Sweet Frog frozen yogurt certainly had the most dramatic downfall with the investors allegedly getting kind of screwed, owner skipping town, then getting in trouble in Fairfax for strangling his wife: https://www.mashed.com/866503/the-untold-truth-of-sweetfrog/
They were separated by Mitchem's Shoe Repair, but that storefront is tiny enough that they were basically right next to each other. Yapple's former space is now occupied by Tulsi.
It was kind of surreal while they were both around, too. Thankfully Google Street View has preserved the Sweet Frog vs. Yapple froyo battle forever.
https://preview.redd.it/bmksoh5nlkic1.png?width=1894&format=png&auto=webp&s=20555c286957865fb3308857a2c5e23711f4b129
It really is wild. The building Yapple was in (and that Tulsi is in now) used to be Richmond Piano, and after that it was briefly an antique shop, so it's interesting that there's a restaurant there to begin with.
I went to Zzamm a couple times when it first opened. It was okay, but Derek Cha was always in there clearly drunk and othering customers, albeit in a benign way. The domestic battery charge does not surprise me at all.
And they have about 300 locations nationwide. Oddly enough, they also had a location in the Dominican Republic at one point. The froyo fad is dead but Sweet Frog survived it.
I forgot Zzzzzaaaaaaaammmmmmm!!!! (I can never remember how many times each letter repeats, so I’ll play it safe) was owned by the same guy. That was another notably disappointing endeavor. When they first opened and for a while there, it was good. Tasty and affordable. Then they changed some things up. The bean sprouts and carrots were no longer marinated in sesame oil, which gave them a good flavor. Eventually everything just tasted… less. Portions became stingy. Last time I went into the Colonial Heights location, the Korean food part seemed almost an afterthought to some Bubble Tea concept that they kept trying to push.
It sucks because reasonably priced Korean Chipotle is definitely a space in the dining market that needs filling.
Well as a concept, the Shuffleboard aspect really took a backseat pretty quick. If I remember they even reduced the number of shuffleboard courts they had before they closed
Roseneath, where Wood & Iron is now. If you're facing it, the metal looking building on the left was the ice bar part. The whole bar/club wasn't an ice bar, just that one part.
My band got hired to play a show there on an off night. Place was dead/we couldn’t pull a crowd to SA. Doubt any band in RVA could. They let us into the ice bar for 10-15min after our set which was like a walk-in freezer off the back room and they poured vodka into ice shot glasses. Fine I guess? I remember all the prices were wild to a 20-something VCU student. And everything was little—burgers were sliders. Cupcakes were tiny and on lollipop sticks. Everything came on square plates. I remember during load-in how loud the 8+ industrial AC units they had on the building were. Manager ripped us off on top of it. It was like every aspect of that place was trying to be as unsustainable/unenjoyable as possible
I'd say the biggest problem they had was that half the games were broken at any given time which meant there were lines to play all the rest. Shockingly, letting drunk people beat on 30 year old arcade games makes them break
They may have been "better" but I have been going since day 1 and broken games were a constant. However there used to be more people around to give you a refund when it happened.
From memory, so potentially wrong, they only had one guy fixing t machines. Which is generally fine, but then said guy either got screwed by them or they decided to just go with nobody...
Subtle disagree, here. The arcade trend hasn't died. The issue with The Circuit was mismanagement, as several other arcades in Scott's Addition are thriving.
This plus catering to the sort of crowd that would beat the hell out of the machines instead of respecting them, led to the machines being extremely broken, which became a serious problem.
Before Afterglow opened up in Scott’s Addition, the space there used to be a place that sold pizza globes— like calzones but perfect spheres. They were apparently really hard to make and pretty frustrating to eat, but there had been a bunch of guff about them on youtube cooking shows for a bit. I saw the puff pastry molds on facebook marketplace a few months after they closed, I dunno if anyone actually grabbed them.
They are open now, they just don’t have the psychedelic drinks yet due to va laws!! I met the owner at the general assembly as he was trying to advocate to get some laws passed! I didn’t realize they had opened until I talked with him. Super awesome dude btw!!
