# Did The Ancient Romans Have Restaurants? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [September 2, 2011, 10:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-the-ancient-romans-have-restaurants/595006 "2011-09-02T22:38:09Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Foggy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/foggy/32/1082_2.png) [@Foggy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Foggy)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2011, 1:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-the-ancient-romans-have-restaurants/595006/21 "2011-09-03T13:21:58Z")
What, You never heard of Burger Caesar, Jackus-in-the Boxus, Wendia’s, or Carlus’s Jr? :D:p ---
**Author:** ![smiling\_bandit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e9a140/32.png) [@smiling\_bandit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/smiling_bandit)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2011, 2:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-the-ancient-romans-have-restaurants/595006/22 "2011-09-03T14:55:42Z")
> [@Fubaya](#): > > Everyone overlooks the Byzantines. If something Roman was good, it may have gone away in Europe but it’s a good bet it survived for the next thousand years in the Eastern Roman Empire. While Europe plunged into the Dark Ages and were probably eating slop, the Byzantines were doing pretty well and eating in tavernas. Don’t forget that cities didn’t mysteriously vanish, either (well, mostly). Large cities still existed throughout the period, even if they weren’t as developed as Rome. Of course, the barbarian invaders who took over western Europe didn’t have quite such a refined gastronomy. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2011, 4:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-the-ancient-romans-have-restaurants/595006/23 "2011-09-03T16:33:25Z")
> [@Foggy](#): > > What, You never heard of Burger Caesar, Jackus-in-the Boxus, Wendia’s, or Carlus’s Jr? :D:p Don’t forget Taco Bellus. Always a wartime favorite! ---
**Author:** ![astro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9dc877/32.png) [@astro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astro)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2011, 5:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-the-ancient-romans-have-restaurants/595006/24 "2011-09-03T17:02:30Z")
While the upper classes had servants they also travelled extensively, and their home kitchens,and the hospitality of their peers was not always available. In busy ancient cities I think it’s less a question of “Were there better restaurant facilities?” (they answer would be “Yes”) and more a question of how they manifested themselves. ---
**Author:** ![Balthisar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/balthisar/32/2825_2.png) [@Balthisar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Balthisar)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2011, 5:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-the-ancient-romans-have-restaurants/595006/25 "2011-09-03T17:03:03Z")
> [@Fubaya](#): > > Everyone overlooks the Byzantines. If something Roman was good, it may have gone away in Europe but it’s a good bet it survived for the next thousand years in the Eastern Roman Empire. The conversations in the often-overlooked Wikipedia discussion pages are reminiscent of the SDMB, including [that of the Byzantines](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Talk:Byzantine_Empire). ---
**Author:** ![gonzomax](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e8c25b/32.png) [@gonzomax](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gonzomax)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2011, 3:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-the-ancient-romans-have-restaurants/595006/26 "2011-09-04T03:43:28Z")
> [@Kimmy\_Gibbler](#): > > Remember when posters in GQ endeavored to provide well-supported factual answers to inquiries, rather than just popping off with the first plausible guess that came to their heads? > > With that much as prologue, I found in the very obscure [_Wikipedia: The free encyclopedia_](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Restaurant) this passage: > > That “[2]” by the way is a indicator for this footnote: Ellis, Steven J. R. (2004): “The Distribution of Bars at Pompeii: Archaeological, Spatial and Viewshed Analyses”, _Journal of Roman Archaeology,_ Vol. 17, pp. 371–384 (374f.) Sounds like a sports bar that served Buffalo Wings. And a franchise to boot. ---
**Author:** ![Leo\_Bloom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leo_bloom/32/10377_2.png) [@Leo\_Bloom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leo_Bloom)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2011, 5:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-the-ancient-romans-have-restaurants/595006/27 "2011-09-04T17:09:08Z")
> [@dropzone](#): > > It reaffirms my faith in “Publish or Perish” -or- “What’s left to study?” 😉 I believe this is snakiness where it doesn’t belong. Indeed, for this very thread it is meat; and links in to various historical questions. :: here endeth defense of most academic work :: [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-the-ancient-romans-have-restaurants/595006.md?page=1)