Mark just posted about his bad experience with Wimpy yesterday, which reminded me of my own experience with the same fast food chain.
Let me start from the very beginning, somewhere around 20 years ago or even more, back when I was a little kid in Zimbabwe, we used to have this routine as a family, where we’d go to the movies and then on our way out have a nice meal at the next door Wimpy.
It was so delicious, their burgers were some of the best you could find, juicy fresh and simply awesome, the taste stayed with me for years.
Then we came back to Tunisia, and as there are no international food chains here, there was no Wimpy, well no official one, there’s this small rip-off of a fast food place in La Goulette that has a Wimpy logo on it, but well that doesn’t count.
Years later, in 1996, when I moved to Jordan to study university, I was greeted with a couple of Wimpy restaurants, one near the northern gate of the University of Jordan, and one in downtown Amman.
The childhood memories came rushing back through my head and taste buds, and I told my dear friend and room-mate at the time about it and how we had to go eat at Wimpy asap.
Unfortunately, that was one of the biggest food-related disappointments in my life, they totally sucked, it was nothing like the Wimpy I remembered, the burgers were tasteless, and when we ordered chicken it wasn’t well cooked, pretty much raw, and when we told them that they said the chicken was especially made using their secret formula and cooking method, to which I could only answer that I didn’t care what they called it, in the end the chicken was raw and inedible.
I never went back, and the two spots I knew of in Amman shut down a short time after that.
After a little search online, it seems the chain isn’t doing much better elsewhere. It’s really a shame. Wimpy will always hold a nice spot in my old childhood memories, but it obviously ends there.
we were talking about it and how it bring such memories check it out
http://www.248am.com/mark/personal/burger-review-wimpy/
I’ve been reading your blog for a while – and I really hoped that at some point, I could introduce myself with some sort of profound, succinct comment on the fascinating things that tumble out of your mind. Unfortunately… (fortunately?!) it was reading THIS that finally moved me to comment…! How sad!
Anyway — that said — I know EXACTLY how you feel. I grew up in South Africa… and WIMPY was simply ICONIC in my youth… the delicious food…
Been living in the UK for…too long.. and… I can commisserate: the WIMPY here absolutely SUCKS!!
Howeever — this, is an OPEN INVITATION to you, to visit South Africa any time — and I will dine with you at WIMPY… and I PROMISE you… it will resurrect ALL those FABULOUS memories. They are still in top form, in South Africa.
Well, looks like I’m not the only one who remembers Wimpy from my childhood.
I lived in Harare from 92 to 94 or so, when I was a kid (I’m 20 now), because my father worked at the mexican embassy in Zimbabwe (which, by the way closed in 94, so we obviously left).
I don’t remember a lot about Harare and the exact locations of all it’s places, but I was just remembering my life there and searched for Nando’s (chicken), Scoop (ice cream) and Wimpy.
My mother used to send us burgers and french fries as lunch for school (me and my sister studied at the french school), and we also used to go eat there in family.
I see with sadness almost everything I remember from Zimbabwe is now gone, but I will keep all those good memories in my heart, because I really enjoyed living there at the time.
After Zimbabwe we went to Mexico, then Netherlands, Peru, Mexico again, and now I’m in Santiago de Chile studying journalism, so I post some memories in my personal blog.
I guess after this, I’ll have to write something about my life in Harare…
Anyways, I’m really glad I found this post, you really made my day (actually it’s 3:23 am now in here, so i’t a good start hehe).
See ya.
Well, looks like I’m not the only one who remembers Wimpy from my childhood.
I lived in Harare from 92 to 94 or so, when I was a kid (I’m 20 now), because my father worked at the mexican embassy in Zimbabwe (which, by the way closed in 94, so we obviously left).
I don’t remember a lot about Harare and the exact locations of all it’s places, but I was just remembering my life there and searched for Nando’s (chicken), Scoop (ice cream) and Wimpy.
My mother used to send us burgers and french fries as lunch for school (me and my sister studied at the french school), and we also used to go eat there in family.
I see with sadness almost everything I remember from Zimbabwe is now gone, but I will keep all those good memories in my heart, because I really enjoyed living there at the time.
After Zimbabwe we went to Mexico, then Netherlands, Peru, Mexico again, and now I’m in Santiago de Chile studying journalism, so I post some memories in my personal blog.
I guess after this, I’ll have to write something about my life in Harare…
Anyways, I’m really glad I found this post, you really made my day (actually it’s 3:23 am now in here, so i’t a good start hehe).
See ya.