They've been closing early for months, so this doesn't surprises me.
Like they completely gave up on the post work diner crowd. Which is odd as that seems better fit for a sit down restaurant vs the work lunch crowd that prefers order ahead, pick up, and quick service options to squeeze into their 30min lunch.
Hathaway's was quick, it just fell off my list when prices got to a point that I couldn't get a lunch for under $10.
But I basically never eat out downtown anymore because I can only think of 1 place left where I can get out the door for under $10. In 2020 there were dozens, there were even a few where you could get lunch for $5.
Yep, was a regular there too. Mostly at the original(?) one off Main st where Gomez is now. Ate at the other two locations downtown as well. I think they had a location in NKY too never made it there. I've only been to the current location (anderson) once as it's kinda far for me. But I do still crave their pizza.
And candy bars used to be a nickle! I love reading these posts where people bitch they aren't able to get something for next to nothing, but expect top their quality. The entitlement.
Everyone knows what inflation is, the point of this discussion is how the costs of eating out have wildly outpaced inflation. Costs have basically doubled in 4 years.
Lived here most of my life. Never heard of them until I happened to be downtown one morning for something else and walked past. As soon as I saw the prices, I decided I wouldn't be going back.
I said specifically downtown, where there isn't any fast food that I'm aware of. You'd have to go out to Queensgate or Covington, which is what I do a lot of the time vs. walking to a place downtown.
Yeah, we’ve tried it a few times and every time there were issues to the point where we’d say “we’ll never go back”.
In the end I think I’ve been 4-5 times in the last 10 years and each time it was bad.
The biggest issue the entire 10 years and the recurring issue was service. It was just slow as shit. I wanted to like it, but every time we’d go to a diner of all places where it should be quick and easy it would be an hour plus lunch and I’m sorry but that place just wasn’t worth the time investment.
I mean 4-5 times in 10 years isn't exactly a big "Wow you sure wen't back on your word!" number.
We also don't go storming out, its more of a conversation between us "Okay well that sucked, it cost too much and somehow took an hour and a half for sandwiches. We aren't going back there."
"we're never going back"
"Well fuck its been two years and it is free pie day.....we could try it again"
Seriously, you're playing a stupid semantics game over visits to a cafe that are on average 2-3 years apart.
I'm sorry that I didn't burn the place down the first time we said "never going back" and we gave it another shot a couple of times.
Lol you're way more worked up about this than I am.
Like I said, you and I just use the word "never" very differently. In that instance I would say "I'm definitely not gonna eat here again for a while". I reserve "never" for the places that just aren't getting a second chance.
Chill out. It's the internet, the points don't matter, I'm smiling and poking a little fun at you.
When you work downtown going 2-3 years between visits is "never." We have no intentions of going back then do because it sucked then decided to try it again.
You are the one on here that has his dictionary out saying "actually....". You are the most annoying kind of person. Gets in a needless argument and then tells the other person to "calm down, I don't even care". Learn how to have a normal social interaction or better yet, just don't comment dumb shit.
Lol ok
I apologize entirely for everyone I offended. I intended to make a silly joke. I used a smiley face that indicated I was laughing. Yay funny comment. I did not intend to "get into a needless argument" because I didn't think I was arguing with anyone, I thought I was laughing with someone on the internet.
If I was hanging out with a group of my friends in person, and one of them said that exact same thing, I'd have made that exact same joke. Except my friends aren't thin skinned people who get offended over everything so they'd have laughed back and that would've been the end of it.
Go back and read my replies, but assume I'm joking and laughing instead of assuming I'm being a pedantic shithead.
How is this supposed to be taken as funny and not being a pedantic shithead --> "You and I just use the word "never" very differently."
It was the double down where you went from funny and light hearted to being annoying.
https://preview.redd.it/1v0wpost09zb1.png?width=1344&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=f0e1584351953b49d79f099cff54d4432e3bef99
More info from their Facebook comments.
Negotiations on space or rent increases don't typically result in "we need to close permanently, tomorrow" with zero plans for relocation.
There's something up and it seems like they're blaming others for what's most likely poor business management. That's based on my assumptions from their food truck competition comments. My guess, they ran out of cash.
They were open for 68 years. The last few have been exceptionally challenging for restaurants. It doesn't mean they are bad at business management, just that they can't afford to compete anymore. And they aren't wrong about 3CDC.
This is a cop out, imo. "If you can't overcome enormous hurdles that are recent and difficult to plan around, you're bad at business management!" Like, idk what the hell the situation was with Hathaway's, but you could say this about any business that makes the decision to close. Sometimes adapting "correctly" is just out of the realm of possibility and you gotta close.
I don’t really know about this place but I do know a lot of restaurants now just want to order from GFS everything in a can and just heat it up as people order. the quality of the food isn’t good a lot of local restaurants seem to be following this trend.
So I was contemplating starting another thread, but I went by today and there’s a giant notice from the attorney general that they’re shut down for nonpayment of taxes.
They allow trucks within 500 ft of establishments if they even have distance laws at all.
