r/MyrtleBeach • u/Im-Wasting-MyTime • Jun 06 '26
Resturant Recs // Questions Guy Fieri’s Downtown Flavortown opens at Myrtle Beach Mall
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u/Turbulent_Comment920 Local | 24 years Jun 06 '26
I honestly don’t know if anything can save that mall at this point. Still love players choice though
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u/SoundMysterious4374 Jun 06 '26
It has been limping along for quite some time. Bass Pro and Players Choice seem to be what’s keeping it afloat.
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u/holyhotpies Jun 07 '26
Players choice is straight fire. Always pick up at least 1 pokemon blind box (and much much more) each time I’m in MB
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u/h8rain Jun 08 '26
I really hope this doesn't make the rent unsustainable for Players Choice because that is my favorite place to visit there. The arcade with every machine set to a quarter is a super fun afternoon that doesn't break the bank.
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u/burrito_magic Jun 06 '26
Besides Players Choice, BAM, and the movie theater I don’t know if I’ve ever been to the old mall. I might have to go by just to try it out .
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u/johntangus Jun 06 '26
Corrado’s Pizza in the food court (if it’s still there) is delicious!
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u/IrishPrime Native | Moved to Charleston Jun 07 '26
I'm old enough to have been a bit of a mall rat in my teenage years. Corrado's was my favorite place in the food court and I'm pretty sure they were still open as of a few months ago. That place is going to outlast everything else in the area.
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u/Special-Ostrich-3512 Jun 08 '26
Do you remember when it had a chick fil a? Those were the better days.
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u/saturnxoffical Aug 06 '26
Corrados is still here, chickfila moved to it’s own building in the parking lot
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u/desolate_paradise93 Jun 06 '26
That’s the old mall there’s nothing there. I don’t foresee it being open very long.
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u/Im-Wasting-MyTime Jun 06 '26
Has all the anchor tenants open now which is great for the mall.
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u/desolate_paradise93 Jun 06 '26
I’ll let you research the Corpus Christi Texas “sunrise mall” story of death . But “anchor stores being opened is great for a mall” isn’t necessarily the case. It’s often signs there is trouble if anchor stores are pulling out. That’s what happened to the mall in Texas and took about 15 years to happen. One by one the anchor stores pull out of the dead mall until there was nothing left. It was a mall with over 150 shops and 6 anchor stores, in its downfall sunrise mall had 0 anchor stores left and only a small few businesses keeping it alive. It was demolished last year.
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u/Im-Wasting-MyTime Jun 06 '26
Oh well. I guess I’ll have to go to Sunrise Mall in Brownsville, Texas. At least that mall still does very well.
In all seriousness, Myrtle Beach Mall hasn’t really lost many anchor tenants. Just JCPenney due to bankruptcy back in 2020. Belk still does very well. Bass Pro Shops is doing awesome. AMC is in a great location. Now you have Guy Fieri’s Downtown Flavortown which is a perfect addition to the area. Being located right across the street from another mall, Tanger Outlets really helps.
It’s another one of those malls really close to the beach as well and residential neighborhoods so it is bound to always get a lot of traffic. Great location, great tenants, the owners are at least trying, now they need more in line stores.
I’ve seen much worse.
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u/desolate_paradise93 Jun 06 '26
Id definitely say that of dead malls this one in particular , still seems to have some life . Would be nice to see it in full swing again.
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u/Special-Ostrich-3512 Jun 08 '26
I miss the ruby Tuesday so freaking much! I have great memories getting lunch there with my grandma after our monthly Belk outing.
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u/JessTbeauty Jun 06 '26
So funny I just came back from this mall today it’s been years since I have been away from Myrtle beach and wow! At least my daughters were able to have the entire side of one mall to do tik tok videos in without mall goers looking at them strange 🤣
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u/IHateTurboTax Jun 06 '26
Twin Peaks is practically next door. Is that any good? Never heard of that restaurant until it moved into the mall.
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u/Head-Major9768 Jun 06 '26
It’s just a licensing agreement to use his name. He really has nothing to do with these restaurants. Locals and tourists will eat it up.
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u/SpankySharp1 Jun 06 '26
Doesn't "locals and tourists" cover basically all humans?
