1800 Texas Avenue South

The strip center as of November 2025. The foundation of Harvey Washbanger's/Mazzio's with its flooring can also be seen. Previously, the view of the wall would've been impossible. Photo taken by author.
Briefly mentioned in the Harvey Washbanger's post (written a few months before a fire destroyed the restaurant)1, was the original 1800 Texas Avenue South tenant, Pepper's, an "old fashioned" hamburger restaurant (in vogue at the time as Fuddruckers and similar establishments like Flakey Jake's)2. Owned by the Ken Martin group, Pepper's opened in 1978 (there was another reference to the address a few years earlier, the "B-CS Flea Market" in 1975).

In the late 1980s it was redeveloped as a new strip center (as part of also redeveloping the former Kashim) with most of it occupied by 2-Day Video, a video rental chain based out of the Dallas-Fort Worth area. Around late 1996, Blockbuster Entertainment (buoyed by corporate parent Viacom at the time, a fact that is rarely factored into the company's decline) purchased 2-Day Video and converted it to their name in early 1997.³ Blockbuster eventually jumped to the top of the hill at the old site of Tom's Barbecue & Steakhouse, where it would remain until the chain went bankrupt.

As of 2025 the stores here include, from left to right, Game X Change, CleanEatz, Top Nails, Cricket, CPR Cell Phone Repair, and Rocks Discount Vitamins-n-More. I've lost track of what exactly was what, but going back in Google Maps, CleanEatz was Chill Milkshake and Waffle Bar (opened 2021 but maybe for like a year or two at most), Yogurtland (2010-2019)⁴, and in 2007 was another location of Western Beverages. Top Nails has been there since 2005 (it was Planet Beach Tanning Salon in the early 2000s), Cricket was here since 2007, though originally with a different logo), and the phone repair place was Pro-Cuts (which was an early tenant, operating from 1988 to 2013) but not before becoming Pinot's Palette for a few years. Rock's used to be "Nutrition Central", but not before becoming Just for Hair. There were others too, I remember Texas Avenue Cigars, which had a green sign that resembled the Texas Avenue signs on the stoplights (it later moved to a new location as Cavalier Cigar Company. There was also Hurricane Office Supply & Printing (an early tenant from 1986 but did not last more than a few years) and more than likely a few others I missed.

1. The College Station Fire Department unfortunately was not able to save Harvey Washbanger's, but they DID save the strip center from the fire, there wasn't even smoke damage on the walls.
2. Our area did not have a Flakey Jake's, though there were two in Houston in the mid-1980s for a brief time.
3. Unlike 2-Day Video, Blockbuster had a policy against NC-17 movies, meaning that titles like The Cook, the Thief, His Wife & Her Lover and Showgirls would've been removed and/or replaced with edited R-rated versions.
4. Also, very briefly, "Swirls" afterward; more of the same. Probably lost the franchise.

The 700 University Drive East Club

One of the buildings here as it appeared in March 2020, showing the scars of both Blockbuster and Genghis Grill.
There's a few reasons why this site has been a bit slow to update as of late, partly it's a lack of photo availability, partly a lack of running out of places to cover, and partly it's a focus on new projects that take priority. The most recent entry, Saenz Tamales, was fairly spur-of-the-moment, and I had gotten my photos, then actually wrote up the entry. Otherwise, I have a bunch of mostly written-out descriptions that lack photos, and many of those just end up on my other website.

700 University Drive East is a bit of a complicated property, as it contains a strip mall and two stand-alone buildings, hence, the name of this post (and a play on words for a show contractually airing on Freeform, much to the executive's chagrin).

The first building here we'll take a look at is Golden Corral (store #540), which hasn't changed tenants since it opened in 1991 and...I'm ashamed to admit this, but at one time in the distant past, it was not only a favored family spot but one of my top five favorite restaurants in town. I don't know when we stopped going, probably sometime around or before 2005. The only big change that I can remember from Golden Corral growing up is the elimination of smoking inside the restaurant, so we could sit anywhere, not just the non-smoking section. In 2018 the restaurant closed for an interior renovation to a newer, more open prototype, and the exterior got an update as well.

Golden Corral as it appeared in 2014, looking east.
Across from the Golden Corral is the second building here, and a more interesting one. In 1992, Blockbuster Video, as it was known at the time, rolled into town, choosing 700B University Drive as its first location in town, located next to Golden Corral, and would continue to grow across the United States. As the company's fortunes declined in the late 2000s due to a variety of factors (streaming, recession, unable to support the massive store base that previous owner Viacom had built up), the store was rebranded as "Blockbuster Outlet Store" (whatever that meant, really) and closed around January 2010. Within months, it was announced that a location of Genghis Grill would be taking up residence in the spot, and it opened in late fall 2010, though it didn't take up all of the space, the remaining portion of Blockbuster was taken up by Tutti Frutti, a chain frozen yogurt restaurant the next year.

