I’ve never been desperate enough to eat at Tad’s, and believe me, I’m no snob when it comes to fast food. To me, Tad’s has always been associated with the worst of Times Square sleeze, which I avoided like the yellow-livered coward I am through its worst (or at its peak, as some of my associates would have it) in the 1980s. It always impressed me as the kind of joint you had to hold your nostrils shut from the scent of ammonia (I have walked out of diners after getting the merest whiff of the cleaning fluid).
However, I always liked its neon signs that decorated its many outlets in Midtown beginnning in 1974(? some remember Tad’s in the 1960s) when the chain was founded. I’m still searching for background information on Tad’s but as the now-defunct sign on West 34th near 7th says, it also operated in Philly, Chicago and San Fran, though I never spotted a Tad’s in any of those towns (maybe there was a Tad’s in the Tenderloin?)
Fashion Herald has a few views of Tad’s with the neon signs lit up, and Midtown Lunch has an actual review:
Whether it’s the already poured glasses of wine, stacked on the counter, covered in saran wrap; or the interior that hasn’t been changed (or probably cleaned) since 1974, Tad’s is not very welcoming. Even the $7 steak lunch special, which should be selling point enough (for its cheapness), ends up doing the opposite. Why is this so cheap? How can they make a steak so cheap? You know what? Scratch that. I don’t want to know.
There were two additional locations uptown in the Times Square area on 7th, last I knew.
What’s taking Tad’s place on 34th Street? Apparently, a huge store selling Crocs, the world’s ugliest shoes. Anyone who wears or sells those things should be prosecuted by the esthetics police. So, Crocs will replace saran-wrapped cocktails at Penn Station.
In 2006, I explored the last gasps of The Deuce.
5/16/13