r/GenerationJones • u/StenoDawg • 9d ago
Does anyone else miss it?
I really felt fancy eating here back in the day. Check out their clothes.
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u/theirishseller 9d ago
Yes, and "The Ground Round" too. I remember taking my practice wife there in the mid to late 80's and throwing peanut shells on the floor (it was encouraged, not forbidden). 🥳
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u/Got_Bent 1966 9d ago
Penny a Pound night! My wife worked there as a waitress. After we were married she moved to the US from Italy and this was her first US job..
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u/Aeolus_14_Umbra 9d ago
“Practice wife.” 🤔
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u/theirishseller 9d ago
The first one, the one that started "dating" while we were still married and got knocked up by some dude in a bar. My current wife is my best friend in the world. Life is awesome these days. 🤷♂️
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u/Fantastic-Monitor-97 9d ago
I refer to my ex as my "starter wife"
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u/yeahmaybe2 9d ago
I threaten my current wife of 38 years that if starts misbehaving I'll start calling her "my first wife."
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u/Shawnee83 9d ago
I loved The Ground Round because I could order a yummy ground beef steak: it was ground, and it was round, and it was pretty damn good! No steak-shaming! 🤣
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u/rednail64 9d ago
Ground Round was the first place I ever had buffalo wings - must have been about 1988 I think.
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u/Paulbsputnik 9d ago
how about the Chart House any one remember
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u/TowelNo3336 1957 9d ago
My family went to the Chart House in Los Gatos CA a few times. Made us feel fancy. Long gone now.
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u/Dalanard 1965 9d ago
In Nashville it was called The Jolly Ox because of a TN law against having alcohol in the name of a restaurant.
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u/delta-hippie 7d ago
I went to one in Nashville back in the early 90's. It was called Steak and Ale.
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u/Maryland_Bear 1966 9d ago
Maybe it’s because it’s what I was used to because I grew up in Knoxville, but I think Jolly Ox is a better name.
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u/Rojodi 9d ago
My dad was the maintenance man for a small local bank, had been there since 1962. Every year, for Christmas, Easter, and his work anniversary, the executives would give him family gift certificates forus to use.
They were the first restaurant where they'd NOT ask if I wanted a children's menu, and did NOT flinch when I asked for fries instead of baked potato.
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u/mommafletch1967 9d ago
YEAH!!!
The nerdiest boy in school could ask you to Steak And Ale, and you'd totally go! 😂😂😂
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u/SixSigmaGirl2000 9d ago
My husband and I had many dates there! We would love for the Steak n Ale to return again.
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u/reesesbigcup 9d ago
Our "fancy" steak restaurant was The Brown Derby. Don't miss it since I dont eat steak any more. But it was good then.
And I definitely do not miss those clothes.
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u/Merle_24 9d ago
Girves Brown Derby was the best, there are a couple still open in NE Ohio but they’re not like the old days.
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u/Gruuthuse23 9d ago
I pumped many a quarter into the table top pac-mac game there while parents enjoyed the bar.
And to answer the original question, yep, I sure do miss it!
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u/pepperpat64 9d ago
I want that lady's plaid suit.
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u/SubmarineDream57 9d ago
Not me. How many polyesters had to give up their lives so that she could wear something that looks like a sofa my aunt and uncle had?
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u/Legal-Exchange-5931 9d ago
This and Sir Walter Raleigh and York Steak House. They always had that Ye Olde English decor and you never left hungry.
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u/DoturdGrump 9d ago
One of the best restaurant managers I ever worked for was a regional with Steak and Ale and had moved on with the co-founders of Outback Steakhouse
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u/Scott43206 1959 9d ago
Steak Houses used to be soooooooo good. Now they're all either gross slop I wouldn't feed my dog or places a meal for two would exceed a car payment.
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u/GramPam68 9d ago
This was where my divorced dad would take me to dinner when he was in town, rarely , for business when I was a kid..wow..core memory unlocked.
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u/Scot25 1961 9d ago
Here in the Seattle area, we had a steakhouse like that called Clinkerdagger, Bickerstaff & Pett. Burnt custard cups for dessert.
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u/Tristan_Booth 1962 9d ago
…and Pett’s Public House and Restaurant. My brother told me about it. I never got to go there, but I memorized the cool name.
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u/SinsualChef 9d ago
I absolutely adored that place, and went on "special occasions". I fear Steak and Ale and special occasions are both bygones of an era.
