In Memoriam: Ames Business/Restaurants
- Thread starter Farnsworth
- Start date
People are losing their jobs and you are happy because you cant tell your wife no?
- Mar 27, 2006
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Don't be a dickbag, curt. Have a little tact.
Should be able to just contact the store or pm me and I can look into it for you as well.
Crazy to think how much has changed in 20 years. I worked at Old Chicago when it opened and it was always insanely busy. That being said I have noticed a lot of them closing. Was a generally fun place to work.
I'll give you the benefit of doubt that you didn't read the last couple pages of this thread but, yikes.
The place was basically an L shape going down the side of the mall exit and wrapping around facing Grand. Worked as a cook and part time bartender when I was in college. And underage still..... But Captain Morgan night was basically a 24 ounce glass full of ice, Captain 3/4 of the way up and a splash of Coke. I think it was $2 for that. Cheap night of drinking and food. For American-Mexican food it wasn't bad at all.
The specials were all aimed at getting students in there. Buck Burgers, Captain Morgan night, and karaoke on Friday or Saturday.
Correct, I posted it before I saw Rulzzz was losing his job, that truly does suck and I am sorry for that.
But I stand by my opinion that their food sucks and if that makes me a dbag and/or a terrible person then so be it.
Ames restaurant you miss most?
What old Ames restaurants that have since been closed do you miss most? I'm going to guess we'll get a lot of Davinci's in here - their chicken phillies were awesome. I also really liked that place that used to be across the street to the south from Aunt Maude's, probably 15 years ago - I...
cyclonefanatic.com
From 2010...
Didn't Old Chicago 'just open?' It opened as I was leaving ISU and that surely wasn't 20 years ago, was it? 
I'm not sure the exact year but I would guess it's been there close to that long. Must be something about their operating model that is not profitable as that makes all 3 central Iowa locations closed between the Merle Hay, Ankeny, and Ames. Rarely did I ever see the Ames location look slow/empty when I stopped in. I used to frequent the Merle Hay one when I lived in Beaverdale and many times it was hard to find an open seat.Didn't Old Chicago 'just open?' It opened as I was leaving ISU and that surely wasn't 20 years ago, was it?
Old Chicago has been struggling for a while. Craftworks Holdings declared bankruptcy in 2020. The brewery/tap room boom was really a problem for the business model.
jees your making me feel really old. Eons didnt seem like that long ago. LOL
I remember all of those things there in the 90s, not sure exactly when everything was torn down. Early 2000s?
Really was one of the first major restaurant chains to really lean into the movement of having a wide selection of beers, before the craft movement even took off. Back then it was mainly international. It's hard to even imagine now, since everyone does it, but I remember being amazed at how many different beers they had available.
Yes. Es Tas is being sold.
As someone itt mentioned, underage drinking killed them.
As it’s probably my favorite bar from when I was in school, we visited when we were in Ames for the Baylor game. Not only was there no one in there on a Friday night around midnight, but there were cops walking around going up to everyone asking for their ID, including our group, which everyone was over 30… lol
Cracking down on underage drinking at bars just pushes the problem to sketchy house parties
More times than not now, the distributors will come in and take them back. Those suckers are expensive.
My millennial generation gets blamed for closing down crappy chain restaurants. Can we blame Gen Z for closing down OC?
