We ate at Red Lobster for the first time in Florida, where it originated, when we were vacationing there in 1984 with our daughter (who was 4 yrs. old then). The food was actually very good. When they expanded North and opened locations in NJ, we did eat occasionally at one or two in our vicinity. But the food didn’t seem quite as good. It’s been more than 20 years since we ate at the Red Lobster on Route 18, in East Brunswick. It’s one of the locations slated for closing. Obviously, like you, not a place we will miss.
Looks like Sickle’s real estate owner is now filing for bankruptcy also
Yes, sadly that is the case in a lot of these situations. I’m sure he had PG’s on most of the debt, which you can’t escape outside of bankruptcy. One of the larger ones in the area, but the post-pandemic lockdowns have taken out a lot of small - medium - large businesses.
Back quite a while ago they did AYCE crab legs. The ads had people saying things like, “I ate ten!” “I ate twelve!” Well, IIRC, I ate something like sixteen, and gave up not because I was full, but because I was tired. They lost a boatload of money (pun intended) on that promotion even before they had their ill-fated AYCE shrimp.
This reminded me that recently Applebee’s had AYCE boneless wings or something like that. My high school age son told me a bunch of his friends went together and do that as a competition to see who can eat the most. Yeah, so i think nowadays with everyone trying to do things for their social media these AYCE promo could back fire.
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Another 225lbs+ lbs high school lineman and I went to a Sizzler for steak and AYCE shrimp. We saved the tails to keep a tally and I forget the number we were at, but let’s say 100. (this is circa 1985-ish) We ordered another plate of shrimp from our waitress and shortly thereafter a manager came out of the kitchen with our latest order of shrimp, and he dropped the check with it.
I said: " Sorry we aren’t finished yet we are here for the all you can eat shrimp-fest.
Manager replied: "That boys IS ALL the shrimp you can eat for $19.95!! (or whatever the price was at the time)
We paid and left.
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A lot of AYCE and buffets now have a time limit.
I’m hearing rumors from friends near Little Silver that Palumbo’s is up for sale… anyone know anything?
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Had a devastating fire on Memorial Day. All safe but it is going to be a long road back. Good luck to them.
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A little more grown-up, technically, but still immature. Recently in FL and had AYCE stone crab claws. My party put a hurting on them and I managed 29 mediums (really wanted 30 but one of the rat kids stole one off my last plate)
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Sprouts market just opened in the Cliffwood section of Aberdeen-Matawan off Hwy 35. Since their produce section and other depts are supposed to work with stock from local farms I will be curious to see if that holds.
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Years in the making, this spot sat empty. Last thing we expected was a Sprouts market but Cliffwood did build a couple hundred new condos less than a mile behind their only town center.
So, Now-Big refurb’d building, unexpected smallish layout inside.
Prices as expected (Sprouts in CA educated).
Buy 1 get 1 50% off for pork ribs
Fresh out of the oven baked goods. The loose rolls were still hot.
Small brand items galore. (especially of the pkg snacking variety)
Dispense per # coffee, nuts, granola, small snacks.
Produce section good but ltd supply while I was there.
Plenty of premade entree meals, sandwiches, salads
Friendly, upbeat grand opening.
Fingers crossed over time the inventory expands. Each dept has a limited variety of brands.
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Rumors flying that Killer Pies in Asbury has closed, sign says closed temporarily but who knows. Seems like a weird time to close to make changes to better serve people, maybe should have done that before the season
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Yes… They put up an IG post to that effect (that they’re making changes to better serve everyone). I think there have been at least four restaurants there in the almost 9 years I’ve been living here.
Let’s see, Trinity and the Pope, Scratch, Bank on Mattison, Killer Pies. Am I missing any?
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We checked out Peel in Oakhurst during Restaurant week and while they offer far more than pizza, the pizza pie was terrific. http://peelnj.com/
I can’t keep up with the openings and closings. So many cases where I missed the boat entirely.
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There was something else… I think it was before scratch, and I want to say it started with an R. I went there for an early dinner on NYE once.
There was a place before Marilyn’s restaurant, but I can’t recall the name but they had a bartender named Frank who was great. He originally worked at Harry’s Roadhouse ( Taka’s current location) He also worked at all of Marilyn’s places.
The one I’m thinking of was definitely after Trinity and the Pope because that was already closed when I moved here.
@MsBean do you remember the name of the place?
