Not Thriving (Alt Names crowner 1/7/16): TGIO Chili Bees

T.G.I.O'ChiliBee's is pretty much a Word Purée Title, and the locallized references to O'Charley's may not go over so well. Those are probably the reasons why this isn't thriving; the example of Chotchkie's in The Office was the only one that was interlinked from its trope list, and that's only because I added it. 14 wicks and 3 inbounds is terrible for a two-year-old trope.

This trope clearly needs a better, less complex name. First one that came to mind is "Applebee's Wannabe".

Valid points. It's certainly underperforming.

...if you don’t love you’re dead, and if you do, they’ll kill you for it.

I am somewhat unimpressed by the degree of crosswicking this has.

"For a successful technology, reality must take precedence over public relations, for Nature cannot be fooled." - Richard Feynman

The lack if crosswicking is a problem. But I think the name contributes to that — as soon as I had navigated away from this thread, I couldn't remember how the name went. Word Salad Titles are fun, but they're rarely the best possible name for the trope. We can keep it as a redirect, but a clearer name would be more conducive to wicking and crosswicking.

...if you don’t love you’re dead, and if you do, they’ll kill you for it.

Any suggestions for a name? I think "Applebee's Wannabe" would work, since I would think Applebee's is on its own a widespread enough chain for a reference to work. Maybe "wannabes" instead so the rhyme is more on-point.

Wikipedia uses Resauraant Chain and Casual Dining, a little too unimaginative for a trope name, but probably needed for redirects.

If I understand the trope correctly, we're talking about a restaurant that operates with a theme, and is a common location of public family dinners? Perhaps Themed Diner or Themed Dining.

Link to TRS threads in project mode here.

The thing is, it's referring to a specific type of American restaurant. I've usually heard them called "shit on the wall" restaurants, because they're the kind that has road signs, posters, old musical instruments, and other ephemera plastered all over the walls.

I assume this trope is a fictional version of places like Olive Garden and such where everything fits a specific theme including special happy birthday songs, costumes and such?

An example would be in How I Met Your Mother and Lily working at a Hawaiian restaurant complete with a stereotypical Hawaiian outfit and a fake Hawaiian name.

I don't see why this has to be American specific though, a Cosplay Café, basically a subtrope or a related trope, is just the same just potentially more or less extreme depending on the example. Other places have the same thing too.

edited 23rd Mar '15 11:40:20 PM by Memers

A Cosplay Café has connotations of fanservice and being patronized largely by young men. Waitstaff tends to be cute, cheery, and smiles a lot.

This has connotations of being trashy, cheap, noisy, loud, and patronized primarily by families and assholes. Waitstaff is bored, pissed, immature, incompetent, and really doesn't want to be there.

The broad strokes are the same, but what they symbolize in the story isn't even related.

Reality is that, which when you stop believing in it, doesn't go away. -Philip K. Dick

Clearly you haven't seen a Tsundere Cafe, people pay good money for that kind of waitstaff in Japan.

But point taken though. From that description the Japanese version would be the more up scale Denny's clones like in WORKING!! and A Certain Scientific Railgun.

But still I don't see why this has to be 'American' specific, they are not in Europe? Canada? This does not strike me as strictly an American thing like the Classic American Diner [1]

edited 24th Mar '15 12:26:09 AM by Memers

That's not a name I've heard, but that or Stuff On The Walls Restaurant sounds like a good redirect as well.

Want me to list the restaurants I can think of that qualify? I don't think making it American-centric is useful, although I agree that Cosplay Café doesn't fit. (The American equivalent would be Hooters.)

Themed Family Dining, perhaps? Cheap Dining Experience?

Link to TRS threads in project mode here.

Generic Family Diner?

Found a Youtube Channel with political stances you want to share? Hop on over to this page and add them.

No, Diner has yet another different connotation. It's one of cheap food, truckers, generally not a family place. It's where blue collar adults go to get food on a road trip or late at night.

Reality is that, which when you stop believing in it, doesn't go away. -Philip K. Dick

This style of restaurant is more formally called "casual dining" for the record.

Yeah a Diner is something completely different and that one is a strictly American thing, A Classic American Diner should probably be a trope of its own, especially Space Diners are also kinda a thing.

edited 25th Mar '15 4:21:43 AM by Memers

Diners are already covered by Greasy Spoon though.

I think Casual Dining Restaurant would be the most direct name for this trope, although it may also be a bit generic.

Bump. Any support for a rename? The current name is a Word Purée Title that desperately needs a fix.

Yeah, that name is utter garbage. I'd say a rename crowner would be appropriate

Yeah, I had no idea what the name meant before I checked the description. Even once you get it, it doesn't exactly roll off the tongue.

Out of those, I recognise TGIF, but I have no idea what kind of restaurant it is. The others I've maybe heard somewhere before. It's not the kind of culture that easily spreads past the borders, seeing as it's not exactly something to be proud of, and not notable enough to be interesting.

So yeah, +1 rename.

edited 3rd May '15 1:10:06 AM by AnotherDuck

Check out my fanfiction!

Aye, rename this one.

Crowner time?

"For a successful technology, reality must take precedence over public relations, for Nature cannot be fooled." - Richard Feynman

As someone who has lived in England since The '90s but who still frequents both coasts and Michigan, I'd like to say that I have heard of Applebee's but I have no idea what it is. In fact, it is the name of a rather large children's clothing department store chain in England, so there may be some people who don't get that reference, either.

We do have TGI Friday's, though, and I think that most people reading this site will be the ones that know about it.

edited 3rd May '15 2:47:27 AM by lakingsif

OH MY GOD; MY PARENTS ARE GARDENIIIIINNNNGGGGG!!!!!

@16. The problem with 'Casual Dining Restaurant' is it would get a lot of misuse from other things like the Japanese ones like the ones featured heavily in Working [1]◊[2]◊ and A Certain Scientific Railgun [3]◊ , which they arnt this according to the discussion that myself and shimaspawn had.

edited 3rd May '15 3:44:23 AM by Memers

What the trope seems to be is a Mildly Themed Casual Dining Restaurant. Red Lobster has a nautical theme, but it's mostly just a casual-dining seafood restaurant — the menu is pretty much the same as any other seafood place. Applebees has a red-checked decorating theme and TGIFridays has a brass-and-Tiffany decorating theme, but the menus of those two places are interchangeable, between themselves and with all sort of other casual-dining places. The only thing that distinguishes an Outback from a Texas Roadhouse is the decorations — the menus are bog-standard "steak house"

...if you don’t love you’re dead, and if you do, they’ll kill you for it.

Yeah, Casual Dining is sort of the supertrope to this sort of restaurant, but the point tends to be the cheesy themes that go along with them.

Reality is that, which when you stop believing in it, doesn't go away. -Philip K. Dick