BURGER KING MEMORY ? ?

I remember about twenty years ago, one of the BK'S in Rochester tried to go a little "upscale" with it's restaurant in the evening hours. Around 5 o'clock the dining room lights would be dimmed to a soft focus. Place mats and vases of flowers (artificial) would be brought out to the tables. When costomers would enter, they would place their orders and get a little plastic number to put on the table. Minutes later, a WAITRESS would bring the order in a wicker basket or plate to your table. It kinda was a neat idea, but it didn't last long. Just didn't catch on. Same crappy food served in a new way. Anyone else remember this happening...

Hmmm. I seem to remember something like this. I DO remember Burger Buddies. Those were awesome.

I don't remember BK doing that, but the local Hardee's tries something along that line now. What I MISS about Burger King is how they used to steam the buns before putting the FRESHLY grilled patty and fixins on it. Now they just NUKE the crap out of it, making the lettuce and mayo a slimy mess.

Was this during the same time that Burger King tried to have those upscale platters...The shrimp platter, chicken tender platter, etc with the baked potatoes, and for some reason Popcorn?????

quote:

Originally posted by AggieNATL

Was this during the same time that Burger King tried to have those upscale platters...The shrimp platter, chicken tender platter, etc with the baked potatoes, and for some reason Popcorn?????

Yes, this was the same thing. I especially remember the popcorn as the "appetizer" LOL... This was in late 80's / early 90's.

I remember that! Although I don't remember the popcorn.
The shrimp platter/basket with baked potato was actually good.
The salad bar in this particular restaurant was always good, only fresh ingredients and kept extremely clean... long, gone by the wayside...

http://www.bk.com/#menu=1,-1,-1
Have you seen their high tech web site?

http://www.bk.com/#menu=8,1,2
Read some of their facts and menus from around the world...

Hmmm. It's interesting for me to know that I many times ate at their 1st international franchise operation in Bayamón, Puerto Rico. They were indeed quite good, back then.

Going for a flame broiled burger and having it be nuked. Not just the burger, but bun, lettuce, tomato and the whole sandwich. YUCK (and I don't say that very often).

Of course, I'm the guy who takes peanut butter with him when he goes out for breakfast. Can't beat it, can't get it. What's the deal?

I used to sometimes get those pancakes they serve at McDonalds for breakfast.They werent bad for the price and you didnt have to wait for them.But at some pointoh somewhere in the 80's maybe they gave me margarine to put on them.I said "oh no,i will have butter please".Nope,says the kid at the counter we dont have butter anymore.Now being born and bred in the heartland,this completely baffled me.I didnt get any pancakes for a couple years.The next time I did,I took my own damn butter.
Now maybe twice a year,I get some breakfast at this Bob Evans place,and what ho,they dont have any butter either.The stuff they have isnt even called margarine;its "buttery flavor spread" or some such.
My cousin says,"Oh,they have butter there,you just have to ask for it".So I ask for it,quite nicely in fact.but no dice:they claim they dont have any.So I can see where youre coming from with the peanut butter.Margarine on pancakes just doesnt get it.

the veal parmagiana sandwich was great, like the italian chicken but with breaded veal instead. animal activists killed it.....

The whole idea of BK's failed promotion of dinner items has long been a thorn in the sides of all of the FF empire forever. I.E. "What can we do to get more people to eat "dinner/supper" here?" I have seen no positive results yet. When some FF place gives me a 8 oz. sliced beef filet sandwich, cooked rare, with au jis; then I may actually change my mind. Of course, there better be plenty of sauteed mushrooms and onions with that sandwich...

I'm in my 50's, and I can remember the first Whopper I ever had. Burger King opened a store in Smyrna, Ga., and they were giving out free Whopper coupons in the mail. I remember they went for 49 cents in the early sixties! Anyway, I don't think they are as good today as they were 40 years ago. Something is different. And their fries are not very good either!! Just my opinion.....

quote:

Originally posted by cfreeze

I'm in my 50's, and I can remember the first Whopper I ever had. Burger King opened a store in Smyrna, Ga., and they were giving out free Whopper coupons in the mail. I remember they went for 49 cents in the early sixties! Anyway, I don't think they are as good today as they were 40 years ago. Something is different. And their fries are not very good either!! Just my opinion.....

Welcome to RF ... I heard, I have no idea if true, that one big FF chain wanted to go back to the basics on one of their signature items -- to make it the way it was introduced before years of tampering -- and couldn't find a living human being who remembered how to make the original.

My fav memory of BK is when they closed the store near my house and have continued to close store after store...Bye Bye.

I remember that popcorn & dinner baskets about the Burger Kings. Ours used to have a little train tracks inside a glass case that you could watch. It was very cool as a kid.

What they would do at our local BK is give you the popcorn while you were waiting for the food to be brought to your table....It lasted about 5 or 6 months!

I'm remembering something else, but similar.

In the mid-70s our local BK tried dinner hours. (This was in the days when the KFC around the corner used to close at crazy hours like 5:45 on Tuesday, 6:45 on Thursday, and was never open past 7:00, and we didn't have a nearby eat-in McDs so BK was the only fast-food dining room around.)

They put down plastic red gingham tablecloths. I don't recall if they had popcorn or not. But the kicker was they turned down the lights to make it more like a dining experience.

