^Horrible traffic is the norm everywhere in LA...my neighborhood is hardly unique in that regard. It's not the best of neighborhoods, but I can walk to a ton of restaurants, 2 grocery stores, some bars, and downtown is just a short ($.25) bus ride away. Although it looks bad, and looks auto dependent, it's actually surprisingly walkable.

 

It can be auto-dependent and walkable at the same time.  That's pretty much all of Los Angeles south of the Santa Monica Mountains.

 

In Columbus, I drove by Yellow Brick Pizza the other day, amid boarded-up Section 8 rowhouses on Oak Street on the Near East Side. I hear it's good pizza and a great beer selection. I plan to try it.

 

 

In parts of the near east side I was familiar with years ago, it was actually a nice neighborhood. I hope its not all turning to crap. Some of the nicest houses and architecture were around there.

 

That area has been in decline since the 1950's yet it's becoming more gentrified ala Yellow Brick Pizza.  There's still work to be done but it's getting there.

Tommys Diner in The Bottoms. It's like a loyalty thing I guess, since I was a kid. I go to convenience stores all over the bottoms and hilltop all the time. I'm not sure if that counts. If I go to restaurants/bars/coffee shops I go to places like Aladdin's in Grandview - Caribou next door, Northstar in the Short, Cup 'o Joe on the Cap (btw Columbusite were you in there a couple days ago? I saw someone that looked just like you, sitting down, on their laptop). I don't really eat at many restaurants in the bad neighborhoods because none of my friends ever want to go.

 

I agree the taco trucks on the west side are incredible. You get so much burrito for 5 bucks. It's crazy though, there will be 2 taco trucks right near each other - one charges 5 for a burrito and the other charges 6 yet they're the same size, ingredients, etc. 

you know what i try to eat and buy local no matter what neighborhood i'm in. since i work in all the ny 'hoods i go the local places to shop or eat and try to pump them up with publicity on the internets social media outlets. i'm the mayor of tons of little joints on foursquare even after one post haha. so i hope everyone takes a moment to post about the rougher neighborhood places you go to on yelp and citysearch and cleveland dot bomb and sites like that -- after your purchase help them out further with your free/honest publicity!!!

 

I'm glad you brought that up.  Yelp, foursquare, opentable, facebook dont see a lot of activity in Cleveland.  Compared to metro regions the same size it's like people dont use social media to the same extent.

 

Opentable hurts the restaurateurs that use it.  When I found that out, I quit using it.  Yelp is a freaking joke and half the posts on there are fake.  Nobody in the real food world takes it seriously.

 

whoa, wait, you realize the problem here is what you have just implied is to do nothing online?

 

i mean sure yelp and citysearch and other sites have restaurant shills. so what? everyone knows that, thats why we have chowhound, right? ;)

 

but we are not talking about well known places in popular neighborhoods, nor exclusively restaurants for that matter. remember we are talking about "bad" neighborhood places that do not even freakin exist on sites like those....until someone adds them.

 

so....if you get great car repair service, find a decent diner or maybe you like a forlorn antique store in a unpopular 'hood why not add it in and/or post a review? -- yours may be the only one! besides noodging some people's 'preset perceptions' and giving the joint much needed publicity at the very least it may come in handy for somebody sometime.

 

bottom line is sure most websites arent perfect, still if you ask me using that excuse to not post on the 'nets is definately not helpful to small business either.

 

Nice John Vargas "painted clothing" on that hottie in your avatar, mrnyc.

you know what i try to eat and buy local no matter what neighborhood i'm in. since i work in all the ny 'hoods i go the local places to shop or eat and try to pump them up with publicity on the internets social media outlets. i'm the mayor of tons of little joints on foursquare even after one post haha. so i hope everyone takes a moment to post about the rougher neighborhood places you go to on yelp and citysearch and cleveland dot bomb and sites like that -- after your purchase help them out further with your free/honest publicity!!!

 

I'm glad you brought that up. Yelp, foursquare, opentable, facebook dont see a lot of activity in Cleveland. Compared to metro regions the same size it's like people dont use social media to the same extent.

 

Opentable hurts the restaurateurs that use it. When I found that out, I quit using it. Yelp is a freaking joke and half the posts on there are fake. Nobody in the real food world takes it seriously.

 

whoa, wait, you realize the problem here is what you have just implied is to do nothing online?

 

i mean sure yelp and citysearch and other sites have restaurant shills. so what? everyone knows that, thats why we have chowhound, right? ;)

 

but we are not talking about well known places in popular neighborhoods, nor exclusively restaurants for that matter. remember we are talking about "bad" neighborhood places that do not even freakin exist on sites like those....until someone adds them.

