Alpha Dog to close

[RockStar]

Word on the street from a reliable source...anyone know better?

[peestandingup]

That sucks. They weren't spectacular & it was overpriced for hot dogs/burger king fries, but I kinda liked going there from time to time. And was def the best thing to go into that space in a loooong time.

[Dog Walker]

Stupid concept, dumb location.  You could get better food from the nice lady on the Walgreen's corner.

Lack of seating wasn't a problem for them, Stephen.  Lack of customers was.  Silly to try to blame RAP for this....or you are just trying to pull my leg?  It worked too!   

[Lucasjj]

I had been there several times and I liked what the place offered. Not having the back patio area to seat people did affect them. The last time I was there people were waiting for outside seating. I liked the concept, thought the food was fine and priced appropriately. If this is true, I am not sure what can work there, as nothing seems to stay long.

[thelakelander]

Nothing food related will work without that back patio. It's the best spot in the place. BTW, I liked the food, concept and pricing.

[Non-RedNeck Westsider]

You could get better food from the nice lady on the Walgreen's corner.

For some reason, everytime I was looking for an evening snack, she was no where to be found.

Oh, that's right!  She's only there for lunch.  Silly me.

[BridgeTroll]

Stupid concept, dumb location.  You could get better food from the nice lady on the Walgreen's corner.

Lack of seating wasn't a problem for them, Stephen.  Lack of customers was.  Silly to try to blame RAP for this....or you are just trying to pull my leg?  It worked too!   

The food was great, and the concept was awesome.

Never had a meal that we didn't enjoy, and the place was usually busy no matter when we went.

It is a problem when hot boxing little housewives get it into their head that they can just arbitrarily decide how many seats a restaurant 'needs' because a li'l ole number just popped into their heads.

The truth is that people outside of the profession generally have no freaking clue how a restaurant works.

Cutting off 25% of his earning potential was a pretty dastardly thing to do.  And it totally came out of this pinheaded concept that residential property owners are the only ones with the right to use their property, to the detriment of the commercial property owners.

In this case, a single property owner behind the business has asserted his rights to purchase a home without doing any due diligence whatsoever as to who the adjacent property owner might be. 

Nice sense of entitlement.

But hey, its only money right?  The owner and his family that put so many many hours and who knows how much in total investment and gave a pretty cool place for the residents of the area to enjoy----what is that compared to the convenience of some jerk who decided after five years or so that he didn't like living behind a restaurant?

Luckily he had an organization that could help him out when it came time to rezoning his new neighbor's property ---- but only after watching the man and his family go through the entire renovation without mentioning his objections a single time until it was too late to do anything but move forward or walk away from the investment.

As an outsider... this information seems kind of innuendo - ish.  Is there something more substantial out there to see?

[Tacachale]

Too bad. Good food, awesome space. I didn't realize the back patio was totally closed off the last time I was there; I can see that losing that would do any restaurant in. It will be missed.

[cline]

Does the zoning allow for seating out back?

[TPC]

That sucks. I ate there quite often as it was cheap with something to offer other then the pizza or sushi. The inability to eat out on the back patio definitely hurt them.

The location seems like the place restaurants go to die and I was really hoping Alpha Dog would buck the trend.

[Garden guy]

I think the hotdog idea is great but artisian food...not the stuff from winn dixie. if they;d have made those dogs themselves id be on it. Personally id love to see a good hamburger hotdog place with class and live music....where are the performers?

[Bativac]

It seems like different parts of Jacksonville, independent of each other, are fostering extremely anti-business attitudes. Or is it just a few squeaky wheels?

My wife dreamt of opening up an Italian bakery. She gave that dream up. Until we move, anyway.

[Captain Zissou]

Stupid concept, dumb location.  You could get better food from the nice lady on the Walgreen's corner.

DW, I'm so sorry that Alphadog's existence ruined your life.  May you find peace in their passing on.

Without the back patio, Alpha Dog was just one of a dozen places to get a sandwich and a basket of fries in Riverside/Avondale.  With the back patio, it would have been the place to be from Thursday night through Sunday afternoon.  That was where they could have really set themselves apart as far as experience goes and the menu would have worked itself out.  They were really crippled by the person they lovingly referred to as, 'the d-bag in the green house'.

[RiversideLoki]

I've had several great meals there. I dunno what the hubbub is about. The Ragin' Cajun is probably the best sausage I've ever had.. Andouille with frickin' Jambalaya on top?!?! Their fries are "meh" but I don't go there for the fries. And the price wasn't that bad.

[thelakelander]

^Yeah, the dogs (size and variety) were pretty filling for the price, imo.  It was a great change of pace from the typical menus in the area.