Georgia Tech Landmark, Junior's Grill Is Suddenly Closing

by Winfield Featherston on Apr 20, 2011 11:19 AM EDT in Georgia Tech Traditions

I just got word that Junior's Grill will be closing its doors on Thursday. This comes as a sad and sudden realization that one more tradition of Georgia Tech will be placed in the archives rather than lived by future freshman. Seriously, who had the best chicken tenders? Juniors!

So we all have two days to head to the top of the hill and grab a quick bite to eat at the diner that fed us (at least me) multiple times over, from the late night all nighters needing breakfast, to a Friday afternoon kicking the week off, Junior's gave me my food.

I once completed the "Junior's Sweep", where I had lunch and breakfast at the restaurant every day for a solid week. It was an expensive but worthwhile week.

RIP Juniors. Thanks for the memories, the meetings, the chicken tenders, Miss Anne, and Tommy.

Now if you excuse me I'm going to go grab some lunch.

Tweet Comment 29 comments | 0 recs |

Do you like this story?

Comments

What the fuck?

Hold on, I gotta go get some lunch.

by a5ehren on Apr 20, 2011 11:31 AM EDT reply actions

Never been there, but this reminds me of Ancheaux's closing

Burrito and Sandwich shop in downtown Clemson. When it closed, I cried a single tear. College traditions should never be laid to rest….

Don't give up, don't ever give up ~ Jim Valvano

by AParker on Apr 20, 2011 12:16 PM EDT reply actions

NO!!!!

Well, I guess with how often I ate there and loved it, it is fitting to close it right as I graduate. It was my fraternity’s Friday tradition for 20+ years and mine for 6. Few may have known about it, but their French Toast breakfast was PHENOMENAL.

Thanks, Tommy, for all the Friday afternoon chicken and coke surrounded by Tech traditions! It was the most encouraging place on campus and a ritual that some semesters helped keep me going. Go Jackets!

by GT_Jason on Apr 20, 2011 12:29 PM EDT reply actions

Any reason why?

Personally I have never been and I have been a student for two years, and I don’t know a single person who has recommended it or has even mentioned going, maybe its just gotten worse like the rest of GT dining.

by millsGT49 on Apr 20, 2011 12:33 PM EDT reply actions

Juniors

is not part of GT dining. It’s far better. You should try it before it’s gone…or maybe you shouldn’t because you won’t get to go back again.

I last went in November, and it was just as good as always.

by acedarney on Apr 20, 2011 2:24 PM EDT up reply actions

Source?

I haven’t been able to find another source online that doesn’t cite this post as it’s source. Is it possible it’s just closing temporarily to move again, like it did when the North Ave. dorms were demoed to make room for the Olympic Village? I’mma hafta take a long lunch today or tomorrow and get some tenders if that’s the case.

by bandman659 on Apr 20, 2011 12:40 PM EDT reply actions

Blasphemy

MillsGT49 you are speaking blasphemy!! Tommy would never let Juniors go the direction of GT DIning, and to be honest you don’t know how much you have it made when you say it’s gotten worse. When I was there, it was BEFORE Brittain got shut down for mold problems. Try that on for size next time you say your dining situation sucks. I would recommend that you go today or tomorrow – you’ll not be sorry you did. It’s absolutely incredible and you must not be hanging out with anyone in the know!

by Gatechpeach on Apr 20, 2011 1:03 PM EDT reply actions

Sad news at Tech

I’m not sure I’ll have the time to stand in that line tomorrow if that is the case.

by coonhound on Apr 20, 2011 1:06 PM EDT reply actions

Tommy confirms its closing tomorrow.

I just had a burger basket with bacon and Tommy says yes, Juniors is closing tomorrow. Direct quote: “It could re-open. I’m waiting on some phone calls but as of now tomorrow will be the last day. Its the economics.” Some thing it has to do with a drop in customers due to the new fast food stuff over in the bottom floor of the student center. I told Tommy he should raise his prices a little, he’s cheaper than Chic-Fil-A and its not affecting customer numbers.

by Michael Mealling on Apr 20, 2011 1:49 PM EDT reply actions

Just went and got my last chicken basket ever. Pretty sad. Word must have gotten out because the line was crazy long. I recognized a bunch of people. Like myself, it seemed like a lot of Tech alum in the area dropped by on their lunch break.

by Yakub2 on Apr 20, 2011 2:13 PM EDT reply actions

Technique article

Pasted from my phone so hopefully it works:
http://www.nique.net/news/2011/04/20/juniors-grill-to-close-permanently-on-april-21/

Better to have died a small boy than to drop this football - John HeismanFromTheRumbleSeat

by Winfield Featherston on Apr 20, 2011 2:39 PM EDT via mobile reply actions

I just walked down there...

