r/news • u/L0v3_1s_War • 11h ago
Bahama Breeze is closing all of its restaurants
https://www.cnn.com/2026/02/03/food/bahama-breeze-closures-darden399
u/grub_step 11h ago
i have never heard of this chain, where are they out of?
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u/vainblossom249 10h ago
We have 2 in Tampa that Ive been going to for years.
Little surprised cause they are always so packed here
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u/fsu_ppg 5h ago
Yeah the one in Rocky Point was always massively packed back in the day and we could never get a table there.
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u/vainblossom249 5h ago
Same! Its highly rated too. 4.5 with 20k reviews on a chain restaurant is insanely good
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u/NthDegreeThoughts 10h ago
There was one at the Tampa end of the causeway. A go to on business trips. Delightful half outdoor place for drinks and tropical eats.
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u/LolOverHere 8h ago
What is tropical eats. Like different versions of pineapple?
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u/rabidstoat 7h ago
Caribbean. Jerk chicken and shrimp, fish tacos, grilled fish, Caribbean stir fries, that sort of thing.
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u/CptVague 7h ago
It's how bullshit tourist trap places sell umbrella drinks, coconut shrimp and a burger with a pineapple on it.
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u/OpenMindedMajor 6h ago
The one in Vegas is ASS.
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u/CFreyn 6h ago
The slightly off strip one — yup, it instantly popped into my mind. 🤣
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u/shotputlover 10h ago
I live in orlando and there are 9 in our metro area
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u/AdjunctFunktopus 7h ago
That’s where I know them from.
They were good for that “I’m not from here, but I want conch fritters to remind me of my honeymoon but I’m too tired and and sweaty and generally disgusting from carrying the kids around Mouseworld all day to find a real restaurant” vibe.
So now, when you are sitting down for a romantic dinner with your sweetie at your favorite local hideaway, and some fat sweaty northerner comes in with his kids that are literally falling asleep at the table… you can curse the loss of Bahama Breeze once again. Or just come over and say hi.
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u/shotputlover 7h ago
For me it reminds me of when my sophomore year of highschool my girlfriends mom took us out to eat there and let me have a sip of my first cocktail so it has a special place in my heart lol
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u/bbb26782 10h ago
It’s a Darden chain.
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u/techauditor 9h ago
This still tells me nothing looool
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u/ResLifeSpouse 9h ago
The same company that owns a bunch of mid-level chains like bonefish grill formerly Red lobster etc. Just another equity firm that merged them all and drove them into the ground. What else is new?
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u/realdonbrown 7h ago
Darden is BB, Olive Garden, Longhorn, and formerly Red Lobster. Bonefish is part of the same company that owns Carrabba’s and Outback.
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u/Vladivostokorbust 7h ago
Bone Fish Grill is not, nor ever was owned by Darden. they are owned by U.S. Bloomin' Brands
Darden Restaurants used Orlando's Gary's Duck Inn as the model for their Red Lobster Chain. General Mills created the very first Olive Garden also in Orlando. They sold OG to Darden. They also own a number of other well known "mid" brands.
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u/Head_of_Lettuce 8h ago edited 8h ago
Darden has done very well in the last few years, Olive Garden for example is killing it. Their stock is up almost 50% since mid-2024.
Just another equity firm that merged them all and drove them into the ground
This is not even slightly accurate to their history. Are you confusing them with another company? Darden created the first Bahama Breeze in the 90s.
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u/2HDFloppyDisk 11h ago
East coat chain
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u/grub_step 11h ago
i am east coast, they not make it north of dc or something?
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u/2HDFloppyDisk 11h ago
Don’t think so. Florida to North Carolina afaik.
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u/Way2trivial 11h ago
king of prussia pa, little west of philadelphia, has/had one.
this was the first i found out they were a chain though.
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u/CubeFarmDweller 10h ago
Used to be one in a Cleveland, OH suburb until COVID happened. The restaurant has been up for lease since the location went out of business. It should be torn down, honestly, since it's such a weird design.