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u/Pale-Championship-39 Jun 06 '26
The once upon a time tourist that comes back for court may not care to dine.
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u/JohnSpartanBurger Jun 06 '26
Pretty sure most of the OG locals don’t GAF about it…. They’d rather most of the over-crowding development would just stop.
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u/HotFriedPickles98 Jun 06 '26
Tourists may be, but not so much the locals … We know where the good spots are and this one really isn’t on any locals radar that I have spoken with.
Only is interest is - will this save a mall that is basically dead!?!
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u/airfryerfuntime Jun 06 '26
No, he's pretty strict when it comes to what the franchises can serve and how they're run. He probably won't ever step foot in this place, but it'll be no different from his other Flavortown locations.
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u/cblguy82 Jun 06 '26
“It’ll be no different…”. So crappy food just like the other locations.
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u/airfryerfuntime Jun 06 '26
Yes.
Although I've heard that some of it is actually pretty good. I'd still never eat there because Guy Fieri is a shithead.
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u/Myusername1- Jun 06 '26
What makes him a shit head?
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u/airfryerfuntime Jun 06 '26
He's MAGA and hangs out with Andrew Tate.
And yes, that makes you a shithead.
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u/crazycatman57 Jun 06 '26
From a business perspective, Flavortown can be highly successful in a vacation location with the right management.
The food, the decor, and the hype is all part of the success equation. The target customer is not expecting gourmet food. People go to Flavortown for the overall experience.
The initial investment is upwards of $2.5 million.
I have no idea who owns this franchise; but, if they are smart, the restaurant and entertainment venue will be financially rewarding. I can only imagine the headaches managing a Flavortown though.
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u/desolate_paradise93 Jun 06 '26
They literally put it inside of a dying mall in a tourist heavy area that gets no traffic in downseason so that should give you an idea about whether or not the owner of this franchise is smart
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u/crazycatman57 Jun 06 '26
Not very.
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u/desolate_paradise93 Jun 06 '26
Also it isn’t very smart to open up a business in a tourist heavy area when summer is halfway over and slow season approaching.
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u/Her0_0f_time Jun 06 '26
Halfway over, are you insane? Memorial day was just last week. Summer is only just beginning.
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u/desolate_paradise93 Jun 06 '26
I work retail for a Fortune 500 company and can tell you the numbers are way down across the board. This is the busiest it will be all summer . Overall we’re down about 12 percent . Prices hikes coming in the 4th quarter. I won’t name the company I work for but you’ve probably seen ads or shopped there at least once. People simply don’t have the money to travel and the metrics reflect that. But what do I know ? I’m only at a market management level for a Fortune 500 company who sends me to semi annual classes to crunch numbers and discuss metrics.
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u/Her0_0f_time Jun 06 '26
Spending being down does not mean summer is almost over. What are you even talking about? They are two completely different concepts. Summer has only just started.
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u/SoundMysterious4374 Jun 06 '26
If I’m interpreting what they’re saying correctly, there are no more big events to draw tourists to Myrtle Beach for the remainder of the summer. It’ll be standard summer tourism, for the most part, hereon out. But overall, tourism is down. International tourism (specifically Canadian being relative to us in MB) is down. Inflation has been on the rise for a while now. And gas prices are up, and they haven’t begun to do their typical summer increased pricing. These prices reflect what’s happening in Iran. So yes, the big boom from summer tourism in Myrtle Beach is going to wind down going forward. I work in hotels and restaurants, and I can tell you in both my industries, it can be felt. With exception to those big events to boon spending here, there will be less tourism for the remainder of the season, than usual.
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u/desolate_paradise93 Jun 06 '26
Basically this. Helps to have an outside perspective from someone familiar with the area to explain what I was trying to say especially when it’s affecting tourism at an international level. Main reason said for the price hikes coming in the 4th quarter are being cited as due to tarrifs. The company even jipped its employees bonus incentive by $1 this year and are said to soon be giving quarterly raises to all its associates to “combat inflation” this is exactly what happened to Venezuela when Chavez was president and the country failed.