Problem was, people drove by and assumed either that it was closed, because who ever saw an open fast-food place without blazing lights, or that they couldn't afford the electric bill (this was 70s energy crisis time) and were probably skimping on everything. After a while the lights went back up, then the tablecloths wore out, and then, whether by corporate mandate or other reasons they started doing things the King's way.

We had somewhat of an unusual situation concerning BK in the early-mid 80's. I lived in what was a very small town called Port St. Lucie on the FL east coast. Port St. Lucie had begun to grow a bit and did not have a BK. There was a BK several miles south on US 1 toward Jensen Beach but not in PSL itself. One day there was a big story in the paper that BK was coming to Port St. Lucie, this actually created a good bit of excitement in the community. A few months passed with little or no construction work being done at the new location. If I remember correctly they actually built a parking lot with no building. Finally they announced that the BK building I previously mentioned would be moved to the new location instead of a new building. When the day came it was covered with great fanfare by the local media as the BK building was moved slowly up US 1 to it's new home.

quote:

Originally posted by Ashphalt

I'm remembering something else, but similar.

In the mid-70s our local BK tried dinner hours. (This was in the days when the KFC around the corner used to close at crazy hours like 5:45 on Tuesday, 6:45 on Thursday, and was never open past 7:00, and we didn't have a nearby eat-in McDs so BK was the only fast-food dining room around.)

They put down plastic red gingham tablecloths. I don't recall if they had popcorn or not. But the kicker was they turned down the lights to make it more like a dining experience.

Problem was, people drove by and assumed either that it was closed, because who ever saw an open fast-food place without blazing lights, or that they couldn't afford the electric bill (this was 70s energy crisis time) and were probably skimping on everything. After a while the lights went back up, then the tablecloths wore out, and then, whether by corporate mandate or other reasons they started doing things the King's way.

I think that's the mid to late '80s you are thinking of. And yes, they did have popcorn as an "appetizer"

I remember the right of passage to my manhood was actually being able to order a "Yumbo" (BK'S grilled Ham and Cheese)with my pop. I graduated from a BK kids meal to a grown persons meal... man those were those days.

Being from Miami, and the home of Burger King.. I remember going to the local one near my home when they first took over a local burger place....That was uh, ummmmmmmm, maybe around 1967??

(grasping for the name here)...
Memory kinda fading here.

I don't remember the popcorn at all......just the burger buddies. They were kind of cute. I do remember wearing the crown and that the fries were usually very salty.

quote:

Originally posted by Adjudicator

quote:

Originally posted by Ashphalt

I'm remembering something else, but similar.

In the mid-70s our local BK tried dinner hours. (This was in the days when the KFC around the corner used to close at crazy hours like 5:45 on Tuesday, 6:45 on Thursday, and was never open past 7:00, and we didn't have a nearby eat-in McDs so BK was the only fast-food dining room around.)

They put down plastic red gingham tablecloths. I don't recall if they had popcorn or not. But the kicker was they turned down the lights to make it more like a dining experience.

Problem was, people drove by and assumed either that it was closed, because who ever saw an open fast-food place without blazing lights, or that they couldn't afford the electric bill (this was 70s energy crisis time) and were probably skimping on everything. After a while the lights went back up, then the tablecloths wore out, and then, whether by corporate mandate or other reasons they started doing things the King's way.

I think that's the mid to late '80s you are thinking of. And yes, they did have popcorn as an "appetizer"

Actually, this was the 70s when I was in high school. I moved away from the area afterward. I suspect it was just our local BK trying something different at a time/place where fast food was not considered to be suitable for anything but lunch.

Nothing worse than a whopper on a stale roll and nuked toppings. what happened to the conveyor broilers?

The fries are terrible and they destroy coke products, too much syrup!

Haven't eaten anything from BK in ages.

I usto love a 99c Whopper! I would combine the two and discard the extra bun. The birds liked the buns. Those are gone forever I guess? The Whoppers I ment, not tha birds.
Joe

thats strange.I did like burger king back when it was flame broiled...
but , all this about microwaving the veggies and all that...stale bread/?..maybe you had a bad experience, (or the BK here is just better)..but lately Ive been craving whoppers like crazy.
Just something about the tomato,mayo,lettuce,onion,pickle(around here they're fresh) , burger combination. (just one, if you go into the double and triple, you mess with the flavor ratio.)Its just easy to get in the mood for one.
Anyway...
thats just my opinion.I'm new around here , and I like "most " of what i see...
however...(you knew it was coming)...I value different peoples tastes and opinions...
and it seems to me that you get a lot of people here "telling " you what food is better than what, rather than discussing/suggesting why they like/dislike something.

again, just my opinion.

I also remember the one near my house, had the first double car drive thru with a pneumatic tube for the money, and the food would come down on a tray that swung wildly and you wondered if your food was gonna make it or not. They would put your change on the tray along with the food in a special holder instead of sending it back like a bank does.
That was about 1970....
(cus I just got my license)

Just before I got to HS, the BK near my HS still had a hostess who would come around & refill your coffee & clean off the tables & talk to the customers. She had her own page in the yearbook for awhile.

Part of that upscale BK late 80s paradigm, as I recall, was having waiters/waitresses taking your order. Does anyone else remember something to this effect?