Does Your Favorite Childhood Restaurant Still Exist in Waterbury?

If you grew up in Connecticut, what were your favorite restaurants when you were a kid? Can you still enjoy a meal there? Does the restaurant even exist in 2024?

I celebrated my 55th birthday with my favorite meal, from the same restaurant in Waterbury that I've loved since childhood - Frankie's on Watertown Avenue. They've been selling hot dogs and fried clams at that location since the year my father was born, 1937. I realize that I'm very lucky to be able to still do that, and I will hopefully be there when Frankie's celebrates their 100 year anniversary in 13 years.

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What were your favorite restaurants in the Waterbury of 1970's-2000's? Mine were: Howard Johnson's, Morcey's, Frankie's, D'Amelio's, Ground Round, Spartan, John's Apizza, San Marino, Nino's, and my precious Farm Shop. I lived in Town Plot, and we were on Watertown Avenue a lot. We shopped at Pathmark, the Naugatuck Valley Mall, and the Seafood Peddler too.

Thankfully, Frankie's, Spartan, and San Marino are all still serving excellent food, and D'Amelio's grinders live on at Noochie's. I still can't wrap my head around the fact that Naugatuck has a Friendly's, and Waterbury doesn't. Mary's Diner and Big Frank's have carried on the cuisine of their predecessors, but most of my old favorites are gone.

Ground Round became Cleary's, and most recently Hana, a Japanese steakhouse. My parents and their generation loved going to Jimmies at Savin Rock. Do you think that your kids will have the same nostalgia we have in 30 years for La Borichina, or Rooster's Chicken and Waffles?