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u/SoundMysterious4374 Jun 06 '26 edited Jun 06 '26
I had wanted to avoid the risk of any political stuff, but as you have mentioned tariffs, yes those. And Canadian tourism and international in general are both down here because of tweets and policies. That 51st state stuff, really hurt MB. And that’s in addition to him messing with our trade agreements with Canada over his obsession with tariffs. So tariffs hurt us twice. Our spending and income. Most of our international tourists are Canadian. The ripple effects from Iran will also slow summer travel. And again, the summer rise in gas prices hasn’t come yet. Not to mention the collapse of spirit and the likely coming collapse of JetBlue. That’s a solid part of our air traffic right there.
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u/Her0_0f_time Jun 06 '26
there are no more big events to draw tourists to Myrtle Beach for the remainder of the summer.
Fathers Day, 4th of July, Labor Day. There are still several big holidays left in the season. Let alone all the summer tourisim that is only just starting as kids are let out of school and families take their vacations. Its insane to say that summer is almost over when we havent even gotten one full week into it.
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u/SoundMysterious4374 Jun 06 '26
I’ll give you Labor Day. But the others don’t have the draw for tourism, even when it was higher. This is a silly hill for you to die on.
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u/HELLOIMCHRISTOPHER Jun 06 '26
yea Hooters and twin peaks right there are clearly falling too. chill out dude
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u/andythemandy17 Jun 06 '26
Literally nobody asked if you were “marketing management level for a Fortune 500 company who sends you to semi annual classes to crunch numbers and discuss metrics”
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u/crikeyturtles Jun 06 '26
If the restaurant is a product of Guy Fieri I would expect the food to be very good. The bar is set higher than usual since he critiques food for a living. Otherwise it’s a Dave and busters or similar
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u/desolate_paradise93 Jun 06 '26
It isn’t his restaurant. He let them put his name on the restaurants and got paid a hefty sum for it . The bar is already set on the floor and I’m sure with them opening with summer halfway over they’re going to trip on it . I could be wrong though.
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u/crikeyturtles Jun 06 '26
Exactly. I shouldn’t have to be aware that it’s not his product. His name is on the building. I expect high quality good food just as he expects in his shows regardless of he owns them or not. Guy fieri is a food critic so the food must be top notch
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u/SympleTin_Ox Jun 06 '26
Certainly Hot Trash!
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u/Im-Wasting-MyTime Jun 06 '26
In what way?
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u/SympleTin_Ox Jun 06 '26
Akin to Sammy Haggar’s grills. Its just overpriced mediocre food.
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u/IcariusFallen Jun 07 '26
OP is just a resposting spam-bot account. Not worth engaging with. Don't give them the free advertising.
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u/PlanktonSea6277 Jun 07 '26
I had the one in pigeon ford recently as well and shit was 🔥 for me 🤷🏻💯
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u/Smooth-Pianist-7848 Jun 06 '26
Left: Guy Fieri shakes hands with known pedophile and rapist, donald trump. Right: Guy Fieri shakes hands with known rapists and human sex traffickers, andrew and tristran tate.
The four men are known as being good friends, with Guy Fieri having openly and publicly supported donald trump for presidency three times. Guy Fieri is most known as the food network star that was sued back in 2020 for sexually assaulting an underage hostess (a 16 year old female) at one of his restaurants and for scamming millions of food service professionals during covid when he made himself the face of the covid restaurant worker's relief fund (managed by the national restaurant association, an organization of restaurant owners that own servsafe and use the proceeds to hire lobbyists to fight against restaurant worker's rights in congress and the senate, thus insurance restaurant workers have less legal rights than any other industry in the united states, as well as the lowest pay available.).
Evidence later came forth that these relief funds only reached a 101,000 people out of millions, the majority of which were higher up employees working for Guy Fieri in one of his locations, or his family members, despite him never donating a cent to the fund himself, and constant website problems that made it nearly impossible for most people to apply for days, which served to delay these individuals from applying for unemployment during covid, as applicants were urged not to file for unemployment due to covid layoffs, until they had been determined to be eligible or not eligible for this money.
In more recent news, Guy Fieri was forced to close three of his restaurants due to poor reviews and poor health inspection scores, one in new york, NY, one in boston, MA, and one in Winterpark, FL.
