Who remembers Roy Rogers chicken NYC 1990's?
Posted by CommonCut2063@reddit | GenX | View on Reddit | 112 comments
I remember my mom always taking me to Roy Rogers and enjoying the fried chicken combo with biscuits and fries. This makes me nostalgic.
What happened to them that they're no longer in NYC?
Do any of you remember it?
dg4365@reddit
Roast Beef sandwiches. Yummmmm
BrightAssociate8985@reddit
We had one in the Montgomery Mall, in Montgomeryville Pa. It was the first time I’d heard of cheddar cheese on apple pie.
joefatmamma@reddit
I was a burger cook in CT back in the 90s after the military. Toppings bar was the shit.
twstdbydsn@reddit
I took so many pickles from the fixins bar every time I ate there.
i_m_sugarcat@reddit
Same! They were so good!
krissi104@reddit
Yes, I used to love the Double R Bar Burger lol
jldraw@reddit
Roy Rogers was the best fast food restaurant ever. There used to be one in Grand Central Station, throughout NJ and PA. They sold to Hardee’s in the nineties and many locations became Boston Market. Only a handful of Roy Rogers restaurants left mostly in Maryland.
RedditSkippy@reddit
I think the entire chain went under.
We had one in the next town over from me. Prior to the location being Roy Rogers, it was a Hardee’s.
CommonCut2063@reddit (OP)
I remember their fixing bar as well. You could serve yourself as much veggies, lettuce, tomato, onion, etc ,seasonings and dressings as you wanted to go with your roast beef sandwich or your burger. I would take some even for my fried chicken combo.
warmfuzzume@reddit
Their pickles were so good!! I never liked fried chicken but my family did so we went there a lot. I’d get fries then pile a bunch of pickles on a napkin and just eat them as a side to my side. 😂
Weird-Girl-675@reddit
I made myself quite a few pickle sandwiches.
rkstrmoto@reddit
I absolutely loaded up on pickles for my humble burger at the fixins bar!
Affectionate-Map2583@reddit
I still do that - make a little side salad for my roast beef sandwich instead of putting lettuce/tomato/pickle on it directly.
Weird-Girl-675@reddit
They were in northern Virginia too.
Damn I miss that fixsins bar.
Parsnip-toting_Jack@reddit
There are two In Leesburg and a few more in Frederick MD. McDonalds bought most of them out in the 80’s for the real estate locations.
claytionthecreation@reddit
I don’t really remember Roy Roger’s Chicken but I do remember Kenny Rogers restaurant
Nazz1968@reddit
Especially the Seinfeld episode where Kramer gets addicted to it!
SnooPickles55@reddit
Roy Roger's chicken > Kentucky Fried Chicken
Blue_Henri@reddit
We used it as a base of operations on my Sixth Grade trip to DC
JDmead_32@reddit
There’s one at the turnpike rest stop near by. It’s the only one I know of anymore.
219_Infinity@reddit
There a few in Maryland
rnmissionrun@reddit
Yep!
There's one in the next county over from where I live. I've been tempted to order DD from there but the estimated 40 min delivery always made me change my mind.
the_DOS_god@reddit
There are a couple in VA also.
Beautiful_Arm8364@reddit
Frederick is lousy with them.
rnmissionrun@reddit
RR was one of my first jobs.
I remember making the chicken but I don't remember eating it, or what it tasted like.
foodweneedfood@reddit
Was anyone else a member of the Buckaroo Club?
sollozzo70@reddit
That was my first job at 16. 2 quarts of buttermilk and a ‘chub’ of shortening for a batch of biscuits. So good.
Familiar-Attempt7249@reddit
Right after the Hardee’s takeover. Hello, fellow foot soldier!
figbash137@reddit
I went to one on my 8th grade DC trip. I kept the fry box for YEARS (hell, it might still be in a box) cause I was so tickled that it was shaped like a holster and had a cutout to put on a belt.
jennbouk@reddit
I'm from SC but lived in DC in 1984 for 6 months at 16 as a US House Page and there was at the Eastern Market subway stop. I loved it.
disc0kr0ger@reddit
Hwy! I was about to chime in the same: this post was a blast from the pst for me because I — a public school kid from Louisiana — only saw and ate (numerous times) at Roy Rogers when I was a U.S. Congressional page in the summer of 1989
cybaz@reddit
Roy Rogers is still around on the PA turnpike, I like the cowboy and horsey sauces.
