Crescent Moon Files For Chapter 11; Decatur Landlord Wants to Evict
Decatur Metro | August 15, 2008
Oh no…
Andy sends along a link to the Deal Watch Blog, which is reporting that the sagging economy hasn’t been good to Crescent Moon…
“Now the problems have spread to the local restaurant business. Crescent Moon, a popular diner that features retro décor and comfort food fare, has filed for bankruptcy. Crescent Moon has three locations – in the One West Court Square building on Ponce de Leon Avenue in downtown Decatur, Ga.; in Northlake Mall in north DeKalb County; and near the Mall of Georgia in Gwinnett County.
…Although Crescent Moon continues to operate its restaurants, the landlord of its downtown Decatur property has sought the bankruptcy court’s permission to start eviction proceedings on Crescent Moon. The landlord claims in a court document that Crescent Moon did not pay its June rent.”
Oh no…the possibility of no more biscuits, no more Usual…that just makes me sad.
Sorry everyone. What a crappy way to end the week.
UPDATE: Perhaps not as unexpected as first thought. Lots of great comments from residents explain why. While its a sad story about what once used to be a great restaurant, its kind of reassuring to know that there are specific and expected reasons for its troubles.
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Damn, that sucks. The Decatur location always seemed packed. I wonder if the other two locations ultimately dragged the company down.
Come back to Decatur, Lou Locricchio (sp?)! Maybe now the Thumbs Up owner can reclaim the turf he sold to them a dozen years ago. I did dig the hip interior.
Does the Crescent Moon founder – I think his name is Rob – still own it ? It has been ages since I’ve seen him in the Decatur location.
Thumbs Up closed their place in Avondale – it would be great to have them back here is downtown Decatur.
I believe that the original owner sold the place several months back and, in my experience, it hasn’t been the same since. I haven’t been back in months and it doesn’t have anything to do with the economy. Pastries a Go Go is my choice for breakfast and if you’re looking for biscuts, theirs are the best by far.
I believe they are on the third owner at the moment (if you count the original thumbs up) But I have to say while I used to eat there all the time – the food quality has gone so far downhill in the last couple of years that I’d rather eat at the sad Ruby Tuesdays next door.
The last time we ate there, sometime in the spring, our server shared the following:
1. The restaurant was sold in November to some folks who’d previously been in the Greek restaurant business.
2. They “forgot” to renew their liquor license and therefore lost it earlier in spring, and were not able to jump thru the ($$?) hoops to get it back.
And so, we’ve not been back. We actually checked on the liquor license a few weeks ago… nope.
Call me harsh, but I’ve got no sympathy for someone who buys a business without the basic understanding of the fundamentals needed to run said business. I do however, feel badly for the employees, vendors and creditors who will surely suffer as a result.
Wow…great info guys! I didn’t realize about all of the owner changes. But now that I think about it, we haven’t been going back nearly as frequently as we used to. Maybe it was a subconscious thing.
Last time I was there, I ordered the bagel deluxe… Y’know, tomato, onion, pickled banana pepper, cream cheese… What I got was tomato, onion, capers (no thanks), and butter. No-wait, it wasn’t butter, it was just cream cheese that was so dry and nasty it was butter yellow and crusty. Gross! Never went back.
Sadly, if my situation was even somewhat representative, I don’t think it has as much to do with the bad economy as the bad food. If anything, the current economy appears to be more of a grim reaper for bad business plans or poorly-run businesses. Folks seem to still be spending, but they’re spending more judiciously than they might have been a year or 2 ago.
It’s still sad, though, that it went the way it did. Lots of good times there, and I hate to see good folks lose their businesses and jobs.
Back when Rob owned the place it was GREAT. Now with the ugly giant floor tiles that took over the walls, the mismatched neon, the bad food (it was delicious and consistent for YEARS, and subpar service, it is a wreck). I used to love this place. So sad. . .
Unfortunately, this is not a surprise at all. The new owners have done everything possible to run this place into the ground and have a long history of failed businesses. It seems to be what they do best…well, that and using very low-quality ingredients. It would be wonderful to again have a locally-owned restaurant in this space. I always walk right by it in favor of other choices with better food.