 

so....if you get great car repair service, find a decent diner or maybe you like a forlorn antique store in a unpopular 'hood why not add it in and/or post a review? -- yours may be the only one! besides noodging some people's 'preset perceptions' and giving the joint much needed publicity at the very least it may come in handy for somebody sometime.

 

bottom line is sure most websites arent perfect, still if you ask me using that excuse to not post on the 'nets is definately not helpful to small business either.

 

 

I never said don't use the internet.  Never said that.  I said open table cuts into businesses' profits so I don't use it, and that yelp is full of fake reviews.  There are other websites, including CH like you mentioned or eG.  If a restaurant takes online reservations on their website, I would of course use that.  I just don't want to use OT because of the fees. 

If a restaurant takes online reservations on their website, I would of course use that. I just don't want to use OT because of the fees.

 

Restaurants that wish to take online reservations have three options:  pay a bunch of money to someone or spend a lot of time and energy creating their own or buying an online reservation system for their website (if they even have one), pay somebody else who already has the expertise (OpenTable) to do it for them, or decide it's not worth the cost.  Restaurants make one of these three choices based on what they expect the return on their investment will be.  Why would you assume that creating their own reservation system may be any less of a loss to the restaurant than OpenTable?

I'm sure there is some kind of fee with having a website, which is already built into the cost of them doing business.  OT is a cost on top of that. 

you know what i try to eat and buy local no matter what neighborhood i'm in. since i work in all the ny 'hoods i go the local places to shop or eat and try to pump them up with publicity on the internets social media outlets. i'm the mayor of tons of little joints on foursquare even after one post haha. so i hope everyone takes a moment to post about the rougher neighborhood places you go to on yelp and citysearch and cleveland dot bomb and sites like that -- after your purchase help them out further with your free/honest publicity!!!

 

I'm glad you brought that up. Yelp, foursquare, opentable, facebook dont see a lot of activity in Cleveland. Compared to metro regions the same size it's like people dont use social media to the same extent.

 

Opentable hurts the restaurateurs that use it. When I found that out, I quit using it. Yelp is a freaking joke and half the posts on there are fake. Nobody in the real food world takes it seriously.

 

whoa, wait, you realize the problem here is what you have just implied is to do nothing online?

 

i mean sure yelp and citysearch and other sites have restaurant shills. so what? everyone knows that, thats why we have chowhound, right? ;)

 

but we are not talking about well known places in popular neighborhoods, nor exclusively restaurants for that matter. remember we are talking about "bad" neighborhood places that do not even freakin exist on sites like those....until someone adds them.

 

so....if you get great car repair service, find a decent diner or maybe you like a forlorn antique store in a unpopular 'hood why not add it in and/or post a review? -- yours may be the only one! besides noodging some people's 'preset perceptions' and giving the joint much needed publicity at the very least it may come in handy for somebody sometime.

 

bottom line is sure most websites arent perfect, still if you ask me using that excuse to not post on the 'nets is definately not helpful to small business either.

 

 

I never said don't use the internet. Never said that. I said open table cuts into businesses' profits so I don't use it, and that yelp is full of fake reviews. There are other websites, including CH like you mentioned or eG. If a restaurant takes online reservations on their website, I would of course use that. I just don't want to use OT because of the fees.

 

sorry you fell into my pet peeve of critiquing up there. ie., you cant slam something without also giving a solution or suggestion. which you just did so thx!!

 

we agree on chowhound & egullet for food of course, and i have no opinion on open table, i dont use it either i just call.

 

otoh we'll just have to agree to disagree on yelp, citysearch & the like. yes there are shills for popular or hyped restaurants and other places on there, but they are easy to spot  -- plus its still useful for basic info like phone#, map, etc.

 

however, my point is there is also plenty of nothing nada scratch bupkis zero zip on those sites too about small businesses in bad neighborhoods that i think are well worth some internet publicity!!! but if you have other preferred online websites or apps for finding out quick info on small local businesses i am all ears...?!

 

 

you know what i try to eat and buy local no matter what neighborhood i'm in. since i work in all the ny 'hoods i go the local places to shop or eat and try to pump them up with publicity on the internets social media outlets. i'm the mayor of tons of little joints on foursquare even after one post haha. so i hope everyone takes a moment to post about the rougher neighborhood places you go to on yelp and citysearch and cleveland dot bomb and sites like that -- after your purchase help them out further with your free/honest publicity!!!

 

I'm glad you brought that up.  Yelp, foursquare, opentable, facebook dont see a lot of activity in Cleveland.  Compared to metro regions the same size it's like people dont use social media to the same extent.

 

Opentable hurts the restaurateurs that use it.  When I found that out, I quit using it.  Yelp is a freaking joke and half the posts on there are fake.  Nobody in the real food world takes it seriously.

 

whoa, wait, you realize the problem here is what you have just implied is to do nothing online?

