San Antonio Area - New Restaurant Openings -and- Restaurant Closings (Austin: courthouse, nearest)

[davi78239]

Originally Posted by imaterry78259

Is Copeland of New Orleans closed?

I hope not!! I just called and got their answering machine. Hope thats a good thing.

[dccvms]

Originally Posted by imaterry78259

Is Copeland of New Orleans closed?

Its been closed for over 2 weeks now.

[davi78239]

Originally Posted by dccvms

Its been closed for over 2 weeks now.

Like I said before, lots of places just don't make it in this market for whatever reason. Thats a shame. I thought it was a really good alternative to pappadeaux. I'm sure in other big cities its still open and going strong. Back to sea island we go I guess.

[perticusrex]

Sea island??????? J anthonys son!

[blizzrd]

Originally Posted by perticusrex

Sea island??????? J anthonys son!

+1000000

I never got the sea island thing. I've never had a rapeallu good meal there. It's always just ok. J Anthony has much better fish IMO.

[Sevenelements]

Originally Posted by davi78239

Like I said before, lots of places just don't make it in this market for whatever reason. Thats a shame. I thought it was a really good alternative to pappadeaux. I'm sure in other big cities its still open and going strong. Back to sea island we go I guess.

Copeland's has closed in the following markets: Atlanta, Minneapolis and DC. It happens. Restaurants typically average two years of business. More restaurants close than they do open nationally. It is what it is.

[BenjaminNicholas]

Originally Posted by dccvms

Its been closed for over 2 weeks now.

Thank goodness. What they were doing to 'Creole' food was an abomination and using Al Copeland's name to get folks in the door was a sin.



BN

[TXStrat]

Originally Posted by davi78239

Like I said before, lots of places just don't make it in this market for whatever reason. Thats a shame. I thought it was a really good alternative to pappadeaux. I'm sure in other big cities its still open and going strong. Back to sea island we go I guess.

In the case of Copeland's I think the failure was attributable to definite fall in quality. The first Copeland's I went to was in Lake Charles, LA around 2000. It was a much more upscale establishment then. Nice menus, very fresh ingredients, high quality food, etc. We went to the one off of 281 a few months ago and it is like Popeye's met Red Lobster. Cheap Denny's style menus, frozen, reheated food, not anything like our past experiences. If you serve garbage, people will stop coming. Pretty simple equation.

The same thing happened with a steakhouse in Boerne. When we came to San Antonio house hunting in 2010 we tried the Tin Roof Steakhouse, and were amazed. Excellent food, great atmosphere, nice bar, and live, local music. Every subsequent time we returned, it got worse. First, the service fell off noticeably, then the food went off the cliff. When I say went off the cliff, I mean a drastic change in the quality. Then the menu changed over to more of a cajun/creole style, then the open mic nights fell off, and they closed in July. You cannot survive in the restaurant business with lousy service and poorly prepared food. People won't pay for that. Tin Roof added to their problems by ridiculing customers that complained on their social media outlets, and slamming other local establishments on review sites (Urban Spoon, Yelp, etc.)

[Sevenelements]

Exactly. Put out a quality product and it will 9 times out of ten succeed in SA.

[tyger2678]

I keep reading that people are saying Copeland's couldn't survive here... Wasn't the actual reason for closing because that shopping center increased the rent to a price they didn't agree with? NOT because no one was eating there, as most people speculate. Besides, that restaurant was always packed.