15 Photos Remembering When Restaurants Actually Cared How They Looked
Remember when walking into a restaurant meant entering a whole different little world? Pizza Hut had stained-glass lamps and deep red booths. Taco Bell went wild with teal and purple, while some restaurants had actual waterfalls, enormous aquariums, or vintage cars parked right inside the dining room. Even the carpet seemed to have a personality. During the 1980s, 1990s, and early 2000s, restaurants weren’t afraid of loud patterns, elaborate themes, or decorating an entire room around a cartoon character. Some of those interiors have survived in surprisingly good condition, while others are now preserved mostly in photographs. Here are 15 restaurant interiors from the days when grabbing lunch came with some serious decorating choices.
Pizza Hut’s Red Booth Paradise
Pizza Hut’s old dining rooms featured red upholstered booths, hanging lamps, and wooden partitions, with plenty of space for a proper sit-down pizza night.
Taco Bell’s Teal-and-Purple Era
An old Taco Bell dining room features teal seating, purple accents, and geometric patterns, with colorful booths stretching across the restaurant.
Casa Bonita Had an Indoor Waterfall
A 2008 photograph captures Casa Bonita’s indoor waterfall, surrounded by artificial rock formations and tropical decorations inside the enormous Mexican-themed restaurant.
Burger King and the Glass Blocks
A Burger King built in 2000 still has glass-block partitions and its original dining-room layout, preserving the chain’s colorful turn-of-the-millennium design.
McDonald’s Before Everything Went Gray
A McDonald’s in Puerto Rico still has colorful plastic booths and an older dining-room design, with no touchscreen ordering kiosks in the photographed location.
The Subway Wallpaper Everybody Remembers
Subway’s old dining rooms featured wallpaper covered with New York City transit imagery, giving customers something to study while they ate their sandwiches.
Rainforest Cafe Was Basically a Jungle
Rainforest Cafe filled its dining rooms with artificial trees, hanging vines, and animal figures, surrounding restaurant tables with elaborate jungle decorations.
The Old Spaghetti Factory Had a Streetcar Inside
A full-sized vintage streetcar sits inside The Old Spaghetti Factory in Tacoma, Washington, with the restored vehicle incorporated directly into the restaurant’s dining space.
Hard Rock Cafe Was a Music Museum
The Hard Rock Cafe in Denver featured guitars, music memorabilia, and large wall displays in its 2009 dining room, photographed beneath the restaurant’s decorative lighting.
Chuck E. Cheese Went All In on Cartoons
A Chuck E. Cheese dining room features red-and-blue booths, hanging lamps, potted plants, and oversized framed posters.
Old Country Buffet’s Endless Dining Room
An Old Country Buffet dining area features wooden buffet stations, floral decorations, glass partitions, and rows of shiny metal heat lamps above the food.
Johnny Rockets Kept the Diner Alive
A Johnny Rockets counter features red countertops, chrome stools and an illuminated signage.
Sci-Fi Dine-In Theater Restaurant Turned Dinner Into a Drive-In
At Disney’s Sci-Fi Dine-In Theater, diners sit inside booths shaped like vintage convertibles, facing a movie screen in a darkened drive-in-style restaurant.
Coral Reef Restaurant Had an Aquarium for a Wall
A 2008 photograph shows the Coral Reef Restaurant at EPCOT, where dining tables face enormous aquarium windows filled with water and swimming marine life.
Haussner’s Was Practically an Art Gallery
A 1992 photograph of Baltimore’s Haussner’s Restaurant shows an ornate dining room filled with framed paintings, decorative details, and traditional wooden furniture.