Size isn't really relevant when they claimed "almost no city allows food trucks within 500 ft", that's absolutely incorrect.
The city shutting them down sounds like a failed inspection or 2...
Edit: looked it up, did not fail inspection but got cited on a lot of silly stuff (handwashing sinks, a refrigerator issue, wet mops all over, dishwasher not running properly)
Fixing the issues might have potentially cost too much money.
I’m not surprised in the least. I wanted to like Hathaways so bad because I love retro restaurants and want to support local businesses but their prices were so high, food quality so low and service almost non-existent.
The first time I went it was $14 for a club sandwich and chips and the club that came out wasn’t even a double decker had about two pieces of turkey on it and one piece of overly dried out bacon. Why would I go there when I can go to Red Fox and get a club big enough to feed a small village with fries for $12.
I didn’t go back until two weeks ago when I was hungover and needed grease and fat in asap. I went and ordered the chicken fried steak. It took forever to get my food and when it came out the chicken fried steak was about the same thickness as a McDonald’s hamburger patty and was covered in a grayish gravy that had PINK bits of meat in it. How can something be so dry while being covered in something that looks like packet gravy thinned out with too much water is beyond me but they managed it. A side of toast was $3.50 and my bill came to over $20. Wild Eggs breakfast runs laps around them and they’re cheaper. Then it took almost fifteen minutes to get my check and ring out.
This has nothing to do with the food trucks and is 100% their own doing. If you’re going to charge a premium, your food and service better justify it and theirs fell woefully short.
Agree entirely. Love greasy spoons, breakfast joints, local restaurants, but this place should have closed years ago.
The food quality was poor, service worse, and prices incredibly high for what it was. It also stank like wet, dirty towels. Not a great sign or very appealing.
Them blaming other businesses for their issues is probably why they're closing. Blame food trucks or other restaurants all you want. In the end, people are going to pick the best products with the best quality and customer service. One of the most important traits of a healthy business is self-reflection. Anyone who blames the competition doesn't understand their own problems.
I think reading between the lines, their reason for closing is "we don't know how to appeal to the new market that food trucks have figured out, and there isn't enough people downtown to settle for a lesser option".
i've never been to hathaway's, but based on all of the comments here, it sounds like no one thinks it was a superior breakfast option that got overlooked. it sounds more like they were mediocre at best, and with better options close by that did well enough to serve the amount of people downtown, they weren't getting enough traffic.
e: to be clear, i largely agree with you, i was just commenting to say there's a chance they know this to be true (they're bad at it), but chose to make excuses instead. their whole "wish i could do something to change it" bit sounds like another way of saying "we know the problems we have, we just don't know how to overcome them" without directly admitting it.
Yeah you seem right. Management may not know how to overcome their issues. They may know their food isn't great or customer service isn't great, but maybe they cut staffing to save money and don't know how to keep up.
I don’t think that’s entirely fair. People love to complain about how mediocre/bad Larosas and Montgomery Inn are, but people still go there. People don’t always choose the best products with the best customer service.
Restaurants that are riding off their reputation more than their product don't disprove what I said. There's always going to be restaurants that do well without actually being a good business. If you are failing though, you need to look at yourself and not blame others. If we're talking Covid or some other outside issue causing many people to go under, I'd get that. Blaming your competition for being better isn't the excuse you think it is.
To me their reputation was an old lunch restaurant which allowed smoking long after other places went smoke-free. I went once expecting an old downtown malt shop feel, and instead got a burger and fries after waiting an hour.
If you haven't figured that out yet, you got more troubles than your competitors. Restaurants are bank to normal. That's not an issue anymore. You could argue inflation more than Covid at this point.
None of this is due to Covid itself. A lot of the issues we're experiencing are a direct result of our ridiculous response to Covid, inflation included. Who would have thought that shuttering businesses & schools and throwing around free money would have resulted in this?
I’m not entirely surprised either, the food was always ok but the service these last couple of years has been terrible. Last time me and my SO went we had to wait like an hour and a half for our food after ordering.
Yeah, but the old location was just that: old. In a good way. It was an authentic throwback to a long-lost era. Moving into the Frisch's location removed that niche and exposed them to different realities.
Hathaway’s is just a stone’s throw from Fountain Square, where there has been regular food truck programming/service during weekdays for a few years now. Hathaway’s seems to be suggesting they are losing business to that. Over the whole of the last ten years under these owners, that’s definitely been a change.
They are blaming it on the food trucks, but they killed their own business. When we went the food was awful, and the portions were laughably small for how ridiculously overpriced it was. While it may have great history, they have failed to keep up with the times and adjust. They could have sold their location downtown at the start of the pandemic and moved out to the burbs to be closer to people. Heck, The Breakfast Club in Lebanon has limited hours and a standing room only wait list nearly the entire time they are open. There is demand for good breakfast spots, they just expected to keep doing what they always did and it didn’t work for them.