Looking into the closed Genghis Grill, 3/20.
Around December 2012, Tutti Frutti closed (it may have lasted into January or February of the following year) but something new was coming...in Houston, Big Daddy Z's began to make the rounds of Houston's many food trucks, focusing on Cajun cuisine. This would be the start of what was to replace Tutti Frutti in the future.

Following the closure of Tutti Frutti, the next restaurant, Mickey's Sliders, opened in summer 2013. This restaurant focused on the "gourmet slider" trend, much like how Stover Bros. Cafe was doing around the same time in Bryan. Mickey's Sliders surprisingly did a decent business, but the owner retired in fall 2017 and closed the store.

During all this time, Big Daddy Z's would move to College Station and soon restructure the menu to focus on cheesesteaks, with a new name...Blake's Steaks. Blake's Steaks settled into a new permanent home in December 2017 in the former Mickey's Sliders space and for the next two years, cheesesteaks and other related sandwiches (including some sandwiches that were created by customers in a contest) were served. In February 2020, Blake's Steaks closed to focus on a new venture, Zeitman's Grocery, in downtown Bryan (due to COVID-19, Zeitman's ended up opening almost two years later). Around the same time, Genghis Grill, which had been struggling due to inconsistent service and quality, also permanently shuttered. So by the time things started to go wrong for restaurants about a month later, the building was vacant, and that's when the first set of pictures were taken.

The building has since been renovated, sub-dividing Genghis Grill into two new spaces (the three spaces are about equally-sized), suite B of which became The Toasted Yolk Cafe, which opened in September 2021. A month later, Suite C (the former Tutti Frutti/Mickey's Sliders/Blake's Steaks) opened as Naq's Halal Food. As of this writing, Suite A is still vacant.

Another thing I wanted to note is that originally, this post was supposed to go up in conjunction with something I wrote for Carbon-izer, in which I stated that I was disappointed with Genghis Grill compared to a restaurant I ate at in Austin about six years prior to Genghis' opening.

Wing Stop and Marco's Pizza (June 2020).
Next to Blockbuster, in 1996, a Little Caesars was built. It never really gained traction and closed after a few years. Wing Stop would take up residence in the space (since 2001), but that was only half of the building, with the other half becoming Marco's Pizza, open in early 2020. I can't tell or remember what was there before that, but I want to say there was a small barbershop.

The main strip center isn't very active. (June 2020)
The rest of the strip center, 700 University Drive East was built in 1984 and is a pretty sleepy center that really hasn't seen a lot of activity and I don't personally remember many interesting stores or services being here. I did assemble a partial list of some of the tenants that came and went, but few lasted for many years and were forgotten soon after. (If you want to try to take a look at them, view the source for the page). One of the bigger tenants here was University Book Store (University Book Store Inc.) in suite 100 before all locations closed in very early 2006. That space would become Fast Eddie's Billiards for almost the next decade, and is currently a similar business named Four Downs Sports Bar.

Obviously, there have been some changes to the center since I took some of the pictures here back in 2020, with Toasted Yolk and Naq's Halal open and drawing crowds. One last look is going to be the "new" Golden Corral from the opposite side, also taken in March 2020. (All the photos in this post were taken by the author).

Note the Blake's Steaks food truck. (3/20)
Even if "new" posts to this site will be light in the future, I invite you to my other ventures including Carbon-izer, which updates monthly.

UPDATE 07-14-2023: Naq's Halal Foods closed around the end of December 2022 or very early January 2023. In May 2023, Siam Iyara opened in the spot. (Also removed YouTube shilling, as I'm afraid that's on hiatus...)
UPDATE 07-21-2023: TexAgs has reported Marco's Pizza is now closed.

McDonald's & Blockbuster

This picture was taken by author, around 2011 or 2012.
Opening in December 2001 as the first of its kind and receiving its first renovation around 2008, College Station was once the home of an extremely rare (only three were ever built) McDonald's/Blockbuster combo store. While the two had separate addresses (1748 Rock Prairie Road for the Blockbuster and 1750 Rock Prairie Road for the McDonald's), you could access the stores from each other on the inside and in many ways as a prototype for the Redbox kiosks, which McDonald's first developed as a wholly owned subsidiary before it was sold to Coinstar.¹ The 2008 remodel cut down on the huge cavernous feel of the original store for a separation into three separate dining areas that the company was pushing at the time, an area for kids near the Playplace indoor playground (which it always had), the "Grab n Go" zone, and the "couches" area. I didn't really like the post-remodel version, but I remember being impressed with the original layout when I went for a "McTeacher" night when teachers made burgers for charity in middle school.

However, the 2008 remodel still maintained the original layout and connection to Blockbuster, and I was unable to take a picture of Blockbuster's interior (the store had a no pictures policy, got caught by the clerk...wasn't subtle enough) before it closed in spring 2013 during one of the waves of closures when then-owner² Dish Network was purging the company of its remaining company-owned stores. By July 2013, some McDonald's signage and decor appeared on the outside of the Blockbuster side, which was cleared of all décor, which didn't exactly look aesthetically pleasing.