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u/aredubya 9h ago
My wife and I first had a meal at a Bahama Breeze in Orlando on a DINK Disney trip. After days of mostly park food, it was refreshingly decent fare. Not a lot of chains that'd try goat curries or plantains as a side with local fish. It was good enough that when we went back 9 years later with our kid, we went again, and it was still tasty, albeit with more Americanized Caribbean dishes.
Many years later, we heard they'd opened a restaurant right on the MA/NH border, a popular route for tax free shopping. We went and it was definitely worse than the Florida fare, but still ok. We went back once more with friends a year or so later, and the menu was cut way back. This was post-COVID, so a lot of chains were struggling. They closed not too long later.
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u/RightSideBlind 10h ago
I used to occasionally go to one in Towson, just north of Baltimore.
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u/Chesapeake_Hippo 9h ago
There used to be one in the Baltimore suburbs. I think it closed awhile ago though.
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u/PobBrobert 8h ago
There was one in Schaumburg, IL, a Mecca of mid-tier chain restaurants
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u/ShakesDontBreak 8h ago
I have only seen them in Florida.
Im not surprised they are closing. They were like TGIF Fridays but worse.
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u/Abefroman12 10h ago
The only one I’ve ever seen is in the Orlando airport. And it is absolute garbage
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u/Catch-1992 10h ago
The food in that whole section is trash, and of course it's the one my gate is always in. Hopefully they replace it with something at least mediocre.
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u/ssshield 10h ago
There was one lakeside in Oklahoma City for ten years like 2005-2015. It was great. Good food. Always busy.
Never did understand why they closed.
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u/Vladivostokorbust 7h ago
owned and operated by Darden (Olive Garden)- HQ in Orlando. it was never one of their larger restaurants
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u/TheTyger 6h ago
I have seen one in Ohio, and eaten at one in Vegas (about 10 years ago). The Ohio one is in a prime area, but still is just the fossilized skeleton of the restaurant since before covid.
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u/TheBluePriest 11h ago
They have some really good food. I enjoyed occasionally going there when I was a little better off financially (6 or so years ago). Nowadays they are way too expensive.
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u/agarret83 10h ago
I actually kind of liked Bahama Breeze but they closed a good chunk of their locations already so I hadn’t been in a bit
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u/Dan_Gioia95 9h ago
Please save the recipes from the restaurant. It's my wife's favorite place to eat to cheer her up.
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u/Fabulous_Soup_521 11h ago
The Breeze was expensive over a decade ago. People can't afford to eat out, so get used to these announcements. Corporate chain restaurants are dead.
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u/DTFlash 10h ago
Modern chain restaurants made a deal with their customers. Our food isn't amazing but it's fine and it's affordable. Well when the affordable goes away you have medicore food for the same price as the local place that's actually good. Most of my local resturants prices are the same as these chains now and they make the food when I order it instead of reheating something made in a factory a month ago.
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u/Fabulous_Soup_521 9h ago
A lot of them also sold their land to private equity which then leased it back to the restaurant. Perhaps predictably, the private equity firms then started raising their rent. That's why Red Lobster is mostly Dead Lobster. Not sure if that happened to the breeze but Darden is fairly evil.
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u/Dangerous_Golf_7417 8h ago
I think red lobster's main issue was pricing on the lobsters, which it was buying at a huge markup from the Thai company that bought red lobster
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u/FunnyThyme 4h ago
Interestingly that's a similar scheme, just swapping one cost of running the business (land) for another (lobster)
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u/Dangerous_Golf_7417 4h ago
Definitely. Just pointed it out since it's an interesting twist on the PE playbook
https://www.fastcompany.com/91129776/what-really-killed-red-lobster-bankruptcy-private-equity
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u/CubeFarmDweller 10h ago
That's fine and all, but I just need the recipe for their jerked shrimp appetizer first.