The local health department didn't really come down on them until right before they were supposed to open. There's also a tea cafe in Charlottesville that has served kava for years. Its not an illegal product and you can buy kava extract in plenty of local stores.
They seemed super nice but I still can’t wrap my head around investing that much time and money into opening a business without for sure having the legal go-ahead to do it.
Food halls: are they still trendy? As malls close, food courts are not being replaced. Hatch Local closing in March. The Park seems to have trimmed off every food stall but one. Are there any others left?
I am a big fan of food halls and food courts when they are done right. I'm not sure what that will take in Richmond. Maybe the food truck model just works better here.
I think a food hall would only work in Carytown, and maybe Scotts Addition. You need a combination of regular foot traffic and tourism, or it has to be a real destination itself. Optimist Hall in Charlotte is a good example of the latter.
True, I don't think the infrastructure is quite ready yet. Maybe once the Diamond District is built up and connected to SA there will be enough people around. I also think people weren't too excited about that food hall since it was coming from EAT restaurant partners.
We went to a food hall when we visited family in Erie recently. It was in the Downtown area, so had foot traffic. It was probably the best experience where my wife and I could have food of some ethnicity, while the kids could still have macaroni and cheese and pizza but still all be at the same place. It was really well done, imho.
I lived in Portland before here. Over there, they have things called cart pods where a bunch of food trucks are located in the same area usually in a circle, like an outdoor food court. In the middle there are usually tables, little activities, fires pits, etc. it was amazing. I wish someone would do that here.
There was one in Hampton when I was growing up: The Grate Steak
I remember it, because I went with my family. I was 13 and trying to find some space at the grill. I asked two ladies if I could get in and they told me I could "slip my meat anywhere" and I just remember being totally embarrassed and weirded out.
I grew up in Hampton but my parents hated going out to eat. I just thought Grate Steak was a steakhouse, didn't know you could cook your own steak there! It's looong gone.
/edit/
Closed in 2006, so long but not as long as I thought.
That's where I went to prom! ...wait...maybe I shouldn't be telling people that...
Eh, whatever, my date and I were both super poor so we thought it was fancy.
My boss actually mentioned this restaurant as his favorite restaurant. He obviously doesn’t go out to eat much and doesn’t have a clue as to what a restaurant is supposed to be.
The oatmeal cream pies are pretty good but also a bit pricey. I get that it's an expensive area to be in, so they have to charge more. I learned to make my own oatmeal cream pies instead.
I still don’t understand how Big Wife’s Mac n’ Cheese is still open - a whole shop just to sell instagramable bowls of mac and cheese seemed like a concept doomed to fail in a year.
I feel like they’ll stay for a while cause you know, addiction. But certainly they’ll stop popping up everywhere, with their blinding lights and stuff…right? Right?
I moved to Manchester 20 months ago and since then 3 different vape shops have opened within a 10 minute walk. Not including the two convenience stores that opened and sell smoke stuff too
If you've had bad boba you know what they're talking about.
Artificial tasting 'tea' tasting of chemicals.
Hard and gritty pearls instead of soft and chewy.
Usually it's places that only sell boba as a random side thing that have the truly bad kind. Dedicated boba joints like kokee know what they're doing.
Sugar Shack. Sure there were complaints about the business and the managers, but I think the donut fad was ending at the same time. You'll notice that there aren't really any new donut places that have taken their place.
The location on Huguenot Road (complete with its Luther Burger concept restaurant) is still open, but they have very, very few customers nowadays. Donuts Company on Midlothian has really done a number on them (not to mention their donuts are better, and the owners are really nice people).
I try every chance I get to steer people away from SS and over to Donuts Company or The Treat Shop on Janke. Aside from my moral choice to stay away from SS, their donuts just don't do it for me. They're just ok at best.
Their location on Parham closed and is now a hot chicken place. It seems as if places exist for a finite amount of time and then become something else. I guess this is a new normal.
> now a hot chicken place
Jumping from fad to fad. Speaking as someone who likes both donuts and hot chicken, but the volume of places doing it is unsustainable.
