# The last Kenny Rogers Roasters in America **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [July 1, 2011, 4:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-last-kenny-rogers-roasters-in-america/587478 "2011-07-01T04:44:56Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2011, 4:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-last-kenny-rogers-roasters-in-america/587478/1 "2011-07-01T04:44:56Z")
A recent zombie thread on defunct restaurant chains reminded me of Kenny Rogers Roasters. The chain is apparently still going in Asia but there’s only one outlet left in North America - at the Ontario Mills Mall in California. Does anyone know why this last outlet remained open? I’ve heard speculations it’s for reasons of maintaing the trademark. Is that last outlet still open? Have any posters in the Ontario area eaten there? Is it actually a full service restaurant or just a token front that stays legally open without actually serving customers? ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2011, 4:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-last-kenny-rogers-roasters-in-america/587478/2 "2011-07-01T04:50:07Z")
It’s a walk-up spot in the food court at Ontario Mills. Not much there. The basics and a few tables. ---
**Author:** ![Purd\_Werfect](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/e47c2d/32.png) [@Purd\_Werfect](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Purd_Werfect)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2011, 5:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-last-kenny-rogers-roasters-in-america/587478/3 "2011-07-01T05:04:47Z")
where the crap am I gonna roast my Kenny Rogers now!?! ---
**Author:** ![Hap\_Shaughnessy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/ecc23a/32.png) [@Hap\_Shaughnessy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hap_Shaughnessy)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2011, 6:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-last-kenny-rogers-roasters-in-america/587478/4 "2011-07-01T06:21:57Z")
The restaurant will remain open until Kramers of the world stop replacing every Superman with a fusilli Jerry. ---
**Author:** ![Kamino\_Neko](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kamino_neko/32/34_2.png) [@Kamino\_Neko](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kamino_Neko)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2011, 6:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-last-kenny-rogers-roasters-in-america/587478/5 "2011-07-01T06:30:21Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > Is that last outlet still open? Have any posters in the Ontario area eaten there? Goddess, I was so confused here for a moment. ‘Wait, I didn’t know we even had Kenny Rogers restaurants, here, let alone the last one!’ Then I reread the post, and ‘oh, Ontario, CALIFORNIA’. Most confusing place name, ever. ---
**Author:** ![AlsoNamedBort](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alsonamedbort/32/3213_2.png) [@AlsoNamedBort](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AlsoNamedBort)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2011, 6:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-last-kenny-rogers-roasters-in-america/587478/6 "2011-07-01T06:50:44Z")
> [@Hap\_Shaughnessy](#): > > The restaurant will remain open until Kramers of the world stop replacing every Superman with a fusilli Jerry. I don’t think that Kenny Rogers has any idea what’s going on down there. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2011, 7:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-last-kenny-rogers-roasters-in-america/587478/7 "2011-07-01T07:37:55Z")
> [@Tengu](#): > > Goddess, I was so confused here for a moment. ‘Wait, I didn’t know we even had Kenny Rogers restaurants, here, let alone the last one!’ Then I reread the post, and ‘oh, Ontario, CALIFORNIA’. > > Most confusing place name, ever. The interesting thing is that after they closed all the Kenny Rogers in New York, I would go to the ones that were still open when I visited Ontario, Canada. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Hamster\_King](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/8edcca/32.png) [@The\_Hamster\_King](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Hamster_King)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2011, 1:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-last-kenny-rogers-roasters-in-america/587478/8 "2011-07-01T13:56:58Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > Does anyone know why this last outlet remained open? You’ve got to know when to hold 'em, know when to fold 'em. ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2011, 2:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-last-kenny-rogers-roasters-in-america/587478/9 "2011-07-01T14:29:16Z")
> [@Tengu](#): > > Ontario, CALIFORNIA’. > > Most confusing place name, ever. More confusing than “California, Ontario”? ---
**Author:** ![Rattlehead02](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rattlehead02/32/3944_2.png) [@Rattlehead02](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rattlehead02)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2011, 2:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-last-kenny-rogers-roasters-in-america/587478/10 "2011-07-01T14:39:53Z")
> [@Acsenray](#): > > More confusing than “California, Ontario”? Which they totally stole from California, Ohio. ---
**Author:** ![Duke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e8c25b/32.png) [@Duke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duke)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2011, 2:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-last-kenny-rogers-roasters-in-america/587478/11 "2011-07-01T14:44:25Z")
Apparently there’s also a Toronto, Ohio. Maybe we should do a thread on all-but-defunct restaurant chains. I believe there are only three Howard Johnson restaurants (not the hotel chain, but the restaurant) left, and there’s one lone Mister Donut left in the US, in Godfrey, Illinois. ---
