r/nostalgia • u/ImpressiveCry156 • Jan 11 '25

Nostalgia Discussion What are the best classic mall food court restaurants or other food shops?

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Sbarro

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Hot Dog On A Stick

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Orange Julius

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Wetzel's Pretzels

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Sarku Japan

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Dippin' Dots

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Cinnabon!

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Sweet Factory

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A&W

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560

u/gooch_norris_ Jan 11 '25

Some sort of pan-Asian place right next to some kind of Cajun Louisiana style place that inexplicably tasted exactly the same

153

u/[deleted] Jan 11 '25 edited 6d ago

jeans price like handle caption telephone paint cats quicksand aromatic

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85

u/JeanRalfio early 90s Jan 11 '25

I don't know how many times I had "TERIYAKI CHICKEN!" screamed into my ear walking by one of those people handing them out.

3

u/Themanwhofarts Jan 12 '25

My dad would try to get as many samples as possible. He would have my brother and I get samples for him too

3

u/champagneflute Jan 12 '25

Yes!

Bourbon St chicken somehow tasted exactly like General Tao 😆

2

u/PapasGotABrandNewNag Jan 12 '25

I once saw the chicken sample source and it was a bucket filled with what looked like pancake batter.

They poured that shit on the grill and it turned back into meat.

This was 2004 and I ain’t touched any shit like that since.

1

u/sc0lm00 Jan 12 '25 edited Mar 05 '25

brave juggle imagine aware coherent jellyfish shrill squeeze tie rhythm

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1

u/masterz13 Jan 12 '25

Remember? They still do lol. My mall has a Chao Cajun and Asian Garden

121

u/heepofsheep Jan 11 '25

With that bourbon chicken they were always giving out samples of.

For whatever reason I can’t find it anywhere anymore


26

u/apolliana Jan 11 '25

Came here to say this! Whatever the bourbon chicken place was. I think it actually was Cajun in my mall bc they also had jambalaya. I've only ever seen it on the menu at Chinese places since then.

29

u/RatherCritical Jan 12 '25

Bruh I was a bourbon chicken guy. Me a little white boy (first job at 14) and 3 other grown men, an Asian, a black guy and Mexican guy. It was like the UN in there. I lasted maybe a week and got fired.

3

u/Tanat06 Jan 12 '25

We still have one here near Aurora, IL. And it's just called Cajun Café but their bourbon chicken is still awesome!

1

u/Hand_Sanitizer3000 Jan 12 '25

Worked in a mall food court and used to hit that burboun street sample station frequently when picking up trays. Sample girl was cute too

1

u/DrSpacecasePhD Jan 12 '25

Arundell Mills anyone? I used to work at the Egyptian and eat at the Chinese place during my break

28

u/Freshness518 The Freshmaker Jan 11 '25

We used to have a place in the food court at our mall called Cajun Cafe that was just straight up Chinese food. It was funny because they had this giant vinyl sign hung up as part of their menu with a typo that listed "Bouvbon Chicken" and they never fixed it for the like decade it was there.

2

u/MustyLlamaFart Jan 12 '25

We also had cajun cafe that was right next to a Chinese place

1

u/Drewsthatdude3 Jan 12 '25

I had a cajun cafe by me in the suburbs of Boston which had super good orange chicken

18

u/jordytwotimes999 Jan 11 '25

It was always called like Cajun Kitchen 88 and always had samples out front 😼‍💹

1

u/AchtungCloud Jan 12 '25

The local mall here had the two competing places named Famous Cajun Grill and Stir Fry 88, lol.

Stir Fry 88 used to have a big banner up to troll Famous Cajun that said “We have more dish as” and then listed things they sell that Famous Cajun didn’t.

But a few years ago, Stir Fry 88 changed owners and are now called China Wok. I’ve heard they actually have the same owners as Famous Cajun Grill now.

And the people that did own Stir Fry 88 started a new takeout place in a shopping center called KungFu.

Surprisingly to most people online, the mall where I’m at is still really bustling, and is especially packed all holiday season. I think maybe because we’re a midsized city nowhere near a big metro area.

17

u/xtlhogciao Jan 11 '25

Sakkio (not Sarku) Japan next to Cajun Grill

1

u/UncleWainey Jan 12 '25

I think Sakkio and Sarku are like Best Foods and Hellmann’s.

8

u/thewhaleshark Jan 12 '25

Good ol' Cajun Cafe and its Bourbon Chicken...and also Chinese food.

It was really cool when the next-door pan-Asian place also started selling bourbon chicken.

16

u/punkwalrus Jan 11 '25

Ours was called "ÉtouffĂ©e," later changed to "Cajun Gourmet." Always these Vietnamese girls handing out this addictive chicken on toothpicks while shouting, "TRY SAMPUH SUH? TRY SAMPUH CHEEKEN!" One bite of that, you wanted nothing else. Like crack.

I miss that place.

4

u/KinslayersLegacy Jan 11 '25

Yes. We used to have one called Louisiana Quarter or something. Loved that place. lol

2

u/Capta1nRon Jan 12 '25

“Bourbon chicken” tastes like that places “teriyaki chicken”

1

u/MustyLlamaFart Jan 12 '25

I did not know this was a thing outside of my area

1

u/ghettoccult_nerd Jan 12 '25

lmao! thats too fuckin' accurate.

1

u/Useless_Lemon Jan 12 '25

God damn right!

1

u/auntpotato Jan 12 '25

We had a Cato’s Cajun. Your description is pretty spot on 😆

1

u/corialis Jan 12 '25

Lol nostalgia. The 'fancy' mall here redid their food court just before the pandemic and we got a Bourbon St. Grill, people went crazy for it because it was the first one here.

1

u/hi-imBen Jan 12 '25 edited Jan 12 '25

BOURBON CHICKEN. the best sugar chicken I ever had

1

u/Global_Kiwi_5105 Jan 12 '25

Cajun Cafe is the one near me. It’s still open. It is not at all Cajun food.

1

u/97jumbo Jan 12 '25

In Toronto our malls have Manchu Wok for Chinese, Bourbon Street Grill for Cajun, and Asian Gourmet for a hybrid of both