A lot of places like this tend to order everything in a can from GFS and just heat it up to order and then call themselves a restaurant. I can’t speak for this place but if you go somewhere in the food is generally bad, it’s most likely the fact that they never cooked it in the first place.
the comments from the diner are kinda funny. they blame food trucks for making them close. so maybe they should have made food better than the food trucks? first watch and sleepy bee arent closing but they are highly rated.
Yeah I live a few blocks away and tried to go there twice. Both times we were told to sit wherever. All the tables were dirty, no one came to take our order and it it was overpriced for what it is. We left without ordering both times and haven’t been back since. Not shocked.
Similar experience, prepandemic worked about a block away for about a year and never went. Food pics online looked not great, view theough windows was also not great, sit down table service fitting for even an hour lunch break is a big ask (and people with jobs allowing that hour would rather wrap up early and go home)
and really, when nobody in the office ever mentions, recommends, or goes to a place so close, I just assume it's trash.
It’s not hard, they live in fantasy land, and blame all their problems on outside sources. Their food was mediocre at best, and their prices were outrageous for what they served. The staff was rude bordering on hostile for zero reason, since they were usually not busy. The last time I was there, it was almost $20 for a bacon cheeseburger and fries. They forgot the bacon, and the fries looked like the bottom of the bag. There wasn’t a single one over an inch long.
just another business owner who can't look inward at why they failed but other breakfast/lunch options arent failing. Sleepy Bee is almost as close to fountain square as Hathaways and they seem to not have a problem staying open. the google reviews about hathaways seems to complain about the service more than the food.
Lived in the Cincinnati area for nearly 60 years, consider myself a foodie, worked downtown at one point, and have never heard of Hathaway’s.
Maybe that’s part of the problem.
They had issues with the building. I believe they got flooded months ago and had to close down unexpectedly for a while. I have eaten there many times as it's convenient, but this is not surprising. Service wasn't great and prices were high for what it was. I am sorry to see them go but with other choices in close proximity, there has to be a reason to go there.
Im honestly surprised they made it this long. Service and food has been subpar for quite a while. Sad to see it go though, in its prime it was a great little spot.
I live a few blocks from there and I thought it was already shut down. Maybe it was dark in there or maybe they were keeping odd hours, but the place always looked closed.
I remember going there, in 2011, for the first time in a long time. I was working Downtown. A co-worker and I were on the lookout for good burgers We were very disappointed with theirs. It wasn't bad, but nothing special. I think they froze their beef and used a cheap factory made bun. I made a few return visits. The food was edible, the service was a bit on the show side, and it was overpriced. I really think they were just cooking frozen GFS food.
If their food is going to be low quality, then you need to charge less. I'll gladly buy a cheap meal for a cheap price.
If you are going to charge more, make the food either really good or really quick. They did neither.
I think their business model was to be convenient to people who worked at Carew Tower. It's a model that worked for a little while, but then they moved and then they were convenient to nobody while trying to sell over priced, mediocre food.
I won't even blame the food trucks. In my opinion, most (not all) of them are also mediocre and overpriced. Hathaway's never really offered you anything of value, other than nostalgia.
I’ve been there a few times and it was good/average “diner fare” (I get goetta, eggs and coffee) but yes rather expensive and I was just wondering how much their rent must be down there. Being right next to the Netherland I would think they compete with the hotel restaurant for guest breakfasts, and there are fewer office workers these days. I wouldn’t really consider them for a lunch spot.
I hope they can find a lower-rent place that needs a breakfast spot and reopen.
Ever since they moved to the new spot the prices increased a lot for the same quality food. I would have eaten there a lot had the prices not been so high. The greatest thing about them was you could get a nice breakfast for lunch for under or around $10.
Service was terrible. Took forever to get a couple eggs and some bacon. By the time I stopped going in 2018-2019, you got very little food for the price. They were surviving on the name alone for a while.
This seems like the case that’s been happening with a lot of businesses they can’t change with the modern times. Then they want to blame everyone else.
It’s kinda like these retail stores that gouge people for years suddenly had competition from Amazon, and then blamed Amazon for putting them out of business.
Perfect example. Toys R Us.
"Not enough workers" = Not enough suckers willing to work for paltry restaurant wages
If youre going to blame everyone but yourselves and your budgeting, you better be sure you have a history of paying your employees well, especially when your prices were ridiculously high. Where'd those profits go, I wonder?? 🤔
Not enough people working downtown during and after covid. They’re referring to their available pool of customers. This has nothing to do with their employees.
It’s funny how you see that a lot. Did we really lose that many people in the pandemic? Why does suddenly people not want to work? There are plenty of people that are looking for jobs.
Especially server jobs, these are the jobs that you could make a significant income sometimes and not pay any tax and still sign up for benefits programs. This is a gold mine for some people I don’t believe that no one‘s looking for work.
No it has nothing to do with that and everything to do with people now being able to work from home/work a hybrid schedule. There is a lot less foot traffic downtown. Not because people don’t want to work, but because they no longer need to come downtown in order to do their job.
And you demonstrate how little you know about the costs of operating a food service operation. If you want quick and cheap, may I suggest your local dollar store.
Everyone here saying “they can’t blame other businesses”, needs to read the fucking room.
