Photos of reconstructed Chesapeake House service plaza on I-95, Cecil Co., Md.

[cpzilliacus]

On Facebook here. No need for a Facebook account to see the images.

IMO, the new Chesapeake House is an improvement on the old one.

[GCrites]

No sit-down options? I wonder what percentage of service plazas these days are 1) Sit-down only 2) Fast food only or 3) A mix.

[Pete from Boston]

No sit-down options? I wonder what percentage of service plazas these days are 1) Sit-down only 2) Fast food only or 3) A mix.

The last new sit-down options I saw added to a service area was on the Connecticut Turnpike in the 1980s.  Only seen removals since then.  Probably poor return on the investment, and not something most folks expect these days.  It even seems increasingly rare at truck stops. 

[cpzilliacus]

No sit-down options? I wonder what percentage of service plazas these days are 1) Sit-down only 2) Fast food only or 3) A mix.

Pete from Boston is right.

The turnpike service plazas in New Jersey, Delaware, Maryland and Pennsylvania (the ones I patronize most-frequently) have not had sit-down options for many years.

I cannot remember when I last saw a sit-down option at a turnpike (or "free" freeway, outside the U.S.) eating establishment was.

[GCrites]

WV Turnpike had Howard Johnson's into the late '80s/early '90s.

[The Nature Boy]

I'm honestly surprised that small versions of chain hotels aren't at least in a couple of service plazas per state.

[lepidopteran]

I seem to recall a Bob's Big Boy sit-down at one of the I-95 plazas between Baltimore and Wilmington.

[jeffandnicole]

I seem to recall a Bob's Big Boy sit-down at one of the I-95 plazas between Baltimore and Wilmington.

Back in the day, nearly all service plazas featured sit-down, server service.  When travelers showed a preference towards fast food, the Big Boys and other server-oriented restaurants disappeared.

[GCrites]

Also, the profitability of sit-down restaurants without liquor licenses has been slowly declining as food costs continue to rise. That's why you don't see nearly as much fast food in CBDs any more: they have to be doing serious volume all day rather than just a noon peak.

[1995hoo]

I seem to recall a Bob's Big Boy sit-down at one of the I-95 plazas between Baltimore and Wilmington.

The Delaware service plaza had a Bob's Big Boy for many years, certainly into the 1990s. We always went to the Roy Rogers instead if we stopped there. I think that one is the last "sit-down restaurant" I remember seeing at a service plaza (comment above about the West Virginia Turnpike notwithstanding, as I've never been on that road).

When I was a little kid, the Maryland House had a fairly spiffy sit-down restaurant inside complete with white tablecloths. That's long gone, of course.

I was reading about the history of the Pennsylvania Turnpike recently and it talked about how Howard Johnson's had the service plaza contract at one point. I think it's fair to say Howard Johnson's was a major innovator for chain restaurants by beginning the "commissary" system in which the company's food was flash frozen at a single distribution point and shipped to the restaurants, thus ensuring a level of consistency, but it's also fair to say the fast food places one-upped Howard Johnson's in terms of taking that consistency and combining it with speedy service. I read something else somewhere that suggested McDonald's greatest contribution to the food service industry was the drive-thru because more than half of McDonald's patrons in the USA in any given year never even enter one of the restaurants, instead using the drive-thru. (I don't believe I've ever seen a drive-thru at any toll road service plaza. Has anyone else?)

I remember when we were little kids my father once said places like Howard Johnson's would disappear from the highway service plazas "because when you're on a long drive and you don't have a lot of time, eating is the first thing you skip. You can't skip putting gas in the car or going to the toilet, but you can skip eating." Fast food wasn't as ubiquitous then, so I suppose he was right about sit-down restaurants disappearing from service plazas but he didn't anticipate the rise of fast-food places or drive-thrus.

[Thing 342]

Looks really nice. I like the airport-style windows of the concourse. Will have to stop by on my next trip to Philadelphia.

[spooky]

(I don't believe I've ever seen a drive-thru at any toll road service plaza. Has anyone else?)

Drive-thrus are provided at the McD's on the Mass Pike.

[Roadrunner75]

(I don't believe I've ever seen a drive-thru at any toll road service plaza. Has anyone else?)

Drive-thrus are provided at the McD's on the Mass Pike.

It looks like the Cheesequake rest area on the Garden State Parkway was designed for drive throughs with closed lanes along the building and windows but I don't recall ever seeing them used.