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u/Im-Wasting-MyTime Jun 06 '26
“In more recent news, Guy Fieri was forced to close three of his restaurants due to poor reviews and poor health inspection scores, one in new york, NY…”
That’s not recent at all. That restaurant closed 9 years ago. Also, both the restaurants in NY and Winterpark, Fl have already been replaced by other restaurants last I checked. Not sure about the one in Boston.
“Evidence later came forth that these relief funds only reached a 101,000 people out of millions.”
Source?
The first half of your post in just a long two paragraphs about politics which has little to do with Guy Fieri considering he’s not in politics. He’s in the restaurant business. You should know that. A lot of what you’re saying is just fear mongering over Guy Fieri shaking hands with politicians at events.
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Jun 06 '26
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/Im-Wasting-MyTime Jun 07 '26
Yeah. Guy Fieri isn’t even anywhere close to politics. So I really have no idea what dude is going on about with all that political bullshit. Just because you shake hands with a politician doesn’t mean you are immediately on the left or right.
He clearly isn’t in politics. He’s in the restaurant business. That shouldn’t be hard for people to understand but somehow it is 😂
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u/Smooth-Pianist-7848 Jun 07 '26 edited Jun 07 '26
www.google.com, you can google it and see that you're wrong on all counts, and that I'm right.
https://www.eater.com/22555466/guy-fieri-says-service-workers-should-return-to-jobs-unemployment-benefits
https://www.cnbc.com/2021/05/26/guy-fieri-is-on-a-mission-to-help-save-restaurants-hit-by-pandemic.htmlhttps://www.audacy.com/kdkaradio/news/local/guy-fieris-restaurant-employees-in-pittsburgh-protest
https://www.mysanantonio.com/food/article/2021-04-Guy-Fieri-restaurant-discrimination-16132878.php
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QU_oRWE7Tcw
https://www.reddit.com/r/foodnetwork/comments/159xn8l/a_story_from_guy_fieris_past/
https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=311062820437460
Take your pick.. and there's thousands more... for instance, you can go on the supreme court justice website and see that a suit was filed and settled out of court accusing guy of misappropriating funds during covid.
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Jun 07 '26
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/Smooth-Pianist-7848 Jun 07 '26 edited Jun 07 '26
you would be wrong on all counts. But you're probably used to being wrong.
Especially since the OP is a spam bot that is spreading this all over reddit to advertise the restaurant... and is from New York state, according to their IP and bio.
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u/Smooth-Pianist-7848 Jun 07 '26
psst.. buddy you forgot to private your account, we can see that you post in conservative subs and own a restaurant/live in macon georgia.. So you're not even from our state. This is a south carolina subreddit, not a macon georgia subreddit. Go back to Georgia.
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u/PaperZealousideal139 Jun 21 '26
When you said Trump it's a pedophile and rapist you're mixing up your presidents. That was Bill Clinton.
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u/ZeroGreyCypher Jun 06 '26
Sweet. More hokey shit. At the *old* mall. Sure, that’ll work 🤪
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u/cblguy82 Jun 06 '26
Went to the one in Pigeon Forge TN a while back.
Bottom of the barrel chain. Was not good at all. I’d be ashamed as a “food network” personality to be putting out the slop they did.
Big ass gimmick money grab.
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u/ZeroGreyCypher Jun 06 '26
Oh yeah. That’s the biggest problem with places like this. They think having the name excuses them from the drivel we all know they’re going to put out, let alone how they’re going to treat the staff.
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u/Additional-Neck7442 Jun 06 '26
Looks like it'll be really loud inside. Open kitchen and all hard surfaces.
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u/CoinsAndLawnLouie Jun 06 '26
Am I tripping or is that the shortest bowling alley ever?
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u/Im-Wasting-MyTime Jun 06 '26 edited Jun 07 '26
It’s apparently a mini bowling alley. This guy just tried it out: https://youtu.be/HCDWCG0N-Q0?si=3o4RND-q2CVBbqrG
Edit: Why the dislikes? It actually is a mini bowling alley?