Doordasheasthartford@reddit
We had roy rodgers but was burgers
boner79@reddit
only remember the god awful ones on the NYS Thruway until they recently replaced em.
Misanthropemoot@reddit
They had the absolute best chicken sandwich!!!
Honest-Database-5534@reddit
They became Arby’s in North Jersey as I remember.
Kodiak01@reddit
Their site shows 37 locations between PA, VA and DC.
kludge6730@reddit
There’s still 3 Roy’s here within a few minutes drive. Wife loves the chicken.
Tangboy50000@reddit
Yes, they opened a new restaurant here. I don’t think it lasted a year. When we went, all the tables were covered in trash, the prices were ridiculously high for what you got, and half the fixin’s bar was on the floor. I got a roast beef, opened it up, and thought they just wrapped up a bun. The bun didn’t have a gap and no roast beef was sticking out, I pulled the top bun off and there was like one folded up piece of roast beef right in the center.
kludge6730@reddit
Unfortunate. Ours are usually pretty clean with diligent staff. Only time I’ve seen one of the stores a mite disheveled was after a tour bus of high school kids had just left.
HoosierLarry@reddit
Leather_Network4743@reddit
Wrong Rogers (Kenny, not Roy)
One_Hour_Poop@reddit
I finally went to one last year on a road trip to DC. It was fine. I of course took all sorts of pictures because they're mostly gone, so it was cool for me to be there.
Prestigious_Grape288@reddit
Heck yes I remember! We loved RR and there were several locations in our small town
I MET ROY ROGERS AND DALE EVANS at one of the local RR, in the 80s, promo tour
I only recently realized that the FIXINS bar at the RR in our local mall is VERY likely the inspiration for a famous scene in East Bound & Down (FIEXINS, with Kenny & Stevie)…Danny McBride grew up near that mall & would’ve seen that FIXINS bar 🤠
I think there’s still an RR on the NJ Tnpk?
No_Grand7184@reddit
Cosmo Kramer ruined them
PennyG@reddit
That was Kenny Roger’s Roaster
No_Grand7184@reddit
My bad. You are correct. Guess I never hear of Roy Rogers
PennyG@reddit
https://www.royrogersrestaurants.com
No_Grand7184@reddit
Now I’m hungry! Don’t think we ever had those in Texas
PennyG@reddit
They are pretty good!
SignificantApricot69@reddit
Most of them are in Western MD now. I grew up on the East Coast and in the ‘90s most of them were sold to Hardee’s. My closest one became a Hardee’s then closed up a couple years later. Of course at the time Hardee’s had a similar menu with chicken and biscuits.
Anytime I travel home I try to stop at a Roy Rogers for lunch.
OblongOtter2128@reddit
Yes! Loved them as a kid and was so excited to see one as an adult driving through MD. But the taste wasn’t as good as I recalled. Still the best fast food Cole slaw, though.
phillymjs@reddit
I had two within ten minutes in opposite directions of my house in Philadelphia. I missed them terribly when they disappeared (both locations became Wendy’s). They were still in a few rest stops on the PA Turnpike and any time I took a road trip I’d stop and eat there going and coming.
They have been mostly in MD and VA but they’re slowly expanding north. Last summer they opened one in Cherry Hill, NJ, and for the first couple months you couldn’t get near the place. I’ve been there a couple times, and nearly everything tastes the same as I remember. The cole slaw was slightly different, and they don’t have Pennsylvania Dutch birch beer in the soda fountain.
the_natis@reddit
RR was the best fried chicken hands down. I think there are only a few locations left across the northeast. Used to hit up the one off of 86th street in Brooklyn. The one across from Penn Station was always a stay away. Moved to Boston for a while and there was one off of 91 that we'd stop at on trips back home to NYC.
Blrfl@reddit
Peak Roy's was the 1970s. The 1980s and later were all downhill.
