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from age 17 to 20 or so, denny's was one of the coolest things in the world to me. a couple friends and i used to go to denny's pretty much every single night, maybe from midnight or 1am till 3 or 4am, something like that. anything that didn't have to be entered into the computer was free for us, that being drinks and muffins. also, on a couple occasions, we were given the empty whipped cream cans, empty of course meaning devoid of whipped cream... and the waitress who was hooking us broke-ass college kids up like this? totally hot. and *exceedingly* hot on the spectrum of "denny's waitresses" or even "waitresses" for that matter.

plus, the food is kick-ass. totally kick-ass. i'm a freak here i'm sure, but as far as food goes, there are few places i'd rather eat than denny's. like giordano's for example. but very few places.

one of the denny's just a few miles outside my hometown actually served alchohol, too. never went there post-21, so i never got the full experience. though the typical late-night denny's patron is generally drunk and/or stoned anyways, this place should have been extra fun, what with people getting more and more drunk as they sat there.

viva denny's! five stars!

Man I used to love Dennys; when I was in school the one near my house had cool waitresses, beer, good coffee, and they'd give me extra cheese and eggs on my "moons-over-my-hammy-without-the-hammy" (vegetarian). In fact, the last night that it was legal to smoke in restaurants in CA, my friend and I stayed at Denny's well into the night, drank Budweiser (aka "The King") and smoked our way through four packs of cigarettes... Good times. And when I was homeless for a summer (still working, just didn't have a place to stay), they used to let me sleep in a booth in a closed-off section. Denny's of the past--not crap.

Then they changed their preparation methods (I'm not sure how, but the hashed browns are not the same), and then they switched to some cheap-ass coffee (the old stuff, I swear, was the best coffee I've ever drank), and then they introduced the "skillet"-based menu... Oh, and no more beer! Denny's of the present--total poo.

Besides, they raised the prices, so now any roadside diner (at least out here on the West Coast) is likely to be cheaper. My road food method? Look for truckers and u-c cops- they always know where the best food is.

I vote that all voters who pledged not crap, are crap. Denny's is the Wal-Mart of the diner industry. There are less interesting little diners in bumblefuck towns now thanks to Denny's. If you like homogenous culture, then denny's = not crap. However if you're traveling and do not want to be subjected to the same god-damned atmosphere with people wearing the same stupid uniforms and the same shit service. .. well, -crap.

-Wilson

scelops wrote:Denny's is the Wal-Mart of the diner industry. There are less interesting little diners in bumblefuck towns now thanks to Denny's. If you like homogenous culture, then denny's = not crap.

if only it had been a case of places like denny's thriving because lots of folks actually wanted to eat there, by their own choice. it is a shame though, how it really went down, with all those denny's corporate-sponsored guestapo thugs going out with their guns, telling everyone that they *had* to go eat at denny's OR ELSE.

out of curiosity, who do you blame most for this state of affairs? the specific institutions like wal-mart and denny's? the fact that you live in a capitalist democracy where the market bears whatever it will bear? "the masses" who make up this nation, the folks who actually got behind these chains and made them thrive? something/someone else?

Denny's lovers just miss Sambo's too much.

toomanyhelicopters wrote:
out of curiosity, who do you blame most for this state of affairs? the specific institutions like wal-mart and denny's? the fact that you live in a capitalist democracy where the market bears whatever it will bear? "the masses" who make up this nation, the folks who actually got behind these chains and made them thrive? something/someone else?

I'd have to blame an increasingly dopey populace with a 'so what' attitude.

-W

scelops wrote:I'd have to blame an increasingly dopey populace with a 'so what' attitude.

so the populace in question here would be the rural, backwoodsy folk, right? that's the area where you're upset that the mom and pop's were replaced by denny's? and you're saying that the rural, backwoodsy folk are more dopey today than they were 50 or 100 years ago? YIKES! really?

and the "so what" attitude is a tough one. i think you'll find VERY few people who are in favor of making their food intake into something driven by political factors. usually it's about "i want to eat. what would i like to eat?" so if going with their own personal taste, and deciding that they liked denny's better than mom and pop's place, rather than making it a political statement, if that makes them dopey by your standards, then... well, hell. i guess they did vote for bush.

Say Denny's moves in to your little town on the highway. What's the main source of income for your little town on the highway? Is it the locals? Or is it people who pull off to grab something to eat while traveling from point A to point B?

It's not all that complicated. And i'ts not akin to saving the people of Tibet. But most people , -like yourself are going to say "Boy I am familiar with Denny's, I'll eat at Denny's" Therefore goodbye Mom and Pop.

I like seeing different things when out and about. I like going places where they might have a humongous catfish taxedermed and hanging on the wall. -Not for kitsch but because someone was proud for having caught it. -Etc.

Does that make Denny's evil? There just out to make a buck. And another and another. Good for them. I'd rather not pull for them because to me, It's a boring atmosphere and they will probably survive without my $6.

Have fun at Denny's.

-Wilson

this is a good point that i think we can maybe both agree on... it's not that people are stupid or anything, it's that most folks would rather have predictability and comfort over adventure and the unknown. this is why denny's beat mom and pop near the highway? that makes total sense to me.

then the question becomes, are there still mom and pop's farther away from the expressway, if you drive an extra ten minutes each way, is the backwoods adventure still there? or is it prohibitively difficult to find? i ask in all honesty, i really have no clue, because i am the guy you dislike, the root of your problem, the guy who will keep his eyes peeled on the signs on the side of the road looking for a restaurant name he recognizes and knows roughly what to expect from. i like the unpredictability that comes with the staff and patrons just fine. with food, i like to take as few chances as possible. no sense of adventure there.

Are we talking about touring, or just eating in your home town?

Touring, I can say that Denny's will be listed on the highway signs, so you're guaranteed a meal, whereas any random diner might not be easily found off the highway. you'd have to sort of play "diner anthropologist" and interpret the signs correctly. This is void in states where Waffle House exists. There's no reason at all to pass that shit up.

Just eating in your home town, Denny's is crap. Your local diner will beat it every time. It's predictable, sure, but it's also not very good. Now, Bob Evans, that's a breakfast. I don't know about other meals, I'm assuming we're talking breakfast or late late evening. I wouldn't want the fettucini alfredo from any of these places.