A restaurant row in West Roxbury?
By adamg - 10/26/10 - 7:46 am
West Roxbury Patch reports the West Roxbury Neighborhood Council meets tonight (7:30 p.m. at the police station) to hear a proposal for a bistro called Porter Cafe at 1723 Centre St.
That's currently a vacant space (left over from the renovations after the Tai Ho fire) right next door to the Upper Crust pizza place, a couple doors down from Himalayan Bistro, across the street from West and just down the street from Thai Spice, Fresh Catch to Go and Christo's.
Location
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Comments
Where would people park?
There is zero parking there as it is. Cars are always double parked there as it is. I am all for this Bistro... but its just a tough corner. I think people will wind up parking on the rotary? Or in Lords and Ladys parking lot? Wonder if the Community Center would allow parking?
Oh, yeah, good point
You're right - it's probably the one place in West Roxbury where parking's tight in the evening.
no parking at Lords & Ladies
When we went to West last week they had inserts in the front of their menus saying that L&L will tow from their lot at ANY hour of the day.
Cars are not double parked
Cars are not double parked there at night too often, parking will not be a major problem. Part of having a vibrant business district is accepting people are going to go there. There are side streets around there with plenty of room at night and Centre Street always has spots past 7 or 8 pm. People often park in the Holy Name school parking lot at night as well with no problem.
Lots of residential side streets
Why can't people just park in the nearby neighborhood and walk to the restaurants from there?
Have you been to any of those residential side streets?
Not a whole lot of parking available there, either, unless you want to go way, way up the hill. As an occasional Himalayan Bistro takeout customer, trust me on this.
There is often space in the rotary in front of Holy Name School, but I know I'd never park there - the idea of leaving my car unattended in a rotary in Massachusetts gives me the heebie-jeebies.
The parking is bad only by
The parking is bad only by West Roxbury standards, though. I too frequent Manthorne Road for Indian take-out awesomeness. I blame the Upper Crust, it was never hard to park on Centre St. before they opened. But here's the thing, if parking's a problem, it isn't enough of one to crowd out patrons. Those restaurants are all doing quite well. Maybe people park at that creepy bizarre 7-11 that looks like it was scooped up in Peabody and dropped down in Boston.
The 7-11
Is that sign ridiculous or what? Wah, bring back the White Hen Pantry. But it fits in perfectly with West Roxbury's suburban ways - right next to the police station that looks like a giant Colonial, which really does a great job telling you just what sort of neighborhood Westie is.
Better than an empty store
Better than an empty store front. Maybe people could actually (GASP) walk there!
Walk there? From where?
Centre Street (and Spring Street) is different from most other neighborhood commercial districts in Boston: It's a long strip, rather than a cluster of shops (compare it to Roslindale Square) - surrounded by low-density residential areas consisting of largeish single-family homes (with the odd 2 or 3-story Brightonish apartment building here and there). With no specific there there, there just isn't enough density to support a walk-to neighborhood kind of restaurant.
Plus, darnit, there's no good Indian/Nepali restaurant in Roslindale, so some of us are forced to drive there, anyway :-).
Parking
I think holy name is close enough for parking...people double parking there has to be clamped down. It's literally a foot from the police station yet people always do it, always tying up traffic
What would a bistro be without beer and wine?
Porter Cafe goes before the Boston Licensing Board on Nov. 3 for a beer and wine license and permission to stay open until 1 a.m. (hence tonight's neighborhood meeting; the board defers action on requests that haven't gone before a local neighborhood group first).
The cafe also wants city permission for a 30-seat patio (on private property, not on the city sidewalk).
1 A.M. might be a tough sell
1 A.M. might be a tough sell to start off the business there combined with the patio. Personally, sounds great to me but that is practically within a residential neighborhood. West on Centre is on the other side of the street, which might sound silly, but does make a difference noise wise for the neighbors.
Tai Ho, before it burned, was open to 1AM ish
and was a dependable place to go when everything else closed up.
Easy
A bustro.
Really? Parking?
If you're too lazy to walk from the Holy Name parking lot, maybe you shouldn't be eating out so much. There's parking there. Parking in the BP gas station lot at night. Parking behind the Roche Center. Parking on Belgrade Ave. Parking in the Roche Bros parking lot...
Plus if you live on Manthorne, Greaton, Russell, Redlands, Willow, etc... WALK.
Interview with the people behind the cafe
Wicked Local West Roxbury interviews the two proposed restaurateurs: