Restaurant Rosalie
Looks like we are losing another area restaurant. Restaurant Rosalie located in Cedars, PA will close its doors after dinner service on Saturday, February 27th. Known for his sous vide style cooking, Chef Gregory Ott prided himself on serving local fresh ingredients. His culinary delights will surely be missed, although he does promise to keep cooking. Stay tuned….
South Ocean has opening in the Acme Shopping Center on Bethlehem Pike in Flourtown, PA. Early reviews are mostly positive. While the sashimi pictured above was sliced too thick for our liking, the yellow tail roll, on the other hand was fresh and flavorful.
The sushi rolls passed our “comp pricing standards’ of $6-$8 per roll for classic rolls, such as spicy tuna and unagi rolls.
The tempura (this plate was half eaten before the picture could be snapped) was light and crisp. We highly recommend, as this is a perfect execution.
This is the So Special Duck. It is crispy boneless duck over top of jumbo shrimp, chicken, roasted pork and beef cooked in house special Peking sauce with vegetables. My children are addicted to this dish and have ordered it multiple times in the 3 weeks that the restaurant has been open. As some of our toughest critics, I would say, that is a big statement on this dish. Although, I will warn that the crispy skin is far less crispy in a take out order than when dining in the restaurant.
Our full review will be forthcoming. This restaurant has received reviews in comments of previous blogs.
More restaurants Close!
We don’t like bad news! But, I guess it doesn’t matter. Holiday season or no holiday season, restaurants continue to close their doors. Here are today’s latest casualties as reported by Foobooz and The Delaware County Times.
Ava, Kibitz in The City, New Hope’s La Bonne Auberge and more…
Not to sound preachy, but as always, we remind everyone how important it is to support your local restaurants if you want them to stay in business. If you like a place, make sure you visit or they may not be there for you in the future!
A corner bar in your town U.S.A.
Remember the corner bar? The place that people would hang with friends to watch the big games, meet to catch up after work for a drink, and grab a bite to eat. There was always a happy hour on Friday. Everyone knew everyone else. Sure, it was dark, and maybe not the trendiest place in town, but it was usually inexpensive and you knew the menu inside and out. The server knew your name and they knew what you were drinking without you ordering it.
Wait – was that me, or was it my dad? Did that bar exist for me, or did I see it on television? Was that my father’s corner bar? Did you ever have a corner bar? I’ve been in corner bars, but I wasn’t 30 something then. I may not even be incline to discuss how old I was then, if you catch my not so discreet drift! Yet, there were so many bars in the town I grew up in, at the time.
It was not that long ago that people went out to watch games together in “the corner bars.” What has become of the neighborhood camaraderie? Where did everyone go? They are not in the local spots, that is for sure. In search of some neighborhood “flavor,” some friends and I set out in search of the best hidden treasure in the Philadelphia area over the past few Sundays. The results were not only disappointing, but downright depressing.
Our neighborhood bars are empty.
From Ambler to Bala, from Manayunk to Roxborough, from Fairmount to Fishtown, from Center City to West Philly; our neighborhood bars are empty. Our Eagles are playing and the bars are empty. The first week, the weather was nice, so we thought that people wanted to be outside. The next week, we thought the problem was that the small places, without The NFL Ticket, were empty because they were unappealing to football fans.
Then, we finally found some corner bars that had all of the games and they were still empty, however, they didn’t have any real food to write home about. That scenario did not last very long because eventually a bar came along that had food and they were showing all of the games. So, what conclusion can we draw from this? Have we simply outgrown the old fashioned bar?
Are we really ONLY interested in the newest, hottest, trendiest, biggest, next thing to come down the pike?
They are still packing them in at the largest sports bars in town. The prices there are not less. The food is not better at all of them. Yes, some have good food, but that isn’t the draw for all of them. Our neighborhood bars cannot continue to thrive serving 10-15 patrons on a Sunday afternoon. Does anyone care?
Business it tough these days!
We are in a recession. There is a lot of competition and most of all, the consumer is always looking to the next best thing.
It’s not good enough to have good food.
It’s not good enough to just open your doors and think people will show up.
This is the story of the decline of a neighborhood restaurant.
I think we were all told early in life that we could never take anything for granted, and yet we do. Don’t we? At an early age, we make friends. Then, we assume that we can ignore them for a day or two and go play with the new kid in the neighborhood and our original friends will be sitting around and waiting for us to come back to them. When they go find a new friend our feelings our hurt. We took the friendship for granted. It seems that happens a lot in business.
