my future husband was a bus boy at the Clarkston Cafe for 3 years while he was in highschool. So even though we didn't know each other I probably seen him years before we actually met.
 
msudaisy26 said:
So when I was a kid my dad's favorite restaurant was a place called the Clarkston Cafe. For anyone familiar with South East Michigan it was the name of the place before it became the Union woodshop under a new owner.

We would go there all the time and order just salad or soup and the homemade cheese toast. Funny side note to that story is we did this a lot while I was in highschool and my future husband was a bus boy at the Clarkston Cafe for 3 years while he was in highschool. So even though we didn't know each other I probably seen him years before we actually met.
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That is what he told you. My money is on him stalking you until you "met".
 
Chadstroma said:
msudaisy26 said:
So when I was a kid my dad's favorite restaurant was a place called the Clarkston Cafe. For anyone familiar with South East Michigan it was the name of the place before it became the Union woodshop under a new owner.

We would go there all the time and order just salad or soup and the homemade cheese toast. Funny side note to that story is we did this a lot while I was in highschool and my future husband was a bus boy at the Clarkston Cafe for 3 years while he was in highschool. So even though we didn't know each other I probably seen him years before we actually met.
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That is what he told you. My money is on him stalking you until you "met".
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I like your version better!
 
Never been to one. How does it compare to the glory days of Ponderosa? Worked there all through high school.
 
I’ll echo the sentiments of all those surprised Sizzler still exists. I hadn’t opened this thread earlier because I thought for sure it must be a random thread title that had nothing to do with Sizzler.
 
GroveDiesel said:
I’ll echo the sentiments of all those surprised Sizzler still exists. I hadn’t opened this thread earlier because I thought for sure it must be a random thread title that had nothing to do with Sizzler.
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We have a couple in the SF Bay Area where I live, and clearly there’s one in Flagstaff.

Imma keep it real though, that cheese toast was delicious.

If I’m to make a recommendation, I’d say go for the salad bar, and enjoy your cheese toast. Stay away from the proteins - never know what kinda meat it might be the way they cook it. 😬
 
CGRdrJoe said:
Mrs. Rannous said:
There are still Sizzlers? Why?
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because people like my grandma (95) like going there for one particular dish, in my grandma's case she loves their lobster tails. I've taken her to a real seafood restaurant and paid top dollar for fresh out of the tank lobster and she complained about it for weeks. :wall:
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If you think about it, she is able to enjoy lobster more often, because she likes the crappy stuff.

I grew up visiting the Maine coast, eating lobster that was in the ocean that morning, and when you know what it should taste like, it's tough to downgrade. My mom loves telling the story of a visit to some family restaurant in Florida when I was about 8, and I ordered the lobster. They bring out whatever spiny/chicken lobster/overgrown crayfish that passes for lobster in Florida, and I actually told the waiter, no I ordered the lobster. As my parents laughed their *** off.

I've never set foot in a Red Lobster, I can't. There's nothing there for me. But, if I was like your grandma, I could enjoy lobster more often!
 
shuke said:
Never been to one. How does it compare to the glory days of Ponderosa? Worked there all through high school.
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just think of a slightly upgraded interior (think TGIF type tables/booths) instead of the the picnic table and very lighted, open Ponderosa/Bonanza. The basic concepts are the same.

There isn't the "cafeteria tray line" like Ponderosa/Bonanza but you order and pay at a counter from attractive pictures on the wall and get your plates from them. You load up with your salad bar things and they bring you the meat you ordered when it's ready.

the salad bar is quite a bit more elaborate than Ponderosa/Bonanza and their "hook" is the cheese toast, which is pretty damn fine.

inside various Sizzler restaurant pictures.
 
New Binky the Doormat said:
shuke said:
Never been to one. How does it compare to the glory days of Ponderosa? Worked there all through high school.
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just think of a slightly upgraded interior (think TGIF type tables/booths) instead of the the picnic table and very lighted, open Ponderosa/Bonanza. The basic concepts are the same.

There isn't the "cafeteria tray line" like Ponderosa/Bonanza but you order and pay at a counter from attractive pictures on the wall and get your plates from them. You load up with your salad bar things and they bring you the meat you ordered when it's ready.

the salad bar is quite a bit more elaborate than Ponderosa/Bonanza and their "hook" is the cheese toast, which is pretty damn fine.

inside various Sizzler restaurant pictures.
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Man, those had a template, didn't they? The one we went to as a kid was identical.
 
