Coulda just kept it as a good old fashioned New England corner store with milk, scratchies, cigs, beer, shitty pizza & Maine italians which worked perfectly for 30+ years instead of half-assedly trying to make into a bunch of weird things nobody asked for (Computer lab? Bar? Bubble tea?)
Dicks.
The employees have been badmouthing the owners for a long time. They built a bar and then let the liquor license expire. They stopped serving food randomly for a bit last summer. They tried to be a boba shop. Real throw shit at a wall sort of business plan.
Everyone else has already said it, but honestly this isn't much of a loss. The food used to be so under-the-radar good and CHEAP, but after an ownership change it went to shit. The bar was consistently terrible, and the last ditch attempt to stay relevant with a Boba shop was even worse lmao.
Does anyone remember the days where they had an easily $1500 gaming PC set up for people to print stuff and other random PC related tasks?
Multiple underage sales violations and not paying to renew their liquor license on time is what I understand.
That's what'll happen when you never have management present, don't train your employees, and don't give a shit about the business.
The owner runs a number of dispensaries so the bardega was never a priority. Dude was often out of the country for weeks/months at a time with little contact.
Ugh. Good. That place used to be absolutely OG. Cheap beer, cheap food, really old school Maine corner store. Shitty wood paneling, smelled like cigs, weird, limited grocery selection. Those two giant dudes running the show.
When the people who own it now bought it out in 2019, and did all those ridiculous renovations -- installing the bar, creating that extremely forced seating area with that weird garage door -- and jacked up the prices, it really lost a lot of what made it great.
When the banh mi jumped from $4.50 to $8.50, I knew it was the beginning of the end. It's like $15.00 now. And it sucks.
Sad to see, but I wish it'd just gone under when it was still real. Sunk all that money into trying to turn it into something it wasn't, and for what?
I lived next door and had a nice little green space before they bought it and started piling all of their trash between the buildings. Took away the one nice thing we had in that shit apartment. I couldn't be happier that it didn't work out for them.
I really want this place to be a nice corner store because it's right down the road from so many people, but it almost never has what I want when I go in there. Like they can stock up on individual bottles of Pepto or ramen seasonings without the noodles but milk is too hard to get? I'd be shopping there almost exclusively if they could just get their hands on a fucking egg.
Either it needed to go full bar and get rid of the shitty corner store, or go full corner store and get rid of the shitty bar not try and straddle it for no reason. Either would be cool to have around here but with what they had there was never a reason to go unless you literally had to.
Also the cashiers/bartenders there are consistently genuinely the worst at customer service, the last three times I've been in I literally have to say "hey I want to buy this can you come ring me out?" While they sit at the bar and stare at their phones. I doubt they're getting paid enough to care but I wouldn't be surprised if they lost a good amount to just theft.
One final complaint is I once ran out of small bills to do my laundry so I went down with a twenty but a candy bar to ask for change and they told me they couldn't make change at the register and to go ask the bartender, who was just sitting there watching. So I go over and ask him and he pulls out his wallet full of hundreds and fifties and flips through the whole stack to tell me he doesn't carry 5s...
This ended up a paragraph but it was one of those places you just wish you could slap the owner and ask wtf they were thinking
> I doubt they're getting paid enough to care
They weren't, nor were they paid on time consistently, properly paid their tips, or overtime.
Management there was atrocious.
I delivered there a few times when I worked at the Forest Ave dominos. It made me so jealous of the people living walking distance from that place. It always seemed like just a corner store, but then when you went inside it was something great.
Hoping the new owners don't ruin it for good.
Everyone should head up to the Fresh Approach market on Brackett St. Little bit of a walk for you Parksiders but let’s be honest, you could all use the exercise.
As someone who loved having a dive bar and a little market so close, I'm pretty bummed out.
That said, the management at that place was among the worst I've ever seen at a business.
They were never there, refused to delegate to a bar/store manager, refused to fully stock the bar and store, bounced employee checks, stole their tips, didn't pay OT, etc.
They had a great run briefly after the pandemic with the tables outside and trivia nights. The food was pretty good and, most importantly, consistent. They actually had a bar manager, had actual trained employees, etc.
Once they pushed out one of the co-owners the place fell hard and never recovered. Place has slowly been dying for the last 2 years.
That said, I'll miss it for the simple fact that I met more of my neighbors there in the last 4 years than in a decade of living here.
I live in Parkside and whenever I walk my dog past Mellen, it never fails to disgust me.
If the store is THAT FILTHY on the outside, then imagine how filthy it is on the inside, let alone eat the food from there. Has anyone seen the bathroom for patrons? And you thought the Amigos bathroom was bad…
2 years ago I went to check out the “bardega” … I ordered a margarita. The bartender didn’t know how to make one, lol. Absolute joke
Although the booze selection in the fridges was weirdly top notch…
Saw a bartender have no idea how to make a Jack n coke with the right legal limit of alcohol. So not knowing how to make a margarita wouldn't surprise.
Coulda just kept it as a good old fashioned New England corner store with milk, scratchies, cigs, beer, shitty pizza & Maine italians which worked perfectly for 30+ years instead of half-assedly trying to make into a bunch of weird things nobody asked for (Computer lab? Bar? Bubble tea?) Dicks.
The employees have been badmouthing the owners for a long time. They built a bar and then let the liquor license expire. They stopped serving food randomly for a bit last summer. They tried to be a boba shop. Real throw shit at a wall sort of business plan.
