Mall Food Courts

[Soldier's*Sweeties]

I like Bourbon Chicken. It's my guilty pleasure.

Same here.
Bourbon chicken with white rice and extra sauce

 

[BrianL]

At the mall near my work (one that is kinda on the down-slide) there is a local chinese food place, you know with the "mall chinese food" and teh free samples all the time, and it is REALLY good. I don't know why, but it's just better than other similar level of chinese fodo (like Panda Express, etc.). It must be all the MSG or something.

There is also a Chick-Fil-A in there so I will go to one or the other for lunch. I like the mall Chick-Fil-A because it is way less crowded than the one down the street during lunch rush.

 

[Adelle Dazeem]

Valley Fair in Santa Clara/San Jose still has a massive food court. This composite shot doesn't even show all of it:

The Great Mall in Milpitas has maybe 19? That's on top of other self-contained restaurants they have.

I *love* Chicken Wow at that mall. I don't think it's a chain because I've never seen another one. I also hit up Pizza My Heart, but it's not technically in the Food Court.

 

[afnaechiquita]

The mall by our house is one of the fancy schmancy open air ones. They have Blue C Sushi, Chipotle, Din Tai Fung, Elemental Wood Fire Pizza, Veggie Grill, Evolution Fresh. They are all over prices chains. We usually go to Chipotle as it is the only one with reasonable prices.

you are missing out on din tai fung, but not suprised to hear it's over priced in the US! i live in malaysia, and, for 4 people, we can get a full meal there and then some for around $30. it's the best.

food courts over here are also quite different. no real big chains in them (apart from subway, and a few local burger options), but mostly stalls with various types of local cuisine. our favorite food court has just about every cuisine to be found in malaysia, and then every other asian country's cuisine, plus some middle eastern options. it's quite a variety we're lucky to experience.... but i miss chick fil a!

 

[Cannot_Wait_4Disney]

We don't have a mall in our town. It's a glorified strip mall complex. You end up having to drive across massive parking lots to get from one little strip mall complex to the other. But it has most of the types of stores a mall has. It also has a super market, and even a car dealer. HAHA. It's one of those master planned eat shop live places that are the new in thing in development. It doesn't have a food court. It pretty much has a couple of fast food places (Wendy's and Chick Fil A) It also has Taco Bell. They're just out toward the front of the parking lots. I don't eat at either Wendy's or Chick Fil-A. I do eat at Taco Bell on occasion but not that particular one. It's not that good, the other locations are better.
We have casual dining restaurants in it as well. Olive Garden, Red Lobster. Red Robin. Logans road house, a couple more. They are all Corporate American slop houses. All of em are places I won't eat except there is a local hibachi place in it. Very good. But more expensive than a better place elsewhere. The one place I do eat there is Panera Bread. Yes it is stupidly expensive but it is a better health alternative to a hamburger and fries. So I pay it.
When our town built this glorified strip mall, it put the real mall in the next town out of business. It actually stole their JCPenney and stole many of their stores.
That food court had a Gyros place that was great, That is where I ate when I ate at its food court. It also had a fast food sushi and Japanese grill. That was good too. It had a McDonald's a Chick Fil A, a bourbon chicken place, a fast food Chinese place (same owner as the bourbon chicken place) and Sbarro Pizza.

 

[BrianL]

I also hit up Pizza My Heart, but it's not technically in the Food Court.

It's an autonomous unit for mid-mall snacking.

 

[soccerdad72]

As far as food court goes, usually the Japanese 'hibachi'-type place (Saiku or something like that).

The mall we usually go to also has a Five Guys and a Chipotle right outside the doors, so we often go there instead.

 

[clori]

My closest mall doesn't have most of the places mentioned. I think we have a Chinese, Japanese, Indian, Dunkin Donuts, Subway, and a place that sells Bourbon Chicken which usually gets my pick. I think there is or was a pizza place and what was Burger King has turned into a burger shop.

 

[bcla]

My closest mall doesn't have most of the places mentioned. I think we have a Chinese, Japanese, Indian, Dunkin Donuts, Subway, and a place that sells Bourbon Chicken which usually gets my pick. I think there is or was a pizza place and what was Burger King has turned into a burger shop.

It all depends on where the mall is. I do see a lot of independent operators and small regional chains, but then there are the restaurant chains like Panda Express or McDonald's. Then there are the chains that are almost exclusively in malls like Sbarro's. In the western US there's a chain called Hot Dog on a Stick that's almost exclusively located in mall food courts.

 

[BrianL]

It all depends on where the mall is. I do see a lot of independent operators and small regional chains, but then there are the restaurant chains like Panda Express or McDonald's. Then there are the chains that are almost exclusively in malls like Sbarro's. In the western US there's a chain called Hot Dog on a Stick that's almost exclusively located in mall food courts.

We used to have Hot Dog on a Stick here and I loved it! That mall (the one I misspent my youth in) is now long gone, along with the Hot Dog on a Stick (which was actually gone long before that).

 

[Disney_traveler]

I was trying to find a directory from the 2 malls near me from "back in the day" when I was a kid. I know with one mall our go to wasn't the food court but either Luby's or the counter in Woolworth's. Every once in a while we would get Chick-fil-a, Sbarro (my fave) or grab popcorn, a cherry slurpee like thing and those candy fruit slices (watermelon only) from the snack stand.

I know the other mall had the Orange Julius and that was where my aunt always took me.

 

[Fairyjen1]

Valley Fair in Santa Clara/San Jose still has a massive food court. This composite shot doesn't even show all of it:

The Great Mall in Milpitas has maybe 19? That's on top of other self-contained restaurants they have.

I was at both those places just this weekend. quite the coincidence to have them both come up on one post. I even ate at the noodles & co you can almost see in this picture

 

[Diznygrl]

The malls around here to me don't seem to have anything spectacular in terms of restaurants. The only mall eatery I am loyal to is Cinnabon, but I'm not sure that counts.

 

[bcla]

I was at both those places just this weekend. quite the coincidence to have them both come up on one post. I even ate at the noodles & co you can almost see in this picture

They have way more than just the food court though. On site they have a Pizza My Heart, California Pizza Kitchen, Dai Tai Fung, Cheesecake Factory, and a restaurant at Nordstrom's. Great Mall has a Chipotle, Dave & Busters, Outback, Andersen's Baking, a fancy Chinese restaurant, and cookie stands.

 

[bcla]

What about non-mall food courts? Recently I was at an airport (PDX) with a food court. I used to go to this place called the EmeryBay Public Market starting when I was in college and then well into about 2011, and the heart of the place was a huge food court with at least 20 options. I hadn't been there in a while, and they vastly reduced the size of the food court when I last had a look. And a few tribal casinos I've visited have food courts. One has the only Fatburger in Northern California.

What about hotels? The Hilton Anaheim has one.

http://www3.hilton.com/en/hotels/california/hilton-anaheim-SNAAHHH/dining/index.html

I've been to one at an outlet mall where the food court is more like a cafeteria, where there's a single set of cashiers.