Amaryn Thai Bowl Closing?
Decatur Metro | September 24, 2010
Carl writes on Twitter…
Amaryn’s Thai Bowl in #DecaturGA closing soon. Interested in taking over the space? Contact Selig Enterprises at 404.870.1503.
Photo courtesy of Active Diner
Carl writes on Twitter…
Amaryn’s Thai Bowl in #DecaturGA closing soon. Interested in taking over the space? Contact Selig Enterprises at 404.870.1503.
Photo courtesy of Active Diner
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This is an attractice space in an attractive location– surely some enterprising restrauteur (sp?) could go in & put something unique there. Hmmmm…might be a good spot for a Laughing Seed!
Man, I would love a Laughing Seed. Are we talking about the place in Asheville? They aren’t franchising, are they?
http://laughingseed.jackofthewood.com/
Yep, that’s the one! But I’ve no idea whether they’d actually franchise– it’s just been a pipe dream of mine to have one down here ever since I first ate there many moons ago…the spousal unit grew up in Asheville, so having frequented it for 20+ years, I know its dining scene pretty well. We don’t go up there so much now that both his parents have passed, but we still visit. Every time, we make it a point to eat at the Seed (and have some Green Man ale, which is a superlative brew) for at least one meal!
I’ve essentially travelled to Asheville multiple times primarily to eat at Laughing Seed; seeing the rest of the city is just a bonus. I’d absolutely love something like that here. Three years ago, R. Thomas considered opening another location in downtown Decatur, but the high rent dissuaded him.
R Thomas is one of my favorites, and it would seem like a good fit for the Decatur. It’s one of the few restaurants I go to outside of Decatur (well, Atlanta area restaurants).
Wonder if rents came down enough to make them interested again!
Man, I LOVE that place
Is it because my family and I moved to Ohio? We ate there a bunch when we lived in Decatur.
I finally went there just recently and liked it. Why are they closing?
yawn…
Where is the good Thai? Haven’t found a fasvorite since My Thai closed. None of the current Decatur establishments seem to cut it.
Spaceman-You have to go to Garlic in Lowcatur. It’s the best Thai around…..
Went there for lunch to try it one day. It was pretty good. The Pananeg at My Thai was like crack. Loved the Nam Sod, too. Seems like they mad eit a little thicker than most of the intown Thai places. I will give Garlic another shot since it is across the street from my office.
I tried Garlic with a friend not too long ago. Wish I could comment on the food, but alas we didn’t get served. Walked out to go be punished by the Taco Nazis.
I actually think Garlic’s Thai is pretty weak. Their sushi, however, is outstanding. Both the duck curry and some basil chicken dish were mediocre at best.
Garlic is really good… I go there when I want the sushi and thai. I still go to Thai Bowl too, but it’s nice to have something right across the street from where I work. Thai Bowl always has a special place in my heart. It was where my first Thai experience was.
Second that, Rez. We’ve enjoyed it every time we’ve gone. Recommended it to one of my interns, who’s Thai-American, and he loved it– said their sauces were spot on! Really nice folks, and a relaxed, laid-back atmosphere.
I really like Garlic Thai’s soft shell crab dish. Didn’t like their Pad Thai as much.
I keep reading rave reviews of TukTuk, over on Peachtree near Piedmont Hospital, across the road in the strip where the Viking Store is. Not Decatur but maybe worth the drive. Tried Garlic tonight, was okay, great service, some good dishes, some mediocre ones. Could not hold a candle to My Thai.
A Laughing Seed-ish place would be great.
I think I most be the only person around who does not like R Thomas.
Or hey, what about a real greek diner – One that was open!
I just ate at Thai Garlic last week and was pleasantly surprised. Good food presented nicely and good service. I had the Pad Woon Sen and thought it held up very well against similar dishes around Atlanta.
Oh dear, we used to eat at Amaryn’s all the time, then it started being not so good anymore, then we had a couple of very mediocre experiences in a row, and then we noticed the health score had dropped a bit, then we stopped going….. I was hoping they would be able to bounce back because it was so much more kid friendly than Garlic Thai.