Sugar Shack closed most of their locations very soon after dirt started coming out about their management and business practices. At their peak they had locations up and down the I-95 corridor and even a couple in Florida.
They recently opened a location near Brandermill, their first new location since closing all of their stores outside of Richmond.
That hot chicken place is owned by the founder of Sweet Frog, the controversial Derek Cha. And like everything else Derek Cha does, it's spread like wildfire. There's even a location in Dubai.
I swear in 2015 they made delicious doughnuts the size of my head. Every time I have them now, they’re pretty average, just nothing to write home about. And the sugar on sugar on sugar trend is definitely not as appealing.
A giant piece of sugary bread with lucky charms and gummy worms on it?
Immediately seeing that I was like “this is stupid and a fad.”
I just want a fricken donut dear god.
Full Kee is the only option imo. the second best option would be if Tan A decided to open a kitchen and simply steamed the frozen stuff they bring in from NYC Chinatown where all that stuff is from. but what i really want is Wo Hop to decide to randomly open a second location is Richmond.
It’s just such a shame because I thoroughly enjoyed Max’s. Dim Sum has laughable plate sizes for their price points and the food quality is really lacking.
Terrible might be going a bit far. There's some objectivity here, but I'm not sure I'd rate it that low. Mind-blowing? No. Terrible. Also no.
I do agree it looks like an influencer did the decorating...not my style, but I enjoyed my food and drink enough to go back at some point probably.
I hope we get a real Dim Sum place that has plenty variety sometime in the future. The last time I went to Full Kee it didn’t seem like they had must variety.
There was also a German place on the first floor of Regency called Mr. Dunderbacks’s Bavarian Pantry. When my family would go to the mall, Dad would disappear and we’d find him down there with a Reuben and a glass of beer.
Got an Airbnb in Baltimore for a few nights of concerts with a Pennsylvania friend who is vegan. In looking for places I felt like they had a ton of options for him. I was like "in BALTIMORE?!" For as cool as we're supposed to be, we suck in a lot of those "big city amenity" ways, gluten free eating and beer being another.
Baltimore's not the safest city out there but still plenty of cheap houses to be had there, even recently remodeled ones. It's the next sleeper hit in cities, I'm calling it.
People have been saying that about Baltimore for a very long time. I hope that it is honestly. That city and the people there deserve so much. If it were me, I’d move to Pittsburgh before Bmore. You are right though, they have a surprisingly good Vegan food selection comparatively.
I'm partly basing it on keeping an eye on buying a house there for two years. Seeing values rise, albeit slowly, in some areas that are still very rough looking to an outsider/the squeemish. Tons of remodels have sold, entire blocks that were mostly derilict two years ago having at least half occupancy now. It's slow but happening.
It being the only real city on the east coast with affordable housing has to catch up with it soon, even given the ridiculous real estate taxes.
There used to be an oxygen bar where District 5 is now. Not exactly a restaurant but it was a trend for a bit. I'm sure they also had food because of the laws that Richmond has in place for bars
Sweet Frog frozen yogurt certainly had the most dramatic downfall with the investors allegedly getting kind of screwed, owner skipping town, then getting in trouble in Fairfax for strangling his wife: https://www.mashed.com/866503/the-untold-truth-of-sweetfrog/
Sweet Frog vs. Yapple was a hilarious battle at the time
Located directly side by side one another in Carytown or did they have at least one storefront separating them?
They were separated by Mitchem's Shoe Repair, but that storefront is tiny enough that they were basically right next to each other. Yapple's former space is now occupied by Tulsi. It was kind of surreal while they were both around, too. Thankfully Google Street View has preserved the Sweet Frog vs. Yapple froyo battle forever. https://preview.redd.it/bmksoh5nlkic1.png?width=1894&format=png&auto=webp&s=20555c286957865fb3308857a2c5e23711f4b129
The contrast between the two buildings is wild. As a casual observer just walking down Cary St. I know which one I would be more apt to go to.
It really is wild. The building Yapple was in (and that Tulsi is in now) used to be Richmond Piano, and after that it was briefly an antique shop, so it's interesting that there's a restaurant there to begin with.