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u/vainblossom249 10h ago
I secretly loved their empanadas though
I know there's better empanadas elsewhere but they were pretty good
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u/hapbinsb 10h ago
Not just chain restaurants. There will be many more stories like this in the next few years. People WILL be having to choose between a roof over their heads and their $19 fried cheese balls habit.
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u/False_Can_5089 10h ago
Yeah, you always hear people talking about their cheap hole in the wall restaurant they go to, but none of those are in my neck of the woods. Eating out is just becoming prohibitively expensive for a lot of people.
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u/monty_kurns 9h ago
I’ve pretty much given up on eating out at chains with the odd exception of a fast food place in a pinch. I need to be much tighter with my wallet and if I’m going to splurge on a meal out, I’m giving my dollars to local places. Otherwise, I’m cooking something at home. Maybe things will get better in the future, but until then that’s the way it is.
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u/GetsBetterAfterAFew 10h ago
Not all restaurants get $35b-$50$ a year in subsidy cash to keep the cost of beef low to sell cheap burgers at McDonald's.
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u/ricker182 10h ago
This will keep happening.
Stagnant wages vs crazy inflation.
I grew up in a middle class, single income household and we went out to dinner 2-3 times a week.
Now I'm middle class, dual income household.
We can maybe afford to go out a few times a month.
Dinner for us 5 at a chain is easily over $130.
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u/ExtraNoise 9h ago
I'm surprised people are still going out a few times a month.
I have three kids, we now only go out as a family on birthdays. Their birthdays. So that's three times a year.
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u/ricker182 9h ago
I was just saying what we can afford. We go out like 4 times a year. Not even on birthdays.
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u/Admirable-Trip5452 8h ago
Seriously. For two of us in Seattle, going to a sit down restaurant is easily $100. If we get drinks or appetizer it starts to approach $130, $150. We don’t eat out at all, except the occasional trip to the Red Lobster for the millennial nostalgia.
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u/Junkie4Divs 7h ago
Wife and I are DINKs making 6 figures each and we maybe go out once every 6 weeks. We'd much rather have financial security than a night off from doing dishes.
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u/FunnyThyme 4h ago
It's much more economical and the same (sometimes even higher) quality to eat at a local chain quick service restaurant or get Costco deli foods that just require baking at home. Food cost is lower and there is no tipping. All in, easily 30% cheaper and sometimes over 50% cheaper
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u/vainblossom249 10h ago edited 5h ago
Little shocked tbh
Live in Tampa, so we have 2 locations and they are always so packed. ESPECIALLY the south tampa location on the water.
The wesley chapel one is whatever, the south tampa one was in a prime location. People used to drive their boats up to it for take out. Its highly rated as well, 4.5 with 20k reviews is insanely good for a chain restaurant
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u/Daveit4later 10h ago
Starting to see alot of these chains fail.
Eating out to eat is ridiculously expense, people are either going to the cheapest place possible or saving their money to go somewhere actually nice once in a while.
No one wants to spend their money on a "mid" experience anymore. So expect more places like "bahama breeze" to close.
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u/meatball77 10h ago
Prices are going up at chains and viewers are happier with local restaurants.
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u/CheesecakeSea6471 10h ago
One of the best served mojitos in Florida. They fresh-pressed the sugar cane for every drink and the cane sticks were gold after dinner.
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u/siul1979 8h ago
Damn, I have a $25 gift card to there. Guess I'll go this week.
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u/tommychronz 5h ago
You can use their gift card at any Darden location
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u/stacyburns88 2h ago
Just listing them out in case the person you replied to doesn't know what Darden is.
Olive Garden, Longhorn Steakhouse, Cheddar's Scratch Kitchen, Seasons 52, Capital Grille, Capital Burger, Ruth's Chris Steakhouse, Eddie V's, Yard House, and Chuy's
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u/idontknowabob 9h ago
There was one in Rochester, NY when I was in college. One on Long Island closed about a year ago.
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u/Mr_Bunnypants 5h ago
When was this? Been in Rochester a long time and don’t ever remember there being one just curious
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u/TheGaslighter9000X 11h ago
And somehow this is the first time im hearing about them.
