Comment Archives: Stories: Food & Drink: Restaurant Review
Re: “Review: Alma Cocina”
Besha's reasons for not using MARTA mirror most Atlantans. It is simply inefficient and poorly designed. The small percentage of people it works for, or the even smaller percentage of people who are willing to go out of their way by miles or hours to make it work seem to think they are the overwhelming majority for some reason. Here's a news flash- MARTA sucks. And here's another bit of important info- if you want to open a restaurant in the city parking matters. In fact the city is very specific about the number of spaces each restaurant has allotted to them. When you go to the city or the NPU or any of the other various boards for approval nobody wants to here how bike friendly or bus friendly you are. They want to know if you handle enough cars. Any critic worth their salt will mention parking in their reviews, especially if its a problem. If you want to take your Segway to dinner move to Portland.
Re: “Review: Alma Cocina”
If transportation is going to be part of the reviews, please don't single out parking hassles of downtown. You might have been stuck in traffic while on your way to a suburban destination. For example, you could add: Is this restaurant built for suburbanites? Yes it is. It is the fault of the location because driving there and being stuck in traffic is a pain.
Re: “Review: Alma Cocina”
Darin, your point is taken. Our box info is set up to ignore transit alternatives, and it's things like that that need to change to see the city change, slowly. I will take it up with our copy desk, to see if we can add transit options other than parking to our box info, and hopefully even database.
Re: “Review: Alma Cocina”
No doubt, there are many spots in Atlanta that are generally transit accessible while not being specifically transit + kid + sanity accessible. I know it well.
Even as an urban-commando downtowner, I'm also a dad and I accept that a car can be a great thing to have here.
My beef: the review and the sidebar to the right only mention parking. A restaurant with an uber downtown location like this (where I don't think anyone would realistically expect an easy parking experience) deserves special consideration, I think.
It's kind of unfair to a restaurant in the heart of downtown when a review mentions only parking difficulty and not the convenient, nearby transit stops. You may not use the transit alternative -- and there's nothing wrong with that -- but others can. A restaurant in this location might suffer if readers who can use transit only know of the inconvenient car access and not the alternatives.
Re: “Review: Alma Cocina”
Yea my unborn, drunken, pullout accident would attend something called Crim High School. That dont sound good. "Im going to need 12 more shipments of the birth control ring please!"
Re: “Review: Alma Cocina”
Ah, Edgewood Adam. I know you're childless, which also helps with these things. But I moved to Ormewood in part because I can send my kid to a good school from this hood, which has to be a priority for me. One day I'll move back to Melbourne, where all the schools are good and everyone has a personal tram stop in fron of their house and healthcare is free and puppies sneeze rainbows and poop gold.
Re: “Review: Alma Cocina”
Smug Alert:
I bought my house in Edgewood over Ormewood park for the exact reasons you mentioned.
Re: “Review: Alma Cocina”
Who has an appetite after riding MARTA anyway?
Re: “Review: Alma Cocina”
I didn't want to have to get into the minutiae of my life, but if you insist.
My work hours are approximately 9am-6pm, plus eating out many nights. I live in Ormewood Park, work at Atlantic Station, and have a child I have to drop off and pick up at school in Grant Park. Trying to navigate getting my child to school, then getting to work on time, then picking him up (this is a stress even with a car, as I have to pick him up before 6 but need to be at the office until as close to 6 as possible), then getting him home, then getting to dinner...well, it simply doesn't work with public transport, especially because neither my house nor his school are near a rail line. The beltline would make all this a tad more viable, except that he'll probably be on Social Security before the rail portion is completed (I jest, but it's not gonna happen while he's still in school).