I used to really like both of the Crescent Moon locations but stopped going after the group I call “The Greek Mafia” first bought the Northlake restaurant then bought the Decatur location a few months later. I watched as they used the same formula for failure that they used to destroy the City Diner chain they owned before. 1) Destroy the decor: install ugly “marble” ceramic tiles to every wall; glue tacky 80’s beveled mirrors to the tile; add lots of neon.
2) Micromanage & Demoralize the staff to drive away the best people
3) Raise prices while cutting the quality of the (Sysco) ingredients and lowering portion size.
Somewhere in Gwinnett Rob (the former owner) is laughing.
hate the neon, and no liquor….went for dinner recently and it was awful! asked for some salsa to help my tasteless chicken, and i was charged for it! will not be going back…….to bad!
Rob is involved with the new Taqueria del Vecino on LaVista Road in Oak Grove.
Ugghhhh….that sounds so awful.
Do you think the owners read this blog?
On a side note….does anyone here know what is going into the cool marble building on the corner across from Twains?
Last I heard, its going to be half high-end gift shop/candy store, half commercial real estate office for the new owners.
They’re still well away from opening…still looks like the interior is still under-going renovation.
The first time I ate at Cresent Moon I could not understand why it was so packed. The food is all frozen from a Sysco Food Systems truck. Cool decor and fake food gets you nowhere.
High end gifts and a candy store…WOW…that will get folks lined up…NOT!
I give it six months…until they evict themselves.
It’s sad to see a Decatur instutition like Crescent Moon fall so low. Rob Atherholt bought the business years ago from Lou and continued to provide the high quality of food that Lou established at the original Thumbs Up location. As others have pointed out, the quality of the food decreased quickly after Rob sold last year. It used to be our Friday night rituaI. I still don’t understand the point of changing what had been an award winning interior design. Lou has expressed interest in returning to Decatur but out of respect for Rob didn’t want to bring Thumbs Up to Decatur. Hopefully, he can now be persuaded. We’ll give him a call this week but encourage all Decatur fans to let Lou know how much we want him back.
I got sick from eating at Crecent Moon a week ago. Got the tofu scramble. I’ll never eat there again. Sweet Melissa’s is the bomb-diggity….high quality food, made with creativity, and service with a smile.
The worst case of food poinoning I had in recent years was from Ragging Burrito. I called them the next day, not to yell at them or ask for free coupons, but to tell the manager so that it didn’t happen to anyone else. I had a jerk-tofu burrito so I was concerned that he might have a cross-contamination issue. The guy was a huge jerk about it, and accused me of drinking the night before. He said since it was tofu, there’s no way it was his food that made me sick. Never eat there again either.
Wow Cosmic Charlie – my husband got sick from Crescent Moon last week too! He had a chef’s salad and immediately got ill. His first time in probably 35 years (getting ill :). I called just to let them know – like you said – and but they were very pleasant about and said they’d notify the kitchen. I hope you didn’t eat there after I called!
My wife and I have gotten sick after eating at Raging Burrito in the past. But that was a few years back.
Decatur Metro – “bringing food poisoning victims together for over 11 months”
I eat at Raging all the time and have never had a problem. I tend to stay away from lettuce though. It’s the easiest thing to have a problem with.
Rob is a good man who cared about his employees these Greek guys [editor: no name calling] don’t pay their employees and vendors they change managers constantly and have no clue of what a business is they are [editor: no name calling]
Maybe Rob will get it back. It sure would be nice to have the Crescent Moon that we all loved so much back. There is something to say about people who take pride in thier buisness and have integrity in what they do, which is what Rob and his faithful employees did. Anyhow I feel confident that what is going on here is a big fat piece of Karma biting the new owners in the butt!
