New Restaurant you just knew would go kaput

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As the cultural backwater aka Omyhaw aka Omaha in the flat state of Nebraska grows westward the typical plethora of strip malls usually centered around one LARGE firm (a grocery store, a K-mart, Wal-Mart, Target, etc.) erupts from the once pristine grasslands and riverine vegetation that absorbed rainfall and provided a home for the the little bunnies and other sundry rodents, reptiles and other living things that are shoved aside as our population continuously swells while the Earth cries out for relief from the viral (human) infestation devouring the the planet.

In those strip malls we see the fast food scarf-n-barfs usually in its own building at the edge of the main parking area.

In the actual strip mall itself are the typical chain and locally-owned firms; hair dressers, shoe stores, Chinese food joints, a multitude of business types.

At least around here, a few local or franchise food firms are within the strip mall. Some chains are new to this area. Lately, for some reason, some entreprenuers or corporate big wigs have decided to open restaurants based upon noodles. Noodles this noodles that, several types of noodles. Several choices as to the type of goop or glop to heap upon the noodles. Chicken in some fancy-sounding sauce, beef or meatballs in other types of sauce. A fairly large choice of sauces with many sharing the same base sauce but with just different types or style of meat.

Once, out of curiosity, Coot ordered the chicken al fredo topping to go atop a pile of noodles. Believe it was around 7 bucks, a rather high price for Coot to pay, what with being able to grab 3 items from McDonalds one-buck menu or making my own dern grub at home for the cheapest caloric input.

But, once in awhile, Coot gets a hankerin' to behave like the bleating sheep swarming across the land.

Shoveled the grub into that big hole in the face and mashed the remaining teeth together. Hmmmm.... okay, but, nuthin' special at all. And, overpriced in Coot's opinion.

Never went back. And, predicted the firm would close in the near future.

While out running errands and with extra time to kill, stopped at a couple other of the noodle joints that had opened in other strip malls. Didn't buy, just walked in, glared at the menu, checked out prices, then left. Did this out of curiosity about those new-fangled noddle joints.

For what it was worth, none of the employees at any of the firms, and some of them may have been owners, did anything to encourage my partaking of their wares. If anything, they acted as if I was a bother. Heck, Coot had even combed the unruly mop atop the head and had the plastic teeth filling in the gap so it wasn't as if some stinky bum had invaded the place.

Well, Coot was out and about recently and noticed that two of the noodle joints had closed and there were no customers at the other one while, since it is Sunday and folks are out and about, filling most of the eateries, the lack of any customers is a bad sign. A terrible omen for those who invested their captital in that store.

Coot's prediction was correct and, has been pretty accurate in the past in determining which firms will last, even thrive and those that will quickly fade into oblivion.

So, herd, hath thou ever guessed, estimated, predicted a restaurant would close quickly for whatever reason(s) determined by thee? Then, proven correct later? Or, perhaps, proven wrong?

Though eatin' joints is the main category might be interesting to read about other firm-types where ye predicted an eventual out-of-business future and the reason(s) you thought it would happen.

Make the reading public's day. Share thine tale of woe and misery.... well, woeful to those that spent all that money starting the biz that went kaput.
 
Then there are the places with terrible chow that somehow remain open for years. Makes one wonder if they are just money laundering fronts.

So these noodle places - what style are they? What are the names? Are they Italian?
 
Most noodle places suck, especially the chain places. Panda Express or is it called Panda Noodles?...is REALLY greasy and almost inedible. Ramen noodles for $0.13 each are a better meal. Well, Unless they are ma & pa places where it's always packed inside. I was spoiled by often eating in Chinatown in Chicago, at only one restaurant, it was sooooo good.
 
About five years ago, my mother opened the first Quizno's Subs on Long Island. Since she was the first and paople always want to try something new, She did really well the first year. Quizno's said they were only going to put 27 restaraunts on LI. well, I guess they got greedy and now you can almost throw a rock from one Quizno's to another. Then the quality took a dump and now not ONE SINGLE QUIZNO's is making ANY money. It's too bad, really, because the places look nice and the food used to be pretty good. Oh well. I guess when they all close it will be a little easier to decide where to go for lunch. Fewer choices.
 
There are some of these trendy noodle joints in my area. One is called Nothing but Noodles. I tried it out of curiosity and neither the quality nor the quantity was worth the price. The one I ate at went out of business but there are others that still remain.
Two Ethiopian restaurants have opened and subsequently gone out of business in this area. They were pretty good but it doesn't surprise me that they couldn't survive here. Not enough people in this area will even try something like that.
 
There was a restaurant in the Norfolk, Virginia, area called the Spaghetti Warehouse. It doesn't take a genius to figure what the primary item on the menu was. Note past tense, as it's not quite around anymore.

About Pabs's money laundering comments: There is a "chain" of restaurants with the same name and cuisine (neither of which I'll identify) in a number of small towns throughout Virginia and neighboring areas of North Carolina. All of them look different inside (no common appearance or theme except "basic restaurant") and most do not seem to do much business. The food is mediocre, and on the surface it seems amazing that these places manage to remain open year after year. The rumors for years have been that these restaurants exist mainly to launder money for a certain illicit organization.
 
World famous Wagamama opened a few mths back walking distance from work. Nice but a bit expensive. I prefer the Indo Cafe for top quality Indonesian food. Good Asian everywhere here which makes sense as we are in Asia
 
We just had a Mexican restaurant busted here in Kansas City, that was laundering money for a drug ring.

Also we have a Chinese restaurant near my GF's house that never has more than 2 cars in the lot. And the 3 times we went in, the same guys were sitting there reading Chinese language newspaper, and weren't dressed to work in a food establishment. Thing that make you go HHHHMMMMMMMMMMMM
 
Went to a Korean Restuarant in a little strip mall. I'd never seen any traffic at it (danger sign) but it looked legit inside. I ordered the daily special but no drink since I was getting stuff to go for home. The hostess/waitress took my order but as soon as she went back in the kitchen a drunk Korean probably related to the family who owned the place turned to talk to me. She was the only other person in the place and had been watching the big screen TV that seemed to take up an entire wall. She told me in a sloppy drunk asian accent "You cheep! Order special and nothing else. How they going to stay in business with cheep customer". I'd already paid and when I ate the food it tasted like it was made from recipes generated by a food service company. "Korean salad - using Sysco frozen peas and carrots." Even with forced slave/child/family labor I can't see how these places continue to survive.
 
Kinda' tough to stay in business with all those cheap customers!!!!
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Yep, based in Tampa Florida, and have restaurants in many countries including Australia...I've heard (on this board no less) that their marinade is #@$%!...
 
Another phony OZ phenom! (Stupid USA SHEEPLE) I ate at Outback exactly twice. The second time I had no choice, as the boss insisted. I'm not sure what that juice is they soak the meat in, but I'm pretty sure it's not edible! (Kanga urine?)
 
Never been to Outback, although I pass the one in Marin City all the time. I wonder what food Outback is serving in OZ.
 
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