Here's What These 9 Restaurants Looked Like Before Their Bland Modern Redesign

While 2025 brought some fun and funky trends to our home kitchens, things on the street look very different, indeed. If you've thought that all fast food and casual dining restaurants are kind of starting to look the same, you're not alone — we noticed that, too.

And it's an odd thing. Take away signage and — sometimes — colors, and you'll find it's getting impossible to tell whether that's a McDonald's, a Burger King, or maybe an Arby's in there. Many restaurants have gotten a makeover and a remodel for the sake of becoming more modern: They're sleek, boxy, and honestly? Pretty boring. You'll hear the powers-that-be say the redesigns are being done with an eye toward efficiency, conformity, and an updated brand image, and there's also a lot of talk about integrating technologies that make it easier for customers to order. But ... at what cost? 

Restaurant chains used to have personalities: Ronald McDonald ran with a whole group of friends and ruled over an at least slightly dangerous PlayPlace where many Millennials learned their first life lessons about the consequences of bad decision-making. Wendy's was the place to go when you wanted something a little more upscale. Taco Bell was the coolest kid on the block in the 1990s. And these aren't the only chains that had identities that have been stripped away for the sake of modernization. Let's take a stroll down memory lane and remember when restaurants were fun, different, and places you couldn't wait to go to.

Dear McDonald's: What the heck happened? Millennials had to grow up and have all the joy sucked out of them, but you, too? By 2025, McDonald's restaurants had become fairly minimalist, with severe angles and a fairly brutal aesthetic: They're the kind of buildings that look like they'd be serving up Soylent Green instead of Happy Meals. The official line is that the redesign is to make things more welcoming, but those who remember the 1980s-era McDonald's can argue that the opposite is happening.

Look back at the photos, and McDonald's was once super-colorful, decorated with everyone's favorite characters, and even the stools were fun: They were little hamburgers! Comfortable? Debatable, but it didn't matter because you were at McDonald's, the PlayPlace was waiting for you, and life was good. Going to McDonald's meant that you could chill on a bench next to a statue of Ronald, collect some super-fun toys (or glassware with some of your favorite characters), and that PlayPlace! It was a glorious thing, where you could climb around in a hamburger "jail" that was invariably wet or a billion degrees Fahrenheit, get some minor whiplash from the Fry Guy and Goblin Spring Riders, and acquire some first-degree burns on the twisty slide. 

Meanwhile, parents sat inside, drank their coffee, and smoked their cigarettes — because yes, there were ashtrays on the tables. Everything was exciting; it was where kids wanted to have their birthday parties, and it was an experience that went well beyond food.

In 2024, Pizza Hut unveiled a new look that included things like an open pizza kitchen, a carryout order pick-up station, touchscreens, and other modern-looking features. That couldn't get much further from the Pizza Hut of the 1980s, which featured low lighting from delightful, Tiffany-esque hanging lamps,  lots of brick, red banquette seats, and red-and-white checked tablecloths that were always slightly — but not necessarily unpleasantly — sticky. 

The dining room was separated by a salad bar, and here's a fun fact: At the time, Pizza Hut was one of the largest kale buyers in the country, because it was used on the salad bar to hide the ice. (Hate kale? You have permission to refer to it henceforth as "set decorations.") Pizzas were brought out in piping hot pans as if they were gourmet, and if you were a Book-It kid redeeming your certificate for a free pan pizza as a reward for reading, you were royalty. Remember smoking and non-smoking areas? Pizza Hut had those, too.

Pizza Hut wasn't just for pizza, though: Many locations had jukeboxes, which meant you were listening to anything from the Beach Boys to Metallica or Guns 'n Roses. While you waited, you could occupy your time with any one of the arcade machines that were tucked into a corner. Stand-up machines and at least one table-top arcade machine meant Pac-Man, Asteroids, and later, Nintendo classics filled the time between ordering and the arrival of your sweet, sweet pizza.

