16 Defunct Restaurant Chains With The Strangest Gimmicks In History
Remember those restaurants that seemed more like amusement parks than dining spots—places that tried just a little too hard to be different?
I’ve always been intrigued by eateries that went beyond simply serving food, opting instead for over-the-top themes, strange service styles, and downright bizarre atmospheres. Throughout American dining history, countless chains have risen (and quickly fallen) by banking on spectacle over substance.
While their menus—filled with forgettable burgers, fries, and milkshakes—have mostly faded into obscurity, their outrageous gimmicks still spark nostalgia. These quirky restaurants may be gone, but their offbeat charm continues to live on in our collective memory.
1. Automat Horn & Hardart
Vending machines for hot food? That was my first thought when my grandpa told me about the Automat. Popular from 1902 until the 1970s, these restaurants featured walls of tiny glass doors hiding freshly-made dishes.
You’d pop in some coins, open a little window, and grab your meal – no human interaction required! The food wasn’t from the future though; it was prepared by real cooks hidden behind the wall of cubbies.
During their heyday, Automats were considered the height of modern dining convenience. Sadly, fast food drive-thrus eventually made this coin-operated dining experience obsolete.
2. Medieval Times Knock-Off: BlackBeard’s Cave
Long before I discovered Medieval Times, there was BlackBeard’s Cave – a short-lived 1980s chain where servers dressed as pirates who’d dramatically “plunder” your table. The restaurant’s floors were deliberately uneven to simulate being on a rocking ship!
Diners ate with their hands from wooden platters while enduring surprise water sprays meant to mimic ocean waves. The pirate performers would stage elaborate sword fights between courses, sometimes accidentally knocking over drinks.
The chain sank after just five years when too many customers complained about seasickness from the moving floors and soggy breadsticks from the water effects.
3. Dinner in the Sky
Floating 150 feet above ground while eating a gourmet meal? That’s exactly what this short-lived restaurant chain offered! I nearly fainted just looking at photos of diners strapped into airplane-style seats around a suspended table.
Chefs cooked in the center of the aerial platform while servers (tethered, thankfully) delivered courses. The experience cost hundreds per person and lasted about an hour – assuming weather conditions remained perfect.
Insurance nightmares, extreme weather cancellations, and the logistics of bathroom breaks eventually grounded this high-flying concept. Though it still exists as a special event service, the restaurant chain version crashed by 2014.
4. The Fashion Cafe
Supermodels selling burgers? This 1990s nightmare combined runway glamour with casual dining. Co-owned by Claudia Schiffer, Elle Macpherson, and Naomi Campbell, Fashion Cafe was plastered with model photos and fashion memorabilia while serving decidedly un-model-like comfort food.
My cousin dragged me there once, and I’ll never forget the awkwardness of eating a massive bacon cheeseburger beneath a giant poster of swimsuit models. The waitstaff wore designer-inspired uniforms that often got stained with ketchup.
The bizarre concept folded after just three years when customers realized models don’t exactly scream “delicious food” and the owners faced financial mismanagement allegations.
5. Ninja New York
Imagine eating sushi while being ambushed by waiters in black pajamas! Ninja New York created an elaborate feudal Japanese village inside a Manhattan building where servers would leap out with a loud “HA!” whenever delivering food.
My brother-in-law celebrated his birthday there and nearly tossed his miso soup when a “ninja” dropped from the ceiling to present the appetizers. The restaurant was designed like a maze with hidden doors and trap floors.
Some dishes arrived breathing fire or enveloped in smoke clouds. The gimmick proved too intense for most diners seeking a peaceful meal, and the restaurant closed after years of declining patronage and countless spilled drinks.
6. Titanic Dining Experience
Who thought dining on a sinking ship was a good theme? This short-lived chain recreated the Titanic’s first-class dining room, complete with period costumes and a menu identical to the doomed vessel’s final dinner service.
Halfway through the meal, the lights would flicker and the floor would tilt slightly while sounds of creaking metal played over speakers. I still remember my aunt’s horrified face when she realized what was happening during her anniversary dinner.
Servers maintained character throughout, never acknowledging the impending “disaster.” The tasteless concept failed to stay afloat beyond 2006, after numerous complaints about the insensitive theme and motion sickness from the tilting floor.
7. Rainforest Cafe’s Failed Cousin: Desert Storm
Remember the animal sounds and thunderstorms at Rainforest Cafe? Its lesser-known sister chain, Desert Storm, took the concept to scorching new levels. This bizarre restaurant simulated a desert environment with temperatures deliberately kept at a sweltering 85 degrees!
Every hour, a manufactured sandstorm would sweep through the dining room (really just strategically placed fans blowing fine mist). Waiters dressed as explorers would dramatically “rescue” guests by delivering water before food orders.
My family visited the Phoenix location where mechanical scorpions dropped occasionally from the ceiling onto special tables. The chain evaporated by 2001 after customers repeatedly complained about sweating through their meals.
8. Robotics Restaurant
Before I knew what good service meant, I visited Robotics Restaurant where android servers delivered food on predetermined tracks. These weren’t sophisticated robots – more like glorified remote-controlled cars with mannequin torsos attached.
The chain opened in 1987 with five locations across California, promising “dining of the future.” Food was ordered via clunky touchscreen terminals at each table, a novelty at the time. The robots frequently broke down mid-delivery, leaving hungry patrons staring at their meals stuck halfway across the room.