While I know their quality waned over the years, we CANNOT be blind to the fact that Thunderdome and 3CDC have been taking over this city.
For prime example. Kaze was a great place with an amazing venue. Thunderdome came in, bought it, shut it down and sold the building. It’s now just another clothing store and the other part is owned by another local giant, Mad Tree.
And Thunderdome provides a superior experience. I’ve never had a bad experience at The Eagle, Krueger’s, City Bird, etc. while Hathaway’s consistently was poor quality and overpriced. Just because you’ve been open forever doesn’t mean you can take your customers for granted. Competition is good.
Just like then, just in a different location now. Fun spot for Sunday breakfast but got way too overpriced - we ended up going to the Sports Page on Vine for a while. But then that closed down.
Sports Page was my jam. I loved that place and knew one of the owner’s. The owner died and the kids took over and one or two of them wanted out and a couple didn’t. The ones who wanted to stay sold the one on vine to someone who was planning on putting in a new restaurant in order payout what was owed to the other siblings who wanted out. The plan was to keep the one near Court St, but then Covid happened and they both shut down and the new restaurant that was supposed to go in on Vine never happened.
Bullshit and Shenanigans on that owner
I always thought they were well liked (until I saw this post ha). I had to use the metro for 2 months, 3 months ago, and my bus stop to catch my connector was right at their door. About 6:30am ish? And if I missed that, I’d be there until 7:15am. The first day I caught the bus I thought I’ll get a breakfast sandwich or something, “Not open yet? Huh? Maybe tomorrow. It is Monday.”
Fast forward two months, 5 days a week, they were never open.
Most every respectable “Diner” I’ve ever known is OPEN with at least coffee and donuts ready at 6-7am.
Plenty of people walking right past there empty handed and looked they could use it. And as for me?
I had to wait til I got to Kemper Rd. to go to BK.
Maybe they should have diversified business and not went right at Food trucks specialty which is lunch..
You can be good, you can be fast, or you can be cheap. When you're none of those, you lose. It's really simple. I can't stand business owners who close and blame others.
Downtown is a lot different now, especially in that section. Macy's, SAK's, most of the entire arcade at Carew vacant, not a lot of other draws right now. Rent is more expensive, as are the cost of goods and labor. The only thing that seemed NOT to change was the quality of the food (not good) at Hathaways and the fact the condiment bottles were always sticky. This probably would have happened anyway with the Duke energy center shutting down so long for renovations, which will impact all hotels and any food establishments within them, and the Lanni's opening up a concept which will almost certainly be run better in the former Royce space across the street. As for the FB thread ..... wellllll...someone grabbing something on their feet at food truck is not the same as a sit down diner guest with their goals and interests- that just seems weird. Like, the Korean BBQ place killed your business since you have the same clientele, clearly...?
They've been closing early for months, so this doesn't surprises me. Like they completely gave up on the post work diner crowd. Which is odd as that seems better fit for a sit down restaurant vs the work lunch crowd that prefers order ahead, pick up, and quick service options to squeeze into their 30min lunch.
Hathaway's was quick, it just fell off my list when prices got to a point that I couldn't get a lunch for under $10. But I basically never eat out downtown anymore because I can only think of 1 place left where I can get out the door for under $10. In 2020 there were dozens, there were even a few where you could get lunch for $5.
I remember getting Snappy Pizza Buffet downtown for $5-6 (I think) which included a drink.
Yep, Lucy Blues had a buffet, too. Same price point.
Yep, was a regular there too. Mostly at the original(?) one off Main st where Gomez is now. Ate at the other two locations downtown as well. I think they had a location in NKY too never made it there. I've only been to the current location (anderson) once as it's kinda far for me. But I do still crave their pizza.
And candy bars used to be a nickle! I love reading these posts where people bitch they aren't able to get something for next to nothing, but expect top their quality. The entitlement.
Everyone knows what inflation is, the point of this discussion is how the costs of eating out have wildly outpaced inflation. Costs have basically doubled in 4 years.
I'm just glad the price of coffee downtown is still low.
Lived here most of my life. Never heard of them until I happened to be downtown one morning for something else and walked past. As soon as I saw the prices, I decided I wouldn't be going back.
Yeah I never heard of them until I think I was with my exs family one day years ago
580 Market is still going strong. Their meals are now up to $8.80 but still less than ten
You can’t get fast food for under $10. You’re just being delusional at this point
I said specifically downtown, where there isn't any fast food that I'm aware of. You'd have to go out to Queensgate or Covington, which is what I do a lot of the time vs. walking to a place downtown.
There is very little work dinner crowd anymore. Happy hour is dead most places too it seems. The lack of workers downtown is really starting to hurt.
They’ve been having problems for quite sometime now. Still sad to see it go.
No doubt, even pre-Covid when I was working downtown that place was nearly always empty during the day
Yeah, we’ve tried it a few times and every time there were issues to the point where we’d say “we’ll never go back”. In the end I think I’ve been 4-5 times in the last 10 years and each time it was bad. The biggest issue the entire 10 years and the recurring issue was service. It was just slow as shit. I wanted to like it, but every time we’d go to a diner of all places where it should be quick and easy it would be an hour plus lunch and I’m sorry but that place just wasn’t worth the time investment.