I have moved to cities specifically for their transit, and I'm tempted to do so again quite often. I'm sorry for the term "car hater" - it was harsh. But it bothers me that people here just say "why didn't you take Marta?!" as if it were so easy to do so. It's not, and it's not a reality that restaurants can count on, which is my only "cause" if you want to call it that. From my house, it would take two busses and a train, then the free shuttle, to get to work - if you add getting my son to school into that, we're looking at a 2 hour process. To Alma Cocina, 2 busses, 48 minutes. It's not that I don't want to be bothered to consider it, it's that I have considered it and it's not viable.
Re: “Review: Alma Cocina”
I'm not buying the "not a viable option for me" excuse, either. You work at Atlantic Station. There is a FREE SHUTTLE every 20 minutes to the Arts Center Station, then a quick subway ride to Peachtree Center. No doubt you'd get there quicker than driving/finding parking.
I'm not a "car hater", and public transit in Atlanta does seriously suck compared to other major cities. But, ignoring it simply because you don't want to be bothered to consider it doesn't do YOUR cause much good, either.
Re: “Review: Alma Cocina”
Isn't there still a free shuttle from Atlantic Station to the Arts Center MARTA station? I'm confused about what makes MARTA "not an option" for an occasional dinner.
Re: “Review: Alma Cocina”
Besha,
Im not as great about using Marta as i should be. But you are going to have to expand on this comment: "One day it may not be, but Marta and biking are not viable options for me, or for many, many others." Why is it not a viable option? I find that for the most part its a state of mind that keeps us off the trains. When i visit my sister in San Francisco i see that it still takes a long time to get anywhere using the buses and trains. But its easier because traffic is always so bad there not to mention the traffic. We just are not used to it taking an hour to get somewhere that would only take 20 minutes to drive. We should adjust.
Re: “Review: Alma Cocina”
Besha, I agree with you that it's not useful to the cause of urban walkability to promote Atlanta as being more bike/pedestrian friendly than it is -- and JL's "why don't you try getting out of your car?" comment was pretty condescending.
But there's no need to paint someone promoting alternative transit as a "car hater." There's a difference between hating cars and promoting transportation alternatives. Downtown restaurants with no parking, in particular, need to be able to promote the walkability and transit access of the neighborhood as a plus -- not a given negative -- for potential customers who are part of the growing number of Atlanta residents (like me) for whom those alternatives are not only viable but preferable.
Re: “Review: Alma Cocina”
Dude. I would LOVE to get out of my car. It's not that simple, and honestly I'm not sure the car haters are doing themselves or their cause a whole lot of good by pretending it IS that simple. Restaurants have failed in the past, or been overlooked by locals, for lack of easy parking. That's the reality in Atlanta. One day it may not be, but Marta and biking are not viable options for me, or for many, many others.
Re: “Review: Alma Cocina”
Alma Cocina is easily accessible by walking, biking, taking the bus and the train to Peachtree Center and in a few months, one could take the streetcar to the front door. It is also an easy restaurant to get to for the many that live and work downtown. This is more than a tourist and convention restaurant. To have a vibrant downtown,we all need to get beyond the need of being able to park in front of a restaurant. You've been in Atlanta for a while, why don't you try getting out of your car?
Re: “Review: Alma Cocina”
Totally agreed on TDS, I have NEVER understood the hype. IMO the food is very underwhelming there.
Re: “Review: Alma Cocina”
It has been a while since I was at Bonegarden, but I've dined there three times. I loved it. The wait staff were great and the food was superb. It is not an upscale place like AC, of course, so not easy to compare the two.
Re: “Review: Alma Cocina”
TDS is the most overrated restaurant in atlanta... i havent been in a long time, but what do you think of bonegarden?
Re: “Review: Alma Cocina”
I'm anxious to try this as I'm always in the mood for some creative, fresh twists on some Mexican fare. I'd use MARTA to get there, since that's just right outside the Peachtree Center station. Why go to the hassle of parking in that area?
Re: “Review: Alma Cocina”
"Who has an appetite after riding MARTA anyway?"
Who has an appetite after sitting in Atlanta traffic for an hour? Dealing with Atlanta drivers