These eateries have customers running scared—and it's not because of the food.

Food, service, and decor might get them listed in Zagat's, but a restaurant can achieve a certain level of fame—or infamy—on the power of its name alone. Hooters, for example, has been trading on the campy-but-literal shtick of its brand for years. Puns have been known to work on occasion too: Pluck U, a chicken sandwich outfit, has successfully opened locations throughout Manhattan. But in some unfortunate cases, proprietors stumble into lost-in-translation absurdity, with names like Big Wong or Phuket Thai, both of which actually exist. (One such tragedy occurred just a block away from the Radar offices, when a lunch spot called C-Wrap—the C stood for Chicago—shut its doors for good after a long struggle with the hyphen.) And occasionally, due to ignorance, hubris, or outright stupidity, a restaurant owner goes too far.

Take Sambo's, a popular Santa Barbara restaurant founded in 1957, whose reputation for good, greasy eats allowed it to grow to 1,200 locations. Local municipalities eventually thwarted its expansion efforts, mostly because of strong objections to its name—which, needless to say, offended a good portion of the African-American community. The chain went bankrupt, but when the grandson of the original founders reopened it in 1998, he was able to win over the NAACP by insisting the moniker meant no harm—it was merely an abbreviation of the co-founder's names. But history, in this case, seems doomed to repeat itself. In 2004, Dairy Queen announced its new frozen drink, the MooLatte, which sounded so much like "mulatto" that Slate called into question the "mental competence of Dairy Queen's corporate leadership." And a whole new crop of crudely named-institutions have sprouted up since. Below, a few of our recent favorites.

---

Pink Taco
When Hard Rock Cafe heir Harry Morton took his Pink Taco Mexican restaurant to Scottsdale, Arizona, last April, mayor Mary Manross was none too impressed. She would not allow a business to open in her tony jurisdiction that "offended more than half the population." Locals spoke their minds to area newspapers. "I don't think we'd even go to lunch there," decreed one, who described the talk around town as "Can you believe they're going to open something with that name here?"

According to Morton, who recently dated Lindsay Lohan, in the six years since the original Pink Taco opened in the Las Vegas Hard Rock, he never had to contend with a single flap over the name. If the restaurant were truly "vagina-themed," he argued to The Daily Show's Ed Helms, there would be "vaginas all over the walls."

Though the Arizona mayor tried to obstruct his bid for a liquor license, Morton prevailed and later made news attempting to purchase the naming rights to the Arizona Cardinal's football stadium. Fortunately for wide receivers who would have suffered the indignity of "going deep" inside the Pink Taco, he was unsuccessful.

Hitler's Cross

Last August, a group of young restaurateurs planned to open a hip new spot in the Indian city of Mumbai, but they needed a name. Something with edge—an eye-catcher. Owner Puneet Sabhlok thought long and hard. The result? Hitler's Cross. Just in case there was any confusion about which Hitler they were talking about, the large, blood-red awning out front featured a swastika set inside the o in Cross. Swastikas could also be seen lending their aesthetic je ne sais quoi to the interior decor and menus. On opening night, a picture of Der Fuhrer in full military dress was affixed to the entrance way. Sabhlok was later quoted in India's Mumbai Mirror comparing his entrepreneurial vision to that of the Third Reich. "Hitler wanted to conquer the world by using force," he proudly announced, "and I would like to do that by the food and service."

According to one newspaper account, the café was doing "fairly brisk business." But after protests from Mumbai's 5,500-strong Jewish population landed the soup Nazis in hot water, the owners caved, sending out a formal apology to offended parties and eventually changing the institution's name to Cross Cafe. It seems Sabhok's instincts weren't too far off, however. In addition to a reported 12 other establishments in India with Hitler in the title, including five in Mumbai, Adolf's name and image have even been used to sell dessert. In New Delhi, a chain of restaurants called A Slice of Italy sells a chocolate cake named "One for the Hitler," a delicious treat depicting the face of genocide. Death by chocolate? No, death by chocolate Hitler!

Chink's Steaks

Philadelphia's Geno's Steaks made national news last summer not because of its famous Cheez Whiz sandwiches, but because owner Joe Vento placed a sign in the take out window that read, "This is America: When ordering speak English." It wasn't too popular with the area's large immigrant community. But that's nothing compared to one Pennsylvania cheese steakery that's been willfully offending for more than 50 years. Chink's Steaks in Wissinoming was named for the original owner, Samuel Sherman, who had been given the nickname at the age of six because, according to his widow, "He had slanty eyes."

When its new owner bought the restaurant in 1999, he opted to keep the name. One offended resident went so far as to form an action group called PERIL—People for the Elimination of Racially Insensitive Language—which requested that Chink's be Shanghaied, despite its near-landmark status. Her protests went unheeded, however, and Chink's continues to be a popular spot for tourists, locals, and Orientals who want an authentic Philly cheese steak experience.

Heart Attack Grill

This Tempe, Arizona, manhole provides artery clogging fare like the Quadruple Bypass Burger (four thick patties of beef, eight slices of bacon, four slices of cheese) served by waitresses outfitted in skimpy nurse costumes. And the state's nursing board isn't pleased. They claim the title "nurse" is protected under law and that the eatery should be prohibited from describing its waitresses as such, whose uniforms they consider demeaning to the profession. The protest resulted in the Heart Attack Grill emphasizing to customers that even though their meat-slingers might be wearing white uniforms and happen to be caring and friendly, they are not, in fact, real nurses.

The Fangji Cat Meatball Restaurant

Located in the southern Chinese city of Shenzen, The Fangji Cat Meatball Restaurant maintained pride in its namesake meatballs, made from the flesh of freshly-skinned felines. But the city's local student population took issue with the menu and staged a protest outside the restaurant, urging the owners to discontinue their practices because "cats and dogs are friends to humans."



The angry, mostly female protesters stormed the kitchen in an attempt to free the cats which, according to onlookers, were slaughtered in an open-air kitchen in plain view of tourists. They burst into tears upon finding one skinned cat in the fridge and some very sad meatballs. Even though the owner promised never to serve cat again, the operation was forced to shut down in June 2006.