'Saved By The Bell's Diner Is About To Become Real

Anyone who was anyone in the ‘90s knew the coolest place to be seen after school with your friends was the diner on Saved by the Bell where Zack Morris and all of his friends would hang out, aka, The Max. Unfortunately for fans of the show, the diner — where the teens of Bayside High celebrated before and after games, grabbed a snack, and often held dances — was a fictional one. But fortunately for fans of the show, a real-life The Max is coming to Chicago in the form of a Saved by the Bell-themed diner. Now, the news has me wondering, will it actually be as good as The Max?

I mean, it does have a couple of really strong things going for it. Real food, for one, is probably where it wins the most points. The restaurant, already named Saved By The Max, will be modeled after the fictional diner, but will of course serve real food. The fact that it’s a real restaurant and not a television set definitely helps sway me in its favor.

And then there’s the fact that there will be a daily prize of $100 to the best costume based on Saved by the Bell. Because if there’s one thing that I love more than diner food, it’s costume parties.

Plus, remember how Bayside High always celebrated after games at The Max? In Wicker Park, where the restaurant is set to open, there is no Bayside High, but, nearby, Holy Trinity High School’s mascot is the Tigers. (!!!) So even though the colors are different, there’s a good chance that the Tigers could still be celebrating at this version of The Max, pre- and post-games.

But there will, of course, be things very obviously missing from this real-life diner inspired by the television show — the biggest absences, of course, will be Zack Morris, Kelly Kapowski, A.C. Slater, Jessie Spano, Lisa Turtle, and Screech Powers. They were fictional characters, so they can't really hang out at the diner. But aside from them, this restaurant has a lot of exciting things going for it.

Who else is totally already planning a road trip to Chicago?

Image: NBC; Giphy