Mrs. Rannous said:
There are still Sizzlers? Why?
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Sizzlers was intentionally designed as a low cost restaurant alternative.

To it's credit, Helen Johnson pushed for all locations to try to hire single mothers, even those in situations where their past/resumes would not warrant hiring in a lot of places and she also made it a point for all Sizzlers to be supportive of local schools.

A couple of things happened. The first, from the media optics side, is the HQ had an advertising/customer engagement strategy that was antiquated. Traditional TV ad buys are actually becomes a very poor way to spend your precious advertising budget. However there was a period for about 15 years were legacy leadership in a lot of companies were extremely slow on the uptake. They refused to budge against what had always worked in the past.

The heavy lifting financially was their salad bar system. People could go and eat as much salad as they wanted and their kid could eat free or close to free so it was functional for middle class or lower middle class families to keep showing up. It was also friendly to elderly customers. But like most businesses, they took a massive hit when an entire generation essentially passed away or were so locked into a fixed income/lack of mobility, that they were no longer a reliable large share of the customer base. Also the cost structure to run a restaurant changed. Or certain types of restaurants. It used to be starting a burrito shop was a halfway decent idea. Beans, rice, meat, cheese, produce, etc, etc were far cheaper back in the day. Now look at the cost of meat and cheese. Now one of the best small businesses to have are those Boba drink/Bubble Tea shops, because it's a drink and the overhead is not as punishing.

Back in the day, which might predate many here, if you were a sports coach, and you wanted to take your team out to eat, Sizzler wasn't a bad choice. Or if you were on the road and were going to out with other people during a work trip, that kind of thing. If you wanted to take someone out for their birthday but money was always tight, that sort of situation.

Also for many very poor people, eating at Sizzlers was kind of event for them. Lots of people ate chicken, rice and vegetables every night at home, and maybe once or twice a year, they went to Sizzlers instead of the occasional trip to McDonalds.

Helen Johnson genuinely cared about making things better for women who struggled, especially single moms. She did what she could given the limits of the circumstances, culture and society at the time.

This is not a reflection of you, in part because I don't remember you from when I first started posting here in these forums, but back in 2006, there was a broader base of people posting in the FFA. More working class people. More people period from different backgrounds. For people who are a paycheck and a half away from being homeless, going out maybe once a year to eat in any fashion is something normal. I don't know what happened in all the years I was gone from the forums, but there just appears to be some kind of open contempt or disdain for the regular working class. Not everyone, but the tone and theme are often recurring.

A lot of people are born into abundance. They don't know anything else. They don't understand how easily everything you have can be snatched from you. Helen Johnson made it a point to do as much good as she could in the relative position she had. She made some lives better. That's quite a bit to proud of under the Sizzlers banner.
 
GordonGekko said:
This is not a reflection of you, in part because I don't remember you from when I first started posting here in these forums, but back in 2006, there was a broader base of people posting in the FFA. More working class people. More people period from different backgrounds. For people who are a paycheck and a half away from being homeless, going out maybe once a year to eat in any fashion is something normal. I don't know what happened in all the years I was gone from the forums, but there just appears to be some kind of open contempt or disdain for the regular working class. Not everyone, but the tone and theme are often recurring.
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Well, the posters are aging along with the forum. Many, including myself, have been around 20+ years. For most, that also means a bump in economic status. I loved Sizzler growing up and into my 20's, but I wouldn't eat there now. Why? Because I don't have to.
 
FatMax said:
GordonGekko said:
This is not a reflection of you, in part because I don't remember you from when I first started posting here in these forums, but back in 2006, there was a broader base of people posting in the FFA. More working class people. More people period from different backgrounds. For people who are a paycheck and a half away from being homeless, going out maybe once a year to eat in any fashion is something normal. I don't know what happened in all the years I was gone from the forums, but there just appears to be some kind of open contempt or disdain for the regular working class. Not everyone, but the tone and theme are often recurring.
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Well, the posters are aging along with the forum. Many, including myself, have been around 20+ years. For most, that also means a bump in economic status. I loved Sizzler growing up and into my 20's, but I wouldn't eat there now. Why? Because I don't have to.
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Jeebus.... you are right.... 20+ years. In fact, I have been on these boards officially more than half my life. Dude... you just made me depressed. Thanks a whole lot.

