Sword fights on horseback! A grill that kills!
And rude servers…on purpose? What's up with these bizarre restaurants?!
As many chefs say, you eat with your eyes first. So, what happens when you lose the ability to
see what you're eating, and how does it affect your taste and the overall dining experience?
Blackout is a restaurant in Las Vegas that's determined to answer that question.
With a concept centered on taking diners through a "unique sensory
journey," Blackout serves a seven-course meal in a pitch-black dining room.
Objects like cell phones and cameras are locked away to ensure a total absence of light. Staff
equipped with night vision goggles roam the room to assist diners throughout the process.
The idea is that, because your vision is impaired, your other senses become
heightened and more attuned, which in turn enhances the taste, smell, and touch of food.
While the notion of eating in complete darkness may seem a bit strange to some diners,
there's no doubt that Blackout offers a truly unique experience — one that,
if nothing else, will give you a renewed sense of gratitude for the gift of vision.
Doing laundry isn't exactly the most thrilling experience, but Harvey Washbangers is working on
changing that. Located in College Station, Texas, Harvey Washbangers is a restaurant that's also a
full-fledged laundromat. After loading up their clothes in state-of-the-art washers and dryers,
customers can head over to the dining room to check out the surprisingly diverse menu.
Chicken wings, homemade chili, fresh salads, burgers, sandwiches, and hot dogs are some of
the popular dishes on the menu. And if you're in the mood for something sweet,
then you happen to be in luck — considering that the restaurant also serves hand-spun
milkshakes and floats. And if you're looking to get a little buzz from some suds,
then Harvey Washbangers has you covered too, with an extensive rotating lineup of local craft beer.
One thing's for sure: You're pretty much guaranteed to have
way more fun doing your laundry at Harvey Washbangers than you will anywhere else.
Most restaurants will bend over backward to make you feel welcome, but Dick's Last Resort isn't one
of them. The small chain of restaurants is built on a bizarre premise where servers are actively
encouraged to disrespect diners. For example, personalized insults are scrawled in permanent ink
on flimsy paper bags that diners wear like humiliating hats. Dick's Last Resort's mission
is to upend your expectations of traditional ethics, as servers relish in your public
degradation through constant mockery, sarcasm, and a menu riddled with crass sexual innuendos.
"My pleasure. Nothing I'd rather be doing on a Saturday afternoon than waiting on you people."
Strange and raunchy as it sounds, it's all in good fun. The whole point of the experience at
Dick's Last Resort is to loosen up, be a bit more self-deprecating, and enjoy laughing at
the expense of others. And even though this spot might feel more like a dirty joke than
a restaurant at times, the food is still seriously solid. Obscene and silly, Dick's Last Resort is a
great choice for those with thick skin and an appetite for some good-natured obnoxiousness.
The name says it all: Heart Attack Grill is a restaurant in downtown Las Vegas where diners
are referred to as patients and given a hospital gown to wear, while the servers are dressed like
nurses and doctors. If you don't finish your food you are publicly spanked with a wooden paddle.
True to form, patrons have even had to ride an ambulance to the nearest hospital after
suffering actual heart attacks in the dining room. The restaurant also has a scale on-site
and offers free food with the purchase of a drink to anyone who weighs over 350 pounds.
As you can imagine, it has endured a fair share of controversy.
"We're past the point of no return at the Heart Attack Grill.
We have blood on our hands, at this point."
The menu has a lot to offer, but Heart Attack Grill's real claim to fame is its burgers.
Offering up to eight burger patties with seemingly endless slices of bacon,
the size is freakishly huge to the point of absurdity. It's hard to imagine the
number of calories that an eight-patty bacon cheeseburger adds up to, but it
sure ain't gonna be pretty. There's a reason the restaurant only takes cash, too, as evidenced by
the sign on the door ominously warning diners that they "may die before the check clears."
Betty Danger's is the kind of place where you can drink booze on a Ferris wheel. And no,
that's not an exaggeration — the restaurant literally has its own Ferris wheel on the patio.
Billing itself as a dystopian "interpretation of an Animal Farm in 1984," Betty Danger's feels
like a vibrantly colored art installation by Banksy; one that also happens to serve food.
The menu at this Minneapolis restaurant features plenty of satirical allusions
to its literary and pop culture influences, with drink names like Anarchy Cherry Bomb,
The Fruity Fascist, The Whistleblower Protection Act of 1989, The Capitalist,
and Helpful Propaganda. The food menu is strewn with equally edgy names and
offers a wide range of dishes, from French toast to tacos to wagyu beef cheeseburgers.
All in all, Betty Danger's is like an amusement park for adults.
There's even a little mini-golf course on the patio, so you can
play some putt-putt as you ponder all the charming absurdities around you.
Open since 1945, Tonga Room is a legendary tiki-themed bar and restaurant at San Francisco's
Fairmont Hotel, envisioned and brought to life by a Hollywood set designer. At the center of the
dining room, a live band plays popular hits from a thatch-covered barge floating in the middle of an
indoor pool. Dining room tables sit under grass-covered huts around the perimeter of
the restaurant while thunderstorms randomly erupt and shower down from above. The cinematic setting
creates a genuine feeling of excitement and magic in the air that's bound to leave you enchanted.
The food menu leans into the restaurant's tropical motif
with South Pacific-inspired dishes like homemade Spam with passion fruit mustard,
ahi tuna poke tostadas, grilled miso salmon, and fried vegetable spring rolls.