There is a sign on the door that reads, “Closing Thursday this week at 2:30p”.

We asked one of the employees if it was true and this is what he said, “Well, we (at Juniors) have no idea why they (GT bigwigs) posted that sign. He (Tommy, the owner) is in there right now talking to him (GT douche trying to take my Junior’s away). So we’ll see.”

Juniors has been around for DECADES and GT is just going to kick them out with 2 days notice!? The employees are just as shocked as the rest of us! Poor guy looked terrible at the prospect of losing his long-time job out of nowhere.

by Julianna8 on Apr 20, 2011 3:40 PM EDT reply actions

NO!!!!

When my son was a student at GT and I was working at BellSouth, he and I would meet for lunch at Juniors. Always good, never great. Always exactly right for lunch. It is a part of our family history.

by orientalnc on Apr 20, 2011 8:58 PM EDT reply actions

oops. Tradition Lost

I can not image that Taco Bell, Chick- Fil-a, Subways, and other food eateries could be killing Junior’s. I do think the construction is killing the foot traffic for Juniors. If someone wants Junior’s they will get to the place. It might be loosing business to Waffle House since it is open more hours. Junior’s tried to compete with the other eateries over the years by being open more hours. If Junior’s stayed with the normal hours open at 7:00am and closed at 2:30pm they would not be closing. It appears that they might have over taxed themselves by trying to compete with all the other eateries. Junior’s is a traditional place and should stay a traditional place. If it followed the original model it would still be open. It could re-open under new management in the future.

by George William Hampton on Apr 21, 2011 1:15 AM EDT reply actions

Dress cheese two sides

First Dobys closes on Ponce de Leon in 80’s, then Majestic. Jacks $0.10 Wed beer’s gone. Now Juniors.

No reason to return to ATL until CFB season.

by DressHerInWhiteAndGold on Apr 21, 2011 7:03 AM EDT via mobile reply actions

others

Kool Korners (moved to Birmingham, AL)
Copper Kettle

And I haven’t been in Atlanta for a while, but I expect Bobby and June’s to close sometime in the next few years if it hasn’t already.

by softbatch on Apr 21, 2011 11:11 AM EDT up reply actions

closed up just recently

Better to have died a small boy than to drop this football - John HeismanFromTheRumbleSeat

by Winfield Featherston on Apr 21, 2011 11:14 AM EDT up reply actions

pity

The son was running it mostly, with Bobby doing an awesome Skip Carray impression as host, but I’m guessing it just got too expensive to stay there. Screw Atlantic Station.

by softbatch on Apr 21, 2011 12:29 PM EDT up reply actions

I was wondering what happened to Kool Korners

That was a pretty good place to go to every once in a while. Juniors was always my go-to place for lunch though.

by acedarney on Apr 21, 2011 11:37 AM EDT up reply actions

blurb about KK

by softbatch on Apr 21, 2011 12:28 PM EDT up reply actions

Every time I drive by the hoity toity "Baltimore Place" condos

I regale whoever’s in the car with stories of what terrible shape it used to be in, and how I spent many a night downing quarter beers down in One-Eyed Jack’s.

I haven’t been to Junior’s since it moved. I’ve thought about it when I’ve visited Atlanta, but finding a place to park and walking seemed like too much of a hassle.

All this talk of chicken fingers and burger baskets doesn’t sound like the Junior’s Grill I remember, anyway. Cheese and choke a slaw fry ten, I say.

While I’m at it, let me bitch again about how they destroyed the lines at the Varsity. That place is a mad house at lunch. The old method was much more efficient and got food out much more quickly.

by CraigT on Apr 23, 2011 2:27 AM EDT up reply actions

+1

How can you do a dog all the way without a conveyor belt?

And sweet tea at the V? Blasphemy. At first I blamed it on the damn Yankees, but then again they don’t drink sweet tea. It is all marketing now. I begged them for the wallpaper of the dogs playing poker that was in Mr. Gordy’s office. He and my Grandfather were buddies at Tech. Frank took the fall for everyone when they flooded the basement of Caldwell (?) dorm to make a swimming pool. He had money to make, so the whole thing worked out well for him anyway.

