What's the Most Iconic Shopping Mall Restaurant? (Part 1)

• Sbarro or Panda Express, definitely. Various malls have tried take their food courts upscale in the last decade, but the two of those have survived virtually every still-existent mall food court I've been to. Orange Juliuses had too long of an '80s/'90s gap in St. Louis (I don't know if they were at any malls in this area previous to that). Mrs. Field's, maybe.

• "Wag's", Northwest Plaza, c. 1970. Patty melt, fries, and a Coke.

• Michael Scott would disagree with you. His favorite pizza in NYC is the Times Square Sbarro. Little known fact: The great southern cookbook "The Gift of Southern Cooking" by Scott Peacock and Edna Lewis was largely written in that Sbarro.

• I have a soft spot in my heart for First Federal Frank & Crust, not just for the name, but the food was pretty tasty too. But, on a national level, I'd have to vote for Sbarro -- to my knowledge, there are no stand-alone Sbarros, whereas Panda Express and Orange Julius exist outside the mall world. (In fact, they just build a combination Dairy Queen/Orange Julius in Carlyle, IL...)

• Votes for Cinnabon noted. Though to me Cinnabon = airport.

• Definitely Cinnabon. The malls in every city I've lived in have had one. Then Chick-Fil-A. Then Auntie Anne's.

• You used to only be able to get Chick Filet at the mall; I've gotta go with America's love for Chick Filet. Also, wasn't Baskin Robbins originally born at the mall too? Both should be included for conderstaion.

• Oooh. Mrs. Fields. Good call. Can't believe I didn't think of that.

• Sbarro has to be near the top, but don't forget that every mall must have at least one cookie bakery - usually a Mrs. Fields. (I think that's in the zoning regulations.)

• Panda Express is a real icon I think - even thought I don't like them that much, I still find myself eating there from time to time. But places like Applebee's appeal more to me nowadays

• I'm going to go a little more upscale and say Cheesecake Factory.

• Cinnabon. But I still think Sbarro comes first.

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