The Green Onion closed

[carltonplace]

The owner's wife writing personal checks from the business account can't have helped matters. The Green Onion was doomed from the day that Mr Ingraham sold it.

[cannon_fodder]

In Tulsa, the poor economy is not killing restaurants - it's just helping to cull the herd.   IN parts of the country harder hit a well run established restaurant may well go under, as people just can't eat out.  But in Tulsa, the effect is much lesser from what I have seen.  I'm sure it is a contributing factor and/or the last straw, but I doubt it is THE reason.

I went to the Green Onion exactly twice.  I heard it heavily advertised so my wife and I went to check it out with our son ("family friendly" was the advertisement).  We were not impressed at all.  It didn't seem particularly family friendly, the food was so-so, and well, nothing was that great.   I don't recall anything being that bad either.

We tried it one more time a couple years ago, just my wife and I.  Again, I wasn't impressed.  I had no urge to go back.  Apparently many people shared my sentiment.

Sorry to see a local company fail, but it will have no effect on me.

[DTowner]

Try again.  Lone Star, Marie Callender's, Picadilly, Applebee's, Outback, and Jamil's all appear to be doing great if you drive by at peak dining times.   In an economic downturn, the strongest and best will survive, the mis-managed and bland will fail.  Even in great economic times, mediocre will only play for so long.  As I understand the new owner was in the ad business, or at least a name I remembered from the ad business.  There's a big difference between knowing how to market a restaurant and knowing how to run one.  If you get the people in the door and the dining experience sucks, they won't return and they will engage in the most effective form of marketing: word of mouth.

I think we are basically in agreement.  Management  matters, but so does the economy.  I haven't been to the Green Onion in 12 years.  Wasn't impressed with the food or service on several visits, never went back.  So I can't say if it went down hill or not, or if it did, why.  Nonetheless, I thought it was a mediocre restaurant that survived in the good times but did not when times got tough.  My point was simply that I think some are putting all the blame on management when the economy is playing a role in sifting out the chaff.

I would also put every one of the other restaurants you listed in the category of mediocre (at best) and places I would not go voluntarily (and I've eaten at all of them at various times over the years).  Of course, I thought Carrabba's was better than the whole lot of 'em and its gone, so what do I know.

[rwarn17588]

However, every restaurant owner I've spoken with has described 2009 as a year in which they've simply tried to survive.

Ummm, hmmm. You must have, ahem, poor taste in restaurants. Really good restaurants will do more than just survive even during hard times.

[DTowner]

Ummm, hmmm. You must have, ahem, poor taste in restaurants. Really good restaurants will do more than just survive even during hard times.

Do you seriously believe Tulsans are spending the same amount of money at restaurants in 2009 as they did in 2008?  Isn't it just possible that good (and well managed) restaurants can struggle when times get tight and people reduce discretionary spending?  Perhaps I dine only at poorly manged joints teetering on the edge of closure, but I have noticed that few restaurants I've been to this year are as busy as in the past.

[rwarn17588]

Perhaps I dine only at poorly manged joints teetering on the edge of closure, but I have noticed that few restaurants I've been to this year are as busy as in the past.

Perhaps you do, which was my point.

[DTowner]

Perhaps you do, which was my point.

[sigh]  Sarcasm never translates well in this medium.

[FOTD]

Garlicky Rose/Chalkboard owner Ihon has assumed this place from the street word...

[Patrick]

http://www.tulsaworld.com/news/article.aspx?subjectid=298&articleid=20091012_298_0_Thefoo29063

Green Onion restaurant to reopen

By KYLE ARNOLD World Staff Writer
Published: 10/12/2009  6:58 PM
Last Modified: 10/12/2009  6:58 PM

The food and sounds of the Green Onion are returning just a month after the 23-year-old restaurant closed.

The new ownership, led by Max Doyle, plans to bring back the old menu, rehire the original chef and even give back the microphone and piano bench to Bob Clear when the restaurant reopens Oct. 21.

The Green Onion, 4532 E. 51st St., is known for its Long Island roast duck, stuffed mushrooms and other continental flavors.

"One of the reasons (Max Doyle) bought the Green Onions is the fact that it's so well known," said Shelbe Adams, marketing manager for Doyle's restaurant company, Live to Eat Inc.

Doyle also owns the Chalkboard downtown and the Garlic Rose in Brookside.

Claude Donica closed the Green Onion in early September. When Doyle heard that it was on the market, he wanted to give it a chance despite the recession.

Doyle has historic connections to the restaurant that inspired his decision to revive it, Adams said. Doyle worked with the Green Onion's founder, David Ingram. That pushed Doyle to bring back the original executive chef, John Fard, and even pianist Clear, who had crooned at the restaurant since 1986.

"We've had a lot of requests to keep certain things on the menu, like the Brown Derby and Texas Toast," Adams said.

The reopened restaurant will look somewhat different, though, with repainted walls, new carpet and a general aesthetic face-lift. However, Adams said the new owners plan to maintain the restaurant's classic mood.

She also said Live to Eat will keep some of the Green Onion's staff. It will have about 50 employees.

[FOTD]

"Classic mood"?

[DTowner]

I missed this last week, but it was announced that the Green Onion closed  - again.  They cite customer volume drop due to 51st street construction.

http://www.tulsaworld.com/scene/article.aspx?subjectid=39&articleid=20110825_44_D1_ULNSil681003