 

i mean sure yelp and citysearch and other sites have restaurant shills. so what? everyone knows that, thats why we have chowhound, right? ;)

 

but we are not talking about well known places in popular neighborhoods, nor exclusively restaurants for that matter. remember we are talking about "bad" neighborhood places that do not even freakin exist on sites like those....until someone adds them.

 

so....if you get great car repair service, find a decent diner or maybe you like a forlorn antique store in a unpopular 'hood why not add it in and/or post a review? -- yours may be the only one! besides noodging some people's 'preset perceptions' and giving the joint much needed publicity at the very least it may come in handy for somebody sometime.

 

bottom line is sure most websites arent perfect, still if you ask me using that excuse to not post on the 'nets is definately not helpful to small business either.

 

 

I never said don't use the internet.  Never said that.  I said open table cuts into businesses' profits so I don't use it, and that yelp is full of fake reviews.  There are other websites, including CH like you mentioned or eG.  If a restaurant takes online reservations on their website, I would of course use that.  I just don't want to use OT because of the fees. 

 

RNR how does OT cut into profits? Please explain that to me.  I dont understand how a restaurant that buys OT and knows what the charges are "cuts into profits" when opentable opens up that restaurant to more visitors/paid customers.

I'm not really the target audience for those things so developing an idea for a solution for those types of people is not really a high priority for me.  I'm not saying that to be snarky, it's just not.  I don't own a phone that has internet capabilities, and though I like looking at restaurant websites for menus, most of the time if I want a reservation, I'll just call - it works for me, it's worked for decades, and I don't have a reason to switch.

 

But we all digress - back on topic!

you know what i try to eat and buy local no matter what neighborhood i'm in. since i work in all the ny 'hoods i go the local places to shop or eat and try to pump them up with publicity on the internets social media outlets. i'm the mayor of tons of little joints on foursquare even after one post haha. so i hope everyone takes a moment to post about the rougher neighborhood places you go to on yelp and citysearch and cleveland dot bomb and sites like that -- after your purchase help them out further with your free/honest publicity!!!

 

I'm glad you brought that up.  Yelp, foursquare, opentable, facebook dont see a lot of activity in Cleveland.  Compared to metro regions the same size it's like people dont use social media to the same extent.

 

Opentable hurts the restaurateurs that use it.  When I found that out, I quit using it.  Yelp is a freaking joke and half the posts on there are fake.  Nobody in the real food world takes it seriously.

 

whoa, wait, you realize the problem here is what you have just implied is to do nothing online?

 

i mean sure yelp and citysearch and other sites have restaurant shills. so what? everyone knows that, thats why we have chowhound, right? ;)

 

but we are not talking about well known places in popular neighborhoods, nor exclusively restaurants for that matter. remember we are talking about "bad" neighborhood places that do not even freakin exist on sites like those....until someone adds them.

 

so....if you get great car repair service, find a decent diner or maybe you like a forlorn antique store in a unpopular 'hood why not add it in and/or post a review? -- yours may be the only one! besides noodging some people's 'preset perceptions' and giving the joint much needed publicity at the very least it may come in handy for somebody sometime.

 

bottom line is sure most websites arent perfect, still if you ask me using that excuse to not post on the 'nets is definately not helpful to small business either.

 

 

I never said don't use the internet.  Never said that.  I said open table cuts into businesses' profits so I don't use it, and that yelp is full of fake reviews.  There are other websites, including CH like you mentioned or eG.  If a restaurant takes online reservations on their website, I would of course use that.  I just don't want to use OT because of the fees. 

 

sorry you fell into my pet peeve of critiquing up there. ie., you cant slam something without also giving a solution or suggestion. which you just did so thx!!

 

we agree on chowhound & egullet for food of course, and i have no opinion on open table, i dont use it either i just call.

 

otoh we'll just have to agree to disagree on yelp, citysearch & the like. yes there are shills for popular or hyped restaurants and other places on there, but they are easy to spot  -- plus its still useful for basic info like phone#, map, etc.

 

however, my point is there is also plenty of nothing nada scratch bupkis zero zip on those sites too about small businesses in bad neighborhoods that i think are well worth some internet publicity!!! but if you have other preferred online websites or apps for finding out quick info on small local businesses i am all ears...?!

 

 

 

I agree with mrnyc.  hell there have been postings here on UO that have not been accurate, would we say UO is full of fake posting or reviews?

I'm sure there is some kind of fee with having a website, which is already built into the cost of them doing business.  OT is a cost on top of that. 

 

Having a website is a fee, yes.  But implementing online reservations doesn't just "come with" having a website.  There would be another fee for implementing and maintaining such a system.  These thing don't just work magically and they aren't free.

speaking of that, i wish there was a menupages for cleveland! it is expanding cities, but glacially.