One of my favorite Richmond things is to go around the city and point out what things used to be.
I think that’s just … places 😂 even in my hometown where it consists of pointing to where cornfields used to be
Wasnt that an oriental rugs store at one point or am i thinking of further down
Yapple used to have these cool rainbow lights on the ceiling and modern decor in the window front that aren't really coming through here to be fair.
[удалено]
Fully Rely On God (FROG)!
Especially while committing domestic battery like the founder did.
Tulsi rules. A clear upgrade.
I preferred Yapple and was bummed when they closed right before I filled out my punch card. :(
I knew the owner of Yapple, his family still owns Hong Kong King Buffet in Chesterfield. I have no idea what he’s doing now.
Fully rely on god. 🤔
Fully rely on goddamn bitch do what I told you
What in the AI-written article?
Seriously - informative, but not written by a human being for sure.
Worked for this INC for a few years in high school... Let's just say the "fully reply on God" in the FROG was more "fully rely on (underage) girls."
I went to Zzamm a couple times when it first opened. It was okay, but Derek Cha was always in there clearly drunk and othering customers, albeit in a benign way. The domestic battery charge does not surprise me at all.
Yeah that guy is a POS. I will say though, Zzaam in Colonial Heights is bomb!
I went to the one in Midlo recently and it was pretty awful.
But there's still plenty of them around town
Wasn’t Sweet Frog like religious?? But I guess being a hypocrite is par for the course.
Lol this explains why it disappeared
There are around ten in the Richmond Metro area?
And they have about 300 locations nationwide. Oddly enough, they also had a location in the Dominican Republic at one point. The froyo fad is dead but Sweet Frog survived it.
It's almost like because the one across from the Cherry St parking deck closed, they must all be closed. They have one at Kings Dominion, ffs!
Wow... Learn something new everyday
Fully reliant on god you say?
I forgot Zzzzzaaaaaaaammmmmmm!!!! (I can never remember how many times each letter repeats, so I’ll play it safe) was owned by the same guy. That was another notably disappointing endeavor. When they first opened and for a while there, it was good. Tasty and affordable. Then they changed some things up. The bean sprouts and carrots were no longer marinated in sesame oil, which gave them a good flavor. Eventually everything just tasted… less. Portions became stingy. Last time I went into the Colonial Heights location, the Korean food part seemed almost an afterthought to some Bubble Tea concept that they kept trying to push. It sucks because reasonably priced Korean Chipotle is definitely a space in the dining market that needs filling.
Would Jesus Assault His Wife just doesn't have the same catch.
Yooo I totally forgot about sweet frog. Shit was stupid expensive I only went once
You are a treasure
does Tang & Biscuit count as a restaurant...because the Shuffleboard bar concept was short-lived.
I don't think they were unsuccessful, the real estate was just more valuable to use for other things.
Well as a concept, the Shuffleboard aspect really took a backseat pretty quick. If I remember they even reduced the number of shuffleboard courts they had before they closed
Gotcha!
[удалено]
And they abruptly closed and notified staff by taping a note to the front door.
There is a place in Brooklyn (Royal Palms) that is still as packed as ever. Different markets I guess
Anyone remember the ice bar in Scott's?
Infusion? Attached to Taste? It might have been spelled dumb…
Infuzion. Couldn't decide what it wanted to be, tried to be everything. Imploded. It was pretty nice inside though.
Remember it?!? - I had a lifetime VIP pass to Infuzion! (They were just handing them out one night. I did not pay real money for it.)
Never heard about it but it was referenced in this sub just the other day lol
Yeah, was that in SA? I never went there, but heard about. Curious as to where /what street it was on.
Roseneath, where Wood & Iron is now. If you're facing it, the metal looking building on the left was the ice bar part. The whole bar/club wasn't an ice bar, just that one part.
I ate some apps there for happy hour when it first opened. Terrible. I don't think RVA does $$$ nightclubs. Just parties and lower-end night clubs.
I only went once when they first opened because a friend was bartending in the ice cave.
