Why You'll Never Be Able To Eat At The Original Red Robin

Despite the plethora of burger restaurants, there always seems like there is space for one more. Red Robin may stand out among the crowd with its friendly, bright red, blue-eyed bird mascot serving up burgers since 1969, according to its website. If Red Robin is one of your favorite places to satisfy your burger cravings thanks to its extensive menu and secret menu to boot — including a vegetarian burger and bottomless fries — you may have contemplated tracking down the first location.

There's no need to be embarrassed; everyone has their idiosyncrasies and when it comes to their preferred burgers. But if you've done some research, you likely came up short, right? Although the original Red Robin was well-known among college students (via The Seattle Times), the history and good times are now memories and photographs. If you have or had high hopes to order your meal and take a selfie to show the world you made the pilgrimage, you may want to sit down because the truth isn't very kind.

The truth is, visiting the original location is basically impossible. The first restaurant was based in Seattle, near the University of Washington campus, and was a college hangout before it became the famous chain, according to The Seattle Times. The original location was housed in an old building and the newspaper reported back in 2010 that maintenance of the historical building became too expensive. In a company news release, the company stated the reason it wasn't renewing the lease: " [The] decision was driven by the need for considerable investment to maintain the building and make the restaurant more efficient from an operations perspective."

Although the building was left empty for several years, the original location was eventually brought down in 2014. In August of that year, an article from The Stranger quoted a person by the name of Doug who had recently rode by the location of where the first Red Robin used to be. "Though it's been closed for years, the building remained. Until today. Now it's just toppled wood siding, piled like a plate of bottomless fries." So, unfortunately, there aren't any exciting remnants worth checking out of the first location, but thankfully there are photos.