Didn’t feel like creating a new topic to cover this, but plans were submitted today for Ashley Christensen’s new pizza place “Pooleside Pies”
SR-066-18.pdf (2.8 MB)
Happy to do it for you! 
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So, right next to Poole’s.
I find her restaurants to be overrated, but cautiously optimistic. The area needs an ace slice pizza joint — the other spots a short/drunk walking distance from there are underwhelming at best.
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The Pizza Wave hasn’t stopped. Don’t forget Gigi’s Pizza and Bella’s at Morgan Street Food Hall are two others that will open in DTR soon.
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On top of Oakwood Pizza box, and Times Pizza
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You’re telling me. And I find it kind of appalling that they are so freakin’ expensive given the hero cult status involved…
I went to Poole’s once and wasn’t impressed. Wasn’t super impressed with Beasley’s. Had a drink at Death and Taxes and it was as good as I’d get anywhere, but pretty pricey. I mean to go back for dinner sometime. I’m excited for the pizza place but I’m betting it’s gonna be $25 weird topping pizzas in a dive just like Poole’s
Cult status because her food is good. Looking forward to more Neopolitan-style pizza in Raleigh. Pompieri in Durham might be my favorite in the Triangle.
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$30 pies coming to the Raleigh market???
Hopefully she does something unique but cheaper, like Piece Pizza in Chicago.
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I just looked at the Piece Pizza website and their large pies start at $19.99 as a base pizza. Their specialty pizzas run $26.99 for a large. That’s not far from $30. For reference, the highest priced Lilly’s specialty pizza runs $26 for a large. Lilly’s base pizza is significantly less expensive than Piece Pizza.
I don’t think that Ashley will pursue anything cheaper than that because she’s probably not interested in competing with Domino’s or Pizza Hut, and she’s dealing with business costs that are higher DT than they probably are in Five Points.
I’d suspect that the price point will be considered against a per person cost of a meal in alignment with her brand and the DT market. I’d suspect that the lowest her price point would go will be based on a per diner spend at a place like Beasley’s or Chuck’s. For reference, at Chuck’s, a base burger and a side of fries will set you back $10.50, NIC a drink.
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Hard to imagine it’ll top Oakwood Pizza Box, where a large (more than enough for two people) one topping pizza runs only $20. Their wine is ~$26 a bottle for red ($22 is you want white) and beers are a low as $3.
They can only get away with that where they are because of economies of scale. They do basically one thing: pizza. But they use great ingredients. They don’t have too many toppings options. And they only carry one red wine at a time (which is either a Chianti or something else similar).
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@John - Lucky to get out of Chuck’s for $10.50… I usually don’t go there because it cost $15-$20 for lunch. I love new, unique and local restaurants coming to Raleigh… but I also think its good to have a few chains that can keep the price under control. When you have only a handful of restaurant owners that control the majority of downtown which controls the pricing… they can charge anything they want. People talk about affordable housing all the time… but what about affordable food and goods. Sure you can keep or bring in affordable housing… but then you’re charging $10 for hamburgers… I don’t think the two work together. Again, I’m all for supporting local… but I’m also for local supporting us. Right now, with the restaurants we have in place, they can set whatever price they want, whatever hours on whatever days… because people don’t have many other options and will still go. It drives me crazy when I want to go to brunch before 11am and there are only a couple restaurants to choose from. I would love to see more restaurants outside the handful of owners we currently have come in and shake things up. Offer options other than the Raleigh standards. Just my opinion of course.
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I don’t know what everyone else is thinking, but Poole’s is delicious. I was following AC Instagram while her and her pooleside pie team we’re traveling Italy tasting pizza. I bet this will be some of the best pie in the city.
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I have been saying the same thing for months… I have a family and we love to go downtown (even the kidos), but we rarely eat downtown for this very reason. Expensive food, limited options, and picky eaters don’t lend themselves to downtown dining at this point. Admittedly, I am not a “Foodie” but we need some middle of the road options downtown.
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Like what? An Applebees?
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Yeah, I get that one can’t get out of Chuck’s for less than $15-20. That was my whole point. $10.50 without a drink and before taxes and tip is the absolute floor. AC isn’t going to go downmarket in pricing if she doesn’t have to. She’s a James Beard award winning chef and has a dynasty in Raleigh. Does anyone really think that her accolades & empire will result in a budget pizza parlour? I highly, highly doubt it.
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I’ve said it for a while, decent counter service spots would be a welcome addition to the restaurants. This, I think, comes from the core downtowners from residents to frequent guests. I think fast-casual eats will come as the pedestrian counts continue to rise and they consist of repeats, not tourists.
Pizza, I think, is the first attempt at this cause it has so much mass appeal.
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Yes Joe… an applebees… thats exactly what we all want.
No… but it would be great to get some other people to come in outside of the handful of the same people that run Raleigh. I would love to see some of the same types of restaurants in Durham come here and create some competition and innovation.
It’s almost impossible to get a table at dinner time the day of in Downtown Raleigh in the weekends. High prices are there because demand is there. visitRaleigh just announced that in 2017 Raleigh had a record breaking year with more than 16.4 million visitors.
We need lower cost ‘skinny’ retail. I would love to open up a down-to-earth, late-night affordable 100% NC-sourced food joint and I don’t need that much space and will need very little overhead. But good luck finding such a place other than the future food halls.
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