The server with the short black curly hair is freakin’ awesome! Someone needs to hook her up with a better restaraunt to work for…She is always smiling and helpful and loves my kids and dogs!! The other standout is that black female manager with the glasses…One day I went in and asked her why the quality of the food had changed. She explained a lot to me and said that she would try her best to get the quality back to normal. There are new owners. They do not know what they are doing and do not listen to people who have worked for Rob for years. I must say that the next time I came in she recognized me and when I got my food the quality was a whole lot better. It really sucks for people like the two that I have talked about when things are not in their control. Hell, they both need a new job if the owners will not listen to them!!!
Hi to everyone- I was just informed of the blog. This is Rob the founder and former operator of Crescent Moon. I am sad that the purchasers have destroyed the name I worked so hard to build for 13 years. The Chapter 11 filing will most likely revert the lease back to me and I will make sure that the restaurant returns to its previous stature.
The judge will decide what happens. I may have to change the name. Be on the look out!
Thanks, Rob. We would look forward to the Moon’s former glory.
We really miss the quality that Rob brought to Crescent Moon, both at the Northlake and Decatur locations. I really do hope that he has the chance to someday reestablish that quality that is missing with the new owners!
Let us know when (and if) this takes place Rob!
We really miss the quality that Rob brought to Crescent Moon, both at the Northlake and Decatur locations. I really do hope that he has the chance to someday reestablish that quality that is missing with the new owners!
Let us know when (and if) this takes place Rob!
We really miss the quality that Rob brought to Crescent Moon, both at the Northlake and Decatur locations. I really do hope that he has the chance to someday reestablish that quality that is missing with the new owners!
Let us know when (and if) this takes place Rob!
We really miss the quality that Rob brought to Crescent Moon, both at the Northlake and Decatur locations. I really do hope that he has the chance to someday reestablish that quality that is missing with the new owners!
Let us know when (and if) this takes place Rob!
We really miss the quality that Rob brought to Crescent Moon, both at the Northlake and Decatur locations. I really do hope that he has the chance to someday reestablish that quality that is missing with the new owners!
Let us know when (and if) this takes place Rob!
We really miss the quality that Rob brought to Crescent Moon, both at the Northlake and Decatur locations. I really do hope that he has the chance to someday reestablish that quality that is missing with the new owners!
Let us know when (and if) this takes place Rob!
We really miss the quality that Rob brought to Crescent Moon, both at the Northlake and Decatur locations. I really do hope that he has the chance to someday reestablish that quality that is missing with the new owners!
Let us know when (and if) this takes place Rob!
We really miss the quality that Rob brought to Crescent Moon, both at the Northlake and Decatur locations. I really do hope that he has the chance to someday reestablish that quality that is missing with the new owners!
Let us know when (and if) this takes place Rob!
Rob–bring back Stephanie!
As an informed patron. I am sorry that the continuity of quality has decreased durng the transition of owners. There are still staff that have been there for many year, which, still depsite the circumstances are committed to the Creescent moon name. They still provide the same quality service despite the frustration that they must endure until better days arrive which hopefully will be soon. The Crescent Moon is a decatur neighborhood institutiion which with any luck will weather the storm. For those of you that come to drink please by all means go next store to sad Ruby Tuesday’s.
There are employees that have worked here through the good times and the bad. The one’s who have been here through both owner’s have continued to stay because of the customer’s. We know your names, your lives, and we miss you when we haven’t seen you in awhile. We have fought for the concept that Rob, Carolyn, and Miss Sara created so many years ago. We have faith that this to shall pass and that any wrong doing will be made right.
Noted a sign in the window this morning that said beginning Sept 1 they were going to 24 hour operation??!! It was right beside a sign noting that they were closing at 3 PM during the holiday weekend.
What?!
I used to work at the Northlake location. They didn’t pay fairly, they tried to micromanage everything and they hit on half the staff. They tried to pay me in cash sometimes and other employees said their checks bounced. A lot of customers complained about how intimidating they looked. TOh, and the cakes would stay for weeks after they expired and they would still sell them to customers.
While most of us know Crescent Moon had a change of ownership, we knew we were going to miss Rob and his family. We had been in Decatur and Northlake many times and saw Rob working like crazy. The food was excellent, the service excellent and the atmosphere fun and inviting.
