Pour Taproom and Pizza Dynamo planning June openings Downtown

[thelakelander]

BOA is supposed to have a restaurant and a Starbucks go into its ground floor. So that side of the block could look very different in a year.

[Steve]

I knew about the Starbucks. I did not know about the restaurant, so if that's going at the Forsyth and Laura corner then that's good news.

[Captain Zissou]

I knew about the Starbucks. I did not know about the restaurant, so if that's going at the Forsyth and Laura corner then that's good news.

https://www.bizjournals.com/jacksonville/news/2025/01/27/ariete-hospitality-group-bank-of-america-tower.html

Not just any restaurant.  This is going to be delicious.

[fsu813]

Went for lunch today - packed out from 11a-1p, both sides. Quality venue and food. Fantastic addition to Downtown.

[thelakelander]

Stopped by tonight to check it out. Very impressive. Also, the food menu is much more extensive than I originally assumed. Definitely a spot for the football season! Got to get more stuff around them ASAP. Its hard to do night time hours long term when you're the only thing open on the entire street.

[Jankelope]

I have had 2 pizzas there within a week. Both were really great!

[soepic]

Lucky! Me and my husband literally went 4 times and still haven't had the chance to get pizza. Went a few hours after opening on June 10 and they were out of dough and was told to come back @ 4pm. Came back and and was told to come back @ 430. Waited and then told to come back @ 6pm. Gave them some time and husband went by around 9pm before their reported 10pm closing and was told they were closed @ 9pm. Not really complaining and understand new things have to go through settling pains. Since we literally live across the street from them and it looks to be a popular spot, I feel we have plenty of time to finally try them out.

[acme54321]

Went last night. Dynamo has some operational kinks to work out but the pizza was good.  Pour seems like a bit of a novelty, at least on the beer side.  The selection wasn't as good as I expected to be.

[Ken_FSU]

Went last night. Dynamo has some operational kinks to work out but the pizza was good.  Pour seems like a bit of a novelty, at least on the beer side.  The selection wasn't as good as I expected to be.

I haven't had a chance to pop in yet.

As someone now on the north side of 40, who finds the two-day bounceback from a night of drinking increasingly harder to justify more than once or twice a month, did you get the sense that Pour had any non-alcoholic options?

[bg904]

Went last night. Dynamo has some operational kinks to work out but the pizza was good.  Pour seems like a bit of a novelty, at least on the beer side.  The selection wasn't as good as I expected to be.

did you get the sense that Pour had any non-alcoholic options?

They do have a soda fountain with glasses off to the side of it. Not sure if the intent was for soda to be free, but it looks that way.

[fsu813]

Went last night. Dynamo has some operational kinks to work out but the pizza was good.  Pour seems like a bit of a novelty, at least on the beer side.  The selection wasn't as good as I expected to be.

did you get the sense that Pour had any non-alcoholic options?

They do have a soda fountain with glasses off to the side of it. Not sure if the intent was for soda to be free, but it looks that way.

Not free. They're a menu item.

[jax_hwy_engineer]

All the beers poured foamy and tasted off when I went on Friday...

I am glad to see it's a popular spot for Downtown, and it's good for Downtown, but I do not like it and likely will not be going back. Something so impersonal about it that I don't like, really. Cracks me up when they ask for a tip at the end as you check out, too. A tip for what?!? I poured my own beer and bussed my own table!!

The buffalo chicken grandma's pie was pretty good, though. Pizza Dynamo seems like a spot I will revisit.

[acme54321]

All the beers poured foamy and tasted off when I went on Friday...

I am glad to see it's a popular spot for Downtown, and it's good for Downtown, but I do not like it and likely will not be going back. Something so impersonal about it that I don't like, really. Cracks me up when they ask for a tip at the end as you check out, too. A tip for what?!? I poured my own beer and bussed my own table!!

Literally my exact experience.  At least there was an employee there that recognized my glass of foam and she turned the machine on the pour the rest proper for free.  And yeah, the tip thing... 

[urban_]

The tipping thing is so funny to me. Like, I'm all for more effort = more pay, but who/what am I tipping when I do the work? Pay your people more!

[jax_hwy_engineer]

I've become pretty zero-tolerance for a lot of the tip asks. If I'm standing up when I order, and someone spins a screen around, nope no tip. If I showed up to a place, you gave me a wristband and I poured my own beers, then sat down and ordered a pizza on my phone (like I did at pour) then nope! No tip. I feel like they have zero incentive to disable the "ask for a tip" option on the point of sale systems. If a sucker is willing to give you an extra 20% out of a misplaced sense of guilt, why would you ever turn that off? But I ain't falling for it anymore.

I will now only tip if I get my order taken sitting down, or order bellied-up to a bar. Sometimes I'll pay a pittance and tip $1 if I really like a place and their system doesn't offer an easy "no tip" option, but otherwise I am just not falling for it.