Jefe,
I don’t think that the management and food that has been in place for 2 weeks has much impact on the recent two years of that property. I think that the reason Damon’s failed and wasn’t refilled for a while is multifaceted.
Certainly Damon’s could have failed because ribs are just not THAT popular in Raleigh. The Smokey Bones manager in Wilmington told us that the company’s demographics show that Raleigh wasn’t a good expansion market for them. Luther’s was very good, as was Oh Brians, but neither made it in Raleigh.
The second point is the location. Right now it and Wendy’s are the ONLY restaurants within walking distance of the RBC Center/stadium complex that was designed with the car in mind. Much like the old Charlotte Coliseum, the idea with this arena is to get in and out quickly, so the land around it is best suited for office space. That way the roads are used for offices by day, entertainment by night.
This restaurant’s location is just off of the heavy-flow path. If you get there and they are too full, you are screwed because by the time you get to the nearest decent sit-down restaurant, you will miss your arena event’s beginning. So why bother gambling when you can just eat at a good restaurant on the way to the arena. Also the public might not realize that an event is going on. They could get stuck in traffic before it is too late, so they don’t even risk it, even on nights when there is no event.
The long term future of the area needs to be decided. I don’t think a half-hearted cluster of restaurants across Edwards Mill is a smart idea AT ALL. Either there should be a major, dense urban cluster growth (at least the size of North Hills and NH East), or the area should be completely office space. Once one is in their car leaving the property, would they go up into a quiet small development to go to a bar or just proceed to downtown? Probably the latter.
This impeccably maintained arena is 10 years old. It’s lifespan is probably another 30-40 years. I think we should just quit on the idea of having destinations walking distance from the arena because the facility’s replacement just might not be on that property. We have a great, car-friendly, tailgate friendly facility and we should enjoy it as designed. Where the city REALLY needs to improve things in the area is with bus access. There should be an express bus line from Glenwood Avenue and from NCSU running through dedicated bus lanes to the arena. THAT would encourage people wanting to go downtown after the game to just park and eat downtown before the game and ride back and drink after the game.