Mindless-Baker-7757@reddit
I miss the fixings bar.
Immediate-Count-1202@reddit
My recollection was that Roy Roger’s bought Gino’s hamburgers via Marriott which had the KFC franchise. Since Roy Roger’s had their own chicken they ditched KFC and converted the locations to the parent namesake.
Big mistake in hindsight but so it goes.
bibdrums@reddit
One opened about 5 years ago in Edison, NJ. For the first month it was open there was a line down the highway and within 2 years it was gone. It’s a Jollibee now.
willgold76@reddit
There was a Roy Rogers in forest hills, near Austin street. Haven’t thought of it in years. God, they had the little paper cups, I’d do half ketchup and mayo, dip the fries in to swirl them and dunk the chicken in that. Damn that brings back some memories
FormerCollegeDJ@reddit
There are still Roy Rogers locations around, but most of them are within 40 miles of Frederick, MD where they are based.
I remember there used to be a Roy’s in Center City Philadelphia that I went to maybe 2-3 times with my father when he chaperoned field trips to the U.S. Mint. (My father was a high school teacher who was a lifelong coin collector; he did that field trip with his students every year for many years. I went at least a couple times when I was in elementary school.) The U.S. Mint was/is located just off Independence Mall a couple blocks north of Independence Hall and the Liberty Bell pavilion, and the Roy’s was 2-3 blocks west of there IIRC. In Pennsylvania, back in the 1980s there were also Roy Rogers locations at many of the PA Turnpike rest areas.
RE: the U.S. Mint, I remember when you could look out directly onto the floor where the coins were made on those U.S. Mint tours, with a series of short videos at various points explaining the steps in the coin making process you were seeing. They changed it years later to have interpretive displays but blocked off the direct floor view, which wasn’t nearly as good.
TheJokersChild@reddit
They're HQ'd in Maryland, and the DMV is where almost all of them are now.
I fell in love with them in Shirley, Long Island almost 20 years ago. Couldn't believe how much more real the roast beef was than Arby's.
Ironically, that Roy's is a Popeyes now.
LetsHikeToTheMoon@reddit
I'm in Maryland and the one that was near me closed and became a McDonald's maybe 15 years ago.
Bardamu911@reddit
I grew up in Ellicott City and ate Roy Rogers chicken once a week for every week of the first half of the 90s. Didn't they become Hardee's?
TheJokersChild@reddit
I've seen them in Frederick, Burtonsville and Wheaton (Glenmont?) just off the top of my head. I know there are a few others.
TheGirlwThePinkHair@reddit
They are still on the turnpike rest stops in pa
dixicups@reddit
We had a Roy Rogers on Pennsylvania Avenue in D.C., just off the George Washington University campus, when I was a student from 1984-88. Nothing like heading there at midnight on a Friday or Saturday for the fried chicken and biscuits.
CommonCut2063@reddit (OP)
If anyone here is from NYC, I used to go to one in Brooklyn, Utica Ave and Remsen Street. I had dinner there every Saturday.
Jpkmets7@reddit
There was one right on 2nd at like 64th for a while. Hidden treasure
Last_Blackfyre@reddit
Fried chicken was the bomb.
lazytiger40@reddit
I miss that place. There was one on the PA turnpike northeast extension near Allentown and one on the Garden State Parkway north of Cape May Courthouse but it's been awhile they may be gone
hippiechick725@reddit
I think the Parkway one may still be there
lazytiger40@reddit
The one I referenced isn't but there is one further north past toms River according to my PA friend
lazytiger40@reddit
Called my Philly friend just now...the Allentown one is still there and the courthouse one closed just there is one in Toms river he said
hippiechick725@reddit
I stand corrected…thank you!
Wallis614@reddit
As Big Daddy Kane said, “Play like Roy Rogers and just sloooooooow down…”
Starkville@reddit
My work friend and I used to go to the one on Third Avenue and 58th (?). She’d say “Hey, wanna get a Triggerburger?”
Never had their chicken.
WildTomato51@reddit
I remember the one in Ceaser’s Bay. I think it’s a Wendy’s now.