Today, Wendy's has fully embraced what it's calling the "Global Next Gen" restaurant design, and it's blocky, there's a bit of red in there, some windows, and that's about it. And it pales in comparison to the Wendy's of yesteryear. Yes, there are a few salad options on the menu at Wendy's, but that's a mere shadow of the chain's 1980s-era SuperBar.

One person in your group feels like tacos, the other is craving a hearty Italian meal of pasta and fettuccine Alfredo, while someone's just in the mood for a light salad. Wendy's had everyone covered for only a few dollars per person. Want some of everything? That was fine, too! The neon lights of the SuperBar were enough to beckon customers in from the street, because thanks to the sprawling sunrooms, you could probably see them as you walked by.

When Wendy's decided to install sunrooms in many locations, hundreds of restaurants got these brilliant glass rooms where customers could feel like they were eating outdoors, without the inconveniences of actual nature. They were decorated with plants and greenery, and they were meant to evoke an atmosphere of being a classier sort of fast food place. And it worked. Sunrooms — hot in the summer, and even more fun in the winter if you happened to be in a place where you could watch the snow pile up around you — started to be removed around 2012, and honestly, the world was kind of all downhill from there.

Watch almost any television show set in the late 1980s — especially if it was teen-centric — and you know the look we're going to talk about Taco Bell adopting. There were a lot of geometric shapes, a lot of teal, pinks, and similarly bright colors, and we even know who to thank (or blame, depending on your point of view) for developing this colorful, fun style that defined the '80s and '90s. It came out of Italy and a design company called The Memphis Group, and it spread like wildfire. 

This wasn't the only version of Taco Bell's design style, and if you go back further, you'll find that it was always pretty colorful. Distinctive, Mission-style buildings with Southwestern-inspired stucco roof tiles predated the ultra-bright, fun colors that many Reddit users say they prefer to the new, more austere version that doesn't quite seem to go hand-in-hand with the Live Mas tagline. Some even suspect the new, less-welcoming vibe is done on purpose to aid in customer turnover, while others agree that the more recent incarnations just can't compare. 

Others miss what used to be a countertop staple: the coin game. What was that, young'uns might ask? It was a plastic, water-filled tower where customers could drop in a coin (with proceeds going to charity), and if the coin landed on one of the little plastic shelves, they'd earn themselves some free food. Those were good times.

Go to Arby's today, and there are a few things you can still order from the original menu. That, of course, includes the roast beef sandwiches, but this chain has come a long way since it first opened back in 1964. It looks a lot different, too, with the most noticeable difference plainly obvious from the outside, and yes, we're talking about the massive brown cowboy hat-shaped signs that have been overhauled and updated into sleek new logos. Customers miss the old signs from the 1970s and '80s, and even branding professionals have said that getting rid of the giant hat was a misstep. 

What about the restaurants themselves? When one California Arby's celebrated its 40th anniversary in 2010, it was still largely unchanged: think big windows, minimal seating, outdoor patio, and, of course, that unmistakable sign. (This location has since closed.) Photos, however, have preserved the old-school Arby's vibe for posterity, and this chain definitely once leaned heavily into the western theme.

Some old-school Arby's were designed like Conestoga wagons, with western-themed floor mosaics that were perfectly in line with those giant hats outside. Imagine lots of wood and greenery and high-backed booths in what was definitely red and probably pleather. In the following decades, Arby's also went down the design road that was paved with geometric shapes, bright colors, and terracotta-looking floor tiles. It's an aesthetic that Reddit users have panned as looking "dead" inside.

Burger King has the dubious honor of having one of the worst food mascots of all time, and when a company retires its own mascot because it's creeping out the customers, you know it's time for that thing to go. Burger King made another aesthetic choice in 2023, and it might best be described as "definitely a decision:" The new restaurant design was called the Sizzle, and the idea was minimalist, largely white and gray, and there was some abstract-ish artwork involved, too. It wasn't always that way, though: Go back to the years just after the debut of the Whopper, and it was definitely a more fun vibe. 

