Was the same owners as Shiny Diner in Cary and the Farmer’s Market Restaurant, serving the same food (which is FINE, but not spectacular), at highly elevated downtown prices, and not staying open as late as anything called a “diner” should. I hate to see anything close in Raleigh, even places that seem to deserve it, but this place definitely did not seem to want to do well.
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Food was awful. Worst hash browns I’ve ever had. Didn’t even know you could make bad hash browns. Extremely slow service. Never went back. Not surprised they closed.
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How do you mess up hash browns - asking for a friend!!??
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Only way I can think of is by skimping on the salt and not getting the Maillard reaction on the potatoes.
The result would be something akin to boiled and unsalted potatoes.
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How about zero seasoning?
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We already have a replacement for Tucker Street Diner. The folks behind Iris Coffee are opening “Madeline”, a bakery-meets-cafe concept.
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Ha! When they announced this a few days ago, they kept the location a secret. Once I heard the news about Tucker St. I was wondering if perhaps they’d move in here.
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I wonder how much the new location had to do with this. Only parking is either along Oberlin Rd. or the lot between Chase Bank and Starbucks; I believe you could also possibly park in the garage under Berkshire. Based on looking at Google Reviews, they were possibly serving “Sysco Slop”, so not a place to go out of your way to visit. There is a US Foods truck that regularly parks in the middle of Oberlin Road to make deliveries, possibly to there and the other cafe/restaurants.
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SoCa was amazing and was always packed when @GucciLittlePig and I went. It never made sense to us why they closed other than to pursue other ventures. How a sandwich cafe thought they’d survive is beyond me. I’m only a little sad I didn’t get to try them out.
Parking was easy - there was the lot under the building or over in the village district proper. There were also on street spots if you were lucky and knew where to look. The signage was there.
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You could definitely park in the garage under the apartments, and you could certainly park in the Village District.
When they moved to the new location, their business dropped off significantly. I remember the days when they had a line to the door nearly every weekday at lunch time.
It’s sad.
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I find it weird that the parking under Berkshire isn’t well advertised. Also I think some people would be hesitant to park in Cameron Village due to fear of being towed, but security probably doesn’t care that much.
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EG closing is a huge loss not just for Raleigh, but NC as a whole. The longest running skate shop with tons of history getting shuttered, and the only one ITB as well.
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We knew it was coming but I had hoped they’d just seek a new location. Likely just getting out before re-signing a lease, as this lot’s days are numbered now that the new tower has been approved.
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Cursed location. Somebody just needs to open a dental practice there or something, a restaurant is just not in the cards here.
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In that location specifically, I just don’t think that people can wrap their heads around parking in a garage instead of a surface lot.
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Yeah, there was plenty of parking for Cafe Carolina in that garage underneath, but it wasn’t the easiest to find if you weren’t aware of where the entrance was.
Another issue for me with the “new” location was that it always felt temporary. Inside didn’t have much decor and they still had a “grand opening” banner out front as of last week. Wish it had been able to survive there, but honestly surprised it stuck around for this long given that they closed their other locations a few years back.
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