Like a shmoe, I dutifully friended "Woody" on Facebook to get my free burger coupon from TGI Friday's. Little did I know that right around the same time, they were closing the last Friday's in Washington state.
If you look at the reviews of the last Friday's in Kirkland, it seems to have been in a downward spiral before it closed. One review on Yelp described a bowl of their white bean and chicken chili thusly: "imagine cat vomit with some cheddar sprinkled on top - but microwaved on too high a setting, so the edges are solid."
The closing of the Friday's happened right around the time we noticed that the local Tony Roma's had locked its doors and put up a for-lease sign. Checking at the Tony Roma's site, there's only one left in Washington as well, and it's in Kennewick (about a 212 mile drive southeast of Seattle).
The only Chili's left in western Washington is at the SeaTac airport. There are three in Spokane on the eastern side of the state.
I'd check the Ruby Tuesday's store locator, but I keep getting errors that say: The Google Maps API server rejected your request. The "client" parameter specified in the request is invalid. It does that on their front page as well as the store locator. Greeting visitors with an alert error message (the kind you have to click to make go away)... VERY professional.
Chevy's Fresh Mex closed all their stores in Washington last year, and their location on 44th St. in Lynnwood is still looking for a new tenant. But tenantless spaces seem to be abundant in shopping centers and strip malls all around here.
One chain that seems to be pushing closer is Sonic. Used to be there was one Sonic that was 142 miles away. Now there are two within about 70 miles and another coming soon.
I try to patronize the Original Roadhouse Grill on a weekly basis, but I go on Tuesday when it's "kids eat free" night. I can get a sandwich or burger for me, a kid's meal for my older boy, and some apple sauce for the baby for around $12-13, including a generous tip, if I stick to water and don't waste $2.49 on a soda. My older boy loves it and we're such regulars all the waitstaff know his name and the manager always comes out to say hi to us. They're the newest chain in the area and we've been patronizing them fairly regularly for a little over a year now. We do go on other nights occasionally (usually when we have a coupon or my parents are visiting and picking up the bill).
Overall, though, driving by these closed restaurants with for-lease signs out front, going looking for others to find out they've either left our state entirely or are close to it, it's a little frightening. We're supposed to believe the economy is starting to recover, but while all these restaurants keep closing and their spaces stay empty, it gives me a bit of a ghost town feel.
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We had been told that Guy Fieri was hired to make signature dishes for TGI Fridays as well as be in their commercials for the same. We are not sure how this has worked out for either party to be honest.