Wayback machine - Mall restaurant chain with "flame" flickering light bulbs.

[monkeylizard]

Calling all fellow old timers. Back in the 1980s (and maybe 70s) there was a restaurant found in shopping malls (maybe they had freestanding too, but I don't think so). They weren't part of the fast-food food courts. They were regular sit-down restaurants. The decor was some red/orange brick. I don't recall if it was brick-patterned wallpaper or if it was just a brick-layout tile floor. The most prominent thing I remember is that they were kind of dark inside and had wrought iron light fixtures with the fake flame flickering electric light bulbs, supposed to look like gas lamps.

WHAT WAS THE NAME OF THOSE RESTAURANTS?!?!?!?! It's driving me crazy that I can't think of it and my Google-fu is failing me. I'm pretty sure it was a chain because I remember seeing them in Oklahoma, and possible Arizona in the 80s and my wife describes the exact same thing being in the Nashville malls around the same time.

Both of us want to say the name had "Olde" or "Ye Olde" in the name, but maybe we're projecting some other memory onto these places. I was thinking "Tavern", "Pub", or "Inn" may have been in the name, but I'm not certain.

[No_0ne]

Sounds a bit like the old Steak and Ale franchises ...

[Moped]

My neighbors down the street have these lights as their front door lights... two neighbors, actually.  Been thinking about keeping up with the Jones.  Kinda cool, actually.

[jpx2rk]

Never saw a Steak & Ale franchise location in a mall, their interior was the medieval like, dark with heavy furniture, could have had the flickering  lights but don't remember that part.   If more recent times, maybe Fridays or Ruby Tuesdays??

[monkeylizard]

Steak & Ale came to mind, but like ya'll we don't think they had mall locations, but yeah, similar decor.

It definitely wasn't a Friday's or RT. It's a defunct restaurant for sure. I'm beginning to wonder if maybe it wasn't a chain but was instead several local/regional outfits who happened to all be knocking off the same dark ages theme from Steak & Ale. It was certainly a popular thing in the 70s (the rise of fantasy movies like Conan, Renaissance fairs, D&D, etc.)

[cajunpredfan]

Bennigan's 

 

[monkeylizard]

No, that wasn't it. 

[ppcgm]

I remember the bulbs ... Darrel's maybe ? I'll keep pondering on it.

[AuEagle]

Barnaby's???

[Garufa]

7 minutes ago, AuEagle said:

Barnaby's???

Barnaby Jones?

[Frog4aday]

Any of these ring a bell?

https://www.eatthis.com/failed-restaurant-chains-1990s/

[wttam]

The only one that comes to mind is Annabelle's that was here in Memphis.  It doesn't quite line up with your description but that's all I've got.

[MacGyver]

I wonder if it was either Silver Spoon's Cafe (that's what we had in Georgia) or Mozzarella's American Cafe (same company here in Tennessee)?  They were both heavy on the brick and I remember both using those flickering bulbs.  The one in Green Hills Mall was the first place I ever recall seeing those open strings of decorative bulbs suspended from the ceiling - but that was later - earlier they both used the flickering bulbs on the wall and in the fixtures.

[peejman]

Piccadilly?

[monkeylizard]

I'm beginning to think that Mrs. 'lizard and I (raised in different areas) just happened to both have indie or regional chain restaurants in our malls that used those flicker lights. A neighbor put some on his porch a few months back and we've both commented about how it reminds us of "that place in the mall" . . . oh well. Thanks for trying!

[bdykd0]

Perkins ?

 

[KahrMan]

Do you remember the type of food they served?

[Raoul]

Sizzler?

[MacGyver]

They’re really weren’t that many actual sit down restaurants attached to malls. You’d think one of us would have remembered it.

 

[No_0ne]

1 hour ago, MacGyver said:

They’re really weren’t that many actual sit down restaurants attached to malls. You’d think one of us would have remembered it.

 

And if e-commerce keeps expanding, someday we'll be trying to explain what malls were too ...

[Erik88]

14 hours ago, monkeylizard said:

I'm beginning to think that Mrs. 'lizard and I (raised in different areas) just happened to both have indie or regional chain restaurants in our malls that used those flicker lights. A neighbor put some on his porch a few months back and we've both commented about how it reminds us of "that place in the mall" . . . oh well. Thanks for trying!

We're starting to learn more about memories and how we can remember things that never happened, or get the details wrong. A few years ago I had to watch a video for work where a semi went through an intersection and collided with a sedan. Two witness came forward and swore the semi ran the red light but the video clearly showed he had a green light, and the sedan was at fault. I thought that was interesting. My wife and I have discussed past events and we each have a different recollection of what actually happened. Of course I just let her think she's right and she probably is. 

My point is, maybe you're combining details from a few different places in your memory. The brain is weird. 

[E4 No More]

1 hour ago, Erik88 said:

We're starting to learn more about memories and how we can remember things that never happened, or get the details wrong. A few years ago I had to watch a video for work where a semi went through an intersection and collided with a sedan. Two witness came forward and swore the semi ran the red light but the video clearly showed he had a green light, and the sedan was at fault. I thought that was interesting. My wife and I have discussed past events and we each have a different recollection of what actually happened. Of course I just let her think she's right and she probably is. 

My point is, maybe you're combining details from a few different places in your memory. The brain is weird. 

In a small group most people perceive the same event differently. Police have known this for quite a while. That's why they take what the majority of the witnesses agree upon and derive the facts from there. For instance, if 5 people witness a crime that later describe the suspect for the police where two describe the suspect's shirt as dark blue and three describe the same as black then they look for the black shirt.

[Trekbike]

4 hours ago, Erik88 said:

We're starting to learn more about memories and how we can remember things that never happened, or get the details wrong. A few years ago I had to watch a video for work where a semi went through an intersection and collided with a sedan. Two witness came forward and swore the semi ran the red light but the video clearly showed he had a green light, and the sedan was at fault. I thought that was interesting. My wife and I have discussed past events and we each have a different recollection of what actually happened. Of course I just let her think she's right and she probably is. 

My point is, maybe you're combining details from a few different places in your memory. The brain is weird. 

I wouldn't know anything about that but have I ever told you guys about the time that I was flying with Brian Williams in a helicopter over in Iraq?    I think the year was 2003, we were taking enemy fire and forced to land.    Brian and I barely made it out alive....

[MacGyver]

Do you remember the names of any of the malls that had them?

[TGO David]

Back in the 70's my parents used to take me to a place like that but I have no idea if it was a franchise.  The name of it was The King's Table and it had everything you're describing.

 

Edit, I found some photos of other locations online.  Apparently it was a chain and they were named "King's Table Smorgasbord"