White modernist pavilion at dusk, magenta and cyan neon glowing through a grid of square windows over a reflecting pool.

Est. 1986 · Ten cities

It's the 80'sin America Again.

American diner food inside a porcelain-enamel pavilion. Breakfast all day, a soda fountain that still hisses, a jukebox that still takes quarters.

See the menu Hours & locations

Two buildings, one door

A Richard Meier daydream that learned how to fry an egg.

From the curb it reads as a small museum: white enamel, a square window grid, a cylinder, a ramp, pipe railings catching the last of the light. The first one went up on Grand Avenue. The same box is in ten cities now. Step through the glass and the 1980s never clocked out. Chrome, neon, checkerboard, coffee.

The name is the nickname. The 1980s called him Ronnie. This room opened in 1986 as a wink at morning in America: white enamel outside, neon and a jukebox inside, and nobody renovating either one.

Read the pavilion story

Daylight view of the white porcelain-enamel pavilion, a cylinder meeting a strict window grid under a clear sky. — The pavilion by day — enamel, grid, ramp, no neon required.

The sign

It flickers. That’s the whole idea.

Hung over the door in every city. Magenta, cyan, a little yellow. It does not sit still.

Neon sign for Ronnie's 80's Cafe in magenta, cyan, and yellow.

From the board

Named like the radio, cooked like a diner.

Full menu

Stacked cinnamon French toast with melting maple butter on a diner plate.

Eye of the Tiger Toast

$13

Thick-cut cinnamon French toast, maple butter, warm syrup.

Fried chicken on a Belgian waffle with hot honey.

Wake Me Up Before You Eggo

$17

Belgian waffle, fried chicken, hot honey, a pat of butter that does not survive long.

Double smash cheeseburger with pickles and fries on a cream diner plate.

Thriller Burger

$16

Double smash patty, American cheese, pickles, chopped onion, house sauce, sesame bun.

Golden fried chicken with mashed potatoes, gravy, and coleslaw.

Footloose Fried Chicken

$19

Half chicken, mashed potatoes, peppered gravy, slaw.

A tall stack of golden onion rings in a chrome diner basket.

Addicted to Love Onion Rings

Beer batter, stacked in a chrome basket.

Tall vanilla milkshake with whipped cream and a cherry in a fountain glass.

Pour Some Sugar on Me Shake

Chocolate, vanilla, or strawberry. Whipped cream, cherry, metal mixing cup on the side.

Cherry-red vinyl booths, checkerboard floor, and magenta-cyan neon tracing the diner ceiling.

“Walk in. If a stool is empty, it’s yours.”
— painted on the door, under the slogan

Come by

No online ordering. No mailing list. No clipboard at the door.

We don't take reservations, names, or orders from a screen. Walk in. If a stool is empty, it's yours.

Ten rooms. Same menu, same neon, same rule about the empty stool.Los Angeles Chicago New York Nashville Hilton Head Des Moines Houston Miami San Diego Huntington Beach
Open seven days. Kitchen wraps a half hour before close.

Now spinninga-ha — Take On Me

Hours

Monday – Thursday7:00am – 10:00pm
Friday – Saturday7:00am – 12:00am
Sunday8:00am – 9:00pm

Kitchen wraps thirty minutes before close. Closed Thanksgiving and Christmas.