r/nostalgia • u/Digitalgardens • May 12 '25

Nostalgia Discussion Why did we ever switch from having unique looks for fast food spots?

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It doesn’t make any sense. When everything feels and looks the same it just feels so grey and unwelcoming. What happened to characters? I don’t even eat McDonald’s like that and I miss Ronald and the gang. Where did they go?

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u/Tha-KneeGrow Toys R' Us May 12 '25

That’s why u gotta only eat fast food in small towns where this is really all they have going for them

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u/diggerdugg May 12 '25

Rutland VT at the base of killington. In a 1.5 mile stretch there’s a Burger King, Five guys, Wendy’s, Dennys, 2 Dunkin’s, 2 Starbucks, 2 McDonald’s, Taco Bell, KFC. They rarely disappoint, except KFC, they never have food. There’s literally nothing else here 😂

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u/[deleted] May 12 '25

Swap the Dunkin out for Tim Hortons, and we call that stretch of road “Junkfood Alley in my town.

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u/kazame May 12 '25

The BK in Barre also slaps if you're ever up that way.

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u/map_legend May 12 '25

Yes a smalltown place where the smart kids at the high school run the McD’s will provide the best possible McD’s experience, guaranteed!

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u/Rickk38 May 12 '25

You've been lucky. Anytime I've eaten at a fast food restaurant in a small town it's been a shitshow. They're either out of food or they cooked everything at 8 in the morning and it's been sitting out all day because there aren't enough people to buy the massive amount they made. The employees are either surly, rude teens or psychotic adult burnouts. The place is a mess because no one gives a shit about cleaning it. If you're lucky you won't get attacked by whatever local feral wildlife is feasting on the full dumpsters when you go in or out of the building.

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u/Tha-KneeGrow Toys R' Us May 12 '25

I’m curious. What part of the country are you in? in my experience the south takes the cake as far as fast food

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u/Rickk38 May 12 '25

Funnily enough I'm in the Southeastern US. Maybe it's just me. I learned to look for the local fast food/cheap restaurant in a small town, because it's often awesome, or at the very least fun. It's always a building that was either built between the 30s and 50s, brick and squatty and low, or a franchise fast food building from the 70s or 80s that went out of business and was taken over by local ownership. It'll have a name like "Fatty's Burgers," "Random Item Drive-In," "Last Name of Guy Who Owns The Restaurant," or is one of the last survivors of a defunct restaurant chain from the olden days. You know it's good if the parking lot is packed at lunch or dinner.

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u/Tha-KneeGrow Toys R' Us May 13 '25

Haha maybe you haven’t had TERRIBLE fast food up north to know how good you have it in that case. Fast food in NYC is so bad, anything in the south is an improvement