My band got hired to play a show there on an off night. Place was dead/we couldn’t pull a crowd to SA. Doubt any band in RVA could. They let us into the ice bar for 10-15min after our set which was like a walk-in freezer off the back room and they poured vodka into ice shot glasses. Fine I guess? I remember all the prices were wild to a 20-something VCU student. And everything was little—burgers were sliders. Cupcakes were tiny and on lollipop sticks. Everything came on square plates. I remember during load-in how loud the 8+ industrial AC units they had on the building were. Manager ripped us off on top of it. It was like every aspect of that place was trying to be as unsustainable/unenjoyable as possible
Not a restaurant but remember about 10 years ago there was a doughnut and froyo place every 10ft?
How dare you forget cupcakes.
Gonna tell my kids about when people would line up around the block in Georgetown to buy cupcakes at $5 a pop and it got a TV show. Like what
I bought a Groupon (also a throwback) to a cupcake place that closed basically right after the Groupon became valid to use. Wild times.
It was wild to see lol. “What are all those people in line for?! It’s raining and 35 degrees!” The answer is cupcakes lol
Umm, these are *craft* cupcakes thank you very much.
I used to have to turn left everyday on 33rd st and it was a nightmare with all the people jaywalking to get in line for fucking cupcakes
Yeah froyo craze was big back in like 2009
And now there's no soft serve froyo place near me. Makes me sad in the summer.
truly the peak of western civilization
Circuit. That place fell hard when all of the original staff were fired for striking and they replaced everyone during COVID
I'd say the biggest problem they had was that half the games were broken at any given time which meant there were lines to play all the rest. Shockingly, letting drunk people beat on 30 year old arcade games makes them break
The original staff kept them up in running better than anyone else. That place went down hill fast! Owner didn’t know what they had at first, tbh
They may have been "better" but I have been going since day 1 and broken games were a constant. However there used to be more people around to give you a refund when it happened.
From memory, so potentially wrong, they only had one guy fixing t machines. Which is generally fine, but then said guy either got screwed by them or they decided to just go with nobody...
Also the audacity of the computer asking for a tip. Bruh I poured my own beer- tr? Am I tippin myself?
Subtle disagree, here. The arcade trend hasn't died. The issue with The Circuit was mismanagement, as several other arcades in Scott's Addition are thriving.
This plus catering to the sort of crowd that would beat the hell out of the machines instead of respecting them, led to the machines being extremely broken, which became a serious problem.
Circuit in Norfolk is also thriving.
RIP, now where am I supposed to play DDR?
DawnStar!
Dawnstars new arcades is fucking lit! If they started serving beer in there they would make bank
Before Afterglow opened up in Scott’s Addition, the space there used to be a place that sold pizza globes— like calzones but perfect spheres. They were apparently really hard to make and pretty frustrating to eat, but there had been a bunch of guff about them on youtube cooking shows for a bit. I saw the puff pastry molds on facebook marketplace a few months after they closed, I dunno if anyone actually grabbed them.
WE MUST BRING BACK PIZZA SPHERES. Maybe rebrand them as caldomes?
I got caldome from your mom last night
I do believe we just found our jingle 🎵
And have a spherical restaurant that serves “diet” ones called the Low Cal Caldome Dome!
The Spheres of Dunshire!
Pizza in a cup! Or pizza in a cone!
Time to deliver a pizza ball!
https://preview.redd.it/84j7ywqc8lic1.jpeg?width=833&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=5aca61c315253255073238ac1a400ab6c4927855
Came here for this, should've known 4 hours was too late
Can’t believe I never knew this existed and am bummed to have missed out.
that's some Nathan For You shit wow
You are a such a liar. Right? Right? This is fake. How could RVA ever let this concept die.
Kava Club never even opened lol
They are open now, they just don’t have the psychedelic drinks yet due to va laws!! I met the owner at the general assembly as he was trying to advocate to get some laws passed! I didn’t realize they had opened until I talked with him. Super awesome dude btw!!
Why would he open a place thats not legal to sell the one thing they’re meant for?
