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Is This The New Occupier Of Woolworths Building?


ramseyrocks

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On the opposite side across from Halfords, Ikea and Decathlon - before you get to the Wagamama

 

Don't even joke about that! I'm not sure I could stop myself from burning Douglas town centre to the ground were a Wagamama to open, and it's so hard to stop after you start burning stuff down.

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The one up from Russell Square by the British Museum used to be very good. Ditto the one in Dublin. What's not to like about them ?

 

Are you sure we should start this? Everyone knows I'm just going to come out with some pompous crap ;) .

 

It's one of those places (like Pret a manger) which tries so hard to struggle against it's chain-brand nature and inherently soulless and contrived ambience, and does so in such a predictable way that each one feels like it was designed and is run by a robot who desperately wishes it were a person but can't quite fathom the nuances and depths of the human heart.

 

Plus open kitchens, paper tablemat menus and bench seating are shit.

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The one up from Russell Square by the British Museum used to be very good. Ditto the one in Dublin. What's not to like about them ?

 

Are you sure we should start this? Everyone knows I'm just going to come out with some pompous crap ;) .

 

It's one of those places (like Pret a manger) which tries so hard to struggle against it's chain-brand nature and inherently soulless and contrived ambience, and does so in such a predictable way that each one feels like it was designed and is run by a robot who desperately wishes it were a person but can't quite fathom the nuances and depths of the human heart.

 

Plus open kitchens, paper tablemat menus and bench seating are shit.

 

 

Better than most of the half-witted excuses for cafes and restaurants we get here then?

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Better than most of the half-witted excuses for cafes and restaurants we get here then?

 

Are you mental? Spill the Beans et al wipe the floor with the sterile brushed steel dross wrapped up in a flakey 'mission statement' that is the average Pret A Manger (and The Caff, for all those that may knock it, is about a thousand times nicer a place to sit in than the likes of Café Nero etc). Similarly, there are plenty of restaurants superior to Wagamama on the Island (MacFarlanes, La Piazza, etc).

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Maybe they changed as they expanded VinnieK but Wagamama certainly used to be pretty good. When they first arrived it was an original presentation and the mission statements were really just about the freshness and service. No bad thing. And it was cheap to eat at. And you could have a beer.

 

Outside of maybe Soho or Manchester I don't remember there even being noodle places and certainly nothing so informal or mod. Now there is even a noodle bar in Douglas. And it was good the last time I went. And I kind of think that owes something to Wagamama. So I don't think it is a stupid brand.

 

Now as you say there are probably lots of independents. You forget how shit it used to be trying to find decent informal food in Britain before roughly the 1990s.

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Better than most of the half-witted excuses for cafes and restaurants we get here then?

 

Are you mental? Spill the Beans et al wipe the floor with the sterile brushed steel dross wrapped up in a flakey 'mission statement' that is the average Pret A Manger (and The Caff, for all those that may knock it, is about a thousand times nicer a place to sit in than the likes of Café Nero etc). Similarly, there are plenty of restaurants superior to Wagamama on the Island (MacFarlanes, La Piazza, etc).

 

No not mental. Although if you think I have psychiatric problems for liking consistent good food, good service, and good value, perhaps I should be locked up.

 

Macfarlanes is very good...and pretty expensive. La Piazza is friendly enough. Pasta and pizza dishes are ok. Pretty basic though. Spill the Beans is alright but wouldn't go out of my way to go there.

 

If one opened here it would do really well.

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Now as you say there are probably lots of independents. You forget how shit it used to be trying to find decent informal food in Britain before roughly the 1990s.

 

Sure, and if we accept that the big chains were responsible for changing the public's attitudes to decent casual lunches and so on and that this opened the way for independents, and take into account the superiority of those independents, we may then reach the logical conclusion that the chains (like Wagamamas) are now obsolete dinosaurs and can safely be disposed of. Preferably with fire, and lots of it.

 

I knew you'd come to see things my way ;)

 

NB: As can be discerned by my choice of argument, if you're against this proposal, then you are against progress and thus worse than Hitler.

 

Twitch, well that all depends on the idea of value (the implicit argument being one of quality). I'm going to dissent with you on the notion of good service and food. The stuff of Wagamamas and most chains is efficient service and adequate food, their entire business model is based on consistency which is achieved at the price of imposing a certain uniform mediocrity. The independent market by definition is much more varied, but within that is far more interesting and liable to throw up some real gems. I, being a big pompous windbag, would prefer to save up for an only occassional treat that really makes the night worthwhile, than regularly subjecting myself to the drone like experience on offer by most chains.

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