Cedar Point opening Quaker Steak & Lube next to Castaway Bay

Cedar Point is my home park and the food is terrible. So for lunch we always go to the tgif next door. Castaway bay is too far to walk to.

I think it's also illegal to walk to.

Going to Friday's to escape terrible food sounds like an endeavor toward failure.

So is this going to replace TGIFridays beside Castaway Bay?

I LOVE LOVE LOVE Quaker Steak and Lube. L. O. V. E.

The food is awesome! The scenery is so much fun. Sometimes it's a bit loud for my liking, but everything else makes up for it.

Why not put a Quaker Steak and Lube closer to the park though? Just outside the park would be a fine location for one of these. It might be too similar to Famous Dave's though.

Indeed: pedestrians are not permitted on the Causeway. (You could walk from the park to the new Quaker Steak via the Chausee, but that would take you about three hours each way...)

I've eaten at TGI Friday's many times, but it's because one of their restaurants is convenient, or (when I was working in downtown Chicago a while back) they had a $10 appetizer and entree deal, and I'm thrifty. It's not a foodie destination.

As for LK's question. I'm admittedly vague on the history and ignorant of the ins and outs of franchise contracts, and that said, I'll blather on anyhow...

I'm fairly sure the Castaway Bay Friday's opened well before the one at the Breakers -- did it open when Castaway was still a Radisson? Could it have reached a point in the franchise agreement where Cedar Fair could easily exit the contract and then sign up with Quaker Steak? Could the Friday's at the Breakers follow suit some years down the line?

Could it? I hope so. That would be fantastic!

It would indeed.

Some years ago, my coaster pal Mark and I stumbled across the Quaker Steak in Vermilion. We enjoyed the food, we thought the service was far beyond what you find in most casual dining chains, and the setting in the marina was delightful. Driving over to Vermilion for a meal at Quaker Steak became a necessary part of our trips to Cedar Point, along with having chili and cheese french fries and walking along on the beach, among other things.

When I was there this past summer we ate at Famous Dave's at the marina. It was nothing to write home about, but better than the in-park food.

I've always liked Famous Dave's. It's predictably decent, and the pricing at the park is only a buck or two above what you'd find at other locations.

The Friday's building originally started out as a Shooters...not affiliated with the hotel next door. It became something else...and finally a Friday's, in subsequent years. At one time it was the largest Friday's in the chain.

When CP purchased the Radisson they bought the Friday's at about the same time. For some inside baseball, the Friday's GM slot was Bart Kinzel's first significant management gig.

Pre-Cedar Fair the Friday's was a pretty great summer hang. They had live entertainment up on the top deck most weekends and a pretty decent crowd. Granted, most of the crowd was CP employees but it sure beat Louie's.

If Cedar Fair could ever get their hands on the Cedar Lanes/Thirsty Pony property they could really turn that entire area into a pretty nice resort area. Maybe interconnect the two hotels via overhead walkway to the Friday's building. Perhaps even incorporate Breakers Express into the mix.

All I ask is that they not replace all the furniture with those stupid plastic chairs that Quaker Steak uses...and that I, having suffered more than one catastrophic failure, now refuse to sit on.

--Dave Althoff, Jr.

Catastrophic failure?

Maybe I missed it...but I still haven't seen if this is replacing the TGIF or it's being built in addition to?

I too am not a fan of the plastic chairs ;-)

I'm amazed at the cult following this place has. Their food is ok...but not worth going to if you have never been there.

I like those big fat onion rings served on a car antenna. The wings I don't remember all that well.
I know in the summer at our QS&L they have bike rallies once a week and it's a big time. Maybe every location caters to the bikers, I don't know, but maybe something like that can take place at the Sandusky location.

Tekwardo said, quoting me:
Catastrophic failure?

Yes. That's what it is called when you sit down on a plastic resin chair, the back leg splays outward, and you hit the floor. It happened to me once, once was enough. Subsequently I was in an ice cream parlor where I noted my distrust of plastic resin chairs, and so sat on a wooden chair instead. A young woman about one third my size sat on the chair that I had avoided, and promptly hit the floor when the chair failed.

Those cheap plastic stacking chairs are Bad News™.

--Dave Althoff, Jr.

I ate at the original Quaker Steak and Lube several times, before it was franchised and became very family friendly. The original...at least the men's room..certainly wasn't. Good burgers, great service, kitschy decor. They opened their first Jersey location a few months back, but I've still only been to the original. There's one not too far from Knoebels as well.

I disagree with RolleroasterGod. Maybe there are slight differences with food quality from location to location? I've been to the State College, PA location and the one in Charleston, WV. I don't recall visiting any of the others.

It's way better than McDonald's. ;)

I didn't even realize Quaker Steak branched out that far. I thought it was a more local chain like Primanti's.

It is weird to see Quaker Steak and Primanti's locations beyond the originals. Those are supposed to be our Western PA things.

You think Quaker Steak in Ohio is weird? (there's been one by us since before we moved here in 2006)

There's a Primanti's in Fort Lauderdale.