Fire Mountain / Ryan's Grill, Buffet & Bakery, 1304 Bower Parkway: March 2016 12 comments
I believe this is the last Midland's Ryan's I didn't have a post for. Like the others, it closed as part of the chain's current troubles, regardless of whether this particular store was doing OK or not. In point of fact, I think this store did out last the others by a few weeks.
Commenter Heath posted some photos from 7 May and I finally got around there last weekend to get some of my own (though the light was mostly wrong). It's a shame to say that this store, unlike the others I've seen, has already been fairly extensively tagged just in the short time it's been closed.
UPDATE 22 May 2016: Added Fire Mountain to the post title based on the comments.
UPDATE 6 February 2019 -- As reported in the comments, this place is gearing up to be The Juicy Crab:
UPDATE 15 June 2020 -- The Juicy Crab is now open here:
12 Responses to 'Fire Mountain / Ryan's Grill, Buffet & Bakery, 1304 Bower Parkway: March 2016'
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Toby
19 May 16 at 9:55 am
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@ Toby - No. Ovation Brands, the parent company of Ryan's, Old Country Buffet, Hometown Buffet, Fire Mountain, and some other buffet style restaurant chains went bankrupt. It is their 3rd bankruptcy in 8 years. This closing is part of a nationwide downsizing that has seen ovation brands close the majority of their locations over a span of two months. Last I heard, there were only 127 locations still open nationwide out of about 650. I would not surprise me if that had changed though and the company closed all of it locations.
James R.
19 May 16 at 12:26 pm
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Okay. Anyone know what should occupy this and the Two Notch locations?
Toby
19 May 16 at 12:48 pm
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The nail in the coffin for many Ryan's locations (to include this one) was the bankruptcy of Ovation Brands, Inc. (the parent company of Ryan's). Truth be told, many people (myself included) had grown to be less than impressed with Ryan's food quality in recent years which likely lead to a decline in the customer base and played a pivotal role in the bankruptcy of Ryan's.
Andrew
19 May 16 at 1:42 pm
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I believe this was originally called Fire Mountain, though it was always a part of the Ryan's chain.
Tom
19 May 16 at 1:51 pm
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I remember when it first opened as Fire Mountain...at the time Ryan's had a location in the 500 block of St. Andrews (that has now been subdivided into professional offices) and my dad was perplexed as to the closing of that one (but I remember one time when WIS did restaurant report cards that it got a 55% rating and we discussed eating there not long after that and my mom shelved the idea because of said rating (this was when they were still on St. Andrews)) until he saw something that lead him to realize that Fire Mountain was under the same corporate brand as Ryan's.
I personally envision this becoming another eating place but the building is bigger than what most of the ones I think of seek...
Andrew
19 May 16 at 3:42 pm
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Ryan's from the late 80's till late 2000's (when Ovation Brands bought them) was pretty good. Since then it has fallen off in a few ways (quality of food, number of locations, financial stability) . and I can see them being extinct at the rate it's going there down to 1 location in the Charleston SC area (Summerville) after having 4 locations at its peak (Mt Pleasant, Charleston, North Charleston)
Tommy W
26 May 16 at 10:43 pm
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I went to Cookout on Forest Dr. for lunch yesterday and happened to notice that the Golden Corral was overflowing with people. I've never tried Golden Corral but several people I have talked to said they were hands down better than Ryan's. Any comments??
Homer
28 May 16 at 3:07 pm
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I would agree with that sentiment, but to me it's a lot like saying having the cold is better than having the flu, in that given the choice, I'd rather just not be sick at all. Or eat at a buffet, since the metaphor seems to have gotten away from me.
But for what they are, Golden Corral is very good at it, whereas Ryan's seemed to be trying to be what people remember Quincy's being and instead only being what Quincy's actually was, minus those big fat yeast rolls.
Jason
28 May 16 at 9:15 pm
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What I recall the best is when both Ryan's, Quincy's and the myriad of other such restaurants concentrated on being family steak houses. To me, that was when they were at their best. Anyone who remembers Duff's (mentioned on here several times) know just how BAD a buffet can get.
Homer
29 May 16 at 11:15 am
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I saw something in another forum somewhere indicating The Juicy Crab will be moving into this space...
Andrew
1 Jan 19 at 9:26 pm
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Can confirm what Andrew wrote above. There were signs announcing "The Juicy Crab" when we drove past the property yesterday.
Jodie Peeler
1 Jan 19 at 10:12 pm
Did the flood cause this?