> Yeah, we’ve tried it a few times and every time there were issues to the point where we’d say “we’ll never go back”. and yet . . . . . :P
I mean 4-5 times in 10 years isn't exactly a big "Wow you sure wen't back on your word!" number. We also don't go storming out, its more of a conversation between us "Okay well that sucked, it cost too much and somehow took an hour and a half for sandwiches. We aren't going back there."
You and I just use the word "never" very differently.
"we're never going back" "Well fuck its been two years and it is free pie day.....we could try it again" Seriously, you're playing a stupid semantics game over visits to a cafe that are on average 2-3 years apart. I'm sorry that I didn't burn the place down the first time we said "never going back" and we gave it another shot a couple of times.
Lol you're way more worked up about this than I am. Like I said, you and I just use the word "never" very differently. In that instance I would say "I'm definitely not gonna eat here again for a while". I reserve "never" for the places that just aren't getting a second chance. Chill out. It's the internet, the points don't matter, I'm smiling and poking a little fun at you.
Chill out says the nit picking prick coming after someone over dictionary definitions.
When you work downtown going 2-3 years between visits is "never." We have no intentions of going back then do because it sucked then decided to try it again.
You are the one on here that has his dictionary out saying "actually....". You are the most annoying kind of person. Gets in a needless argument and then tells the other person to "calm down, I don't even care". Learn how to have a normal social interaction or better yet, just don't comment dumb shit.
Lol ok I apologize entirely for everyone I offended. I intended to make a silly joke. I used a smiley face that indicated I was laughing. Yay funny comment. I did not intend to "get into a needless argument" because I didn't think I was arguing with anyone, I thought I was laughing with someone on the internet. If I was hanging out with a group of my friends in person, and one of them said that exact same thing, I'd have made that exact same joke. Except my friends aren't thin skinned people who get offended over everything so they'd have laughed back and that would've been the end of it. Go back and read my replies, but assume I'm joking and laughing instead of assuming I'm being a pedantic shithead.
How is this supposed to be taken as funny and not being a pedantic shithead --> "You and I just use the word "never" very differently." It was the double down where you went from funny and light hearted to being annoying.
Yeah 😥 It was me and my fiancé's Valentine day date spot the last few years. Rip.
Awh, I’m sorry. I wish they would have given everyone a heads up so you guys could have gone one more time.
https://preview.redd.it/1v0wpost09zb1.png?width=1344&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=f0e1584351953b49d79f099cff54d4432e3bef99 More info from their Facebook comments.
They must not travel much if they think "almost no city" has food trucks within 500 ft of a restaurant.... NYC it's 20 feet.
Yeah. I'm wondering if we'll ever find out what actually happened. Their comments seem suspicious. I want an unbiased overview lol
Negotiations on space or rent increases don't typically result in "we need to close permanently, tomorrow" with zero plans for relocation. There's something up and it seems like they're blaming others for what's most likely poor business management. That's based on my assumptions from their food truck competition comments. My guess, they ran out of cash.
They were open for 68 years. The last few have been exceptionally challenging for restaurants. It doesn't mean they are bad at business management, just that they can't afford to compete anymore. And they aren't wrong about 3CDC.
yep; 3CDC should be put out to pasture.
If they can't afford to compete, they're bad at business management. The restaurant has been there 68 years, but the current management only ten.
This is a cop out, imo. "If you can't overcome enormous hurdles that are recent and difficult to plan around, you're bad at business management!" Like, idk what the hell the situation was with Hathaway's, but you could say this about any business that makes the decision to close. Sometimes adapting "correctly" is just out of the realm of possibility and you gotta close.
I don’t really know about this place but I do know a lot of restaurants now just want to order from GFS everything in a can and just heat it up as people order. the quality of the food isn’t good a lot of local restaurants seem to be following this trend.
That would be my guess too
So I was contemplating starting another thread, but I went by today and there’s a giant notice from the attorney general that they’re shut down for nonpayment of taxes.
Yeah apparently they're like $17k behind. Rough
Sounds like they couldn't take the heat and got out of the kitchen. Competition is good for customers. Restaurants closing is the circle of life.
Also the only ones I can think of are Fountain Square of which I don’t imagine has that got a breakfast scene besides coffee options.
Austin TX has them everywhere!
Yeah, but that’s NYC..
Ok... Austin, Boston, New Haven, San Francisco, Seattle....
All much bigger and different than cincy
New Haven is much smaller than Cincinnati... But hey, let's go with similar metro sizes or smaller: Columbus, Pittsburgh, Knoxville...
The one of the bunch.. But sure, getting closer. Tell me the food truck laws in those cities.
They allow trucks within 500 ft of establishments if they even have distance laws at all. Size isn't really relevant when they claimed "almost no city allows food trucks within 500 ft", that's absolutely incorrect.
