5 Restaurants People Wish Would Reopen in Illinois

WARNING: If you've lived in the Rockford, Illinois area for several decades, the following information may cause a sudden case of the warm and fuzzies.

Blasts From Rockford's Past

I was born and raised in Rockford, so my brain is filled with over 40 years of awesome memories made in this fair city. I remember going to see Santa Claus and the Easter Bunny at the Colonial Village Mall, watching the Rockford Astros and then the Cubbies play baseball with my grandpa in the summer, and I remember choosing The Ground Round for my birthday dinner each year because I got to eat peanuts and throw the shells on the floor.

I LOVE taking walks down Rockford's memory lane, and this morning we took a long jaunt when we asked this question on Facebook...

We weren't surprised to see restaurants like Maria's, Tumbleweeds, Diamond Dave's, Cheddars, The Ground Round, and Maid-Rite make the list, but some other comments threw us for a loop, and a few even left us scratching our heads.

Do You Remember These Old Rockford Restaurants?

Whenever I want to learn some cool things about Rockford's history, I always turn to Rockford Rocked or Rockford Reminisce on Facebook. Past and present Rockford residents share some pretty awesome pictures and memories on these pages, and I always learn something new when I scroll through the posts.

After seeing people comment about old Rockford restaurants they miss, some of which I had never heard of before, I turned to Rockford Rocked and Rockford Reminisce, and they did not disappoint.

Ready to take a walk down memory lane? How many of these old Rockford area restaurants do you remember going to back in the day?

1. Top Hat

2. The Last Straw

3. Pink Pony

4. The Branding Iron

5. Jolly Troll

Do you have some fun stories to share about any of these old Rockford area restaurants? Please send us a message on the app and tell us about it.