Exciting news for Sizzler fans but there’s a catch

Beloved all-you-can eat restaurant Sizzler will make a long-awaited comeback and reopen for one night only, four years after its last store closed its doors.   

Former staff will don their uniforms and serve up iconic dishes from the restaurant’s heyday at a pop-up in Brisbane on Tuesday.

The long-time cultural icon shut up shop permanently in 2020, calling time after dishing up cheese toasts, grilled steaks and salads for three decades. 

Since then, Sizzler fans have tried to recreate some of the popular menu items or settled for dupes of the cult cheese toast, which have gone viral on social media.

Fritzenberger, a popular eatery in Brisbane, obtained a genuine Sizzler cheese toast machine, and now serves this iconic item to customers.

Following the resounding success, KIIS 97.3 breakfast show hosts Robin Bailey and Kip Wightman announced that they will be launching the pop-up. 

Listeners of the Robin and Kip Show have the chance to win tickets to indulge in the iconic pumpkin soup, potato skins, cheese toast, the brand’s signature salad bar, and a dessert bar, complete with a soft serve machine.

Sizzler fans were salivating after the radio duo shared the news on social media this week.

‘I was soooooo desperate to go and I was lucky enough to win a double [pass] which made my year,’ one person said. 

‘I’d pay big money to get a seat,’ another wrote. 

‘Table for 2 pleeeaaassseee,’ a third person commented. 

‘Take me there please,’ one more wrote. 

In lead up to the big night, Robin and Kip have been busy sampling the menu items that pop-up diners will enjoy and claim it ‘tastes just like Sizzler.

Last month, South Bank eatery Fritzenberger bought a cheese toast machine from Sizzler’s Maroochydore restaurant at an auction after the eatery closed.  

‘The team were very excited at the procurement of the machine and to offer the iconic item to our customers,’ a spokesperson told The Courier-Mail.

Executive chef Sebastian Calais said they have stayed true to the iconic recipe but are using higher quality ingredients.

The first Sizzler restaurant was opened in California by founders Del & Helen Johnson in 1958. 

But it was not until 1985 that it arrived on Australian shores, with its first restaurant Down Under opening in Brisbane’s south-side in Annerley.

The chain grew to 38 restaurants nationwide in 1993.

Its parent company Collins Foods made the ‘difficult decision’ to close the final nine restaurants in Queensland, western Sydney and Perth in 2020, blaming coronavirus for killing the buffet menu.

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