September 1, 200618 yr ^ I agree with the food comment. I miss the old menu. However, their fish and chips are delicious!
September 5, 200618 yr I saw a "now hiring" sign at the north east corner of 4th and Walnut for something called "Fresh". I assumed it was for a restaurant. Does anyone have any info?
September 5, 200618 yr ^ I think it's supposed to be a new healthy deli type eatery. I'm not sure if it's a national chain or a local place though.
September 5, 200618 yr Someone who lives in Groton Lofts told me the other day that a Friday's was supposed to fill the space vacated by Redfish. I am not sure on the validity of this though.
September 5, 200618 yr Someone who lives in Groton Lofts told me the other day that a Friday's was supposed to fill the space vacated by Redfish. I am not sure on the validity of this though. BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO! I hope that's not true. :( However, I'm sure the suburbanites would love it.
September 11, 200618 yr Last call for Jack Quinn's Irish restaurant, pub announces close BY CINDY SCHROEDER | ENQUIRER STAFF WRITER September 11, 2006 PHOTO: Jack Quinn's Building The Enquirer/Sarah Conard COVINGTON - It opened with high hopes in August 1998, but just short of its eighth anniversary, Jack Quinn's Restaurant & Irish Pub has closed. Rest of article: http://news.nky.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/AB/20060911/NEWS0103/609110347
September 11, 200618 yr Round-the-clock eatery eyeing Cincinnati Cincinnati Business Courier September 8, 2006 CINCINNATI - Huddle House, an Atlanta family restaurant chain known for its large menu of traditional fare sold around the clock, is looking for franchisees so it can expand into Cincinnati. Rest of article: http://cincinnati.bizjournals.com/cincinnati/stories/2006/09/04/daily37.html?surround=lfn
September 11, 200618 yr So they came to Cincinnati for its population size but their locations will be in Wilmington, Lebanon, Batavia and Lawrenceburg? Nice...
September 11, 200618 yr It just sounds like an odd name for a restaurant. Maybe it was another creative reuse of an existing sign, Huddle House would fit perfectly: Here is the thread where some other signs are posted/discussed: http://www.urbanohio.com/forum2/index.php?topic=9835.0
September 11, 200618 yr The 40-year-old company wants to open five locations in the market and is targeting Batavia, Fairfield, Wilmington, Lebanon and Lawrenceburg. Utter trash. "You don't just walk into a bar and mix it up by calling a girl fat" - buildingcincinnati speaking about new forumers
September 11, 200618 yr ^Oh, so it is a waffle house ripoff :] And a poor one at that (based on the ones here in Alabama).
September 11, 200618 yr ^Oh, so it is a waffle house ripoff :] And a poor one at that (based on the ones here in Alabama). Wow, I didn't know it could get worse than Awful House.
September 11, 200618 yr I actually ate at a Waffle & Steak in Indiana...it is actually a Waffle House, but they couldn't name them that in Indiana because of some naming dispute or something like that in Indiana
September 12, 200618 yr ^Oh, so it is a waffle house ripoff :] And a poor one at that (based on the ones here in Alabama). I would say it is on par with Waffle House...which is not saying much. It kind of depends on the city/location; the more backwoods you go, the sketchier they get. I actually like their "Big Breakfast Combos" or "Big Star Breakfast" (I forget the name) better than Waffle House's versions.
September 13, 200618 yr I actually ate at a Waffle & Steak in Indiana...it is actually a Waffle House, but they couldn't name them that in Indiana because of some naming dispute or something like that in Indiana There is a chain called Waffle House based in Plainfield (west of Indianapolis on US 40) that had a combination yellow and orange sun/blue moon symbol. According to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Waffle_House the Indiana-based Waffle House has renamed itself Sunshine Cafe (there is or used to be one in Middletown near the Marsh grocery as far as Ohio goes), and the Waffle Steak locations in Indiana are changing "Steak" to "House."
September 14, 200618 yr I don't know if anyone has posted this already on any other thread, but earlier tonight, I found out that Bella (located downtown on Walnut Street next to the Aronoff Center) has "closed for remodeling until further notice." Apparently, not even the employees knew about this until they tried to come into work today, and they have not yet been paid. I don't know too much more about the story, but hopefully there will be an article in tomorrow morning's paper about it.
September 14, 200618 yr Freaking Queen City Restaurant Group - why the lies? http://www.queencityrestaurantgroup.com/ http://www.bellacincinnati.com/ Click on the URL's, they even let the domain hosting lapse. I knew this was going to happen. The newspaper will probably twist it as "Another Downtown Restaurant" closes when we all know it was poor management. Bella was always slammed.
