Restaurant Row Proposal for Vacant Elmhurst Lot Sparks Controversy
Plans to build three chain restaurants on a 100,000-square-foot parcel of land next door to the Queens Center Mall in Elmhurst aren’t making everyone happy. DNAinfo reports that Council Member Daniel Dromm is speaking out against the project, dubbed Queens Way Plaza, due to the lack of involvement with community officials. Community Board Four also…
Plans to build three chain restaurants on a 100,000-square-foot parcel of land next door to the Queens Center Mall in Elmhurst aren’t making everyone happy. DNAinfo reports that Council Member Daniel Dromm is speaking out against the project, dubbed Queens Way Plaza, due to the lack of involvement with community officials. Community Board Four also believes that the developers, The Mattone Group, handled the details “in secret.” The Mattone Group previously planned to build a large movie theater complex at this site but never found an operator. Plans for a restaurant row emerged two years ago and the Mattone Group expects to open an Olive Garden, LongHorn Steakhouse and a Joe’s Crab Shack here this summer. While the project did receive Community Board approval, it hasn’t received extensive community vetting.
According to DNAinfo, the Borough President’s office will hold a meeting for the developers, Council Member Dromm and the Community Board to address the Council Member’s concerns.
Tensions Boil Over About Plans to Build ‘Restaurant Row’ Near Mall [DNAinfo]
Three Chain Restaurants Coming to Vacant Lot Across from Queens Center Mall [Q’Stoner]
FHGuy, everyone’s taste is different, but overall the reviews for most of the restaurants you mentioned are not very good. Nicks Pizza is good, but overpriced for smaller sized pies, and they nickel and dime you by charging extra for a little grated cheese, insane! The Flying Pig again is very overpriced for small sized portions that are at best mediocre tasting. Aged has a horrible reputation for overpriced steaks that are as tough as leather. Bareburger has tiny sized burgers that are nothing special, other than claiming to be made from organic meat. The Grill recently opened, and had to lower their inflated prices for kebabs that aren’t even as good as most street vendors sell. I think I’ll stop at that.
All very accurate descriptions!
Anonymous’s descriptions of those restaurants are so inaccurate that they are laughable. If these descriptions had any truth to them, then these restaurants would always be empty and would go out of business. But instead, every one of the places I mentioned is packed with people every Friday and Saturday night. Judging by how successful and popular these places are, I guess the two Anonymouses here must be part of a small minority of Forest Hills residents who don’t like these places.
It’s also funny how Anon #1 says “overall the reviews for most of the restaurants you mentioned are not very good”. But, of course, he/she offers no facts to back up this statement other than his/her own opinion. I hate to break it to Anon #1, but one person’s opinion says nothing about what the “overall reviews” are for a restaurant.
I also agree with the first anonymous poster’s comments about the restaurants mentioned in Forest Hills, everything is spot on. And I say this from personal experiences, having encountered all the negatives conveyed in that post. The only restaurant that is truly packed on the weekends really is Fridays, as has been said. (And McDonalds, if that even counts as a restaurant per se.).
FHGuy, it’s almost funny how you try to elevate the current crop of restaurants in our neighborhood when it’s common knowledge amongst the residents of our community that our dining options are mediocre at best. Just a quick search on chowhound outer boroughs will bring up a recent discussion of how there are no good places to eat here in FH.
That’s absurd. Try getting a table at Banter on a Friday or Saturday night, or Tuscan Hills. And those are just a couple of the several excellent new restaurants to open in Forest Hills lately. You don’t know what you’re talking about, or have some motive for wanting to disparage these really good new places that have recently opened.
Kat is completely correct! I live in Forest Hills, and Friday’s is probably the most successful restaurant on Austin St. Why? Precisely because it is a chain eatery! It is consistent, tasty, affordable, and family friendly, while most of the other independent restaurants in FH are overpriced, non-gourmet junk masquerading as good food, when in actuality it is mostly mediocre fare. I welcome the three chain restaurants they wish to build near the mall, and I know many of the residents in Forest Hills will be eating there if and when they do open.
Actually, Forest Hills has many independent non-chain restaurants that have great food. Maybe Anonymous has missed the following places: Nick’s Pizza, Tuscan Hills, Station House, Banter, the Flying Pig, Aged, Bareburger and The Grill. The food at all of these places is anything but mediocre.
Come on really. Hasn’t NYC evolved to more sophisticated ways. This wouldn’t fly in Manhattan but let Queens have the garbage. I’m sure the community has other needs besides these suburban chain restaurants.
I know people like to hate on restaurants like the ones proposed for the Elmhurst lot, but I really think they should just stop.
People in Queens love chain restaurants. Just look at TGIFridays in Forest Hills. That place is always as packed as all the other restaurants on Austin Street. And I’ve eaten there and it’s pretty mediocre – but always packed. I’m assuming because those restaurants for the most part are much more affordable and a lot less intimidating than the “real deal” American, Seafood or Italian restaurants everywhere else.
And, this might be something to think about, going to restaurants like those introduced me and my family to “American” food. And I’m sure it has for countless other people. The Sizzler and Applebees are a part of my childhood but I know better places to go eat now – not that I wouldn’t go back to those places every now and then. It’s not like they serve garbage food.