The final location closed in 1990 after a catastrophic incident involving spilled soup, an electrical shortage, and one dramatically smoking robot.
9. The Jail: Prison-Themed Dining
Handcuffed while eating spaghetti? That was the selling point of The Jail, a chain where diners were “arrested” upon arrival and led to tables inside mock prison cells. My college roommate’s birthday dinner there remains one of my weirdest memories.
Servers dressed as guards delivered food through cell bars, and restroom breaks required getting “permission” from staff. The menus featured dishes with names like “Solitary Confinement Soup” and “Jailbreak Jalapeño Burgers.”
Water was served in metal cups, and silverware was attached to tables with chains. The chain was eventually “paroled” from the restaurant scene in 2008 after critics pointed out how it trivialized incarceration.
10. Krakatoa: The Volcano Restaurant
Flaming food is one thing, but Krakatoa took it to volcanic proportions! This bizarre 1970s chain built actual 20-foot artificial volcanoes in the center of each restaurant that “erupted” hourly with steam, red lights, and rumbling sound effects.
Tables were arranged in concentric circles around the volcano, with prices increasing the closer you sat to the “danger zone.” My parents celebrated their anniversary at the Chicago location, where dad’s eyebrows got singed when ordering the signature “Lava Flow” flambé dessert.
The chain extinguished after several locations experienced actual fires from the excessive pyrotechnics and mounting insurance costs made the concept unsustainable.
11. Bathroom-Themed ‘Toilet Restaurant’
Eating soup from a miniature toilet bowl wasn’t on my bucket list, but this short-lived chain made it possible! Modern Toilet originated in Taiwan before attempting American locations where diners sat on actual (unused) toilets instead of chairs.
Food was served in sanitized bathroom fixtures – curry in bathtub-shaped dishes and ice cream in mini porcelain toilets. The walls featured plumbing pipes, and tissue paper rolls served as napkin dispensers at each table.
Servers wore janitor uniforms and carried plungers instead of trays. The American locations quickly went down the drain when health inspectors kept receiving panicked calls from confused passersby who thought people were actually eating in bathrooms.
12. Supersonic Dining
Airplane food gets a bad rap, but Supersonic Dining built an entire concept around it! This 1990s chain constructed restaurants inside decommissioned airplanes, complete with original seating and overhead bins.
I celebrated my 16th birthday in their Chicago location, where we boarded via actual jet bridges. Servers dressed as flight attendants delivered food on authentic airline trolleys and made safety announcements before serving meals.
The gimmick included occasional “turbulence” (subtle floor vibrations) and windows with digital screens showing clouds and aerial views. The chain never really took off, with the final location closing after customers complained about cramped seating and the lingering smell of jet fuel.
13. Darkness Dining
Eating without seeing your food sounds bizarre, but that’s exactly what Darkness Dining offered! This chain employed visually impaired servers who guided diners through a pitch-black restaurant experience.
My first visit was a comedy of errors – I accidentally drank from my neighbor’s water glass and couldn’t find my fork for ten minutes! The concept aimed to enhance flavor perception by removing visual distractions, but mainly resulted in messy shirts and confused conversations.
While similar concepts still exist as special events, the restaurant chain closed most locations by 2010. Turns out most people prefer seeing what they’re eating, especially when paying premium prices for the privilege of doing so in darkness.
14. Hospital-Themed ‘Emergency Room’
Nothing works up an appetite like medical emergencies! This bizarre chain decorated restaurants as hospital emergency rooms, with gurneys for tables and IV poles holding condiments. My cousin dragged me there once – I still haven’t forgiven her.
Servers wore scrubs and surgical masks while delivering dishes with names like “Bypass Burger” and “Angioplasty Fries.” Drinks came in medicine containers, and the check arrived in a pill bottle.
The most disturbing feature? A heart monitor sound system that beeped constantly throughout the meal. The chain flatlined after health professionals protested the insensitive theme, and diners realized eating surrounded by fake medical equipment wasn’t actually appetizing.
15. Dick’s Last Resort: Insult Dining
Paying to be mocked seems counterintuitive, but Dick’s Last Resort built an entire chain around deliberately rude service! Though a few locations still exist, the chain’s peak has long passed after its deliberately offensive concept fell out of favor.
My first visit left me wearing a paper hat with “Still Lives With Mommy” scrawled across it. Servers threw napkins at customers, made sarcastic comments about orders, and intentionally delayed service as part of the “charm.”
Food quality took a backseat to the insult comedy, with mediocre burgers and wings served messily on paper-lined tables. The chain has contracted significantly as modern diners increasingly prefer respectful service over performative rudeness.
16. Oxygen Bar & Grill
Breathing flavored air while eating? That was the hook at Oxygen Bar & Grill, a late-90s chain where diners could pay extra to inhale scented oxygen through nasal tubes between bites of their overpriced pasta.
My first and only visit was for my sister’s birthday in 1999. I chose the “mountain breeze” oxygen flavor while tackling a mediocre chicken sandwich. The server insisted the oxygen would “enhance my dining experience” but mostly gave me a headache.
Each table had built-in oxygen dispensers with color-changing tubes that glowed in the dimly lit space. The concept gasped its last breath around 2002 when the novelty wore off and medical professionals questioned the safety.