Boston's Restaraunt & Sports Bar Marana - Any Good? (Phoenix: credit, hotels)

[sh9730]

SO, I don't get on the Tucson forum too much since Casa Grande seems to identify more with Phoenix rather than Tucson - however I have always championed CG's proximity to BOTH cities.

My reason for posting here is that CG is about to get a new restaurant (always welcome!) and the only other AZ location is in Marana.

Its called "Boston's Restaurant & Sports Bar" and the Marana location is in the Pavilions center. They seem to be a cross between Chili's/Buffalo Wild Wings/ and Barros Pizza...

Anybody offer any reviews?

My guess by looking at where they are in the planning process is that it will be at least the fall before it opens here as they are building a new building etc. and the site plans haven't even been approved yet so it will be a bit....

But was just curious as to what the place will be like.

I am heading south in the next few weeks to visit a friend in Green Valley - maybe we ll stop by in Marana and check this place out.


Thanks!

[Jukesgrrl]

Casa Grande is getting a lot of EVERYTHING. I stopped there for gas on the way to Phoenix last week and was shocked by all the construction around Florence Boulevard. I actually took the time to drive both east and west on the road to see it all. Must be a lot of construction jobs available.

[sh9730]

Jukes - yep - and more to come soon - along with what you saw right at I 10/Florence (BTW the restaurant EAST of the freeway will be a Raising Cane's chicken place) will be another McDonalds next to the Olive Garden - not exciting but it will do ok right at the freeway there even with all the other places. Buffalo Wild Wings will begin building soon (next month or so) in the mall itself, this new "Boston's" restaurant will be on the other side of the freeway from the mall near the new Holiday Inn Express that you saw (behind where the Corner Store Gas Station was under construction you saw).

The mall itself is beginning to fill in again after losing a couple of big tenants (Best Buy etc..) during the recession which is good...and of Course the two BIG projects that are going on are on opposite ends of town - the Tractor Supply Store Distribution Center (300 jobs) on the far west end of town, along with an actual retail outlet that was approved by the city last week next to the LA Fitness you may have seen....then the granddaddy of them all - Phoenixmart which is about 95% done with the initial phase grading now. That building should be open by this time next year (several thousand jobs).

Along with all you saw there is finally some stuff starting to come up in the NORTH end by me (yay!) at McCartney Road. A Circle K will be built right off the freeway soon, and we are getting a few other things filling in the empty strip malls that were there for the last 7 years or so.....

A couple of large assisted living facilities will also start building in the spring at various locations as well as residential in town starting to revive a bit.....

SO, CG does seem to be on the mend after a few really bad years!

As for my original post - I just did what I should have in the first place and checked YELP. Seems like this chain is basically an Applebees, Chili's, type of place. Mixed reviews - but we ll take it here!! We need to move up the chain soon though and get a nice Steakhouse or PF Changs type place.....

[beTucsonan]

I'll start with the disclaimer that I haven't spent much time in the area, but is it really so bad there that you look forward to getting something like a PF Changs? That's frightening to me - it would seem that a city of 50,000 so close to one of the country's largest metro areas could actually support a couple of decent, real restaurants rather than hoping for crummy chain restaurants to move in.

I do understand that the introduction of such chains means that the economy is moving in the right direction, I guess I just have trouble believing that there aren't good restaurants there serving the existing community already.

I hope this post doesn't come across as rude. I didn't know how else to word it, but it seems like a definite gap in the local scene if chain restaurants are getting this much attention.

[sh9730]

Baja,

Well - to be fair CG did JUST pass the 50K mark in full time population mark in the last year or so - but yes, with the winter population we are closer to 75K, and then our "service area" (i.e. AZ City, Coolidge, Stanfield, etc. that have virtually no services) is closer to 110K.

That said - most of that growth occurred in the last 10 years and then the recession hit. ALSO, the investors in these things (restaraunts, retail, etc. ) not only count rooftops in their decision making, but MEDIAN INCOME as well. Up to now CG and environs hasn't had a high median income - it is improving - but still not anywhere near some of the valley cities. Also, much of our winter population is not the same as those in Sun Lakes, Scottsdale etc. and they aren't looking for fancier stuff - and another factor is added into why no higher end stuff here yet (but you should see the Golden Corral at about 5 PM every night in winter!! PACKED! LOL!)

Combine that with tight credit over the last few years in general for the service industries and unfortunately we haven't moved up into the next level for retail/services yet. Phoenixmart should change some of this - as the visitors who will be coming into town will want/expect more than an Olive Garden experience (as much as I like Olive Garden actually). Eventually (phase II I think) a resort hotel/restaurant complex is planned on the Phoenixmart site itself - but that is probably 3-5 years out depending on the initial success of Phoenixmart the building.
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CG does have a couple nice locally owned restaurant's and even a decent steakhouse with good regional reviews (BeDillons). But they are smaller and have limited hours - so it will be nice to move up a bit.