As I said before, back on topic! 

I'll have to remember some places listed here next time I head out to the other Cs. Recently, I went to Yellow Brick Pizza to hang out since Urban Spirit Coffee Shop on Long St in King-Lincoln was closed on Saturday evening (an ODOT rep sneered at the suggestion by the owner of converting Long to two-way all the way through Downtown because, and I'm paraphrasing, 'why would we want to send people to that neighborhood?') prior to going on a neighborhood tour further south (just posted it). Yellow Brick Pizza really is a nice solid place and they have some great beers on tap that are heavily discounted at happy hour. The only downside is that there was a guy I was interested in over there, but once I overheard him say "she's cute" in a conversation with his friend that was that. Oak Street really should already have several new businesses since virtually all of the residential streets around it are in good shape with empty commercial structures that just don't look right in that scenario.

 

I have to say that the number of worthy destinations in up-and-coming areas in Cbus really helps fuel optimism for multiplying our number of great urban business districts. There's a Tex Mex truck in Franklinton and soon a new South Philly-style Italian restaurant is in the works. Parsons got a new art gallery, Linden is seeing more restaurants (mostly food truck form) pop up, and Highland West has a new yoga studio where a bailbonds storefront was.

you know what i try to eat and buy local no matter what neighborhood i'm in. since i work in all the ny 'hoods i go the local places to shop or eat and try to pump them up with publicity on the internets social media outlets. i'm the mayor of tons of little joints on foursquare even after one post haha. so i hope everyone takes a moment to post about the rougher neighborhood places you go to on yelp and citysearch and cleveland dot bomb and sites like that -- after your purchase help them out further with your free/honest publicity!!!

 

I'm glad you brought that up.  Yelp, foursquare, opentable, facebook dont see a lot of activity in Cleveland.  Compared to metro regions the same size it's like people dont use social media to the same extent.

 

Opentable hurts the restaurateurs that use it.  When I found that out, I quit using it.  Yelp is a freaking joke and half the posts on there are fake.  Nobody in the real food world takes it seriously.

 

whoa, wait, you realize the problem here is what you have just implied is to do nothing online?

 

i mean sure yelp and citysearch and other sites have restaurant shills. so what? everyone knows that, thats why we have chowhound, right? ;)

 

but we are not talking about well known places in popular neighborhoods, nor exclusively restaurants for that matter. remember we are talking about "bad" neighborhood places that do not even freakin exist on sites like those....until someone adds them.

 

so....if you get great car repair service, find a decent diner or maybe you like a forlorn antique store in a unpopular 'hood why not add it in and/or post a review? -- yours may be the only one! besides noodging some people's 'preset perceptions' and giving the joint much needed publicity at the very least it may come in handy for somebody sometime.

 

bottom line is sure most websites arent perfect, still if you ask me using that excuse to not post on the 'nets is definately not helpful to small business either.

 

 

I never said don't use the internet.  Never said that.  I said open table cuts into businesses' profits so I don't use it, and that yelp is full of fake reviews.  There are other websites, including CH like you mentioned or eG.  If a restaurant takes online reservations on their website, I would of course use that.  I just don't want to use OT because of the fees. 

 

RNR how does OT cut into profits? Please explain that to me.  I dont understand how a restaurant that buys OT and knows what the charges are "cuts into profits" when opentable opens up that restaurant to more visitors/paid customers.

 

Can't speak to the profitability impact, but I can point out a glitch the Mrs. and I have noticed. We don't use OT all the time, but there have been two times we did where OT didn't show availability, but when we called, we were given a reservation. Now, maybe that's a communication issue, but it feeds into the Mrs. fear of not speaking to a human for things like this. So now we've stopped using it.

 

On topic: I like to go to Whitmores on Kinsman. I love LOVE their sauce. I could pour it into a glass and drink it. I'll get a Po boy and a half slab, and some fried shrimp for the Mrs.

Stay away from the $5/ slice duncan hines cake, though, lol.

Can't speak to the profitability impact, but I can point out a glitch the Mrs. and I have noticed. We don't use OT all the time, but there have been two times we did where OT didn't show availability, but when we called, we were given a reservation. Now, maybe that's a communication issue, but it feeds into the Mrs. fear of not speaking to a human for things like this. So now we've stopped using it.

 

On topic: I like to go to Whitmores on Kinsman. I love LOVE their sauce. I could pour it into a glass and drink it. I'll get a Po boy and a half slab, and some fried shrimp for the Mrs.

Stay away from the $5/ slice duncan hines cake, though, lol.

 

In some restaurants OT is used for all tables and in others, the restaurant choses to use OT only on a percentage of tables. 

 

There are also instances where a restaurant does not show on OT, but they use software for their in house bookings and thats how they send you confirmations.