What food items would you like to see added to the parks menu?

This morning the local news was doing a story about a Melt opening soon on Cleveland Public Square. That chain is sure on the fast-track for expansion, hope it all works.

I hope it works out too, over-paced expansion has been the downfall of a lot of businesses.
This is true Especially in food service where consistency and service are paramount for quality branding.

I just worry that a Melt in-park will end up with the
Generic/lackluster CP food service that is given to Chickes&Petes, Pinks, etc..
That's why I'm hoping for an out-of-park location, CP does much better with these.

I never thought much about that, but you're right. Melt was pretty slow-grow at first. I too remember the first location in Lakewood, with just the one room, and it was a long while before the second store opened. The consistent experience is definitely key. The Winking Lizard chain was also grown in a fairly slow way, but they've generally reached the consistency they needed in terms of quality and service. It's a shame that they didn't always land interesting locations like downtown, Peninsula and Lakewood, because the strip mall locations are kind of goofy.

Our Winking Lizards are famous for taking over other closed businesses. Dick Clark's American Bandstand, Cooker, places like that. Which indeed puts them in rather strange, random locations, some hipper and busier than others.

The Winking Lizard is building a new location at Eastgate Shopping Center behind the strip mall. You won't even see it from the street. It will be interesting to see how that will work, seems extra goofy to me.

I love the Lizard. I'm a long time participant in the tour of beers (well, was a long time participant, but now it's kind of outgrown itself) and Lakewood and Peninsula are my favorite locations. They just closed the Coventry location in favor of building a brand new, shiny strip mall version.

I don't like the trend they are following at all. Copley/Fairlawn closed and moved into a Golden Corral, th Canton location moved into a big warehouse type building with really high ceilings - it's just not he same as the dark, unique settings they used to be in. I still visit once in a while, but I much prefer Lizardville due to the laid back atmosphere and dark decor that reminds me of the old school lizards - plus having almost 300 whiskeys doesn't hurt.

Pete said:
The Winking Lizard is building a new location at Eastgate Shopping Center behind the strip mall. You won't even see it from the street. It will be interesting to see how that will work, seems extra goofy to me.

People seem to find Atlas just fine back there.

The Lizard had an "interesting" location in Westlake/Avon, and for whatever reason (I heard it was condition of the building), they moved to new construction a mile or two away. Places like the point building downtown, the old dancehall in Peninsula and the old VFW (with bowling alley!) in Lakewood are frankly rare and unique. If they were to wait for places like that to become available, they would never have expanded at all.

You know, as long as CP would let them run the place the way they know how, a Winking Lizard would actually be a fantastic opportunity for the park. They just couldn't repeat the mistakes of the Breakers Friday's when it first opened. Remember that? Smaller menu, insisted they run it their own way, and it was a disaster. Frankly, the Famous Dave's was hit or miss for awhile, too.

e x i t english said:

plus having almost 300 whiskeys doesn't hurt.

I know this is off-topic, but you drank almost 300 whiskeys? I hope it wasn't the same night.

Jeff, do you remember how long it took for CP to allow Friday's and Dave's to operate as normal entities? Was it a Kinzle micro-manage thing that has just somewhat carried over?
It seems to have been all along for me, my first time at the point was 2007.

QSL seems to operate on its own as well now, which is the first new new full service out of park dining I remember since 2007.
Chickies & Pete's is in-park and frankly runs horribly in my opinion and is a shadow of an actual C&P's. Pink's is hit or miss, usually more misses.

It's why I'm hoping for an out-of-park option. But it would be great if new management has picked up on this and is willing to allow for independent operators to control their customer experience in-park.

Honestly, for the in-park food operations the park could really just use an expediter position at each sit down restaurant at the very least. This would fix a lot of the quality/temperature/presentation problems that plague in-park dining.

Jeff said:
The Lizard had an "interesting" location in Westlake/Avon...

Sidebar: Settle a debate between my wife and I. Is it Avon with a long A (like the makeup company), or Avon with a short A (like the small WNY town I grew up in)?

Shane, it is a long A as in the cosmetic company. "Ding dong, Avon calling..."

Just curious Shane, where are you at since you have never heard this Avon pronounced? And who won your debate?

The Winking Lizard was previously Millers Country Place. In 1987 my wife and I had our small wedding reception there. There are pictures (not of my wedding reception) on a website called Brady's Lorain County Nostalgia and a history of the building. Millers also had a restaurant on Detroit in Lakewood down the road from the present Winking Lizard.

I live outside Rochester, NY and the small town where I graduated high school was Avon with a short a. Strangely, I won. Because I know we have several towns around here that are pronounced "incorrectly"... Avon (with a short a), Chili (both long I's), and Charlotte (emphasis on the second syllable and pronounced as in parking lot), Nunda (long A with emphasis on A). And I always pronounce Cleveland like Howard the Duck did, "Cleve-Land," just to annoy my wife.

Shawn Meyer said:

I know this is off-topic, but you drank almost 300 whiskeys? I hope it wasn't the same night.

Lol. Maybe it was my wording but there's no way I've had 300 whiskeys yet. They have 300 available at lizardville, as well as 600 bottled beers. It's pretty impressive.

Now, when you talk beer, I've tried over 1200 different beers from all over the world, but that's taken years.

XS NightClub said:

Jeff, do you remember how long it took for CP to allow Friday's and Dave's to operate as normal entities? Was it a Kinzle micro-manage thing that has just somewhat carried over?

I'm not sure. I recall Friday's being terrible for at least two years, and I don't think the full menu appeared until the third. We met a corporate trainer at Dave's in the second year, so I don't know that issues there were a trend necessarily. Hildebrandt was GM starting that year ('05, second for the restaurant), and I recall him telling me that they were very optimistic about the team they had in place. I can't say I've had any big problems there since.

I'd like to see a place that has wraps. Buffalo chicken wraps with lettuce and cheese. Also salads that were available without having to go in a sit down restaurant. Overall, more vegetables and lower fat meats. The food selection at present is a dieter's nightmare.

^^The same new stuff being offered at CPS somewhere in the park would be great.

^^ A couple years ago the park tried implementing Fresh/Healthy options in stands throughout the park. It Failed.

I wouldn't mind seeing a Barrio Tacos stand open somewhere in the park! If they can make it work at Progressive Field then it can work at Cedar Point!

XS NightClub said:
^^ A couple years ago the park tried implementing Fresh/Healthy options in stands throughout the park. It Failed.

I could see it failing, especially if they price the crap out of it like regular food. Which is a shame.