A&W: A Walk Down Memory Lane (Part 2)

So, finally, the day I have been waiting for. To invade A&W and relieve those childhood moments with its memorable food before they close for renovation in December.
On my facebook wall, I noticed some friends have also made their way there yesterday.
I bumped into 2 other friends there today with their families. Justin, Wai Fong and my band member Andrew with his wife. Looks like so many people from PJ are having the same thoughts as me, driving down memory lane once more.

As quoted by my girlfriend Ida, "most people go there now is to recollect back childhood memories". Here are some pictures on how we spent a fun day at our beloved childhood fastfood joint with my bunch of childhood friends.

We decided to head over there for lunch at 1pm. Check out the queue at 1pm.

Yup, it's a looooooong way till the front order table.The crowd that was patiently waiting. I was so hungry. Did not have proper breakfast. Wanted to whack A&W.

So as I was lining up outside, I began keeping myself busy by taking photos. Check out these little play-things. They look like those back in the 80's. Sekarang still ada lagi. Hmm...wonder how much they charge per ride now.

Finally I am closer to the counter already. YEZZZZ! Sudah nak sampai my turn. After a long 1 hour wait. I was determined to get what I want today and nothing's gonna stop me from my A&W! Hahahaaha! Not even this 1 hour queue.

We were patiently lining up and thank goodness I had a few friends lining up with me and we chatted to kill time while waiting for our turn. See...no stress at all.

We wanted to order the Family combo which has everything. Tak payah headache. But too bad, they ran out of fried chicken and chicken sandwich.

We ordered separate meals instead.

Take note for those planning to head there soon. Order your waffles and ice-cream at the front counter and bring your receipts to the back ice-cream and waffle parlour. They no longer operate orders at the inside ice-cream and waffle counters.

Kudos to the staff behind preparing all the food and serving a hungry crowd.

Look at the well-prepared amount of food.

With the Raya holidays, so many orang PJ flooded the A&W outlet at PJ State and today is the first day of Raya. Thank goodness it was open! But only two staff attending the crowd. But they were quick and patient in handling the overwhelming crowd. The lady served me and politely told me they had coney dog and fish sandwich sets instead and that they do not have fried chicken and chicken sandwiches. Hence we could not order our combo meals. But settled for the sets with a mix of onion rings and curly fries and of course out thirst quenching rootbeer float.

I have always wondered how this thing works. It's always unlimited fill. Hmmm..wonder where they store all that rootbeer and it seems endless. Never see them refilling if it's at the bottom of the cupboard.

This was the ice-cream and waffle station I meant on the inside. Remember to order your waffles and ice-creams at the front counter (entrance) and not here.

At this parlour they only prepare what you have paid earlier at the front cashier. Just show them your receipt.

Mouth watering already. After an hour of lining up, I was so hungry I could eat a horse.

We ordered two waffles. One with ice-cream and one with their signature maple syrup.

Being a very well-prepared person, I even brought along my own maple syrup for my friends, in case we do not have enough.

And finally, I was able to sink my teeth into these....Aaahhhh...their signature rootbeer float. It tastes just like the good-old-days. And I'm 100% satisfied. Here's our food.

And here's a sneak peak at the ambience.

It was just like yesterday. Oh! I realized the tables were different now.

Smile for the camera. Let me introduce to you. These are my childhood buddies from Primary and secondary school and even my friend's mom joined us. She recalled and told us stories how she always visit A&W back in her younger working days at least 3 times a week with friends. We listened attentively. She also mentioned a friend telling her son that her grandfather used to bring her here.

My all time favourite root beer and it's the best only from A&W. I was so happy to finally have this after so long.

A&W serves the BEST Onion Rings. I have tried other fast food chains and they can never ever compete with this. It is very crispy on the outside and you can even feel the entire onion peel when you sink your teeth in it. The other versions out there are onion-blended with flour, which I do not like as much.

We just couldn't get enough of that rootbeer and decided to tah pau balik. Seorang satu.

But it's not the same as having it there with the nice icy cool float. But it's better than nothing, right?

Me hugging my bottle of rootbeer.

A little video I made.

And after satisfying our hunger, thus began our task of snapping pictures as memories. What better way to do it with my old schoolmates.

You can tell that we were having loads of fun.

The See no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil pose.

Here we are, the four of us together.

From Left to right: Me (CP), Mooi Ling, Ida and Poh Ling.

Stretch those arms. Lift up the coney dog!

How can I forget the little playroom. The joy of seeing kids hosting birthday parties in here. Now it's is in such a sorrow state. Wish I could see those days again. With the bear scaring/entertaining children.

These diligent workers are students and they are so merry and helpful.

Am glad that the management hired them to help out.

This boy here is very hardworking and efficient. Also another student helping out. He is seen to be clearing and wiping tables and he did a great job! He really cleans! Very polite too.

Brought along this little toy to spice up my pictures. Stole from my friend's car.

Trying to look cute.

Our makan bill in total came up to RM 49.00 (for waffles and 4 take away rootbeers) + RM76.00 Meal. That's RM 125.00 in total for lunch for 5 people. So an average per pax is RM 25.00. Not too bad for being able to relieve those memories.

A snap shot of the premiums display

So here's a snapshot of the crowd at 3pm. The line was still very long. People kept coming.

Here's the iconic view of the restaurant from the outside.

OH! I almost forgot! My friend just reminded me this:

A&W is one of the first park and eat in the car restaurants. Yes, those days, this parking bays allow cars to park and eat from within their cars. They have special holders to hang on the windows of the car. I have tried that in the old days and thinking back brought back so much memories. It was just a fad then. After a while I still prefer eating inside where it is cooler.

Notice we were in these colour codes? It was colour coordinated so that we could blend in well with the entire colour scheme of A&W for better pictures.

Our selfie time with the iconic bulding

Before we left, I took a stroll at the back of the playland. This was where we used to run in and out to play. That was one part of my childhood with my siblings when we were younger.