Wallis614@reddit
Beat me to it! 🤣
Glum_Mud_4693@reddit
I remember avoiding it when I would he in the city haha
AdEastern9303@reddit
I remember one in Northern Ohio on the way to Cedar Point.
DubiousSpaniel@reddit
Roy Roger’s was the one that truly had the best fried chicken!
hippiechick725@reddit
We had them in Pennsylvania, but I don’t remember chicken, just burgers.
Mobyus_One@reddit
Maam, That's a Wendy's.
hippiechick725@reddit
Nah, it was a Roy Rogers, I just didn’t like chicken.
Funke-munke@reddit
That was my first job in 1986 in our local mall
CommonCut4@reddit
Me too! $3.40/hr. I was mostly on fried chicken and biscuits but occasionally I’d get on the grill. I was under 18 so the roast beef slicer was off limits.
Chaotichybrid@reddit
At least 1 still in northern Virginia, sausage gravy and biscuits, still enjoy the roast beef sandwich and fried chicken also
yeahwellokay@reddit
My dad ate it all the time. I hated the smell.
Particular-Fennel-67@reddit
We have two where I live in Leesburg, Virginia.
daddydillo892@reddit
There used to be a few along the Pennsylvania turnpike. I don't know if they are still operating. I'm pretty sure one used to be at one of the rest stops between the Exton and Reading exits.
pjs32000@reddit
Stopped at one there a couple of years ago. It was terrible, do not recommend.
Advanced_Nose_7738@reddit
I remember Kenny Rogers Roasters.
Not fast food... Good food quickly.
sunshine-and-kittens@reddit
ScreenTricky4257@reddit
If I had a nickel for every country singer named Rogers who opened a fast-food chicken restaurant, I'd have two nickels.
PatNebetar@reddit
LeadingResearch9528@reddit
RR was my fave in the 80s and early 90s…best chicken, best biscuits. If you’re willing to road trip to south jersey they just opened a new one in cherry hill
Silly-Shoulder-6257@reddit
I loved their burgers that we could not get in the south east. We were on a road trip all the way up the east coast. They were our “McDonald’s”.
CommonCut2063@reddit (OP)
Thanks for the info!!
Kalena426@reddit
West Coast Had Knotts Berry Farms.
PuffDiesel1138@reddit
I worked at a RR in NJ around 1989-1991. I was the chicken guy.
They used to be at all the NJ turnpike service areas and used to be a regular late night stop when driving home from NYC
A couple of years ago I was driving through either Maryland or Delaware. When I pulled off to get gas and food, lo and behold there was the first Roy Rogers I'd seen in many years. I knew immediately where I would be eating.
More recently, last September or October I found myself in South NJ, somewhere between Brick and Toms River when I suddenly drove past one. Needless to say I made a stop on my way back. What a treat!!
dutchrock@reddit
Pappy Parker's fried chicken. Pappy Parker sounded way too much like Donald Duck in my opinion. I always wondered why they never got sued.
Ok_Independent5362@reddit
I went to GWU and that was our morning after greasy food spot in DC
LifeguardRepulsive91@reddit
A new one opened near me a few months ago, in south Jersey. I was very excited because RR was my favorite fast food back in the day. I went once and never again. It satisfied my nostalgia but I don't enjoy fast food like that any more.
CommonCut2063@reddit (OP)
Their chicken, biscuits and cole slaw was wayy much better than KFC these days, IMO
LifeguardRepulsive91@reddit
Their chicken is good, but I go for the roast beef.
CommonCut2063@reddit (OP)
Oh yes, forgot that!
eclare1965@reddit
I worked at one in the 1980’s in Baltimore and we had to wear cowboy hats and say round it up at the window partner. I really miss the fried chicken and coleslaw
CommonCut2063@reddit (OP)
That's was so cool!! Me too, I miss their chicken, biscuits and cole slaw. I don't know if the locations still open make them as good anymore.
SomeAreSomeAreNot@reddit
"The man makes a pretty strong bird..."
primeweevil@reddit
“He really is the gambler”
ILoveLipGloss@reddit
BLOTTO81@reddit
Pretty sure there are a few left in south Jersey on 295.