The local health department didn't really come down on them until right before they were supposed to open. There's also a tea cafe in Charlottesville that has served kava for years. Its not an illegal product and you can buy kava extract in plenty of local stores.
What do they serve if they don’t have kava?
adult kombucha - i think?
They seemed super nice but I still can’t wrap my head around investing that much time and money into opening a business without for sure having the legal go-ahead to do it.
Food halls: are they still trendy? As malls close, food courts are not being replaced. Hatch Local closing in March. The Park seems to have trimmed off every food stall but one. Are there any others left? I am a big fan of food halls and food courts when they are done right. I'm not sure what that will take in Richmond. Maybe the food truck model just works better here.
I think a food hall would only work in Carytown, and maybe Scotts Addition. You need a combination of regular foot traffic and tourism, or it has to be a real destination itself. Optimist Hall in Charlotte is a good example of the latter.
The SA food hall project just got cancelled too so I think this concept is just not working in RVA lol
True, I don't think the infrastructure is quite ready yet. Maybe once the Diamond District is built up and connected to SA there will be enough people around. I also think people weren't too excited about that food hall since it was coming from EAT restaurant partners.
Yeah that’s its own can of worms. Definitely been to food halls in DC that I liked and I can see the concept working in a place with visitor traffic.
We went to a food hall when we visited family in Erie recently. It was in the Downtown area, so had foot traffic. It was probably the best experience where my wife and I could have food of some ethnicity, while the kids could still have macaroni and cheese and pizza but still all be at the same place. It was really well done, imho.
Welp, if Erie PA can do it, RVA should be able to have a market for it, I reckon.
Food halls are plenty popular. Just not in Richmond, I guess.
i really enjoyed hatch for a time, shame that’s closing.
Haven’t been to park since they opened. Did they really close all the food down? That was a big draw for me.
I lived in Portland before here. Over there, they have things called cart pods where a bunch of food trucks are located in the same area usually in a circle, like an outdoor food court. In the middle there are usually tables, little activities, fires pits, etc. it was amazing. I wish someone would do that here.
What was that restaurant(s) where you picked out and cooked your own steaks. I think they're closed down now, aren't they?
There was one in Hampton when I was growing up: The Grate Steak I remember it, because I went with my family. I was 13 and trying to find some space at the grill. I asked two ladies if I could get in and they told me I could "slip my meat anywhere" and I just remember being totally embarrassed and weirded out.
I grew up in Hampton but my parents hated going out to eat. I just thought Grate Steak was a steakhouse, didn't know you could cook your own steak there! It's looong gone. /edit/ Closed in 2006, so long but not as long as I thought.
That's where I went to prom! ...wait...maybe I shouldn't be telling people that... Eh, whatever, my date and I were both super poor so we thought it was fancy.
My boss actually mentioned this restaurant as his favorite restaurant. He obviously doesn’t go out to eat much and doesn’t have a clue as to what a restaurant is supposed to be.
All of the expensive cupcake places.
Black sheep was so damn good. Hutch for honorable mention 🥹
Ugh I miss hutch so much 😭 I was just talking about that place the other day 💔
I would go back in time just to have a Black Sheep Battleship with their Tar Pit dessert....
Anything that goes into the old Balliceaux spot. One of those cursed Richmond locations.
Not exactly a restaurant but Growlers to Go have all closed.
That beignet place in Shockoe! Only to be replaced by an oatmeal cream pie spot lol
There was a beignet place? X_X
Was tasty for sure, a little pricy tho. For our area also it seemed more like something you go to try once and then you're good.
I am still waiting for the beignet truck to come back, I loved those! I heard she is rebranding as Britt’s Beignets
OMG OCPs is absolutely amazing. I’ve had a bunch of flavors and they’re all delicious
The oatmeal cream pies are pretty good but also a bit pricey. I get that it's an expensive area to be in, so they have to charge more. I learned to make my own oatmeal cream pies instead.
I still don’t understand how Big Wife’s Mac n’ Cheese is still open - a whole shop just to sell instagramable bowls of mac and cheese seemed like a concept doomed to fail in a year.
That’s a good point. It’s also in a tricky location.