**Author:** ![SirRay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/cc9497/32.png) [@SirRay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SirRay)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2011, 5:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-last-kenny-rogers-roasters-in-america/587478/12 "2011-07-01T17:30:15Z")
Oddly enough, back on Long Island NY, specifically Old Country Road in Westbury, the Nathans there (more of a mini-food court, with a Burritoville & a Famous Rays Pizza), added Kenny Rogers Roasters food to its menu a year or two back - [Kenny Rogers Roasters menu](http://www.allmenus.com/ny/westbury/231887-kenny-rogers-roasters/menu/). However, I was there a few months ago, and I cannot recall if they ended up merging the menus and ditching the Kenny Rogers name or not… I wish to add the Roy Rogers franchise to the ‘Not Quite Dead Yet’ list… ---
**Author:** ![Quimby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/22d042/32.png) [@Quimby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quimby)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2011, 5:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-last-kenny-rogers-roasters-in-america/587478/13 "2011-07-01T17:42:51Z")
Because it’s the wood that makes it good. ---
**Author:** ![Uncle\_Jocko](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/uncle_jocko/32/2932_2.png) [@Uncle\_Jocko](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Uncle_Jocko)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2011, 6:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-last-kenny-rogers-roasters-in-america/587478/14 "2011-07-01T18:27:44Z")
> [@Duke](#): > > Maybe we should do a thread on all-but-defunct restaurant chains. I believe there are only three Howard Johnson restaurants (not the hotel chain, but the restaurant) left, and there’s one lone Mister Donut left in the US, in Godfrey, Illinois. Mr. Donut! I recall patronizing the Mr. Donut in Rochester, Minnesota, when I lived there around 1990. I was enthralled by the idea of a donut shop, because growing up on a farm in Middle of Nowhere, Iowa, there was no such thing. I mean, I’d _heard_ of places like Dunkin’ Donuts … even seen a couple on rare trips to Chicago … but to actually live in a town that had a real Mr. Donut … that was something. Where I live now, of course, a Krispy Kreme outlet has already come and gone in the past four years or so. I just can’t keep pace with the 21st century. ---
**Author:** ![joebuck20](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/74df32/32.png) [@joebuck20](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/joebuck20)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2011, 7:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-last-kenny-rogers-roasters-in-america/587478/15 "2011-07-01T19:09:54Z")
They had an outbreak of nutria back in the '90s. Wasn’t good for anybody. ---
**Author:** ![AlsoNamedBort](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alsonamedbort/32/3213_2.png) [@AlsoNamedBort](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AlsoNamedBort)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2011, 7:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-last-kenny-rogers-roasters-in-america/587478/16 "2011-07-01T19:17:22Z")
It’s bad chicken! It’ll mess you up! ---
**Author:** ![Dallas\_Jones](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dallas_jones/32/3277_2.png) [@Dallas\_Jones](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dallas_Jones)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2011, 7:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-last-kenny-rogers-roasters-in-america/587478/17 "2011-07-01T19:55:16Z")
I just dropped in to see what condition Kenny Roger’s was in. Yeah, yeah, oh yeah… ---
**Author:** ![Dallas\_Jones](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dallas_jones/32/3277_2.png) [@Dallas\_Jones](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dallas_Jones)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2011, 7:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-last-kenny-rogers-roasters-in-america/587478/18 "2011-07-01T19:57:58Z")
Sorry about the apostrophy, damn smart phones! ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2011, 5:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-last-kenny-rogers-roasters-in-america/587478/19 "2011-07-02T05:18:27Z")
Anyone else think this thread would be about how all the people were dying off who made fun of the musician as comedians at his retirement? ---
**Author:** ![doreen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/858c86/32.png) [@doreen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/doreen)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2011, 1:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-last-kenny-rogers-roasters-in-america/587478/20 "2011-07-02T13:27:07Z")
> [@SirRay](#): > > Oddly enough, back on Long Island NY, specifically Old Country Road in Westbury, the Nathans there (more of a mini-food court, with a Burritoville & a Famous Rays Pizza), added Kenny Rogers Roasters food to its menu a year or two back - [Kenny Rogers Roasters menu](http://www.allmenus.com/ny/westbury/231887-kenny-rogers-roasters/menu/). However, I was there a few months ago, and I cannot recall if they ended up merging the menus and ditching the Kenny Rogers name or not… > > I wish to add the Roy Rogers franchise to the ‘Not Quite Dead Yet’ list… The Kenny Rogers items are still under the Kenny Rogers name at the Nathan’s in Westbury and some other Nathan’s locations ( I know there are a couple on the NYS Thruway- I think at the Ramapo and Plattekill rest areas). When Nathan’s sold Kenny Rogers , it retained the rights to sell Kenny Rogers Items in some locations