The York Steak House that I remember most was the one in the Echelon Mall. It stood out among other mall restaurants in that pre-food court age in that it was open past regular mall hours. So if you wanted a late dinner after 9:30 PM or just regular dinner on a Sunday after five, and didn't (or couldn't) leave the mall, York was your choice.
York was a cut above fast food, and a sit-down restaurant, so for a high schooler with a mall job, a dinner there was a 'dress nice' date. It ran cafeteria style, similar to the Rustler Steak House of the time, or the later Ponderosa. You picked your meal and paid at the cash register at the end of the line, and a waitress brought out your hot food. For potato offerings, you could get a baked potato, for which York would charge you extra for butter or sour cream, or you could get steak fries. Both had the vibe of being under heat lamps a bit too long. The steaks as I recall weren't bad.
Does anyone else out there remember the York Steak House?
5 comments:
Yes, I do remember York Steak House! There was one at Security Mall in Baltimore. I recall my mother taking me there to eat when I was a child, and later on it was a good place to take a date for something better than McDonalds!. I was really disappointed to see it go. The closest thing I ever found to YSH was Piccadilly Cafeteria, but they recently went out of business too. Shame, really. But for me the York Steak House will always hold fond memories of a much more carefree time.
I remember it well. I worked there for three years in HS as a busboy/dishwasher/cook. Good dishwasher, lousy cook. I would burn myself on the grill and especially when taking baked potatoes out of the oven on a 30 pound rack. I still have scars on the insides of both arms from the burns. But I remember it fondly as my first job. Got lots of dates from among the hostesses. Made lifetime friends there too. I remember things like playing Jai Alai in the kitchen with huge mushrooms, kissing in the walk in freezer, and closing the store at 1:00am with the manager. Great food too.
Sounds like you have some good, and bad, memories of the York Steak House.
And there's something about a kiss in a walk-in freezer... I really think everyone who has ever worked in a restaurant has done that at least once. :-)
I'm from a suburb of Buffalo, and I used to eat here as often as my parents would let me (I was born in '74, so I was only like 5-12 years old in the heyday of this restaurant). I can still taste the chocolate pudding with the little...thingy placed on top of it for decor. It was like a little chocolate stick.
I ate at a York Steak House in Middleburg Hts., OH in 1983 and one in Auburn, MA in 1993! The food was just okay in both instances, but I don't remember all the details.
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