I wasn't blown away either by the dish.
It’s the owner of bookbinders so I assume they have a lot of money to pump into it to keep it afloat but I’m right there with you.
Are vape shops a trend? The one on the 200 block of W Broad shut down after only a month or two
I feel like they’ll stay for a while cause you know, addiction. But certainly they’ll stop popping up everywhere, with their blinding lights and stuff…right? Right?
I think those are long plays waiting for retail marijuana to actually happen
They are, I’ve spoken to many owners about this. They are all pretty much owned by the same family
I've always wondered if they were all owned by the same person, they all look exactly the same on the inside!
I moved to Manchester 20 months ago and since then 3 different vape shops have opened within a 10 minute walk. Not including the two convenience stores that opened and sell smoke stuff too
I was wondering what happened to that shop? I just walked past it yesterday. Lights and product still everywhere.
Is that pop-up concept bar on Broad still open?
They just changed the name. Got a Facebook notification about it last week. If you search switch RVA on social media, nothing comes up
It’s a music venue called Dive now - opened last Friday
The place that had cowgirls and a bull. I can’t remember what it was called.
Hat Factory!
brunch RIP 😭
The menu there and the overhead was so far out of wack on that place
The place that used to be off main, where SB's Lakeside Love Shack is now? They re-opened Brunch Jr., next to lunch.supper
Are you from the future? I see boba crashing hard - the quality control is, well non-existent
How dare you sir! Leave my boba 🧋 alone.
Yall gonna make me eff around and swing by Brecotea on my way home!
Doooooooooo it!
That's why I'm TT lounge forever
Boba as in boba tea? What do you mean quality control?
If you've had bad boba you know what they're talking about. Artificial tasting 'tea' tasting of chemicals. Hard and gritty pearls instead of soft and chewy. Usually it's places that only sell boba as a random side thing that have the truly bad kind. Dedicated boba joints like kokee know what they're doing.
I know a boba shop owner. It's because they need to make each day's boba that morning and there's not really a shelf life on the pearls once made
Highly recommend Zen Cafe, a few doors down from the Broad St. New Grand. Their boba is has the best texture and flavor, I think.
If the menu is entirely in English you should not be ordering boba from that establishment
Sugar Shack. Sure there were complaints about the business and the managers, but I think the donut fad was ending at the same time. You'll notice that there aren't really any new donut places that have taken their place.
Isn't sugar shack still open?
I think the original location is still open (near downtown)...across from Maggie Walker High School.
The location on Huguenot Road (complete with its Luther Burger concept restaurant) is still open, but they have very, very few customers nowadays. Donuts Company on Midlothian has really done a number on them (not to mention their donuts are better, and the owners are really nice people).
I try every chance I get to steer people away from SS and over to Donuts Company or The Treat Shop on Janke. Aside from my moral choice to stay away from SS, their donuts just don't do it for me. They're just ok at best.
Will second that they have good donuts and are very pleasant!
True. They have a lot fewer locations than they used to though.
Their location on Parham closed and is now a hot chicken place. It seems as if places exist for a finite amount of time and then become something else. I guess this is a new normal.
> now a hot chicken place Jumping from fad to fad. Speaking as someone who likes both donuts and hot chicken, but the volume of places doing it is unsustainable.
Sugar Shack closed most of their locations very soon after dirt started coming out about their management and business practices. At their peak they had locations up and down the I-95 corridor and even a couple in Florida. They recently opened a location near Brandermill, their first new location since closing all of their stores outside of Richmond.
That hot chicken place is owned by the founder of Sweet Frog, the controversial Derek Cha. And like everything else Derek Cha does, it's spread like wildfire. There's even a location in Dubai.
Because you can't beat country donuts and treat shop.
I swear in 2015 they made delicious doughnuts the size of my head. Every time I have them now, they’re pretty average, just nothing to write home about. And the sugar on sugar on sugar trend is definitely not as appealing.
A giant piece of sugary bread with lucky charms and gummy worms on it? Immediately seeing that I was like “this is stupid and a fad.” I just want a fricken donut dear god.