I did not know that the Moon had filed for Chapter 11 until a server told me to check out the blog. I was quite surprised. We were at Northlake for breakfast today and discovered some servers had not been paid in two weeks. The new owner and his ‘friends’ have no idea how to run a restaurant. They have driven other restaurants into the ground in the past. I certainly hope this does not happen to the Moon. I am a Decatur native and it has become increasingly difficult to find a good business which cares about its employees as much as it does about its customers. With the city growing, the small family owned businesses are being bought up and/or driven out of business.
ROB-please take it back over so we do not lose our Sunday morning and once weekly favorite eating hang out!!!
I have never understood how this place manged to stay in business. I have eaten at the decatur location a couple of times and the northlake location a couple of times. On each occasion the service was pretty bad (slow, wrong orders, looked like they didn’t want to be working). The food was bad. Omelets and other egg dishes were watery, pancakes were dry, crab cakes had bad taste, served vegetables and fruit that were not ripe/in season. I don’t know when the new owners took over, but my experiences have been over the past year with the most recent last month at northlake. I prefer sweet melissa’s.
I told Delia Champion, creator of the Flying Biscuit Cafe, that Cresent Moon could potentially leave. I don’t know about ya’ll but a Flying Biscuit in that spot would kill. Just a thought to keep Decatur moving forward.
Flying Biscuit is now owned by the Moe’s, Doc Greens, Mama Fu people.
Left Wing: Moe’s is no longer part of Raving Brands. Also, as I understand it, it’s more of a partnership/capital infusion than a complete buyout. Delia very much remains there, but now they have the ability to expand.
Delia does the quality control. Soooooo important.
I used to love crescent moon. I hope rob gets it back! Also, I work as a food scientist and I find it bizarre that the one guy got sick from tofu at two different restaurants. It sounds like he may have an allergy to something and not even know it. Tofu is rarely likely to be contaminated unlike chicken, pork, etc.
please come back to Decatur Rob! You have been missed!
For those that haven’t noticed, the 24-hour operation didn’t exactly launch. They’ve decided to wait until they can better figure out how to schedule staff and handle other logistics.
What a weird idea. How on earth would being open at 4am ever be profitable?
I walked to my store this morning, and the place is not open, during brunch, when it is usually packed. What’s up?
I can certainly understand the 24-hour concept in a more visible location, but we just don’t seem to have that much traffic through downtown (particularly that stretch of Ponce) after a certain hour. I’m sure they could build on the concept through advertising, and it would be a good alternative to WH, but the current owners don’t seem likely to promote anything if it involves spending $$.
The 24 hour signs they had on the windows earlier seemed to be targeting students, which didn’t make much sense. An Emory or Tech student who wants a bite to eat at 3AM probably isn’t going to drive 5 or 6 miles when alternatives exist closer to the campus. It all sounds like the makings of yet another bad business decision by folks who, from reports I have seen here and elsewhere, seem to do such things regularly. No Sunday brunch but want to be open 24 hours? P-l-u-e-z-e, Rob, come back !
Well, I meant to also point out that these folks brought almost-Decatur the former 24-hour City Café in a now-demolished building on Scott near Medlock. One could argue that it is indeed a very busy road, but does anyone remember how long it actually stayed open? 6 weeks perhaps?
We were closed today because we just can’t take it any more. The staff wasn’t given the food to do the job, not even the sub par food they were usually giving us. We haven’t had farmers market chicken sausage, free range chicken or organic field mix, homemade dessert or fresh OJ since they took us over. The cooks and management were always way past pay day. Enough is enough!
“The staff wasn’t given the food to do the job”?
You mean that the food they purchased was cheap, I assume?
Left Wing-
Yes, the food that they provided us to cook and serve was cheap quality, when we had it at all.
YourFavoriteWaitress (10:15:33) :
I’ve been a server at The Crescent Moon for over three years. I didn’t go in to open the Restaurant Sunday morning. Neither did the other servers, the cooks or the manager. As LooneyMooney stated above; enough is enough.