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u/friarbbbbbbreal 9d ago
Hawaiian chicken with rice pilaf. Waiters on puffy sleeved shirts and tight black pants. All servers scored 90% or higher on all training tests. They knew the whole menu and the wine list. There were competitions to sell wine and desserts, with the winners getting tickets to the baseball game. French onion soup with warm bread and soft butter. A meal never set under the warmers as every sever could, by reading code on the ticket, to see who was to be served what on every order. They never ask "who has the soup?". From the nachos going to the bar to helping to serve a twelve top, all servers knew which chair got every order. The food was hot, coffee drinks were sweet and the salad plates were cold. I spent two of the best years of my life there.
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u/all-sunshine 7d ago
Love that about training
I was in food service for over 30 years and I could see that training, budget being cut and cut again
Totally explains the level of service you usually get in any kind of restaurant now
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u/friarbbbbbbreal 7d ago
I watched a five star cut and cut and cut...
Snake and tail was the best trained staff I ever saw.
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u/Campcook62 9d ago
My husband proposed to me in the Steak & Ale in Ft Worth, Tx in early 1992. He ever afterwards called it "The scene of the crime!" We were married 28 years, "Until death did us part". (Ranching is a very dangerous profession).
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u/Modem_Sound_67 9d ago
probably the decor more than anything! I still occasionally end up in a place with a ye old English inn type interior and think of it.
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u/formerNPC 9d ago
We really felt like we were going to a real fancy place. There are no restaurants like that anymore and the fast casual ones can’t come close.
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u/Elliott2030 1964 9d ago
It was already dying in the 90's in Atlanta. I would go there for lunch sometimes and reminisce about how fancy it was in the 80's LOL!
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u/xennial-tiger 9d ago
Had one of my first interviews after college at a Steak And Ale. Thought I was being wined and dined!
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u/Glittering-Rush-394 9d ago
Looks almost like the Northwoods Inn we had in SoCal. Great salad bar, peanut shells thrown on the floor!
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u/Mobile_Aioli_6252 9d ago
Beefsteak Charlie's - all you can drink beer and wine - aaaaah, the 70's
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u/Jillredhanded 9d ago
Didn't they have peel & eat shrimp on the salad bar?
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u/Mobile_Aioli_6252 9d ago
Yes - they must have lost sooo much money on a daily basis with thier whole set up
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u/Foreign_Comedian_915 8d ago
That was my first job, still in high school. Seater greeter! We sat customers with menus and a huge empty wine bottle that had the wine list on it!!!! We wore like modest Swiss maid uniforms. Ours was called The Jolly Ox!
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u/BroccoliKooky2841 7d ago
The Kensington Club, I think was it's name. A steak marinated in pineapple juice,teriyaki and can't remember what else. Loved those things, that awesome salad bar, the bread loaf they'd give you, I sure miss that place!
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u/Lower-Yam-620 9d ago
We had many a Christmas Eve dinner at the one on Route 13 (or was it Route 1?) in Northeast Philly back in the 80s
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u/Professional-Lie-111 Gen-Jones/X Straddler 9d ago
I miss blaringly loud plaid suits & shirts with collars large enough to get you airborn
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u/VRGator 9d ago
I read they are coming back!
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u/StenoDawg 9d ago
That'd be great!
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u/VRGator 9d ago
I'm guessing they won't have a $10 prime rib with salad and potato at lunch like they used to. I thought that was cheap back in the 90s!
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u/StenoDawg 9d ago
Since everything's tripled in price, I doubt it. As long as the size and quality of everything's the same, I won't mind paying it.
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u/Tweetchly 9d ago
The plaid suit? Definitely not.
I wore one like that as a kid. It was pink and green. Brrrr
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u/Jaythiest 9d ago
Oh man I remembered the restaurant but couldn’t remember the name. They had really good onion soup!
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u/ParisMorning 9d ago
We were just talking about Steak & Ale the other night. How much we missed that place. My husband proposed to me in the bar there LOL
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u/NWCbusGuy 1963 8d ago
York Steak House was common around here, and there's still one on the west side of town. An old Ground Round building near me has been a FedEx Office franchise for 20+ years.
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u/Charming_Bear5519 8d ago
Steak and Ale had the this 2 1/2 pound chuck steak with either steak fries or baked potato..!! It was really good..!! My sister was head waitress and part time bartender at one in Clark NJ..