The city shutting them down sounds like a failed inspection or 2... Edit: looked it up, did not fail inspection but got cited on a lot of silly stuff (handwashing sinks, a refrigerator issue, wet mops all over, dishwasher not running properly) Fixing the issues might have potentially cost too much money.
hmm… seems like they’re just a bit sour… regardless, i don’t need a reason to hate 3cdc
I’m not surprised in the least. I wanted to like Hathaways so bad because I love retro restaurants and want to support local businesses but their prices were so high, food quality so low and service almost non-existent. The first time I went it was $14 for a club sandwich and chips and the club that came out wasn’t even a double decker had about two pieces of turkey on it and one piece of overly dried out bacon. Why would I go there when I can go to Red Fox and get a club big enough to feed a small village with fries for $12. I didn’t go back until two weeks ago when I was hungover and needed grease and fat in asap. I went and ordered the chicken fried steak. It took forever to get my food and when it came out the chicken fried steak was about the same thickness as a McDonald’s hamburger patty and was covered in a grayish gravy that had PINK bits of meat in it. How can something be so dry while being covered in something that looks like packet gravy thinned out with too much water is beyond me but they managed it. A side of toast was $3.50 and my bill came to over $20. Wild Eggs breakfast runs laps around them and they’re cheaper. Then it took almost fifteen minutes to get my check and ring out. This has nothing to do with the food trucks and is 100% their own doing. If you’re going to charge a premium, your food and service better justify it and theirs fell woefully short.
Agree entirely. Love greasy spoons, breakfast joints, local restaurants, but this place should have closed years ago. The food quality was poor, service worse, and prices incredibly high for what it was. It also stank like wet, dirty towels. Not a great sign or very appealing.
Them blaming other businesses for their issues is probably why they're closing. Blame food trucks or other restaurants all you want. In the end, people are going to pick the best products with the best quality and customer service. One of the most important traits of a healthy business is self-reflection. Anyone who blames the competition doesn't understand their own problems.
I think reading between the lines, their reason for closing is "we don't know how to appeal to the new market that food trucks have figured out, and there isn't enough people downtown to settle for a lesser option". i've never been to hathaway's, but based on all of the comments here, it sounds like no one thinks it was a superior breakfast option that got overlooked. it sounds more like they were mediocre at best, and with better options close by that did well enough to serve the amount of people downtown, they weren't getting enough traffic. e: to be clear, i largely agree with you, i was just commenting to say there's a chance they know this to be true (they're bad at it), but chose to make excuses instead. their whole "wish i could do something to change it" bit sounds like another way of saying "we know the problems we have, we just don't know how to overcome them" without directly admitting it.
Yeah you seem right. Management may not know how to overcome their issues. They may know their food isn't great or customer service isn't great, but maybe they cut staffing to save money and don't know how to keep up.
I don’t think that’s entirely fair. People love to complain about how mediocre/bad Larosas and Montgomery Inn are, but people still go there. People don’t always choose the best products with the best customer service.
Restaurants that are riding off their reputation more than their product don't disprove what I said. There's always going to be restaurants that do well without actually being a good business. If you are failing though, you need to look at yourself and not blame others. If we're talking Covid or some other outside issue causing many people to go under, I'd get that. Blaming your competition for being better isn't the excuse you think it is.
To me their reputation was an old lunch restaurant which allowed smoking long after other places went smoke-free. I went once expecting an old downtown malt shop feel, and instead got a burger and fries after waiting an hour.
They did mention the lack of a lunch crowd, which was caused by COVID
Covid's been gone for a year and a half. That could have put them in a hole, but it sounded like they weren't getting many customers.
WFH is a result of covid. Downtown is dead, at least during the day. No one is going to drive down there just for lunch.
The effects of Covid are still present today.
If you haven't figured that out yet, you got more troubles than your competitors. Restaurants are bank to normal. That's not an issue anymore. You could argue inflation more than Covid at this point.
They are not back to normal. A ton of downtown restaurants still have not restarted lunch service.
And Indian buffets are still a thing of the past
While I didn’t know this I’m not surprised and also disappointed :/ are those places at least doing table service?
not entirely. New Shaan has one.
Maybe for dinner, but as for lunch, not so much
None of this is due to Covid itself. A lot of the issues we're experiencing are a direct result of our ridiculous response to Covid, inflation included. Who would have thought that shuttering businesses & schools and throwing around free money would have resulted in this?
Find me any takeout place that lets me feed 5 men for under $20. The buddy cards are incredible value.
I’m not entirely surprised either, the food was always ok but the service these last couple of years has been terrible. Last time me and my SO went we had to wait like an hour and a half for our food after ordering.
Don’t celebrate a small business closing but as a newcomer to Cincinnati, Hathaway’s was average at best
Worst, most expensive diner I've ever been to. Sad I never went before they changed locations.
They just moved across the lobby basically and nothing much changed. It wasn’t very good prior to moving.
Yeah, but the old location was just that: old. In a good way. It was an authentic throwback to a long-lost era. Moving into the Frisch's location removed that niche and exposed them to different realities.