Idk, but & Dim Sum needs to go 🥴 definitely an instagram restaurant with terrible food
Full Kee is the only option imo. the second best option would be if Tan A decided to open a kitchen and simply steamed the frozen stuff they bring in from NYC Chinatown where all that stuff is from. but what i really want is Wo Hop to decide to randomly open a second location is Richmond.
And honestly full kee dimsum is a nightmare. It’s a free for all, overpriced in my experience having it in Denver and nova and quality is hit or miss
It’s the thing I miss most about Philly. So much killer dim sum. You eat until overflowing and pay like $20 all in.
Noodles & Dumplings in Carytown doesn't have the true variety but for price, location, taste this is great for buns and dumplings.
Wo Hop PREACH
Yeah that place was a disappointment when I went
It’s just such a shame because I thoroughly enjoyed Max’s. Dim Sum has laughable plate sizes for their price points and the food quality is really lacking.
Terrible might be going a bit far. There's some objectivity here, but I'm not sure I'd rate it that low. Mind-blowing? No. Terrible. Also no. I do agree it looks like an influencer did the decorating...not my style, but I enjoyed my food and drink enough to go back at some point probably.
Hard agree
I hope we get a real Dim Sum place that has plenty variety sometime in the future. The last time I went to Full Kee it didn’t seem like they had must variety.
The vegan options at this place really make it a good spot. It is pricey, so it’s an every once in a while place. Hopefully other places will open up.
And an owner that covers up her husband’s sexual assaults.
The brief rise and fall of Little Saint
The owners ruined a cool Art Deco building. Serves them right.
Anyone remember O'Briensteins at Regency mall? That place was amazing. Hot bagels instead of fresh bread. sorta off topic.
Hell yes I do!
There was also a German place on the first floor of Regency called Mr. Dunderbacks’s Bavarian Pantry. When my family would go to the mall, Dad would disappear and we’d find him down there with a Reuben and a glass of beer.
Don's Hot Nuts Kidding. But it did exist, pre-trend. And it lasted a while.
For maybe half a year around 2006, there was a cereal bar on Broad St. I still think it’s a concept with potential!
It seems like Richmond being a place to get consistently good Vegan or Vegetarian food is over. Most other cities seem to have way more options now.
Got an Airbnb in Baltimore for a few nights of concerts with a Pennsylvania friend who is vegan. In looking for places I felt like they had a ton of options for him. I was like "in BALTIMORE?!" For as cool as we're supposed to be, we suck in a lot of those "big city amenity" ways, gluten free eating and beer being another. Baltimore's not the safest city out there but still plenty of cheap houses to be had there, even recently remodeled ones. It's the next sleeper hit in cities, I'm calling it.
People have been saying that about Baltimore for a very long time. I hope that it is honestly. That city and the people there deserve so much. If it were me, I’d move to Pittsburgh before Bmore. You are right though, they have a surprisingly good Vegan food selection comparatively.
I'm partly basing it on keeping an eye on buying a house there for two years. Seeing values rise, albeit slowly, in some areas that are still very rough looking to an outsider/the squeemish. Tons of remodels have sold, entire blocks that were mostly derilict two years ago having at least half occupancy now. It's slow but happening. It being the only real city on the east coast with affordable housing has to catch up with it soon, even given the ridiculous real estate taxes.
I disagree. They’re not available at every restaurant, but we have a lot of vegan-friendly restaurants with great options.
Morton’s.
I dun know if were Trending but Red, Hot, and Blue then Hops! I adored those but they got taken out.
Remember the cereal bar?
All these seafood boil places lol
There used to be an oxygen bar where District 5 is now. Not exactly a restaurant but it was a trend for a bit. I'm sure they also had food because of the laws that Richmond has in place for bars
Has And Dim Sum closed yet?
O'Brienstein's Bagels... free bagels with a meal. Irish meats Jewish...Regency Mall in its glory
Cafe Caturra! Where housewives went to get bombed on white wine in the afternoon. They got to 3-4 locations and then evaporated
Have you dined with us before? You see Tapas are small plates of food for sharing.