September 14, 200618 yr And to think the 580 building retail/renno is coming along smoothly too. Maybe they are just performing upgrades to the site? :-/
September 14, 200618 yr I'm sure that there will be naysayers that will look to tie the restaurant closing into a greater narrative about how "downtown sucks and everybody wants to quickly abandon the sinking ship" but you're right Monte, this definitely appears to be more about poor management than anything else. In addition to letting their domains expire, the Queen City Restaurant Group has also let Bella's liquor license lapse weeks ago, for owing the state back taxes...(Not the first or second restaurant under their management to do so, mind you) ...and when one local TV station tried to reach QCRG President Vince Bryant for comment, he hung up on them. Class Act.
September 14, 200618 yr It be one thing if Bella closing were the result of a hard working business owner who could not make it in the downtown environment but lets face it, this guy was a sheister. In one year he has had his investors pull out from Jump 05 (when they realized he did not pay payroll and liquor taxes) has presided over the closure of Watson Brothers in Blue Ash (Again, what good is a microbrewery that has no liquor license) and Donna's Diner, a popular diner in NKY for letting his liquor permit lapse again. IS anyone the least bit surprised that the same fete happened to Bella. It usually drew a decent crowd from what I saw. I was just telling a friend last weekend how Bella would probably be done by the end of the year due to all the other holdings of this guy going under. The thing that makes this worse is that it does not bode well for Teller's in Hyde Park (his other restaurant). I read a while back they had problems with their liquor taxes. I will not be surprised if Teller's suffers the same fete.
September 14, 200618 yr Yeah, the weeds are gettin' high around Watson's...used to be you couldn't find anywhere to park at happy hour - the entire lot was packed, and all up and down the street. Must be Blue Ash can't support businesses anymore.
September 14, 200618 yr Bella restaurant closes BY CLIFF PEALE | ENQUIRER STAFF WRITER September 14, 2006 CINCINNATI - The Bella restaurant at Sixth and Walnut streets in downtown Cincinnati closed Wednesday, but owners have told investors they hope to reopen it later this fall after raising more money. Rest of article: http://news.enquirer.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060914/NEWS01/309140029
September 14, 200618 yr The headline on Fox 19 this morning was, "ANOTHER DOWNTOWN RESTAURANT CLOSES". As for Mr. Cliff Peale, if he did some research he would know that the bellacincinnati.com domain had been disabled for a while. It was not temporarily disabled last night. They did however renew their domain name in May: Registrant: Queen City Restaurant Group 2645 Erie Ave Suite 301 Cincinnati, Ohio 45208 UNITED STATES Registered through: GoDaddy.com, Inc. (http://www.godaddy.com) Domain Name: BELLACINCINNATI.COM Created on: 23-May-01 Expires on: 23-May-07 Last Updated on: 23-May-06 Administrative Contact: Huck, Jason [email protected] Core Five Creative 1340 Clay Street Second Floor Cincinnati, Ohio 45202 United States 5137230101 Technical Contact: Huck, Jason [email protected] Core Five Creative 1340 Clay Street Second Floor Cincinnati, Ohio 45202 United States 5137230101 Domain servers in listed order: NS1.FLAGSHIPHOSTING.COM NS2.FLAGSHIPHOSTING.COM Registry Status: ACTIVE Registry Status: ok
September 15, 200618 yr Bella owners hoping to reopen BY CLIFF PEALE | ENQUIRER STAFF WRITER September 15, 2006 CINCINNATI - The Bella restaurant at Sixth and Walnut streets in downtown Cincinnati has closed, but owners have told investors they hope to reopen it this fall after raising more money. Rest of article: http://news.enquirer.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060915/BIZ01/609150352/1076/BIZ
September 15, 200618 yr Author Sounds like this group has major problems causing all the closings.... Bella closes its doors Restaurant third in group to shut down By Greg Paeth Post staff reporter Bella, a popular dining and drinking spot at one of downtown Cincinnati's most heavily traveled intersections, has closed abruptly, becoming the third Queen City Restaurant Group restaurant to shut down this year. Rest of article: http://news.cincypost.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060914/BIZ/609140331/1001
September 16, 200618 yr Would you enter a leasing arrangement with these clowns knowing their complete lack of business sense? I sure wouldn't! From the 9/16/06 Enquirer: New life for Jack Quinn's? Options include Irish pub, gay nightclub BY MIKE RUTLEDGE | ENQUIRER STAFF WRITER COVINGTON - Owners of the former Jack Quinn's Restaurant & Irish Pub building are considering leasing the property to tenants - including companies wanting to run an Irish pub, or a gay-oriented nightclub - or selling the Covington building. Rest of article: http://news.enquirer.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060916/NEWS0103/609160399/1059/rss13
September 17, 200618 yr Author Restaurant group questioned Finances, closings draw attention BY CLIFF PEALE | ENQUIRER STAFF WRITER From the beginning, the Queen City Restaurant Group has tried to make a splash. The restaurants owe more than $1 million combined in federal and state taxes. For more information: http://news.enquirer.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060917/BIZ01/609170305/1076/BIZ
September 17, 200618 yr I repeat: Would you enter a leasing arrangement with these clowns knowing their complete lack of business sense? I sure wouldn't!
