Burger King’s Forgotten 1990s ‘Fine Dining’ Experiment

There once was a time in the early 1990s when SouthCoast Burger King locations could have been considered the “fine dining” of fast food.

When Burger King Tried to 'Class Up' Fast Food

I distinctly remember the Burger King in East Wareham offering “table service” along with the introduction of its “BK Dinner Baskets,” a brief but glorious time when the Home of the Whopper tried its hand at meatloaf, fried shrimp, and even fried clams.

What can I say? The 90s were an eclectic decade.

READ MORE: The Internet Claims McDonald's Once Had a Lobster Roll in New England

While scrolling through Facebook the other day, I happened upon a post by one of my favorite pages, Dinosaur Dracula. It’s a page that features forgotten foods and other fun from the Gen X era.

We share the same fondness for Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Pudding Pies, Hi-C Ecto Cooler, WWF Superstar Ice Cream Bars, Keebler Tato Skins, and Nintendo Cereal, so I always like his little trips down memory lane.

On Tuesday, he posted an ad for Burger King from 1992 (which was then leaning hard on the “fresh” branding of calling itself “BK”) from its introduction of dinner baskets.

What Was Included in BK Dinner Baskets?

The ad features four basket meals: the Whopper, the Steak Sandwich, the Crispy Chicken Filet (which was not a sandwich), and the Fried Shrimp. The dinner baskets came with a choice of fries or baked potato, and cole slaw or a side salad.

Some restaurants also offered regional selections like flame-broiled meatloaf, or here in New England, fried clams. I don’t remember the Wareham location offering the clams, but they definitely had the shrimp, because that was my go-to.

Why Did Burger King Try to Get Fancy?

It was a time when fast food restaurants had been dominated by McDonald’s, which had been on an epic run introducing menu items such as McNuggets, salads, the Cheddar Melt, the McDLT and the McRib, plus the infamous “SuperSize” option. The other chains had to think outside the box to compete. Wendy’s chose to have you get up from your seat with the beloved Super Bar, while Burger King told you to sit down with its table service and dinner baskets during the hours of 4 p.m. to 8 p.m.

READ MORE: Do You Remember the Wendy's Super Bar?

If the table service had simply been that someone brings you over your food once it was ready, that would have been fine. It is kind of annoying having to either wait for your food at the counter, or sitting down and then having to get back up again when it’s ready.

How Wareham's Burger King Went All Out

Burger King’s table service, though, went to ridiculous lengths, at least in Wareham.

When you ordered your food, you’d be handed a basket of popcorn to munch on while you wait. Not a bad idea, but also, not really necessary when you consider the average time you wait for your Burger King meal is probably around five minutes.

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Individual Burger Kings also had the freedom to get fancy during those hours. Wareham was one of the ones that went all out – dimmed lights, table cloths on the tables, moody music. I swear, I even remember little tealight candles lit and placed inside those old school foldable foil ashtrays that used to be on every table.

It wasn’t quite the level of the 2015 wedding of Ashley King and Joel Burger, but it was still an example of trying to be something you’re not.

The Marketing That Tried to Sell It

But even as Burger King – excuse me, BK – went for the more elevated fast food dining experience, its promotion was in the completely opposite direction. At the time, its slogan was “I Love This Place!,” which had to be the most generic tagline ever, yet it probably earned some ad exec a huge bonus.

The television commercials attempted to seem cool to Gen Xers, using Dan Cortese of MTV Sports in some of the ads as Dan the Whopper Man.

There were movie tie-ins with Kid 'n Play's House Party 3, Disney's Aladdin, and Arnold Schwarzenegger's Last Action Hero.

Other ads tried to cater to the Black community, right down to the use of New Jack Swing-style beats. It was what the kids of 2026 would call “cringe.”

BK Dinner Baskets didn’t last long, and neither did the table service. Online reports claim it stuck around until 1994, but I don’t remember it going for more than a few months in Wareham. Looking back on it, so much of it didn’t make sense. Then again, we could say the same for a lot of things in the 90s.