Chicago used to have Ed Debevic’s, a themed restaurant in which the staff were deliberately rude, but in a tongue in cheek, absurdist, playful sort of way.
Are restaurants like this still a thing? A Wiki page about the 50’s Primetime Cafe at Walt Disney World mentioned that the restaurant operates in a similar vein to Ed’s, in that the servers will act as your mom and (playfully) scold you for not finishing your vegetables, or whatever. Disneyworld’s Whispering Canyon Cafe also operates (or operated— I haven’t been there in two decades) on a similar vibe, viz, putting the guests in comedic and/or uncomfortable situations. But in both places the vibe is Disneyfied and the schtick comes from a place of warmth and gentle humor, not snark or… a synonym for snark, like at Ed’s.
Wiki states that Dick’s Last Resort does the same thing as Ed’s. And there’s a place in Chicago— a food truck, I think— where the staff are so hateful that the whole thing borders on interactive street theater. If you enjoy a thorough dressing down from a sassy Black woman.
Are there any other such restaurants in the US or world? And note that I’m not asking about places with just your run of the mill hateful staff. I’m asking about places where it’s all schtick that the customers want and expect.
ETA: Ed Debevics is still a thing! I thought I’d read years ago that they closed.
While not really in the spirit of the OP, there are tons of restaurants in Hong Kong that certainly have a “go fuck yourself” vibe. That said, Hong Kongese have a pretty brusk culture that isn’t necessarily rude per say, but can sure feel that way to a newbie tourist visiting.
There’s a meme going around social media sites where the waitress walks away with a diner’s plate of food after they’ve had only a few bites. Of course, they’re staged except for the unwitting victim, and the rest of the family laughs at his startled reaction (and it’s almost always a “him”).
If you tip the waitress enough, you can make any restaurant into a “rude service” type of place. And, yes, they walk always bring the plate back a short time later.
I’m nearly sure you’re thinking of the Wiener Circle, a long-time hot dog stand (with my favorite char dog in the city.) And the Wiener Circle it’s only at night when it happens.
Or, if there’s another place or truck with sassy Black women, they certainly took their inspiration from it.
Ed Debevic’s has been around for a long time. On the Graham Norton show it was revealed that David Schwimmer was a waiter at the Chicago location and Mark Ruffalo worked at the LA location.
There was a place in Austin that would insult you and encourage you to insult back. I only went there once back in the early 90s. I can’t remember the name.
Pat’s King of Steaks, in Philadelphia, has a famous policy that if you can’t order quickly when you get to the window, you’re sent to the back of the line, which a lot of folks find rude, but it’s presumably for the sake of efficiency, not for rudeness’ sake itself.
This was going to be my comment. It had pretty good food and the waitstaff was great, but it wasn’t making money and closed in 2019. We had some work meals there, great fun.
Shopsin’s General Store in Lower Manhattan was well-known for its irascible founder Kenny Shopsin, who’d snap at you if you broke one of his many arbitrary rules (e.g., no ordering the same dish as someone else at your table), or just razz you for choosing poorly from the 900-item menu. His adult children have been running the place since his death in 2018 and (last I checked) doing their best to keep up his foul-tempered legacy.
The Tube Bar in Jersey City was famous for its rude owner. It became widely known through a series of tapes of prank calls to it owner. The calls were the inspiration for Bart Simpson calling Moe’s Tavern.
This wasn’t a marketing ploy. Red the owner was just a mean old bastard.
In London the Wong Kei used to be famed for the rudeness of the staff. But new owners have changed that. The building used to house Lee Ho Fook of Werewolves of London fame.
“Medieval Tavern Dětenice” in a small town North of Prague. It’s a theme park-Medieval-themed restaurant (actually one of two twinned restaurants, part of a bigger complex including a hotel, and an excellent brewery) and the servers are deliberately coarse. For example, if you order Coke, the waitress will plunk it down on the table and say “Here’s your piss from the USA”.
I loved it. A welcome break from the normal dull, formal experience of dining in a Czech restaurant. They also had live entertainment. The best thing was, they used only the “singular you” and not the polite “plural you” that is absolutely standard in the Czech service industry, even in fairly laid back places. I hate the custom of the “plural you,” which I consider to be a feudal anachrosim that doesn’t belong in modern society, and have even started a Czech-language website advocating for its abolishment.
I thought I’d read years ago that they closed.