September 18, 200618 yr Yesterday I drove down Liberty and noticed that the Grammers building no longer had a for sale sign up and there were people walking around, and the doors were open. Has anyone heard if Jim Tarbell is reopening it or has someone purchased it?
September 18, 200618 yr It is still for sale. $499,000 ? Maybe it was $490,000 They were handing out the realtor's business cards at the tour. The inside still looks great.
September 19, 200618 yr Graeter's goes suburban New store bigger and more colorful BY JOHN ECKBERG | ENQUIRER STAFF WRITER September 19, 2006 IMAGE: These drawings show three sides of the new Graeter's store in Deerfield Township. PROVIDED CINCINNATI - With the grand opening of a Graeter's in Deerfield Township on Wednesday, a new look is coming to company stores that sell an old-time Cincinnati favorite. For rest of article: http://news.enquirer.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060919/BIZ01/609190326/1076/BIZ
September 19, 200618 yr Who knew that there were more Graeters in Columbus than in Cincy? And 7 in Louisville??
September 20, 200618 yr Who knew that there were more Graeters in Columbus than in Cincy? And 7 in Louisville?? With the 3 in Nky Greater Cincinnati actually has 15. This is one thing that bugs me, I remember when we simply used to be Greater Cincinnati instead of Greater Cincinnati and Northern Kentucky - it gets confusing with what area someone is referring to sometimes. Of course I could be interpreting the information incorrectly in the article.
September 20, 200618 yr That bugs me too. Northern Kentucky is Greater Cincinnati...why the redundancy?
September 20, 200618 yr They ALSO forgot to mention that there are three Graeter's stores in the Dayton area. "You don't just walk into a bar and mix it up by calling a girl fat" - buildingcincinnati speaking about new forumers
September 21, 200618 yr So Graeters is originally from Cincy right? I heard somewhere it was from Columbus but I had always thought it was based out of Mt. Auburn.
September 21, 200618 yr The Greaters stores in the Dayton area are run by the Columbus franchisee, and the Northern Kentucky stores are run by the Louisville franchisee I believe. The corporate parent only runs the cincinnati stores so the newspaper statement is accurate. The easiest way to tell if it is a corporate Graeters or franchise is whether there is a full service bakery or it is only an ice cream shop
September 21, 200618 yr Yes, it is a cinci institution, but they franchised to Columbus, Louisville, and Indy. The franchisees can only do the ice cream. They have the recipe and make it in their various city and distribute it to all their stores in their region. The product mix is controlled by the corporate parent in Cinci but the franchisees have a lot of autonomy as well
September 25, 200618 yr Author Downtown's Tower Place could add TGI Friday's to its menu Cincinnati Business Courier - September 22, 2006by Lisa Biank FasigStaff Reporter Casual eating chain TGI Friday's is thinking about opening a franchise location at Tower Place Mall downtown, an addition that would breathe needed vitality into the ailing center. The retailer's local franchise operator, the Bistro Group, is said to be talking about a lease with Madison Marquette, which is handling tenants for the mall. The restaurant chain is considering the former Gap location, a 6,600-square-foot space vacated in January. http://cincinnati.bizjournals.com/cincinnati/stories/2006/09/25/story9.html
September 25, 200618 yr Granted, it's Friday's, but downtown somewhat does need a "more affordable" option other than Rock Bottom, chain-wise. "You don't just walk into a bar and mix it up by calling a girl fat" - buildingcincinnati speaking about new forumers
September 25, 200618 yr I think the TGI Friday's announcement is great. More affordable options are needed and options recognized by tourists are also important part. Yes, we need original options as well but go to downtown Indy - every freakin chain you can think of is there.
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