Saved By The Max—Chicago’s parody restaurant themed around the wacky, restaurant-adjacent antics of Saved By The Bell—usually has to content itself with running episodes of the show on its TV screens (and the occasional big-ticket Brunch With Mr. Belding.) But last night, a bona fide Bayside Tiger graced the Wicker Park pop-up, with Mario Lopez stopping by to give a big “What’s up, Preppy?” to the crowd.
It doesn’t look like Lopez stuck around long enough to sample the menu’s punny A.C. Sliders or the Tori Fried Chicken (which we’re just going to assume appears and disappears from the menu seemingly at random as a replacement for the Kelly Kapowski Monte Christo). But he did pose with “his” old locker and the restaurant’s wall-o-references, take selfies with a crowd perfectly primed to lose their mind at the sight of Mario Lopez, and—we’re guessing—field dozens of questions about why in the name of god he was wearing sleeves.
Meanwhile, there’s no news on when fellow SBTB star Dustin Diamond might make an appearance at the Max, too, especially since it’s probably the first place the cops would start looking for him after he makes his escape.