[GCrites]

It looks like the Cheesequake rest area on the Garden State Parkway was designed for drive throughs with closed lanes along the building and windows but I don't recall ever seeing them used.

That one deserves it's own signature burger.

[1995hoo]

(I don't believe I've ever seen a drive-thru at any toll road service plaza. Has anyone else?)

Drive-thrus are provided at the McD's on the Mass Pike.

Ah, thanks. I've never stopped at any of their service plazas.

[Pete from Boston]

(I don't believe I've ever seen a drive-thru at any toll road service plaza. Has anyone else?)

Drive-thrus are provided at the McD's on the Mass Pike.

Ah, thanks. I've never stopped at any of their service plazas.

New CT Turnpike plazas have them.

[PurdueBill]

I could swear I once used a McD's drive-thru on the New York Thruway--possibly way back in like 2001.  Which makes me wonder if I really remember that correctly.  Wonder if I am remembering wrong or not?

At the reopened Chesapeake House, the lighted CHESAPEAKE HOUSE sign appears to be in FHWA lettering.  If so, what a nice touch.

[Pete from Boston]

I'm honestly surprised that small versions of chain hotels aren't at least in a couple of service plazas per state.

When McDonald's got the contract for the Mass Pike areas in 1998 or so, I think Host Marriott had pulled out because the Mass Pike Authority wouldn't consider hotels.  I don't actually know a public rest area anywhere that has them.

Host Marriott, incidentally, was the company that bought Howard Johnson's and presumably their service-area contracts, slotting in Roy Rogers and Big Boy.

The last service area sit-down I remember for sure was the Big Boy in Framingham on the Mass Pike.  It closed around 1999.  The last ones I remember opening were on the Connecticut Turnpike in the mid-1980s, where every other rest area had a Nathan Hale's (Denny's by the early 1990s).  They were later converted to additional McDonald's seating.  When that generation of rest area fell to the wrecking ball after thirty years and new ones opened, sit-down service was barely a memory.

[vdeane]

I could swear I once used a McD's drive-thru on the New York Thruway--possibly way back in like 2001.  Which makes me wonder if I really remember that correctly.  Wonder if I am remembering wrong or not?

There are a few McDonald's drive thrus on Thruway service plazas.  One that sticks in my mind is the Ontario service plaza on I-90 west past I-390 (between exits 46 and 47).

[MASTERNC]

No sit-down options? I wonder what percentage of service plazas these days are 1) Sit-down only 2) Fast food only or 3) A mix.

There was a Big Boy on the PA Turnpike at Sideling Hill.  That went away with the reconstruction.

There was also a Denny's as recently as the late 1990s/early 2000s on the NY Thruway at Angola (west of Buffalo).  Don't think it exists anymore either.

[vdeane]

The Thruway website doesn't list Denny's on it's page on Angola, so it's probably gone.

[Alps]

(I don't believe I've ever seen a drive-thru at any toll road service plaza. Has anyone else?)

Drive-thrus are provided at the McD's on the Mass Pike.

And at least at the Vaux Hall and Brookdale South plazas on the Garden State Parkway.

[Beeper1]

I remember there being a sit-down Bob's Big Boy at the Vince Lombardi service area in NJ around 2000 or so.  Not sure if it's still there.

[Roadrunner75]

I remember the Bob's Big Boys at the rest areas too.  Always seemed kind of empty, which of course is why they are not there anymore.  In the era of go-go-go, give me a #2 so I can get back in the car, I'm not surprised table service at rest areas was phased out.  There are also now more than enough table service chains (and around NJ, diners) just off the turnpike(s) that having a sit down meal in a rest area isn't as desirable of an option.

[cl94]

(I don't believe I've ever seen a drive-thru at any toll road service plaza. Has anyone else?)

Drive-thrus are provided at the McD's on the Mass Pike.

Ah, thanks. I've never stopped at any of their service plazas.

New CT Turnpike plazas have them.

I'm pretty sure that every Thruway service area with a McDonald's has one, except Angola (as there's no way to install them without spending millions on additional ramps/bridges). No others have a drive-thru. At each of the locations they occupy, McDonald's helped fund reconstruction according to old NYSTA annual reports. If the welcome centers on either end of I-90 were built, they would have been anchored by McDonald's locations (with drive-thrus). If you ever pay attention, the service areas intended for McDonald's and Burger King typically feature different basic designs.

The Thruway website doesn't list Denny's on it's page on Angola, so it's probably gone.

It is. I never eat at this rest area, but I'm pretty certain that Moe's occupies the old Denny's location.