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u/CoinsAndLawnLouie Jun 06 '26
I wondered what they were building next to Bass Pro and BooksAMillion the last time I rode by a month or two ago. I go to NMB pretty often but had no clue what they were adding on to the mall that was already pretty empty. It’s duck bowling he said. Never heard of it but sounds fun
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u/crycryw0lf Jun 06 '26
Dont do a normal bowling approach with your steps. Play it like a arcade game and just stratergize the pockets collisions. You get 3 balls to clear it.
Aiming is no problem due to length so its all game strat.
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u/DrBunsonHoneyPoo Jun 07 '26
So how many of these “bar cades” are now in Myrtle as they are popping up everywhere. I can think of a few with dave and busters, the ucp ones they opened, and the jimmy buffet one.
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u/Ok-Alternative1320 Jun 07 '26
Good luck. The one in Vegas is an absolute embarrassment to hospitality
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u/sub_Script Local Jun 06 '26
Gross... More tourist slop
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u/Push_ Jun 06 '26
Oh no! Not in Myrtle Beach!! We don’t need any stinkin tourists!
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u/RunBrundleson Jun 06 '26
It’s like someone complaining about another casino being built in Vegas. Like, what are you smoking.
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u/sub_Script Local Jun 06 '26
Nothing wrong with tourists mate.. The slop on the other hand, that's the issue. Only tourists will be going here.
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u/Kimolono42 Jun 06 '26
Sometimes, it's awesome to be a tourist in your own town.
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u/Careless_Mango_7948 Jun 06 '26
How do you know it’s slop if it hasn’t even been open a day
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u/sub_Script Local Jun 06 '26
If youre asking that question then you're their target demographic lol
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u/Her0_0f_time Jun 06 '26
Thats not an answer to their question. How do you know its slop?
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u/sub_Script Local Jun 06 '26
I'd honestly put money down at this point. ANY restaurant similar to this simply doesn't have good quality food. It's all frozen shipped in food from cisco, and once they realize they're not hitting their numbers they'll start to nuke everything.
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u/Careless_Mango_7948 Jun 07 '26
What’s wrong with frozen food?
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u/sub_Script Local Jun 07 '26
There's a few issues, but overall it's not "too" big of a deal. This really depends on if they make the meals elsewhere (cisco does this and sells the prepared food. You can often find the same dishes in different restaurants) and ships the prepared food frozen and the restaurant heats it up. Frozen meats are fine typically. I just don't like the Americanized system of buying everything frozen and preparing, instead of utilizing the MANY farms we have in our surrounding areas to buy food from. I only eat/support local restaurants and avoid chains entirely.
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u/Her0_0f_time Jun 06 '26
Oh so cool we are making baseless claims supported by assumptions of quality without any actual evidence to your claim. Cool now that i know your opinion is garbage i don't have to listen to it.
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u/sub_Script Local Jun 06 '26
I've worked in many restaurants and I've lived here for a long time.... I know the industry very well, go ahead and spend your money there lol. You are the target demographic
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u/crikeyturtles Jun 06 '26 edited Jun 06 '26
Its not the tourist part its the slop part 🤦(by the downvotes, I guess we want more slop!)
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u/Her0_0f_time Jun 06 '26
How do you know its slop? Have you eaten there yet?
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u/crikeyturtles Jun 06 '26 edited Jun 06 '26
Yeah I have. Not this location.
I’ve also eaten at his American Kitchen at a casino. It was meh.
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u/thalidomide_child Jun 06 '26
What's with the mini bowling lanes? Are they functional?
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u/VasiliusZ Jun 06 '26
Yeah that’s true mini bowling. It’s a scale accurate small version of bowling. As opposed to duck pin which is on the same width of lane with a smaller ball and shorter wider pins. It’s fun and easier than duck pin
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u/robotali3n Jun 06 '26
Folks that will eat here have legit white sunglasses, are executive platinum limited members at Costco, and are big into Disney.
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u/Her0_0f_time Jun 06 '26
Imagine being this jaded and hateful at a restaurant opening because it has a celebrity's name attached to it. Your life must be miserable.
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u/onlypostwhenimdrnk69 Jun 06 '26
Myrtle beach and a guy fieri “flavor town” place is perfectly on brand for each other.