There are many restaurants in Decatur that serve a good omelet or pancakes or a tuna melt. A number of them are right up or down the street from The Moon. But every Sunday The Moon has a crowd outside waiting a long time for a table in our place. Why would someone wait 45 minutes for a table at The Crescent Moon when there are similar restaurants close by with no wait????? Nobody waits 45 minutes for just an omelet, I don’t care how good it is, so what is it?
Those of you who patronize our little place on Ponce (and I recognize a lot of you in the previous blog comments) know the answer to this question.
It’s because of the experience. Going to The Moon is like going to a friend’s house for breakfast. Or at least, that’s how it used to be. In many restaurants, you get service with a smile, but it’s a forced smile. At The Moon, you got a real smile and some conversation with a server who knows you. It was not uncommon to see a server sit down and talk with the customers for a minute or two. And if you looked you can tell that the “real” staff at The Moon was tight. The servers are joking around with eachother and singing along with the 80s music playing, and obviously having a good time.
We are tight and we were having a good time and we were making our money and you were coming back because the food was great and the staff was great. It was working really well for all concerned.
Since the Greeks took it over, we have all watched it slowly fall apart. All the high standards that Rob Atherholt put in place and we upheld, these new guys couldn’t care less about. They didn’t pay the vendors…(we actually had our coffee grinder and machines and coffee repossessed during business hours!!! And Sysco won’t deliver food to us anymore. And that’s just the tip of the iceberg, folks.)
Instead of paying the vendors or fixing the plumbing or paying their staff, they’re hanging out in strip joints giving OUR HARD EARNED BACK PAY to some lap dancer. Meanwhile, their kitchen manager is having his power cut off becuse these jerks owe him three weeks back pay.
It has been heartbreaking for those of us who work there to watch our restaurant, our jobs, go down.
Well, there is some bright news.
Last Thursday, the landlord won his case to evict the Greeks. As soon as the papers get filed, the landlord wil be locking the doors.
Rob Atherholt, the previous owner of The Crescent Moon, and the guy who made it happen every day for I don’t know how many years, goes to court this coming Thursday. Our support is with him.
Oh yeah, I want to put this out there too…spread this around. Last I heard, the Greeks are getting ready to open another place in Decatur called The Red Shoe. BEWARE!!! Do not support them, do not work for them…run their butts out of Decatur.
we will be back!!!
There is and has been a Red Shoe on East Ponce near the MARTA facility. Any relation?
Yes, I think that must be the same place. If anyone knows the owners of The Red Shoe they should be a friend and tell them that the people buying their business are the same people who have run The Crescent Moon into the ground. They did the same with City Diner….it’s what they do.
NOTE: This is talk on the street that I heard, and I have no direct knowledge, but the source of this rumor is a reliable one. So if you have the connections look into it more thoroughly and update this blog.
It would be great to 1) Stop [editor's note: no name calling] from ruining another business and 2) give the current owners a heads up.
I would love to have more information about what happens in court and whether or not Rob will get the place back. I used to love Crescent Moon, but have been disappointed recently. I hope that this message stream will stay current with news and information!
They are doing the same thing with the Red Shoe – opening another diner. Or so they say. It’s amazing that they can drive these high end automobiles, but not have the courtesy to pay their employees. I hope they learn how things are done on the honest side of a business sooner than later [edited: no personal insults].
The economy had nothing to do with the downfall of Crescent Moon, just as the “Greeks” didn’t either. It was 1 man, the sole owner, who happened to be Greek that did this. He has the worst business ethics (actually, lets just say ethics in general) I’ve ever witnessed, and I ask you don’t put the other Greeks associated into his relentless catagory.
Keep you chin up, folks, and hopefully the former owner will reclaim the once thriving restaurant and restore its youth and employee morale. In the end, the Godfather of this so-called “Greek Mafia” will reap what he has sewn.
Oh well. Sadness but a fact of life today. Seen it many many times in sucessful start-ups from small mom-and-pop groceries/restaurants to $300 million companies that get aquired. When you lose the essence of made that brand what it was, the culture, it is on its way out. Too many times, people see the opportunity to grow something and end up destroying it.