Health score was an issue for us, too. After it became Amaryn’s the quality and the cleanliness became inconsistent. For us, this place went from being a regular choice to a place we went when everything else was too crowded and we really didn’t want to cook.
Wait a minute– aren’t you the “LocalMom” who, a few weeks back, claimed Garlic wasn’t kid-friendly because of some patrons who asked to be moved away from you & your toddler? As I recall, the Garlic staff weren’t the ones who weren’t “kid-friendly”, it was some of your fellow diners. I see kids there all the time, so I really don’t think Garlic isn’t “kid-friendly”. I felt like I had to point that out, because people who read your comments and haven’t been might otherwise take what you’re saying as gospel, and miss out on a great dining experience.
I love lawyers.
Lawyers suck.
Meh…only some of us. The other 20% of us are pretty all right.
We only ate there for lunch on weekends and it was always dead.
i work at thai bowl and this is a lie we are not closing i have no idea who this carl black guy is
Matt, I will look into it and check with Carl and will write a separate correction if necessary. Thanks.
Carl says that the Selig Enterprises agent says the space will be available within 45 days and that he called her to verify before he posted it on Twitter.
I am very sorry to hear this. My husband and I get takeout from here all the time.
Matt, you may also notice that Selig has erected large signs at entrances to Commerce Square promoting the now-available restaurant space. I can photograph one when back in town. Did the restaurant owner/manager possibly explain why their landlord believes the space will soon be vacant?
We went there tonight and, according to the staff, they have no intention of closing–although they had many people ask them about it today. Our waitress said the manager tried to call the blog publisher, but got no answer. We eat there often, and they were very busy tonight. However, they started table service last week. It took us 40 minutes from the time we arrived to the time our dinner hit the table–so it’s not the quick and easy Thai it used to be. It may be a nice change for date night couples, but for those of us with kids, we’ll just have it delivered.
Call the blog publisher? Now I’m really confused.
Hopefully, they didn’t explain it to you, Carl. That would be really unprofessional and completely inappropriate on the part of the rental agent considering the business still occupies the space and presumably has a contract with Selig.
Frankly, if this was my business, I would be really ticked off if someone didn’t bother to confirm with ME that my business was closing before blasting on freaking Twitter. I think that’s pretty irresponsible.
You have no idea what the real story is, despite what a rental agent may tell you. For all you know, the agent may be trying to start rumors to put pressure on the owner to sign a lease he feels is unfavorable or use threats of eviction because rents are being escrowed in a contract or repair dispute. Next time, let’s confirm multiple sources before we do something with the potential to damage someone’s business. I haven’t eaten at Amryn’s in years, but this bothers me a lot. It may very well be closing but the owner has a side the story too.
All right, all right. Let’s all take a deep breath here. I’ve been around long enough to know when we’ve accidentally stepped into something.
Nellie, you certainly make a valid point, but I would suggest that this became public knowledge when the “For Lease” restaurant space sign was put out front. No one knew that the owner would deny it, but I would assume that employees would have picked up on it eventually since there are only three restaurants in that plaza.
I will attempt to get in touch with Amrayn and try to clear this up. If they say they aren’t closing, I will report that in a separate post and people can make their own conclusions.
But I’d like to be clear about one thing: no one from Amrayn has tried to call me. My number isn’t even online, but regardless of that, no one from Amrayn has called or left a message on my phone in the past couple days. So that’s just untrue if they are referring to this website.
By contact the blog publisher, they could mean Carl? I know a Twitter/Tweat isn’t a blog, but it
was the source!
BTW, the black text on grey shading doesn’t work on my computer -it’s really hard to read
The black on gray text in the comments? I haven’t heard that before. Has that always been the case for you?
DM, no, I’ve never had the problem before, but now I see you’ve been posting in the black on gray for ages. Anyway, I was using a different computer earlier, but just checked my regular laptop, and it looks fine, so ignore.
Oh, DM, I know you would respond if they had tried to contact you; they also could have tried to contact inDecatur or someone else who was confused by why this guy from the Thai place was calling them! I was really bothered by the tweet. I have heard of commercial RE people putting out the for rent signs as a negotiation tactic…. really!