But, to answer your basic question - NO, CG is not bad at all - as Jukes was saying - if you get off on Florence Blvd off the I 10 you would be hard pressed to tell the difference between CG and Chandler/Gilbert/Ahwatukee etc. The mall is built by the same people as, and looks just like Tempe Marketplace (smaller though of course), Sams Club is now open, then into town we have all the normal - Chilis, Macayos, Native New Yorker, Lowes/Home Depot, Chipotle, Roomstore, Planet Fitness, LA Fitness, Banner Hospital, and on and on.

The problem is that so far almost ALL of that infrastructure is along Florence Blvd - and until recently as I mentioned above, there wasn't much at all in the northern parts of town where all the residential boomed in the early 2000s - for me that meant about a 4 mile trip to Taco Bell! Finally that is changing and some of that is filling in with more to come as I said (I will soon have a Taco Bell within 1.5 miles).

But yeah, CG is still a very middle class town but that doesn't make it bad.....

ETA - sorry - forgot I was in the Tucson forum - so the reference to Tempe Marketplace and Chandler/Gilbert may not ring with some - unfortunately I am not familiar enough with the Tucson area to make comparisons.

[tumamoc]

I dined at Boston's in Marana once. I ordered the sausage tortelloni. It tasted like it was straight out of the microwave. Bland and overpriced. I won't be going back.

[beTucsonan]

First, thanks very much for the detailed response, sh9730. Very much appreciated. Second ...

Originally Posted by sh9730

CG does have a couple nice locally owned restaurant's and even a decent steakhouse with good regional reviews (BeDillons).

... this is what I'm looking for! What are some of the other locally owned joints that you might recommend? I've got a half a mind to just go up to Casa Grande for a day and see what's happening up there, maybe you can point me in the right direction (i.e.: local food joints owned by local folks making the other locals happy!)

[sh9730]

Baja,

Not sure what type of food you are looking for but:

Steak - as I said BeDillons is very good - but its just an old historic house that has been turned into a restaurant - its pricey (for CG standards anyway).

Mexican - by far the most popular is "Mi Amigo Ricardos" - its a checkerboard tablecloth type place but is busy every day of the week for lunch and dinner even though it is pretty good sized there is often a wait.

There is also a new Mexican place called "Estillo Red" which from what I hear is really good - very small though...there is a couple of other Mexican places also but they are pretty average.

Sushi - the only one I would recommend is a newer addition "Senor Sushi" - it is related to its namesake up in Scottsdale and I was surprised they chose CG as its second location as its pretty "hip" for CG....but seems to be doing pretty well so far...

Cuban - we only have one in town called "Felix's" in old town...

Italian - there are a couple - but nothing super special - Olive Garden kind of dominates this one...

Chinese - the best "hole in the wall" Chinese is "Big Wa"....

But none of these are of the fancier high end that I am hoping we get soon - the food is good - but sometimes you really want the atmosphere as much as the food - ya know?

I noticed on the City Council agenda for this week a couple of new Alcohol license requests - they only list the names of the places - but based upon those one sounds like it might be a small microbrewery (which would probably do well here in CG) - and the other a wine/coffee bar type place.....so maybe some of the type of thing you are talking about is forthcoming....

Oh - forgot watering holes! We really only have local taverns so far - Airport Tavern, McMashers (which is a sort of sports bar), and that's about it really...but then I am not a big drinker when not having a meal, so am not looking for those spots so much

[azdr0710]

very nice summary, sh9730....

and thanks for all your regular updates on Casa Grande here on the board.....

have been driving I-10 regularly between Phx and Tuc for 35 years and occasionally drive into CG proper....back in college days, I remember having to exit at 194 and drive about three miles toward town to hit a McDonald's to get something to eat.....NOTHING but fields at the Florence interchange!......and that first outlet mall built down by the RR tracks was VERY popular in the 90s or so.....now just about abandoned.....and I guess the second one at Florence is not one anymore, too.....things change fast!

[sh9730]

AZDR - Thanks. A little confused as to part of your post though - I don't think there ever was an "outlet" mall at Florence Blvd? Admittedly I have only been here 8 years - but I thought it was all farm fields before the "normal" Promenade Mall opened in 2008 with all the standard fare (Target, JCPENNEYS, Dillards, Movie Theatres, Kohls etc...).

As for the original Outlet Mall along I 10 - they ARE trying to revive and re-make that place into something new - the same principals doing the Phoenixmart project own that mall and the surrounding land. Originally it was going to be sort of an outgrowth and temporary holding space for Phoenixmart tenants until the actual building east of I 10 was completed. That changed (tenants didn't want to go there and then move later I guess), and now the mall has been renamed "CityGate". New signs recently in place - a facelift for the building itself is done, and there are a few new "non-outlet" tenants in there now and they are actively marketing the space. As I said they own the surrounding land as well and their hope is to turn that entire I 10 interchange into an actual "gateway" project with hotels, restaraunts, residential and retail. There is a recently completed Phoenixmart "welcome center" in that mall now so they can show potential Phoenixmart tenants what the booth spaces will be like etc.

Yeah, I think 35 years ago when you were passing through the CG population was probably about 10K if that....now it is 5 times that many....