I could get behind this. But it has to be different from current mall fare. I hate chain restaurants. Food courts tend to be sandwiches or fried crap passed off as ethnic.
When I lived in Boston there was a place in Chinatown called the Eatery. When you walked into the main room it had probably 15 different stalls, all with different types of Asian food. Everything was made to order. A mall converted into something like that I could get behind.
Sorry to say, the restaurants you despise are there because most people prefer them. There are fancy malls with fancy food courts for rich people, like Seattle Armory.
People in the US prefer inexpensive. They have a certain price point they don't want to go beyond. The Eatery I described was as far from "fancy" as possible. Dishes were under $10 and were rich in vegetable and protein content. They were also very flavorful. Eating flavorful food does not make it "fancy".
How fast food proliferated in the US goes beyond "fancy"/"not fancy".
When I lived in Boston there was a place in Chinatown called the Eatery. When you walked into the main room it had probably 15 different stalls, all with different types of Asian food. Everything was made to order. A mall converted into something like that I could get behind.