Restaurant revived on Queens Quay?

So we were walking past Porticello last night and -- presto -- it had an open sign, had two tables and about eight people inside. Has it been revived after closing early last month? What's going on? Anyone know? We'll see if we can actually head there for a sit-down or takeout.

We've had a few good comments from readers of QQL about why restaurants are disappearing. We wrote earlier about Harbour Tandoori Grille closing.

Anonymous wrote:

Maybe the rents being charged by landlords for retail on Queen's Quay reflect that they are big-time developers of high rise apartment buildings who would rather have tenants with strong "corporate covenants" than independents who would contribute to the character and growth of the area. The rents at the foot of most of the buildings are unrealistic for any tenant other than formula-type franchises, be they food or cell-phones... Sadly, the closing of this Indian restaurant is just another example of poor planning when there were some good examples on this continent to look (eg Baltimore Inner Harbour) of those harbour front developments that have thought ahead and consequently now have diverse, evolving and sustainable retail destinations.

Very interesting observation. We have lots of 'chains' on the waterfront and does that really make sense or even encourage a unique neighbourhood. Maybe we need to support them while they (restaurants) need to adapt to a changing clientele.

'Channing' also wrote about the Indian takeout place.

i liked the indian place -- kinda messy, but the food was good. however, it's hard to tell if its demise was the result of stingy locals or what's going on in the wider economy. restaurants are suffering everywhere.

i was thinking of porticello the other day. i thought it'd do well after the hto park/spadina wavedeck opened, but obviously it didn't. however, now that i think about it, you could hardly notice it from the street. kinda sad.

It's true, and I think it goes back to outreach by restaurateurs. Maybe the build it and they will come won't work with everyone. We wonder why we never saw a flyer or any other way of building community. We note that in our condo, we see a few ads for Paws, the new pet store that's beside the Radisson. 

Another one bites the dust: Harbour Tandoori Grille closes

So, since we started looking at restaurants on this blog, two have closed. Now it's three. Harbour Tandoori Grille, a little shop that served Indian food and seemed to get business, closed a few days ago. According to the sign, they were behind on rent.

This underlines the tremendous pressure retailers are in our neighbourhood. There are thousands of us who live here yet we seem to not give these shops enough business to get by, particularly in the winter months. It seems like the ones that are destined to thrive are brand name franchises?


So the loss of another independent business is not great for business. What could they have done to get more business? Market better? Work to get a robust delivery service?


Well, there goes a viable option for food other than subs (we have three).