The sophisticated and delicious menu, paired with an unrivaled sense of atmosphere,
undoubtedly makes Tonga Room one of the coolest and most unusual restaurants in the country.
Medieval Times first launched in Spain, before opening up its first North American
location in Florida in 1983. Since then, it's expanded to eight other
states and also has a location in Canada. With a concept based on authentic medieval
history, Medieval Times mixes dinner and entertainment in a way that's truly unique.
"My family lay murdered and you cheer?!"
As diners feast on a four-course meal, they watch a tournament of knights battling, jousting,
and engaging in hand-to-hand combat while on horseback. Based on the true story of
a noble family, Medieval Times does a great job of creating an atmosphere of excitement
that's undeniably fun. Looking around at the ornate costumes and medieval decor,
it's easy to feel like you've stepped back in time.
As for the food, the four-course meal includes garlic bread,
tomato bisque soup, roasted chicken, sweet buttered corn, and herbed potatoes.
Between the wild clashes on horseback in the middle of the arena and the cheering crowds,
there's no doubt that Medieval Times has carved out an exceptional niche within the dining scene.
Uncle Buck's Fish Bowl is the pizza-worshiping love child of an aquarium and a bowling alley.
With locations in Florida, Texas, Illinois, Iowa, and Connecticut, it's highly likely that this
small restaurant chain is one of the most unusual places you'll go to toss a bowling ball around.
Replicas of marine creatures hang overhead by the hundreds,
creating the feeling of being submerged under the sea. Bowling balls emerge from
the open jaws of a shark and the dining room is situated under the shadow of a sunken ship.
Even cooler? Each of the bowling lanes has motion lighting to mimic the reflective patterns on the
surface of the ocean. With so much attention to detail in the decor, Uncle Buck's Fish Bowl is
definitely an aquatic feast for the eyes — and it offers an equally impressive feast for your belly.
The menu at Uncle Buck's goes above and beyond what you'd normally find at a bowling alley.
Fish and chips with beer battered cod, loaded queso, and western beef sliders with bacon, fried
onion straws, and barbecue sauce are just a few of the snacks you can order — but the centerpiece
of the menu here is the pizza. And with plenty of specialty cocktails and beers to choose from,
Uncle Buck's Fish Bowl is truly a one-of-a-kind experience that's sure to please all ages.
Hillbilly Hot Dogs has been in business for over twenty years in West Virginia,
and it's easy to see why. With a couple dozen gourmet hot dogs on the menu
and an old-fashioned, country aesthetic that gives it an undeniable Southern charm,
this spot is a winner. Between all the weathered wood, random animal skulls,
and kitschy, hand-painted signs, there's a good chance you've never been anywhere quite like this.
For starters, it has an official wedding chapel on the property,
one that looks more like a wooden shack cobbled together from broken branches.
So, if you happen to be in love and you have an affinity for shabby cabins and grilled logs of
processed meat, then Hillbilly Hot Dogs is your Graceland. Old school buses have been converted
into dining rooms and there's even a 15-inch 1-pound hot dog on the menu
called the Homewrecker, which might as well be one of the biggest loaded dogs you've ever seen.
A lot of the other hot dogs on the menu are surprisingly inventive, too,
like the Pine-Appalachian dog with shredded cheese, barbecue sauce,
country ham, and crushed pineapple.
At the end of the day, Hillbilly Hot Dogs uses its unique concept and design
to produce an authentically rustic feel that's hard to find in today's world.
"Bond… James Bond."
SafeHouse is a spy-themed restaurant, located in both Milwaukee and Chicago,
where you can live out your wildest secret agent fantasies. In order to get inside, visitors first
need to find the entrance, discreetly labeled under the glow of a lantern on a brick wall
as International Exports. Before diners can enter the building, they need to share a secret password
or undergo a clearance test at the door to ensure they aren't a double agent.
The restaurant boasts a number of espionage artifacts throughout the building,
including a machine gun allegedly donated by John Wayne, a piece of the Berlin Wall,
and a "spy guitar" supposedly taken from none other than Austin Powers himself.
The menu at SafeHouse leans towards classic American fare,
with slow-cooked barbecue pork ribs, beer-battered cod, cheeseburgers, sandwiches, and salads.
One of the favorites is the shaved prime rib sandwich on ciabatta,
which comes with horseradish and can even be turned into a Philly cheesesteak upon request.
Between the carefully-crafted atmosphere of secrecy and the killer food on the menu,
SafeHouse is a fun place to spend some time hiding from the outside world.
Joyously painted in pastel colors, the Bubble Room is decorated with vintage toys from the
early 20th century, bubble lights, moving miniature trains, and year-round Christmas
decor. Since opening in 1979 on Florida's Captiva Island, The Bubble Room has grown famous over the
years for its eccentric interior and oversized desserts -– all made fresh on a daily basis.
While the decor may seem a little weird, there's nothing strange about the top-notch food that the
kitchen pumps out. Some of the heavy hitters on the dessert menu include the Jamaican rum
cake with a chocolate mousse center, and the restaurant's legendary orange crunch cake. As
expected from a restaurant on an island, the menu also offers a lot of seafood, with dishes like
crab cakes with lobster sauce, shrimp, stuffed grouper, seared Mahi, and fisherman's stew.
There's also filet mignon, roasted duck,
prime rib, and a wide range of other delicious dishes to choose from.
There's no better place than the Bubble Room to behold Florida's tropical eccentricities.