Farewell Quaker Steak and Lube

Just posted on FB they will be closing permanently January 31st.

Famous Dave's the prospective new tenant?

Happy Friar expansion?

All bathrooms will be moved off-site to this new location. This will allow the park to add new chicken tender food stands to be put in the current bathroom locations.

Have I told you how good the park's hand breaded chicken tenders are? They are to die for!

I wonder if the next tenant will still keep the interior looking exactly like a TGI Fridays.

Maybe we're finally getting that Hooters that has been so rudely teased for years on this site.

Every franchised joint in that building has been mediocre at best.

BDubs, Cheddar's, Yard House, Bonefish Grill, Ri Ra, Fords Garage or BJs; all would fit perfectly. Even Titled Kilt or Twin Peaks would work, or let Sortino's take over the space. Or Chet & Matt's. Or Costa Azul. Or Small City Taphouse. Or a mainland sit down restaurant with real Boardwalk lobster bisque.

So many options to arrive at probably Applebee's.

^^Now they could be mediocre at breas- never mind.

B-Dubs: already on Milan Rd area
Cheddars: possible, and a nice choice.
Yard House: haven't heard of it. Worth consideration.
Bonefish Grill: not sure seafood would be the best option for that spot.
Ri Ra: Most people never heard of that. Way too rare.
Ford's Garage: I went to one last Fall, and left unimpressed. Reviews are high on Google though.
BJ's: definite option.
Breastaurants: possible, though I would prefer something more family oriented there.
The others are already too close to that spot. I doubt they would relocate.

Personally, I would prefer the Cheddars or BJ'S among those options.

And let's consider applying the list to the TGI Fridays inside Breakers, should that close.

I did not know it was operated by CP.

I visited a Burton's Grill & Bar in Charlotte last year, delicious. And the first restauraunt I ever visited that operated a separated gluten free kitchen to be celiac friendly. They have several restaurants along the Eastern and Southeastern US, but if they could ever get something like this in Ohio, I think it could thrive.

My vote is for either Barrio or Condado in that spot. My top pick would be Barrio. If you prefer Condado over Barrio, we are no longer friends ;)

^ We have plenty of local Mexican restaurants, we don't need another.
We even have a couple with buffets in Norwalk.

I would love to have a full-time Famous Dave's.
The one at the point is the worst I've been to and I assume it's because it's only staffed seasonally.

Mexican restaurants, yes, Sandusky has many. White people taco restaurants, Sandusky is still lacking ;)

Good sir, there is a taco bar at the Golden Corral.
It doesn't get any whiter than that. : )

It makes me sad that people only know and want franchise restaurants.

Successful businesses grow.
As far as I know, all the franchises started as small local places.

What would you like to see in place of Quaker Steak?

The issue with these in/near-park sit down restaurants is that they need to be able to serve food at scale at a reasonable price point. That's no small task, and something franchises, for better or worse, tend to execute relatively well. And yes, that's because some of their food is microwaved crap, but if it's good enough for the target customer, then who cares?

A non-franchise could certainly work, but they would by necessity need to have a menu that is well optimized to use a few ingredients in a variety of dishes, which is why I agree that a pseudo-Mexican joint would be a good fit.

Uncle Steve:

Successful businesses grow.

Yes, and this is the problem with franchise restaurants. Being beholden to shareholders requires showing growth, and once the market is saturated, the only growth that remains is how much profit can be squeezed from the saturated market. And since prices can only be increased to what the market will bear, the only way to eke out more profit is by cheapening the product. Which leads to a lower quality product, which drives away customers, which leads to reduced revenue, which drives a further need for increased margin by way of still-cheaper product, and round and round we go until they file for bankruptcy.

Its interesting that we now have at least two-possibly four-sit down restaurants that need replacement this year alone.