I also take it as a given you haven’t ducked any calls.
I also am bothered by the tweet, which IMO amounts to gossiping about something that is none of the tweeter’s business. Yes, technically a real estate sign is public information. But let’s make room for the possibility that the chronic compulsion to be first with the news has outrun good sense and good taste. Just because you can, doesn’t mean you should.
WhenI read “blog publisher”, I took it to mean DM. I certainly believe DM wouldn’t shy away from answering calls about the content here! The headline for this posting is, after all, in the form of a question– right? It wasn’t a pronouncement, as such, that the business was kaput. Matt chimed in to give the restaurant’s side of it, so here we are. Speaking as devil’s adovcate: I have some friends who do commercial real estate law, and given the notice requirements, it’s unheard-of for a property owner to not have any idea in advance whether a current tenant intends to re-sign a new lease for the upcoming period. So, if the business hasn’t signed a new lease, and hasn’t given the property owner any assurances as to whether it will do so, the property owner is well within its rights to advertise the space. Look at it as a “pressure tactic” if you will, but why should a property owner not cover its bases, especially in this economy, if it’s unsure that its current tenant isn’t going to remain? Since the sign was public, it shouldn’t be surprising that there was speculation that the business was closing.
It wasn’t really the real estate sign or the owner that bugs- it’s pretty much what STG said- gotta be the first!! Gotta announce! It’s just as easy to stop by the restaurant and ask what is going on as it is to take to photo of the sign to prove to employees who are there everyday that it’s for rent. It is gossip and it can harm the business if it proves to be false.
By the way, I call DM 10 or 12 times a day and he never calls me back. I leave really, really long messages, and have even started driving by his house and leaving notes and small gifts, but he never responds. I don’t understand….. why won’t he call me back?
Unfortunately, stopping by the restaurant and asking what’s going on is not a good way to go about it. Many, if not most restaurant employees, find out that their place of business is closed when they show up to work and there’s a sign or a lock on the door. The owner usually wants to work it til the end and they know that a good number of their employees will be preemptively out the door if they tell them what’s up. I have no idea if that is what’s happening here, I’m just saying that the ground level employees are often the last to know.
Even the manager or owner would likely evade the question (or even lie outright), because it’s none of our business. Maybe they are moving but don’t have the new lease nailed down yet. Maybe they are in a struggle over re-negotiating their lease, in which case only they and the landlord know what’s going on and the rest of us should stay out of it. Maybe they are struggling to stay in business at all, are forced to abandon this location but want to preserve their brand and reputation in hopes of re-opening elsewhere.
In any of those scenarios, it would make sense for them to stay in place and capture as much business as possible up ’til the last minute. Rumors of their demise would likely undercut that effort, and/or spook their staff into bolting which would further undermine their ability to keep going to the last. Probably the landlord is well within their rights to post those signs, but for a third party to broadcast them all over town seems like meddling to me. Amaryn’s Thai Bowl has been, IMO, an asset on Decatur’s restaurant scene. I hate to see them go, but I REALLY hate to think of their suffering additional (and unnecessary) woe because a twittering busybody couldn’t keep stil. I’m reminded of the stereotypical switchboard operator on a small town’s central exchange. Not the highest and best use of Twitter, IMO….although I am not sure what is.)
(Yes, the more I’ve thought about this, the more irate I’ve become. But possibly this constitutes my major vent for this week. Unless DM throws Dollar General back on the table!)
Whoah. STG just called someone a “twittering busybody”!!!
We’re sitting in Amaryn’s RIGHT NOW and have been told that they are most certainly NOT closing. Apparently rumors of their demise have been greatly exaggerated!
Maybe they’re just moving?
well, hopefully this gets cleared up, but just because it hasn’t closed yet doesn’t mean it isn’t happening (I have no info either way). Like mentioned above about employees being last to know, I remember hearing about “Sage” closing soon, then was eating there a few weeks later, and the server said they definitely weren’t closing when we mentioned we heard that rumor. …they closed a week later.
If Amaryn’s isn’t closing (hurray for that btw!) that only leaves Mellow Mushroom or Pastries A Go-Go … I definitely don’t want to see those close!