Kid- and family-friendly characters not unlike Ronald McDonald's gang were created as part of the chain's marketing, and yes, kids could definitely walk out wearing a crown of their very own. Instead of sleek, the minimalistic lettering and logos were big and bubbly, the interiors were brick and tile, and throughout the 1970s, it was that orange, yellow, and brown palette that was all the rage.

Those colors might seem like they're edging toward boring, but it was a funky vibe that we'd recognize today as screaming 1970s. Even the employee uniforms were in those shades, but it wasn't always that way: There was a brief period in the 1990s when some BK locations went the teal route. Better? Reddit users who were BK employees from back in the day say that it definitely was ... even if the uniforms haven't aged well.

Chick-fil-A opened in 1967, and the OG location — along with those that came immediately after it — looked incredibly different from the restaurants of today. That's mainly because they were in shopping mall food courts, and the first Greenbriar Mall location was — at the time of its 2023 closure — pretty bland-looking. There was little fanfare and little to celebrate this as the first location of a widely-beloved chain, with brown counters in front of beige walls and an equally beige menu board. 

Mall-based stores got a little more fancy, getting dressed up with red highlights and neon signs. It's largely been lauded as introducing the idea of the shopping mall food court, and while there are a lot of mall food court restaurants that just sort of quietly disappeared, Chick-fil-A's popularity skyrocketed.

It wasn't until 1986 that the chain's first stand-alone locations opened, and interestingly, it had sunrooms similar to the ones that Wendy's was so famous for. When that location got remodeled in 2017, the company noted that it was being brought more in-line with modern needs, including an increased capacity and a playground that was indoors instead of outside. Somehow, an indoor play area just doesn't hit in quite the same way.

Long John Silver's 21st-century rebrand came with the implication that it was avoiding associations with the standard sort of oceanfront restaurants ... which is admittedly a little odd, because that's exactly what it had leaned into for so long. Remodeled restaurants look pretty much like a slightly nautical-themed version of every other fast food restaurant out there, in that they're partially blue. Previously, there was no doubt that you were walking into a fish-centric restaurant, and in fact, restaurants leaned so far into the nautical themes and decorations that you could almost feel the gentle roll of the waves.

Restaurants were often surrounded by stout wooden posts and heavy rope, the kind of thing that made you feel as though you were strolling along a dock. Inside, high railings gave the impression of walking along a ship's deck, fishing nets and ships' wheels were standard decor, and some Reddit users have the fondest memories of going as kids, being given a gold coin, and getting the chance to trade it for a toy, plucked from a real, honest-to-gosh treasure chest. 

Well, maybe it wasn't exactly a real treasure chest, but darn it if it didn't feel like one at the time. Reddit users also say that it's just not the same these days, and miss everything from the door handles styled like swords to the pirate hats. And honestly? You're never too old for a pirate hat, and anyone who thinks otherwise can walk the plank.

There are a number of discontinued Red Lobster dishes that fans still miss, but head to Reddit and you'll find a ton of users reminiscing about the fact that Red Lobster used to be super-fancy. We're talking about candles, romantic evenings, and prom nights, and for some, it was the sort of place where they ordered only dessert. 

For some, Red Lobster was a symbol of wealth and privilege that they could never afford, and if you were there on a first date, that was a definite sign that things were serious. It was a huge hit: After opening in 1968, Red Lobster's nautical-themed fine dining vibe spread fast, and the idea was a mix of formal and informal, fancy and comfortable, and by the mid-'70s, the chain was opening about three new locations every month.

Perhaps predictably, many of those '70s-era photos show plenty of wood paneling, wood chairs, paintings of lighthouses, and fishing nets on the walls. By the 1980s, it was all about party platters, shrimp cocktail, and restaurants were advertised as having gotten a modern makeover. Were there lots of white pendant lights? Absolutely. Anyone who needed a place for a Mother's Day dinner, birthday, anniversary, or other special occasion still headed to Red Lobster, but those of a formative age say that when they found out what happened to those really neat lobsters in the tanks, it put them off lobster for a good long time.