I ate at this new (one month) restaurant in the Winn Dixie shopping center off Lake Mary Blvd at lunch on Monday. It replaces the failed Rossellini's. They seem to be in for the same fate. First off, the menu is all over the place and priced too high for the experience. Secondly, the food took too long to deliver and I believe they used a microwave for at least a portion of its preparation. Thirdly, they did nothing to the décor. Fourthly, they are doing no marketing. Fifthly, they are hidden in the rear of an unpopular shopping center. Sixthly, they don't seem to sweat the small stuff. I'll expound. The owner is Loatian. A corporate caterer. First restaurant. He tosses in a few Loatian dishes like larb (and Chinese bao) onto a mostly American motif. While I embrace the chance to "explore", I am not middle America. This will confuse most John's and Joan's and make them question the cooks ability to make good on the hometown cuisine. Plus the dishes (these plus all of the rest) are too expensive. Sticky Rice (and it is way more hip than this place) has larb at under $5. Baos should cost a buck or two. Everything on this menu is in double digits. Even the lunch specials are in the teens. And you can't even get a soda with them. Only iced tea. A lot of entrée level meals are around twenty bucks (or higher). They also mis-price some usually pricy dishes like osso buco on the low side. Osso buco? You say. Yeah! This menu is all over the place. They have things like burgers ($15 ouch), chicken and waffles ($18), sandwiches, salads, soup and I think steak. It's like a café or diner ensemble. I had a sausage and sliced steak sandwich for $13. It came with french fries. While I found the sandwich tasty, there were a few issues. The tips of the sausage were dry and hard spongy. That usually indicates some nuclear interference. And the bun was chewy and flaking apart. More microwave (and age) evidence. Maybe they just did it to warm it or melt the cheese on top. However, that leads me to the timing issue. I believe they aren't ready for prime time and I was waiting on the oil to heat up to cook the fries. If that wasn't the case, then god help them because there was only one other diner there competing for their attention and she ordered a salad. And back to the bread. It was cheap shit in a plastic bag, sold by the dozen like hot dog buns from a mass producer kind of way. You know how I know. It had those little balls on the bottom that only the worst machine made baked goods have. I mean, come on. At least source what the supermarkets make. Daily! There is a Winn Dixie next door. I'm not asking for artisan crafted bs. Back to the meal. The sandwich came with grilled peppers and grilled onions and provolone. It was tasty. The beef was pretty tender. The sausage was ok (probably mass produced). The fries were a bit above average. They seemed to have a garlic element to them. Almost too starchy. Plating was basic. Napkins were cloth. That's the priority? I'd rethink that bit of style over substance.
As I said, the décor is the same. Drab. Old. It isn't making the impression you want to justify the pricing. The view of the golf course is good, but, not Instagram worthy. Let me give you a history lesson. Tthis place was only considered higher end when there was no competition in town and even then the people who went there didn't really know what high end was anyway. People from lower middle class neighborhoods outside of northern manufacturing centers who got transferred down here by corporations chasing cheap land, labor and taxes. For them, the spot was as good or better than any pre-foody steak house or mafia style Americanized Northern Italian trattoria was number one in their community. Plus this place was within sniffing distance of a country club. The kind they were prohibited from joining back home. But, I'm talking thirty years ago. The choices have exploded. Expectations have risen. And this spot really hasn't been upgraded since. I'll even bet they did nothing to the useless ac system. Just wait until the summer sun comes through those bay windows. The few changes they made seem to be focused on the tables. They added high tops that are set in between the low tops. This gives the space some variation. I believe the tables are different too. Not quite as cheap as their predecessors. The two waitresses were sweet and attentive. They were also a bit more of what you would expect at a diner or café. Another mismatch. I'm not saying I had any issue with it. But, many people judge on appearances. And that leads me back to my prediction.
I believe this place is run on a shoestring. And while that can limit your losses, it also can limit your prospects and why I'm not in the restaurant business. I'm all for word of mouth or guerilla marketing, but, what is the hook? Price? No. Performance? No. Difference? No. Style? No. Location? No. Speed? No. There is nothing for word of mouth to mouth. It's just an overpriced, mish mosh of mediocrely prepared, poorly sourced, garden variety food items served in a hard to find, drab, empty, failed location. I hate to be a wet blanket, but, I strongly suggest you abandon any pretention of earning a Michelin star and halve the pricing, send out some two for one mailers and take on Bob Evan's. Either that or open up your wallet and start over. The people before you tried to ignite the Luigino's "magic" (price points) with seafood and Italian (not sure if there were more). They couldn't and I'll tell you why.
There are already too many places in that high price/high quality (if they ever really had that level of quality) quadrant. It started with Stonewood across the street. They became the "fancy" place. Decades ago. That is the comp. Make a visit and compare yourself. You aren't at that level (which isn't that outstanding anyway). And no one wants to be in the high price/low quality quadrant. Which is where people might put you now. The only quadrant you could conceivably survive in would be the low price/high quality quadrant. This is the least desirable from a providers point of you, but, the market you chose and the location you chose has sealed your fate. It's this or nothing. You can't do low quality/low price because many franchises and global chains dominate that quadrant and would out market you. Now do you have the sense to accept it. And for god's sake, post your god damn hours on the door and change out the Rossellini's sign on the shopping center marquee and hire some jack ass to wander around the parking lot pretending they just ate at your place and tell people how great it was. I'll be back to try some of the odd ball items, but, I wouldn't count on me to balance the books. Good luck.
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