In late 2015, Sola Salon opened their College Station location in the former Blockbuster. However, McDonald's space had already been walled off. In 2020, the McDonald's renovated again inside and out (no more red mansard roof).

1. Coinstar purchased 47% in 2005 and increased its share to 51% in 2008 before buying the rest from McDonald's in 2009. Through various parent companies, Redbox remained a partner with McDonald's until the failure of its parent company at the time, Chicken Soup for the Soul Entertainment, in 2024, when it finally disappeared.
2. I say "then owner" because at the time Dish Network still had an active role in Blockbuster's operations. Despite little role in the operations of the "Last Blockbuster", EchoStar (a former Dish spin-off which purchased the company in 2023) still owns the Blockbuster trademarks.

UPDATE 07-31-2026: Did a rewrite of the article, having barely been touched since it was added close to fifteen years ago. During the process, some links were fixed.

Dave's Seafood & Steak / Tom's BBQ and Steakhouse

This restaurant was built sometime in the early 1980s (build date unknown due to demolished building) as Dave's Seafood & Steak Restaurant (operating from 1983 to 1985), closing as one of the restaurants that got washed out in the mid-1980s recession. Other than the ad above I have little information on it. It was briefly another restaurant (Johnny Peppy's) in late 1985 and early 1986 (it lasted for less than six months but it did open based on a mention in a Chamber of Commerce newsletter).

It later became another restaurant known as Karin's (according to The Eagle, so far, any other proof up to and including tax records has proved elusive) and in 1991, it became the College Station home of Tom's Barbecue & Steakhouse, which also changed the address from 2005 to 2001 Texas Avenue (though I believe it was the same building). Tom's Barbecue had been in town since the late 1960s and had established a new-build Bryan site just six years earlier at 3610 South College Avenue (now home to J. Cody's). While I never remember going there, it was a well-known restaurant in town and right across from the H-E-B Pantry Foods where my family regularly went grocery shopping.

Tom's Barbecue & Steakhouse began as just "Tom's Barbecue" in 1969 and moved around town a few times before settling at 3610 South College Avenue in 1985 in a newly-built location (now home to J. Cody's). The College Station restaurant officially opened in 1991, with both locations featuring a meat-based menu of steaks, burgers, barbecue, and a few others. It was also known for the "Tom's Famous Aggie Special", which gave you barbecue (your choice of meats, whether it be ribs, brisket, or whatever), a block of cheddar cheese, pickles, half an onion, bread, and served on butcher paper with a knife. The food quality, however, started to go downhill toward the end of the restaurant's lifespan, likely when pitmaster Wayne Kammerl left following new ownership in 1998. In April 2001, both restaurants abruptly closed.

Here's a menu from Project HOLD (which was supplied by me, actually). I don't know of the date, maybe late 1990s?

Originally some menu items were removed and blacked out (like the Veggie Basket), while some were added (they were stapled to the front)





There also used to be a Buffalo Wings one stapled on, and it used buffalo clip art, again.

In 2011, I found the old Tom's BBQ website (as early as the late 1990s, the College Station Tom's BBQ website disappeared and the domain was taken over by an Arizona-based Tom's BBQ). Here's the History page from it (thanks, Archive.org)


If you go to the archived website, you can see that for early 1997 and late 1996, it was a pretty advanced website: you could order online for pick-up, which wasn't common back then.

After serving for parking for the adjacent E-Z Travel Inn for a few years, it was torn down for a strip center.

- The main tenant was originally Blockbuster, which moved from 1800-B Texas Avenue South and was here from 2005 to early 2011. Following the closure, it became MattressFirm a few months later.
- Directly next to it was Rhino Video Games (also opened 2005), also owned by Blockbuster at the time though I don't think there was any interior access. Rhino was bought and absorbed by GameStop in early 2007, which was disappointing as I heard Rhino actually carried classics like Super Nintendo, which GameStop had long since scrapped by then, and didn't have GameStop's aggressive policies that made it disliked by many people.. However, Rhino didn't have much of a footprint in Texas; there were only a few other stores and all of them closed by the time it was rebranded.
- Rosie's Pho Asian Noodle, opened 2006 but closed around 2019 due to bad reviews, bad food. In 2021 Taste of Thailand opened in the spot.
- Batteries Plus opened in 2007 which eventually became Batteries+Bulbs in a corporate rebranding in the late 2000s.
There's four more suites I didn't cover--realty, nail spas, vaping, cash stores...but that's maybe for another time (if ever).

UPDATE 07-13-2021: New restaurant addition with Karin's (the restaurant added in an update a year ago) downplayed.

UPDATE 10-31-2024: A few notes were added to the current tenants.
UPDATE 01-13-2025: A few additions/notes to amend above.
- Dave's went by "Dave's Restaurant & Bar" until around mid-1984 when it slightly altered to its present name.
- Karin's appeared in 1986 shortly after the demise of Johnny Peppy's but also closed in 1987. It appears that the restaurant was vacant until Tom's moved in (with an address change).