I don't think you have a disdain for working class America for not going to Sizzler anymore. GG obviously is very passionate about this and has an in depth knowledge about it that is unusual. As I mentioned before, growing up in a middle class family at our best and managing to be just above homeless at our worse- I saw Sizzler as a kid as a treat and a 'nice' restaurant. Again, not as fancy as Olive Garden, which was my favorite restaurant due solely to their bread sticks, but it was a place we went to most often when my mothers best friend was visiting and would take us out. I would go to town on the salad bar, get all you can eat shrimp and then get myself some of those cheese toast that started this whole thread. Fast forward to life now.... we range from middle class to upper middle class since I have been an adult with my family. I would have no inclination to go to Sizzler again. Not because I think it is beneath me but because I don't view them as having food that I want to eat. But we don't go to sit down chain restaurants very much at all. We tend to do fast food or go to a local restaurant if eating out. The food is so much better when you don't do the chain restaurants and really not a huge difference in cost too. My palate has changed. I don't eat shrimp anymore, I actually like cauliflower now, and the bread sticks at Olive Garden are ok. With having the economic means to not go there- we don't. No disdain for those who do.
 
btw ...Sizzler is not Western Sizzlin - which is comparable but likely a little closer to Golden Corral than Sizzler.

As long as I don't get a gristlely steak, I like these places - the last time I went (long time ago) I do remember a heavy, heavy taste of tenderizer and meat kind of mushy as a result.

but I guess I remember the halcyon days when the meat was damn good and the food plentiful and tasty. Ponderosa a steak night out - not "special occasion/celebration worthy" but certainly a splurge for the family.
 
FatMax said:
New Binky the Doormat said:
massraider said:
I always assumed Sizzler was meat Red Lobster. That's not the case?
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I don't know, seems like a pretty reasonable comparison to me.
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It been years, but I think I remember Red Lobster being maybe a notch above Sizzler when it came to the dining experience. They had menus and everything.
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also fair - there just isn't the wide span of sit down seafood chains like there are with steaks

yeah, I really was only considering the "low/low-middle income perceived step up quality" of seafood as a comparison. Red Lobster is a totally different dining experience.

it's weird how that perspective has changed in the last 40 years or so ...I mean when I was 20 - TGIF's was THE place for cool appetizers and a menu you couldn't get elsewhere.

and I sure as hell couldn't afford it very often - focused on $5.50 cases of Braumeister/Yacht Club returnables and a decent local pizza
 
New Binky the Doormat said:
it's weird how that perspective has changed in the last 40 years or so ...I mean when I was 20 - TGIF's was THE place for cool appetizers and a menu you couldn't get elsewhere.
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I was in Berlin in 1996 with friends, and we asked a local girl to take us to cool spots in Berlin. First stop, TGIF. We were like, uh, ok tomorrow take us to the second coolest spot. Trying to soak up some local culture.

Nest stop, Hard Rock Cafe. :huh:
 
massraider said:
New Binky the Doormat said:
it's weird how that perspective has changed in the last 40 years or so ...I mean when I was 20 - TGIF's was THE place for cool appetizers and a menu you couldn't get elsewhere.
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I was in Berlin in 1996 with friends, and we asked a local girl to take us to cool spots in Berlin. First stop, TGIF. We were like, uh, ok tomorrow take us to the second coolest spot. Trying to soak up some local culture.

Nest stop, Hard Rock Cafe. :huh:
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in 99, i visited Germany for the first time. one of my close friends was in the army stationed near Frankfurt. first night, the f'r takes us to a place literally called "American Sports Bar." later on the trip we met him and his girlfriend in Zurich and Lucerne and they want to go to planet Hollywood.

Dammit! i wanted my schnitzel, grosse bier, brats, fondue, and raclette!!!! :lol:
 
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New Binky the Doormat said:
but I guess I remember the halcyon days when the meat was damn good and the food plentiful and tasty. Ponderosa a steak night out - not "special occasion/celebration worthy" but certainly a splurge for the family.
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As I said, I worked at Ponderosa for 3-4 years. The ribeyes always seemed to have these loosely linked pieces of meat around the border that I could easily pick off without it be noticeable. I'd go into the kitchen to pick up an order, and hey 3 of the 5 people at the table got ribeyes. That's 3 pieces of meat for me, grab a few fries out of the bin, and then back out to the floor with the food.
I can't tell you how many pounds of other people's steak I ate over the years. They were extremely tasty to me at the time.

Reason #274 I'm fat.
 
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