As I often do, particularly for you fans of nostalgia and food, I am focusing this week’s blog on a national restaurant that spent years in Bridgeport before finally going out of business. And the thing that surprises me is that I have never talked about it in any great length in this forum before today.

 

Have there been better restaurants in Bridgeport? Sure. Have there been better deals? I would certainly imagine. Has there been a better breakfast buffet in the city’s history? Here is the hill I am willing to die on.

 

The national chain in question is not one that is no longer in business. Although the business does not have the same footprint (only 55 locations compared to 1,800-plus in 1998) it once had, they are still business.

 

Many of you remember Shoney’s, which was located at 1205 West Main Street. Today, that parcel of land is home to Advanced Auto Parts and has been, according to the Bridgeport Finance Department, since 1994.

 

I do not know when it closed, other than to say based on that information, it was definitely prior to 1994. I also know Shoney’s later re-emerged by sharing a building with Boomerang’s (under the Shoney’s umbrella) at Eastpointe in a building that today is home to Primanti’s.

 

Both are now history. And for the sake of keeping this light, try to avoid criticisms of why one or both closed. I am going to focus on the breakfast buffet, the quality service I always received, the reasonable price it came at, and, what made it work for me – the extended Sunday hours.

 

My first introduction to Shoney’s breakfast bar was back in the 1980s. It was likely when I was in junior high (middle school for you young folks) when I was still going to church with mom and my family.

 

After a visit for church service at the Presbyterian Church of Our Savior (little church that sits beside The Caboose), we would pile in the car, hit Route 50, and head to Shoney’s. There we would be greeted with either a line and a bit of a wait or were told to wait as a table would be cleaned. It was always crowded when we arrived on Sundays around noon.

 

The reason? The breakfast buffet. It, I believe, was open until 2 p.m. on Sundays with the primary reason being to lure in the church crowd. It either worked or people felt the need to dress up extremely well when going to Shoney’s.

 

From the first time I ate there until the last time I ate there, which was just prior to the Sabraton location closing in 2023, I never changed my strategy to get the most out of my buffet dollar. It is the same strategy I use at seafood buffets, country style buffets, and a buffet of any nature.

 

Avoid high carbohydrate-related foods and breads until the end.

 

A simple strategy that continues to pay off. At Shoney’s, the strategy was used over three trips.

 

Round one at Shoney’s consisted of about 2 pounds of scrambled eggs covered in cheese sauce. On the side would be a steaming hot pile of bacon and just a few sausage links. Not that I disliked sausage links, but they would come in handy in round three.

 

My second trip introduced the first bit of heavy carbohydrates. I would take two biscuits, break them open, and cover them in a ridiculous amount of sausage gravy. Despite the overflow of gravy, the plate appeared clean when I was finished as I set myself up for the third, and final, trip to the breakfast buffet.

 

Round three was where I usually admitted defeat, often a little early. It involved at least a half dozen of Shoney’s French toast sticks, a few pancakes, and several more pieces of link sausage that I dipped into an equally ridiculous amount of syrup.

 

Saving the pancakes and French toast for last was part of the savvy strategy I produced knowing that the heaviness would fill me up quickly. Even worse, I would get hungry much faster later in the day if I went carb heavy out of the gate. For you buffet amateurs, take note of this tip.

 

Honestly, I do not know if there were any healthy options at the breakfast bar. The commercial attached courtesy of YouTube says that there were options, dozens more than I took advantage of, but I did not eat healthily at home, so I was not going to start when going out.

 

As mentioned earlier, I was not sure when the Bridgeport location closed, but I know I went to the breakfast bar with friends while in college on Sundays in the late 1980s. The reasons were primarily the same other than my frugality spurred on by lack of dollars meant finding a buffet and eating enough food to get through the day.

 

You could do that at Shoney’s. In fact, you can still do it today.

 

There is a Shoney’s in Flatwoods and there is also one in Summersville.

 

I've been to Flatwoods in the last 10 years and actually got a "country style" buffet that was good. The food, at least to me, was always good - even beyond the buffets. Back in the mid-1990s, my now wife and I made the mistake of stopping at the Summersville site on our first trip together to visit my mother in Florida to get the advertised seafood buffet. To say the trip was misery the final 12 hours would be an understatement – but I got my money’s worth.

 

Outside of a Golden Coral breakfast buffet in Hickory, North Carolina I frequented when visiting a friend years ago, nothing has come close to the Shoney’s breakfast buffet here in Bridgeport.

 

The price was right, the quantities were unlimited, and the staff was on point with a refill and friendliness. I may not find all that in Flatwoods or Summersville, but I need a road trip to find out.

 

If you have memories of Bridgeport Shoney’s, and particularly the breakfast buffet, add them to the comment section below. And if you happen to stop at one, bring me back a biscuit.