Five Points, Center of the Nori Rolling Universe

[Jaxson]

Always thought the place was a tad lackluster. Tried to do way too much, and when that happens, quality and consistency usually suffers.

I'd much rather a niche restaurant go in that space....Indian, Vietnamese, Turkish...bring some new flavors to the area, whether that area is Jacksonville or Five Points...

Damn, I'd even take Chew (if they are actually relocating).

I co-sign that!  The tried and true (Mexican, Italian, Sushi) can only do so much for the neighborhood.  Whoever opens up a Thai, Indian or Vietnamese place in Five Points would corner a market that is ready for something different and nearby...

[ChriswUfGator]

Sad, I ate there regularly for lunch. Great food for a great price in a nice setting in a good location.  Really, not many places that offer this combination of value and quality.  They will be missed.

Actually, I wonder if they gave us too much for the money squeezing their margins.  Efficient service was uneven but generally adequate and better more recently.  I did have one business lunch there that took nearly an hour and half to get through and you can't do that too many times.

I don't think the prices were the problem, they were fair but they weren't giving the food away either. There were a couple issues with the place that I think probably caused their business to suffer. First, unless you went at an off hour, the service was pretty spotty.

Ironically, I found it was fantastic when they first opened and they had all the Japanese girls serving. But it went downhill rapidly when they hired a couple of our own Jacksonville natives as servers. That one dumpy looking american guy in particular was terrible. He'd disappear for 20 minutes at a time, was an expert at avoiding eye contact when he knew you needed to ask for something, and was rude on top of it.

Then the other thing was that if you sat in the booths along the lefthand side when you walked in, all you could smell was the bathroom, and they always kept the a/c set at 20 degrees below zero, so I froze every time I ate there and/or wound up running back to the car for a sweater if I was lucky and had one.

But the food was always top-notch, and their yellow thai curry in particular was phenomenal. The rice was perfectly done every time, heck, the food was just plain great. I kept figuring they'd work the rest of the bugs out eventually, and am saddened to hear they closed. But converting to a sushi restaurant in this area was probably the final nail in the coffin, talk about an oversaturated market!

[copperfiend]

I went there once late last year. I thought it was pretty average. Nice people running the place but nothing I would go out of my way to visit again. The last few times I have been to the Five Points theater, it's like a ghost town outside. Pretty depressing.

[BridgeTroll]

The last few times I have been to the Five Points theater, it's like a ghost town outside. Pretty depressing.

That is the bigger question!  What the hell happened to 5 points? 

[The Compound]

Sky high rent is one reason its so vacant and dead.

[Jaxson]

Actually, I wonder if they gave us too much for the money squeezing their margins.  Efficient service was uneven but generally adequate and better more recently.  I did have one business lunch there that took nearly an hour and half to get through and you can't do that too many times.

Ironically, I found it was fantastic when they first opened and they had all the Japanese girls serving. But it went downhill rapidly when they hired a couple of our own Jacksonville natives as servers. That one dumpy looking american guy in particular was terrible. He'd disappear for 20 minutes at a time, was an expert at avoiding eye contact when he knew you needed to ask for something, and was rude on top of it.

For me, poor service is a dealbreaker for me when I go out to eat.  I especially hate it when the waiter or waitress goes out of his or her way to help a customer.  They have affect a kind of tunnel vision that seems either studious or in la-la land.  The customer, of course, is too polite to raise his voice, so the waiter or waitress wanders on by...

[BridgeTroll]

Sky high rent is one reason its so vacant and dead.

Just like downtown and springfield... it seems property owners would rather have no tenant and income instead of a tenant and reduced income... bah... I am probably missing something...

[Jaxson]

@BridgeTroll --- Count me in as missing something, too.  Are these property owners holding out for Donald Trump?

[TheProfessor]

I think if you offer a product that is quality and then develop a following then the cusomers wil come.  Like everyone said there were too many sushi places around already.  Too much supply, with no demand.

[Dog Walker]

I think that a lot of the properties in 5 Points have out-of-town trusts as owners and are using property management companies to run them.

Maybe these companies are afraid of telling the trusts that the rents should be lowered for fear of losing their contracts or maybe the trusts hold so much rental property that they don't really care if a percentage of them are vacant.

They won't sell them either.  A lot of us have tried.

As a commercial property landlord myself, I just can't understand that viewpoint and have lowered my rents by 35% over the past couple of years.  It is a lot more important to keep the spaces producing cash than to meet some $ per sq. ft. projection.  But then I'm just a little guy.

[Jaxson]

I think if you offer a product that is quality and then develop a following then the cusomers wil come.  Like everyone said there were too many sushi places around already.  Too much supply, with no demand.

You are right about sushi overkill in the Five Points area.  Why should hipsters have to commute to the Southside for some decent Thai or Indian food?  The clue phone is ringing and waiting for someone to pick it up!!!

[Dog Walker]

Fu Hao had some really good Thai/Chinese fusion dishes on its first menu.  Their red curry duck was a dream.  A good Thai or Indian restaurant would be a great addition to the area.

[north miami]

Yep- we went there a couple of times and suspected a closure around the corner.We felt like many describe in these posts...that certain something.We (wife & I) imagined perhaps the lunch business would keep them afloat. The bar area was blah compared to our typical haunts at Biscottis,Brick,Bluefish......our own back yard.
We even made suggestions like keeping window areas uncluttered,signage.

Excellent point about the rents,overhead.This is the number one reason for failure.

Many passionate proprietors miss the overhead aspect...they would have to be open,full house and the register humming 20 hours a day to meet the overhead.

And yes- it's the flip side for the property owners with their unrealistic expectations from renters.

That could be the basis for naming a sushi plate; "Vicious Circle"

[tufsu1]

maybe it closed because of parking

[chachisweda]

  It is sad when you see a place going out of business...My son and I went there Wednesday without knowing that had closed down...really disappointing!..we ate there few months ago and food was pretty good but economy is tough and operation cost are high.