GT should have granted him a Doctorate of Letters or something before he died. One for Floppsie also.

When the party ran late/early into Sunday morning and Greens was closed, you could always make a V run, $1 for a dog all the way, and $15.50 for a case of cold Bud under the counter just past the “dog only” line.

1982/1983 Campus Wide V run veteran. 700 the first year, 2,000 the 2nd year.

by DressHerInWhiteAndGold on Apr 24, 2011 6:30 AM EDT up reply actions

Do they still sell beer at the Varsity?

It wasn’t on the menu, but you could get it at the “normal” conveyor belt line. I don’t remember how I discovered it, but I remember the thrill I felt the first time I ordered “two all the way dogs and a Bud” and watched a can of beer appear on the counter.

And, no, for all you kids out there, that order couldn’t have included rings, because rings came from a different line.

by CraigT on Apr 24, 2011 10:34 PM EDT up reply actions

Tommy is retiring

To clear up any confusion, Tommy has decided to retire. Georgia Tech is trying to close Junior’s by any means. And the Majestic is still open DressHerInWhiteAndGold, or at least it was last night when I went to grab a slice of pizza from Fellini’s.

by Luke Fort on Apr 21, 2011 8:11 AM EDT reply actions

But Doby's and the counter at Plaza Drugs are gone

To me Fellini’s will always be that tiny narrow space in the Garden Hills Plaza where La Fonda is now. The old gas station, where that Fellini’s is now, was a bike shop at the time.

But the pizza is still good. I ate there last year. I walked to the other end of the plaza and was shocked to find Fantasyland Records gone, but I read the sign and saw they had moved up to Pharr Road, where they are doing fine.

by CraigT on Apr 23, 2011 2:30 AM EDT up reply actions

I stand corrected

But the “Demonico Steak” at DobyGoodFood @ 2:30 am post PIMP/WHORE party still resonates 30 years later.

At least KK once Ponce is still in business. We could take over tables all night during exam week as long as we bought one Hot Glazed or Coffee per hour (on problem with meeting the coffee quota). Once nice waitress offered a free Hot Glazed for any post exam “A’s” (or passing grades in Thermo,dBods, DiffeQ’s or a non-fail in PhysicalChemistry.)

One Eyed Jacks – too far to crawl-too cheap not to Cab it.

5 Paces Inn. Where I learned to eat Tobasco on Jiffy Pop with LOTS of PBR. Did they ever solve Johnnie Macs murder? I was there an hour earlier. Sad!

Bobby and Junes – Mom approved meal plan for a meat and three at least once a week.

Dailey’s downtown on paydays for martini lunch and fried icecream when you were feeling flush or had a date with the NEW HOTNESS!

I miss the old ATL!

by DressHerInWhiteAndGold on Apr 23, 2011 11:10 PM EDT via mobile up reply actions

Five Paces Inn is a long way from Tech,

But I am pretty sure it is still there on Irby, just down from Henri’s Bakery.

I’ve always suspected that it used to be behind that mens wear store on Roswell Road, where its address could have been 5 W. Paces Ferry Road, then moved a block north and kept the name. It just makes too much sense.

That’s where I learned to play bar shuffleboard (the kind with the yellow powder).

by CraigT on Apr 24, 2011 12:49 AM EDT via mobile up reply actions

An interesting place - 5 Paces

Go at lunch and you’ve got every construction worker in Buckhead getting his afternoon PBR and dog.

Thursday night it is (was) so packed you’d just bring a 12’er in the trunk because everybody was there. The pool hall across the street was ususally pissed because there was no parking for the returning construction workers looking for a quick game of 9 ball and a cheap pitcher.

Post Rugby, you were surrounded by Old Gold (?) and it looked like the Grady ER. Ears torn off, knees wrapped in 1 lb of ice. But the beer, it flowed. And DON"T put your beer down on Johnnie’s shuffleboard table. Messing up the Maple (?) wood surface would earn you “two weeks, no beer for you”; an early version of the Soup Nazi.

Word was that the Rugby players put some money together in the 60’s and bought the current location just so they would have an easy to clean clubhouse with all the post game diversions they needed, namely, cold beer.

Stopped by last year just for old time sakes. Same place, much younger crowd, or I’m just getting old. (Yep, old).

Buckhead Mens Shop. I wore a uniform until 8th grade. Come to think of it, I still wear a uniform. Grey or blue slacks, blue or white button down.. Learned it at Buckhead Mens Shop.