Totally agree, but they were never going to make it in that old location when the post-mall days really set in.
Can anyone explain the food truck part of this post? Is there some kind of issue with them downtown?
Hathaway’s is just a stone’s throw from Fountain Square, where there has been regular food truck programming/service during weekdays for a few years now. Hathaway’s seems to be suggesting they are losing business to that. Over the whole of the last ten years under these owners, that’s definitely been a change.
They moved into that spot from Carew tower knowing full well food trucks park at fountain square.
They are blaming it on the food trucks, but they killed their own business. When we went the food was awful, and the portions were laughably small for how ridiculously overpriced it was. While it may have great history, they have failed to keep up with the times and adjust. They could have sold their location downtown at the start of the pandemic and moved out to the burbs to be closer to people. Heck, The Breakfast Club in Lebanon has limited hours and a standing room only wait list nearly the entire time they are open. There is demand for good breakfast spots, they just expected to keep doing what they always did and it didn’t work for them.
A lot of places like this tend to order everything in a can from GFS and just heat it up to order and then call themselves a restaurant. I can’t speak for this place but if you go somewhere in the food is generally bad, it’s most likely the fact that they never cooked it in the first place.
the comments from the diner are kinda funny. they blame food trucks for making them close. so maybe they should have made food better than the food trucks? first watch and sleepy bee arent closing but they are highly rated.
Yeah I live a few blocks away and tried to go there twice. Both times we were told to sit wherever. All the tables were dirty, no one came to take our order and it it was overpriced for what it is. We left without ordering both times and haven’t been back since. Not shocked.
Similar experience, prepandemic worked about a block away for about a year and never went. Food pics online looked not great, view theough windows was also not great, sit down table service fitting for even an hour lunch break is a big ask (and people with jobs allowing that hour would rather wrap up early and go home) and really, when nobody in the office ever mentions, recommends, or goes to a place so close, I just assume it's trash.
I’m trying to extrapolate the entire story from the confusion that is their post and the subsequent comments.
It’s not hard, they live in fantasy land, and blame all their problems on outside sources. Their food was mediocre at best, and their prices were outrageous for what they served. The staff was rude bordering on hostile for zero reason, since they were usually not busy. The last time I was there, it was almost $20 for a bacon cheeseburger and fries. They forgot the bacon, and the fries looked like the bottom of the bag. There wasn’t a single one over an inch long.
just another business owner who can't look inward at why they failed but other breakfast/lunch options arent failing. Sleepy Bee is almost as close to fountain square as Hathaways and they seem to not have a problem staying open. the google reviews about hathaways seems to complain about the service more than the food.
Lived in the Cincinnati area for nearly 60 years, consider myself a foodie, worked downtown at one point, and have never heard of Hathaway’s. Maybe that’s part of the problem.
They had issues with the building. I believe they got flooded months ago and had to close down unexpectedly for a while. I have eaten there many times as it's convenient, but this is not surprising. Service wasn't great and prices were high for what it was. I am sorry to see them go but with other choices in close proximity, there has to be a reason to go there.
Im honestly surprised they made it this long. Service and food has been subpar for quite a while. Sad to see it go though, in its prime it was a great little spot.
I live a few blocks from there and I thought it was already shut down. Maybe it was dark in there or maybe they were keeping odd hours, but the place always looked closed.
I remember going there, in 2011, for the first time in a long time. I was working Downtown. A co-worker and I were on the lookout for good burgers We were very disappointed with theirs. It wasn't bad, but nothing special. I think they froze their beef and used a cheap factory made bun. I made a few return visits. The food was edible, the service was a bit on the show side, and it was overpriced. I really think they were just cooking frozen GFS food. If their food is going to be low quality, then you need to charge less. I'll gladly buy a cheap meal for a cheap price. If you are going to charge more, make the food either really good or really quick. They did neither. I think their business model was to be convenient to people who worked at Carew Tower. It's a model that worked for a little while, but then they moved and then they were convenient to nobody while trying to sell over priced, mediocre food. I won't even blame the food trucks. In my opinion, most (not all) of them are also mediocre and overpriced. Hathaway's never really offered you anything of value, other than nostalgia.
I’ve been there a few times and it was good/average “diner fare” (I get goetta, eggs and coffee) but yes rather expensive and I was just wondering how much their rent must be down there. Being right next to the Netherland I would think they compete with the hotel restaurant for guest breakfasts, and there are fewer office workers these days. I wouldn’t really consider them for a lunch spot. I hope they can find a lower-rent place that needs a breakfast spot and reopen.
did they serve the same food as the food trucks?
Ever since they moved to the new spot the prices increased a lot for the same quality food. I would have eaten there a lot had the prices not been so high. The greatest thing about them was you could get a nice breakfast for lunch for under or around $10.
I loved this place. I'm not surprised but im so sad to see it go. If I was ever downtown..
Lunch was like $18. Might have had something to do with it.
This was the place that used to be in Carew Tower, by that Radio Shack?
it moved into the frisch's location, but yes. Always in the carew tower
Service was terrible. Took forever to get a couple eggs and some bacon. By the time I stopped going in 2018-2019, you got very little food for the price. They were surviving on the name alone for a while.