Once upon a time a restaurant opens in a neighborhood and they serve good food at a good price. They put their heart and sole into the place, and people come. They pack the house, day and night, for years. The owners know most of the regulars by name. The restaurant gets written up in local newspapers and magazines and life is good. It is a dream come true for the owners.
Enjoying the fruits of their labor, the owners, spend less and less time in the restaurant passing the torch to their now, well trained staffs. As time passes, and the economy grows, more restaurants quietly open in the town, and the customer base slowly spreads out, and revenues slowly slide. Without notice, the business starts to decline.
Why did business decline? Your staff is trained, but guess what? When the cat’s away, the mice will play. You didn’t hire a master chef or a trained executive to direct the dining room. Your manager is your cousin’s neighbor from childhood with no prior experience and your chef is not a chef but a guy who can cook because you taught him to cook. It’s not their business, it is a job for them.
Your manager doesn’t greet customers like family. Service has lost its luster. The kitchen isn’t moving quite as rhythmically. Is that dust on the windowsills? The servers and bartenders chat, a lot. No one cleans the bathrooms, until you are due to visit, if someone remembers.
What do most restaurants do when business is slow? They cut costs.
OK, conveniently the recession hits and business is down and it’s time to evaluate what to do next to fix the business. No one will notice using lower quality ingredients, see through toilet paper, a skeleton crew in the front of the house or in the kitchen. Guess again!
The restaurants I am referring to have been established for many years and therefore are generally owned by, (cough), a more mature person. They are usually set in their ways and are not amenable to change, hence the reason they are in this position! It is difficult for them to assess what has caused the downtrend except for the economy. Their food is good.
So, here we are in a restaurant that has no staff so service is slow, although there is no one else here. There is dust on the shelves and windowsills because there is no staff to clean it. The bathrooms are dirty because there is no one to clean them. The menus are crusted with food, dried tomato sauce and I don’t even want to know what else!
At this point, we want to leave. There is no one else here. The place is disgusting. My once favorite place in town has gone from being the pinnacle of Italian Cuisine in our area, to a place I felt embarrassed to be sitting in with friends. I wasn’t sure if I felt more embarrassed for myself or the owner at this point. I’m not sure why, but we decided to stay. Maybe my friends felt sorry for all of us, collectively.
The food was still good, and that was the saddest part. The food was not the reason for the decline. What the owner does not realize is that the large garish signs on the door promoting coupons and online promotions that are “dumbing down” his once pristine business will not save him, but further hasten his demise.
You built your business on quality and service, not gimmicks.
Why do you believe that gimmicks, not quality and service will save your business now?
Venice Island, the Manayunk space that was originally developed by Derek Davis to house Arroyo Grille in 1996 and then was converted to Carmella’s in 2003 has been empty now for roughly 4 years. While there have been proposed building projects for the site, we are unaware of anything currently finalized.
Becoming a complete eye sore - enough already !!!
What a shame for such a large accessible venue to be such an eye sore. What are your thoughts on this location? Should this building be demolished and the area be preserved by the city? Should it be redeveloped into a dining destination? Or do you have other suggestions?
There is a lot going on suddenly in the Flourtown/Fort Washington neighborhoods…
The location at 735 Bethlehem Pike in Flourtown has been home to Rusty’s Schooner for years, although perhaps unsuccessfully, as it has changed hands repeatedly.
It looks like it has perhaps reached the end of its life-cycle. The seafood takeout spot has been closed and cleaned out.
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South Ocean, a Japanese/Chinese restaurant is due to open in the Acme Shopping Center in late October. A conversation with the owner confirmed the space will have a sushi bar and will be BYO.
Does anyone pre-judge a restaurant by its signing? What does the appearance of the exterior of this restaurant say to you?
We couldn’t help but wondering why it’s necessary to have the neon lights in the windows and the standard “strip mall” signage. The description of the sushi bar being built created a different visual image. Imagine our surprise when this when up…
Just curious, does it matter to you?
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MaGerk’s is due to open September 21st at 582 South Bethlehem Pike, Fort Washington, formerly the Bent Elbow. Owners of this Maryland based Pub were born and raised in the Philadelphia area and return home now to restore this 142 year old landmark into a family friendly restaurant and bar. They will serve variation of the Philly Cheesesteak, along with other pub fare. They have over 30 televisions and 3 bars.
Visit our Facebook page for additional construction pictures of MaGerk’s.
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Halligan’s Pub in Flourtown just putting finishing touches on their new rear outdoor patio.