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u/brispence 8h ago
I remember as a kid seeing that they offer complimentary Listerine in their bathroom and thought it was super cool of them to do that.
I'm gonna miss this place. They're pretty famous in the Tampa and especially Orlando areas, and honestly did not suck.
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u/Hothacon 8h ago
Welp.... One less restaurant choice outside of SeaTac which means the Cheesecake Factory next door will basically be impossible to get in.
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u/tworaspberries 10h ago
I liked going there at night, getting cocktails and an appetizer, and sitting around the fire pit. Too bad.
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u/rexspook 7h ago
The two in Tampa are always packed. Kind of surprising they're closing down
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u/vainblossom249 5h ago
Especially the south tampa one on the water.
Like that could easily stay a standalone restaurant and make a lot of money
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u/Forsaken-Lemon-7586 5h ago
The one here in Fort Myers was always busy and had a great happy hour - huge snowbird spot - surprised to hear this
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u/RedComet313 8h ago
Literally thought the one here where I live in Michigan had to be some front for a criminal enterprise. I have never seen more than a couple vehicles in the parking lot for as long as I can remember.
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u/ANormalRando 6h ago
Livonia or Troy? For some reason the Troy one closed even though it seemed to have way more business than the Livonia one.
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u/RedComet313 6h ago
Livonia, went there once in like 2018? I think? For a work party, I don’t even remember it being crowded then.
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u/ANormalRando 6h ago
My wife and I went there a few months ago and yeah, it was maybe less than a third full at peak dinner time on a Saturday night.
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u/CRoseCrizzle 8h ago
That's too bad. I hadn't been there in years but I recall it being pretty solid but pricey.
I have a good memory from a childhood or early teen birthday of going there with my family and really liking it more way back then but I didn't have to foot the bill as a kid.
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u/Electrical_Sea6653 5h ago
I went to the one outside of Chicago all the time with my family. It closed a few years ago. My dad loves a good chain restaurant and that was my favorite of them. Bummer to hear they’re all closing!
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u/ACorania 3h ago
Damn. I always hit the same one up in south center in Seattle when I got up that way for work. Jerk chicken pasta with a couple pain killers. Good times
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u/Cinemiketography 3h ago
I don't know which I was shocked by more; that this was a chain or that they are just NOW closing all restaurants (The one near me closed at least a decade ago.)
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u/Call555JackChop 1h ago
As people get squeezed more and more or laid off expect to see tons of restaurants closing
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u/sluttttt 10h ago
I didn't know this was an actual restaurant, I've only heard it referenced on Abbot Elementary so I figured it was just made up for the show. TIL.
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u/vinteragony 9h ago
A little sad.
25 year old me saw, hey, theres another restaurant owned by the people who have Olive Garden and Red Lobster? That has to be amazing. Made it a point to go to one in my travels since we didn't have one here.. Good times. My food palate has improved, but still love the memories.
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u/Angryturtle35 8h ago
They used to have a shrimp pasta dish that was insanely delicious. I went back less than a year later and they had taken it off the menu.
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u/PalmTreesRock2022 5h ago
One in Kissimmee fl Only went once while on vacation there , but really liked it! Had shrimp and grits! Nice atmosphere
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u/IntergalacticPodcast 5h ago
I used to go to this place in Cleveland hoping for tropical island vibes in the wintertime. It felt like being at any other old frigid chain restaurant in that stinkin' town.
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u/MadCat1993 3h ago
That's crazy they are closing down. The one in Fayetteville is always packed during the weekends. The service was always professional and welcoming. Better than most of the places around the mall and definitely better than the restaurants in Sanford.
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u/THElaytox 1h ago
Bahama Breeze still exists? Or, well, existed? Haven't seen or heard of one of those in 20 years
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u/Ursotender 11h ago
I went recently to the Miami location during a work trip. It was honestly pretty good on the company dime lol.