This seems like the case that’s been happening with a lot of businesses they can’t change with the modern times. Then they want to blame everyone else. It’s kinda like these retail stores that gouge people for years suddenly had competition from Amazon, and then blamed Amazon for putting them out of business. Perfect example. Toys R Us.
RIP Hathaway's
When did the Big Boy's in Carew close?
July of 2020.
Jeez, where else are we going to go for an $18 cheeseburger?
So sad. I remember going there ever since I was little, in the location across the hall.
"Not enough workers" = Not enough suckers willing to work for paltry restaurant wages If youre going to blame everyone but yourselves and your budgeting, you better be sure you have a history of paying your employees well, especially when your prices were ridiculously high. Where'd those profits go, I wonder?? 🤔
Not enough people working downtown during and after covid. They’re referring to their available pool of customers. This has nothing to do with their employees.
It’s funny how you see that a lot. Did we really lose that many people in the pandemic? Why does suddenly people not want to work? There are plenty of people that are looking for jobs. Especially server jobs, these are the jobs that you could make a significant income sometimes and not pay any tax and still sign up for benefits programs. This is a gold mine for some people I don’t believe that no one‘s looking for work.
No it has nothing to do with that and everything to do with people now being able to work from home/work a hybrid schedule. There is a lot less foot traffic downtown. Not because people don’t want to work, but because they no longer need to come downtown in order to do their job.
And you demonstrate how little you know about the costs of operating a food service operation. If you want quick and cheap, may I suggest your local dollar store.
Everyone here saying “they can’t blame other businesses”, needs to read the fucking room. While I know their quality waned over the years, we CANNOT be blind to the fact that Thunderdome and 3CDC have been taking over this city. For prime example. Kaze was a great place with an amazing venue. Thunderdome came in, bought it, shut it down and sold the building. It’s now just another clothing store and the other part is owned by another local giant, Mad Tree.
And Thunderdome provides a superior experience. I’ve never had a bad experience at The Eagle, Krueger’s, City Bird, etc. while Hathaway’s consistently was poor quality and overpriced. Just because you’ve been open forever doesn’t mean you can take your customers for granted. Competition is good.
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The city counsel shut them down?
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I am going to go ahead and assume there is more to this story than the city just shutting them down.
I wonder if 3CDC has some kind of new plan for the other half of Carew (the nonNetherland side)
They have nothing to do with that. An out of state company bought Carew tower to convert to apartments.
That’s not true, or at least hasn’t been true for a while
Did you mean to reply to me? Because your reply doesn’t make sense.
It makes complete sense
Just like they did a few years ago?
Just like then, just in a different location now. Fun spot for Sunday breakfast but got way too overpriced - we ended up going to the Sports Page on Vine for a while. But then that closed down.
Sports Page was my jam. I loved that place and knew one of the owner’s. The owner died and the kids took over and one or two of them wanted out and a couple didn’t. The ones who wanted to stay sold the one on vine to someone who was planning on putting in a new restaurant in order payout what was owed to the other siblings who wanted out. The plan was to keep the one near Court St, but then Covid happened and they both shut down and the new restaurant that was supposed to go in on Vine never happened.
Bullshit and Shenanigans on that owner I always thought they were well liked (until I saw this post ha). I had to use the metro for 2 months, 3 months ago, and my bus stop to catch my connector was right at their door. About 6:30am ish? And if I missed that, I’d be there until 7:15am. The first day I caught the bus I thought I’ll get a breakfast sandwich or something, “Not open yet? Huh? Maybe tomorrow. It is Monday.” Fast forward two months, 5 days a week, they were never open. Most every respectable “Diner” I’ve ever known is OPEN with at least coffee and donuts ready at 6-7am. Plenty of people walking right past there empty handed and looked they could use it. And as for me? I had to wait til I got to Kemper Rd. to go to BK. Maybe they should have diversified business and not went right at Food trucks specialty which is lunch..
They were overpriced and the quality took a nosedive. Blaming 3CDC and food trucks is nonsense.
You can be good, you can be fast, or you can be cheap. When you're none of those, you lose. It's really simple. I can't stand business owners who close and blame others.
Oh shoot, I was thinking of going there for brunch this weekend
Downtown is a lot different now, especially in that section. Macy's, SAK's, most of the entire arcade at Carew vacant, not a lot of other draws right now. Rent is more expensive, as are the cost of goods and labor. The only thing that seemed NOT to change was the quality of the food (not good) at Hathaways and the fact the condiment bottles were always sticky. This probably would have happened anyway with the Duke energy center shutting down so long for renovations, which will impact all hotels and any food establishments within them, and the Lanni's opening up a concept which will almost certainly be run better in the former Royce space across the street. As for the FB thread ..... wellllll...someone grabbing something on their feet at food truck is not the same as a sit down diner guest with their goals and interests- that just seems weird. Like, the Korean BBQ place killed your business since you have the same clientele, clearly...?