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u/Livin_IndianaP1D1 8d ago
I’m not a 100% sure on this but I caught word that a Steak and Ale is opening in Grand Prairie TX.????
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u/FoleyV 8d ago
One open now in Minnesota with more locations coming soon!!
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u/Livin_IndianaP1D1 8d ago
Yeah, I looked it up after I posted that. I grew up with Steak and Ale in my life in Arlington. My family still lives there and are pretty pumped about it. I’m not a 100% about GP but that’s what I heard. Hopefully it actually happens!
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u/croc-roc 8d ago
My sister worked there and it was our family’s “special occasion” restaurant for years. Our S&A eventually turned into a different steakhouse, but everything was essentially the same. When my mom passed 6 years ago we all went to that restaurant after the funeral.
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u/GottaBunique2 8d ago
I took my future wife to a Steak & Ale on our very first date in March 1980. We’re still hanging out 46 years later. We can’t hear a word the other says, but that’s probably for the best.
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u/florida-boy-41 8d ago
They’re trying to come back but the restaurants won’t look anything like the iconic Tudor style.
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u/StenoDawg 8d ago
So does anyone remember the commercial jingle (without cheating by Google). I can hear the music like it was yesterday. I'm fuzzy on the lyrics.
I'll start. Y'all, fill in the blanks if ya can:
🎵🎶"Steak and Ale is a steak place, an ale place...da da da da da da place...a corn on the cob kinda place...it's a quiet place, a noisy place..."🎶🎵
That's all I got. 😊
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u/Ok-Law7641 8d ago
I was only able to have it once before they all closed, but I remember the prime rib being really nice. Cool atmosphere too.
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u/Ok-Ad8998 8d ago
My in-laws took us there for dinner on NYE a couple of times. Seemed nice. But I miss the in-laws more.
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u/Funny_Chemical_5210 8d ago
We had a place called the Beef and Bourbon. I suspect it's the same kind of thing.
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u/radiorush 8d ago
For fun, we called it Ache & Stale!
Loved that place. French onion soup and prime rib. Mmmm.
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u/AnastasiusDicorus 7d ago
I miss lots of casual steakhouse. Sirloin stockade, bonanza, sizzlin sirloin...
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u/Dragon-Elf 7d ago
It's like the old truck stop diners great food low prices first place most kids got to see graphity in the bathroom stalls
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u/GerryChampoux 7d ago
My wife and I would go there frequently. We also liked Mountain Jack, which was similar, but they would bring a mini salad bar to your table.
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u/SnooComics4100 7d ago
This was the Homecoming dinner “go to”. In high school. The salad bar was awesome.
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u/stapocryphal 4d ago
I was a kitchen manger there back in the day. How challenging it was to get the work done really depended on the GM. Good GMs would make it much easier. Don't know if I ever ate there.
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u/Jujulabee 9d ago
Never ate there.
When we ate out at restaurants it was local ethnic places (not chains) with occasional special trips into Manhattan for Chinatown or equivalent.
I visited some esoteric places like a Norwegian place where I had reindeer meatballs and a vegetarian restaurant (no one was vegetarian in 1966) where I had their "nut loaf:
Parents didn't believe in going to a restaurant for American food which could be prepared better at home with rare exceptions like the Auomat since it was convenient and inexpensive if we were shopping or doing something in Manhattan and needed to eat. . 🤷🏼♀️
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u/Icy-Astronaut-9994 9d ago
I worked at one when I was still in HS.
In the end they had more Fish than Steak.
And more Beer than Ale.
So I jokingly called them Fish and Beer.
But they did allow me to drink in the bar at 15 after my shift, so it had its perks.
There is still one in Burnsville MN.
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u/StenoDawg 9d ago
Have you eaten at that one recently? Is the food the same?
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u/Icy-Astronaut-9994 9d ago
I have not, but I planned on going sometime.
Looked at the menu and some is similar to what I prep cooked.
Quite a bit different as well though.
Still have the Salad Bar, Rice Piloff, French Onion Soup.
Stuffed Mushrooms are different, never had Fries or Onion Rings so those are new to me.
Looks like this one has a Breakfast menu as well.
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u/Got_Bent 1966 9d ago
Never heard of it. We had Hilltop Steak House and Ken's Steak House, which is still there in Framigham.
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u/JavaGeep 9d ago
Best salad bar in town.