Tarantino's?

[shinatoo]

Every building needs a front door. Sprint's is on Grand. Nothing to get upset about. Smart locals that don't care about hanging in the PnL use the Oak side. Same reason I take Ozark rd in and out of TSC.

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Now playing: Kings Of Leon - Be Somebody
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[elextendo]

Dont know if anyone is getting upset, but a round building in the middle of downtown should have many more access points. 

[shinatoo]

Round building, square block. Museum on one side and highway on the other. Plus you can access the Sprint center from the museum and technical from the truck docks. So every side has access.

Do you want a ramp that goes straight to 18th and Oak.....crap it's called OAK, it's one of the two exits out of the sprint center.

Sounds like my Light Rail plan that followed 63rd from Raytown to Mission. When I lived in Raytown and worked in Mission. Worked for me.

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Now playing: Iron & Wine - Faded From The Winter
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[butter_breath]

http://economy.kansascity.com/?q=node/3368

Who ever said any press is good press, never read Joyce Smith's city scape.

[grovester]

I ate there Wednesday nite and it all tasted fine!

[ignatius]

I've been going more often over lunch.  Still love the calzone (I get sausage/basil/mushroom), but they serve the side sauce cold - have to ask to warm it up.

One of the better downtown places.  If you like it, support them as they are apparently doing slow night biz.

[trailerkid]

I've been going more often over lunch.  Still love the calzone (I get sausage/basil/mushroom), but they serve the side sauce cold - have to ask to warm it up.

One of the better downtown places.  If you like it, support them as they are apparently doing slow night biz.

what are they doing to market themselves besides tell their customers their business is sinking?

[elonalum]

yep, good point - pretty much nothing.  the proximity to sprint and the fact that it's a local place vs. that power and light place should be good points but they need to do a little advertising.

[LenexatoKCMO]

Better signage wouldn't hurt - it would be easy to miss driving by.  Bring on some neon.  

The new location is really non-descript and boring, someone who had never been there before would never have any reason to guess that there is interesting, quality food in there.  From the street you would think it is just some mediocre joint unless you knew better.  The old place was tiny, but you knew something interesting had to be going on there.  "Pizza in an old garage?  That has to be good, right?"  Spice up the street view is my advice - the food will sell itself once they get inside. 

[trailerkid]

Better signage wouldn't hurt - it would be easy to miss driving by.  Bring on some neon.  

The new location is really non-descript and boring, someone who had never been there before would never have any reason to guess that there is interesting, quality food in there.  From the street you would think it is just some mediocre joint unless you knew better.  The old place was tiny, but you knew something interesting had to be going on there.  "Pizza in an old garage?  That has to be good, right?"  Spice up the street view is my advice - the food will sell itself once they get inside.  

the old location is also still listed in some business listings i've seen. i agree the new location seems a little generic. there is a lot of web advertising one can do that is virtually free or costs next to nothing. 

i think a lot of cool businesses that move into a "better" location end up closing. to the consumer...it's just not the same anymore.

[chrizow]

yeah i think the move was a bad decision.  the previous space had some character, and i think tarantino's somehow makes more sense near red front, anthony's, harry's, etc. than in a generic space in the shadows east of the sprint center in the government district.  it isn't a per se good decision to be "near" the sprint center, because most people attending events at the sprint center are not going to be wandering around the desolate east downtown streets after a show or event - they are either going to the P+L, or getting in their cars and driving back to the burbs.  if you can get your name out there and people like your product, you can have a packed "sprint center event night" business even if you're relatively far away from the place.  grinders is one place that does this.

[DaveKCMO]

i thought the move made perfect sense because the place was always swimming with cops.

[scooterj]

They had no choice about the move, they were forced out by a developer.  They spent many months in a desperate search for a new location, but few were affordable or met city codes for restaurants.  They were able to snag their current location with only a few weeks left to go after the second incarnation of the 13th Street Bar & Grill folded.    They at least managed to stay in the East Loop like they wanted, but I think they were hoping to be closer to Admiral where there is more evening activity.

[ignatius]

The new location works fine for lunch and they are typically very busy.  The dinner hour is the problem given no one lives in the area and is hidden from the core of loop.  Add the significant increase of restaurants downtown lately and it hurt the delivery biz as well.

[trailerkid]

They had no choice about the move, they were forced out by a developer.   They spent many months in a desperate search for a new location, but few were affordable or met city codes for restaurants.   They were able to snag their current location with only a few weeks left to go after the second incarnation of the 13th Street Bar & Grill folded.    They at least managed to stay in the East Loop like they wanted, but I think they were hoping to be closer to Admiral where there is more evening activity.

I feel their pain. It's hard to find open retail storefronts in the greater downtown area.

[dangerboy]

Why aren't they out on Grand handing out fliers to the crowds coming/going to the Sprint Center and P&L?  Why don't I see an ad in the Pitch?  Why aren't they getting sidewalk chalk and making some interesting ads pointing the way down 13th??  It sucks that they were forced to move from a successful location, but a bit of creative hustle could still make the new spot work.

[staubio]

Why aren't they out on Grand handing out fliers to the crowds coming/going to the Sprint Center and P&L?  Why don't I see an ad in the Pitch?  Why aren't they getting sidewalk chalk and making some interesting ads pointing the way down 13th??  It sucks that they were forced to move from a successful location, but a bit of creative hustle could still make the new spot work.

Though us downtowners can meet them in the middle. It is still a great location for a lot of residents.

I was away for awhile and tried to return but they were closed because of their violations at the time.

[heatherkay]

I have to say that the ONLY time I've ever heard of this place is people on this board and the handful of stories about their repeated health code violations.  Not a good PR combo.

[KCPowercat]

Why aren't they out on Grand handing out fliers to the crowds coming/going to the Sprint Center and P&L?  Why don't I see an ad in the Pitch?  Why aren't they getting sidewalk chalk and making some interesting ads pointing the way down 13th??  It sucks that they were forced to move from a successful location, but a bit of creative hustle could still make the new spot work.

This.

[scooterj]

I feel their pain. It's hard to find open retail storefronts in the greater downtown area.

"...but few were affordable or met city codes for restaurants..."



Not every empty storefront downtown is set up with the required sewer lines, electrical systems, grease traps, etc... and also had room for pizza ovens. 

There was a better location that I know was brought up but the modofications needed would have cost in the upper tens of thousands of dollars at a minimum.


As for their health code violations, some of them are just strange.    Yeah, the parts about old dried food that needed to be cleaned up are nasty.   But the shutdown seemed to be over things such as the length of the rubber hose that drains melted water out of the ice bin, the ceiling tiles not being smooth enough, and needing new cove base.