re: SE BR Restaurant Chat: Who's Dying & Who's Thriving ??

Yep, Bobby Meadors Catfish House. He had a fishing show on local tv for a long time. I went to high school with his son Randy.

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I think if you read this thread you will understand why all of the restaurants cited have failed, or are failing. Not a single place has gotten consistently favorable reviews for food quality, taste and/or dining experience. And these have all been local establishments rather than chains who for the most part have people experienced in restaurant management following a proven formula.

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Isn't good kitchen help extremely difficult to find and keep at places like Outback, Portobello's, Jones Creek Cafe, etc.?

Anyone know how DeAngelo's is doing?

What would y'all like to see open in the vacant Blockbuster space next to Albertson's? I don't want any more Chinese or Sushi places.

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They have pretty good fish dishes as well. Just never ever order the steak there.

City Cafe is underappreciated maybe cause the location is sorta unknown by many.

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Just recently I've had the shrimp grits and the crawfish etouffee at City Cafe and both were not good. You could still taste the flour in the etouffee from the cook obviously not knowing how to cook etouffee. This was the 2nd time this has happened. The shrimp grits were very bland and I'd never order again. Poboys are decent, they have good bread.

Whenever we go out to eat around here we go to masons. Awesome consistent food, good prices, kickass happy hour AND kids eat free night. we go for breakfast on the weekends. It's a great family restaurant-my kids sit at the bar and play the megatouch I'd rather go to masons for my go-to restaurant than any of the other places around here.

You are doing yourself a disservice if you haven't tried a masons burger. Holy crap are they good.

Forgot about the shrimp and grits not being good. Add that to the steak...

On second thought just stick to the fish dishes and the char oysters.

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I think if you read this thread you will understand why all of the restaurants cited have failed, or are failing. Not a single place has gotten consistently favorable reviews for food quality, taste and/or dining experience. And these have all been local establishments rather than chains who for the most part have people experienced in restaurant management following a proven formula.

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oh, i agree completely .. i have gotten basically worn out from all of the places out here and drive to other parts of the city to eat .. it is a shame because we have a lot of places out here .. but they all range from jones creek cafe to MEH ..

Notice that Magnolia Grill gets little or no mention here at all? The few times I've been in there it's been pretty slow, and they seem to draw elderly customers. I was the only one in there later one night while watching the end of a ballgame and I asked if they were about to close. They said no and that karaoke was about to start. I'm not sure who they're drawing for that.

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like i said earlier .. even in a subtle form .. you just don't mix religion with business ... stuff like that appeals to a very very small demographic that just doesn't spend a whole lot of money for some reason ..

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I think the plan was to have regular business hours roughly 7-6, then have occasional "extra" hours at night that catered to their church crowd. In other words, they'd be open for anybody who came in, but that was their time for the church crowd.

I do think thought was put in to separate the religious stuff from the normal clientele, but again, it wasn't well thought out. I mean, if I see a bunch of cars there at 7 p.m. and stop in for a cup of coffee, how am I supposed to know that they are normally closed at that hour and they are hosting a "special event?" I'm just going to think that's what they do.

I knew there were unremarkable places up and down Coursey I was forgetting. Magnolia Grill and DeAngelo's certainly fall under that category.

I never understood this city's love affair with DeAngelo's (although I notice it doesn't get much love on this board). Magnolia Grill falls under the "not well thought out" category, although Degas mentioned the low overhead, which certainly helps.

I've tried twice and not been blown away. I remember right before closing on my house (I mean a few days before I moved in) I stopped in as they were opening. Got a sandwich or something and joked about growing into the neighborhood together. I ate the sandwich and thought "I'll still be here after you close."

Hate to be cynical, but it's a dime-a-dozen place.