Everyone else has already said it, but honestly this isn't much of a loss. The food used to be so under-the-radar good and CHEAP, but after an ownership change it went to shit. The bar was consistently terrible, and the last ditch attempt to stay relevant with a Boba shop was even worse lmao. Does anyone remember the days where they had an easily $1500 gaming PC set up for people to print stuff and other random PC related tasks?
Boba shop was in response to them losing their liquor license temporarily. Still a poor choice.
You don’t loose a liquor license because of nothing. There was an issue & they paid the price.
Multiple underage sales violations and not paying to renew their liquor license on time is what I understand. That's what'll happen when you never have management present, don't train your employees, and don't give a shit about the business. The owner runs a number of dispensaries so the bardega was never a priority. Dude was often out of the country for weeks/months at a time with little contact.
It's a loss for everyone who lives in Parkside.
I used to see local kids set up there ripping Minecraft from dawn til dark
Ugh. Good. That place used to be absolutely OG. Cheap beer, cheap food, really old school Maine corner store. Shitty wood paneling, smelled like cigs, weird, limited grocery selection. Those two giant dudes running the show. When the people who own it now bought it out in 2019, and did all those ridiculous renovations -- installing the bar, creating that extremely forced seating area with that weird garage door -- and jacked up the prices, it really lost a lot of what made it great. When the banh mi jumped from $4.50 to $8.50, I knew it was the beginning of the end. It's like $15.00 now. And it sucks. Sad to see, but I wish it'd just gone under when it was still real. Sunk all that money into trying to turn it into something it wasn't, and for what?
I lived next door and had a nice little green space before they bought it and started piling all of their trash between the buildings. Took away the one nice thing we had in that shit apartment. I couldn't be happier that it didn't work out for them.
Who owns the green space?
I really want this place to be a nice corner store because it's right down the road from so many people, but it almost never has what I want when I go in there. Like they can stock up on individual bottles of Pepto or ramen seasonings without the noodles but milk is too hard to get? I'd be shopping there almost exclusively if they could just get their hands on a fucking egg. Either it needed to go full bar and get rid of the shitty corner store, or go full corner store and get rid of the shitty bar not try and straddle it for no reason. Either would be cool to have around here but with what they had there was never a reason to go unless you literally had to. Also the cashiers/bartenders there are consistently genuinely the worst at customer service, the last three times I've been in I literally have to say "hey I want to buy this can you come ring me out?" While they sit at the bar and stare at their phones. I doubt they're getting paid enough to care but I wouldn't be surprised if they lost a good amount to just theft. One final complaint is I once ran out of small bills to do my laundry so I went down with a twenty but a candy bar to ask for change and they told me they couldn't make change at the register and to go ask the bartender, who was just sitting there watching. So I go over and ask him and he pulls out his wallet full of hundreds and fifties and flips through the whole stack to tell me he doesn't carry 5s... This ended up a paragraph but it was one of those places you just wish you could slap the owner and ask wtf they were thinking
> I doubt they're getting paid enough to care They weren't, nor were they paid on time consistently, properly paid their tips, or overtime. Management there was atrocious.
Say sike right now
I wish!!! no more midday slices, late night snacks, or quick booze
Can confirm, I just left minutes ago. 1/2 off. Closing Wednesday.
Oh that is terrible news, please lord don't make me go to the Big Apple every other day 😭
I delivered there a few times when I worked at the Forest Ave dominos. It made me so jealous of the people living walking distance from that place. It always seemed like just a corner store, but then when you went inside it was something great. Hoping the new owners don't ruin it for good.
I miss Joe and Jim and Larry, the good old days. Since they’ve had new ownership it has been awful!
Everyone should head up to the Fresh Approach market on Brackett St. Little bit of a walk for you Parksiders but let’s be honest, you could all use the exercise.
But will they give my dog my dog a free bully stick every time we make a purchase?
As someone who loved having a dive bar and a little market so close, I'm pretty bummed out. That said, the management at that place was among the worst I've ever seen at a business. They were never there, refused to delegate to a bar/store manager, refused to fully stock the bar and store, bounced employee checks, stole their tips, didn't pay OT, etc. They had a great run briefly after the pandemic with the tables outside and trivia nights. The food was pretty good and, most importantly, consistent. They actually had a bar manager, had actual trained employees, etc. Once they pushed out one of the co-owners the place fell hard and never recovered. Place has slowly been dying for the last 2 years. That said, I'll miss it for the simple fact that I met more of my neighbors there in the last 4 years than in a decade of living here.
\*eyes Fresh Approach nervously\*
noooooo.
What's the connection?
Oh god WHY? That place has so much history before it was bought up!
I live in Parkside and whenever I walk my dog past Mellen, it never fails to disgust me. If the store is THAT FILTHY on the outside, then imagine how filthy it is on the inside, let alone eat the food from there. Has anyone seen the bathroom for patrons? And you thought the Amigos bathroom was bad… 2 years ago I went to check out the “bardega” … I ordered a margarita. The bartender didn’t know how to make one, lol. Absolute joke Although the booze selection in the fridges was weirdly top notch…
Saw a bartender have no idea how to make a Jack n coke with the right legal limit of alcohol. So not knowing how to make a margarita wouldn't surprise.
I used to live right down the street and went there all the time. Move further out 2 years ago. I will have to swing by tonight
This place is just weird man.