20 years after ‘The Office,’ Scranton finally gets a real Chili’s

"Oh my God! OK, it’s happening! Everybody stay calm!"

A new Chili’s restaurant is opening just north of Scranton, Pennsylvania, and for fans of "The Office," this is both awesome and hilarious.

The restaurant will be located in Dickson City, just six miles north of Scranton, and will have "The Office"-themed decorations. 

Season Two: The Dundies

The backstory:

In the Season Two premiere episode of "The Office," Michael Scott, manager of Dunder Mifflin and played by Steve Carell, hosted a hilarious awards ceremony dubbed The Dundies in a Chili’s restaurant.

Pam Beesly, played by Jenna Fischer, won the "whitest sneakers" Dundie and declared tipsily, "I feel God in this Chili’s tonight." Pam was subsequently banned from Chili's nationwide for stealing people's drinks. In 2017, Chili's pardoned the character, saying she was welcome back.

Over nine seasons, "The Office" regularly name-dropped real places and products associated with Scranton, where the Emmy-winning show was set. There’s the big pirate ship restaurant known as Cooper’s Seafood House and Poor Richard’s Pub inside a bowling alley.

But in 2005, there was no Chili's in the Pennsylvania city.

Chili’s near Scranton

Dig deeper:

The restaurant will be decorated as it would have been in the mid-2000s with old signs and chalkboard art. It will also feature direct nods to the show's fictitious paper company, Dunder Mifflin. In one episode, Scott, played by Steve Carell, orders an awesome blossom — a deep-fried onion with a cheese dipping sauce — while trying to win a new client over lunch at Chili's. That item, long struck from the Chili's menu nationwide, is being reintroduced in the Scranton-area restaurant only.

What's next:

The new Chili’s will open April 7, when a "Scranton marg" will be available nationwide for the day.

Two Office actors are appearing in commercials for the restaurant: Brian Baumgartner, who played the dimwitted accountant Kevin Malone; and Kate Flannery, whose character Meredith Palmer was a party-loving divorced mother working in supplier relations. Other actors, including Melora Hardin, Andy Buckley and Amy Pietz, also feature in a promotional video.

"It seems like a wrong was righted here at around the 20th anniversary of the show to finally have a Scranton branch of Chili’s," Baumgartner told The Associated Press.