Now even easier to spot: Antonio's new sign
Moti Restaurant will be leaving its prime 25 North Pleasant Street downtown location (next to Antonio's) June 1st to combine operations with Club Lit, a sister business located behind the row of downtown storefronts in the (41) Boltwood Walk Parking Garage plaza.
Meanwhile just around the corner, behind Bart's Ice Cream, Pita Pockets has opened in the former Captain Candy location. The Captain relocated to Thorns Market in Northampton.
At last week's Select Board meeting while issuing a "Common Victuallar" license for Pita Pockets, the Town Manager noted how building owner Barry Roberts was very pleased with the speed and efficiency of the Amherst Building Department in getting Pita Pockets inspected and permitted for operation.
Pita Pockets, 103 North Pleasant Street
Antonio's with ye old sign
Antonio's with ye old sign
21 comments:
Do they have to do an inspection when they close next month?
They have plenty of vegetarian offerings and Barry is a good guy to have as a landlord.
I give them a better than even shot.
what happened to the Metacomet Cafe? Looks like nothing has been done for 6 months or more...closed before it even opened?
Boltwood walk, where restaurants go to die. Say good bye to Moti.
As for Pita Pockets, if it's good it may make it but that area is also no mans land. Amherst is so poorly laid out and so uninteresting to visit that it's tough to have a business here.
What a great landlord. So thoughtful to put another food place next to Bart's and Panda Garden. Bart's been advertising the sale of it's business. Good luck now.
I agree about Moti. They should stay where they are. I give them less than a year at the new location before they fold.
Clearly you've never owned a restaurant. You want other food establishments around you. Success comes in clusters, especially in this one-horse town.
I am guessing the landlord where Moti currently located is a large part of the reason for the move. I hear that landlord is more concerned with short term financial reward than the long term healthy landlord / tenant relationship. I would think taking in less rent with a low vacancy rate is more important than high rent with a high vacancy rate. But then maybe that's why I don't own a building.
Barry Roberts on the other hand is a class act. Sure he wants to make money on his properties but it is clear that he balances the need to stay financially fit with the overall quality of the town of Amherst. He gives many businesses a fighting chance and a lot of slack. Amherst really aught to have a Barry Roberts day.
There's a striking difference between the old and new Antonio's sign. The old was an awning to give customers shelter from the rain. The new one is not.
What does that say -- perhaps unconsciously -- about attitudes toward existing customers?
Antonio's is like Hilltop Steakhouse, marketing a name and memories instead of a product and quality -- and if they think they will prosper in their expansion to Boston, well Spags prospered ever so well with their expansion to Springfield, didn't they?
Amherst is so much like Detroit.
Oh, methinks they will survive just fine.
Oh, methinks they will survive just fine.
Company stores tended to as well.
But they don't have a captive audience in Boston. Serving expensive slices tasting like cardboard won't get return customers who can (and will) go elsewhere.
What planet are you from?
The food at Pita Pockets is great. I've eaten lunch there a couple times now and it's quick, tasty, and inexpensive. I hope they last, because I can only eat so many Loose Goose sandwiches and nondiscript Asian dishes.
Oh, yes, when I get to the center of Amherst, I immediately think, "Wow, this is just like the Motor City!".
You can read the strangest stuff here.
If the folks commenting on this blog were the first to land in America, we'd still be sleeping on the beach in homes made out of sticks.
Antonio's quality is not what it was a decade ago. Didn't the owner die or something, circa 2006 or so? Or am I thinking of the guy who owned AJ Hastings?
David Hastings of the stationary store was killed by a car while bicycling in 1997.
Bruno Mattarozo sold Antonio's moved to Marthas Vineyard then passed away around then.
His son runs a pizza by the slice business in New York City.
Antonio's still rules!
I don't buy into the myth that Boltwood walk is where restaurants go to die. The Thai restaurant back there has done well for a long time. White Hut, Bueno, and Johnnies all have found long term success back there too. If anything the location where Moti is now has had a much lower success rate keeping business in there.
All the restaurants will be jumping with joy when the new food establishment opens next to the fire station. The vibrant Amherst downtown has turned into a revolving food court. Talk about clusters.
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