Jan 12, 2009
Quick Rumor: Downtown La Madeleine To Close?
By: Kevin Buchanan
Rumor on the Fort Worth Forum is that the Downtown La Madeleine will be closing this week.
Workers say the dinner business is no longer enough to justify staying open, although the lunch crowd is always good. I’ll miss the place, since I currently have breakfast there two or three times a week. Sunday’s supposed to be their last day.
A shame, if true. I always enjoyed a bowl of their tomato soup. La Madeleine is in one of my favorite buildings in the city – the old Plaza Hotel building (pictured above). Will be interesting to see what happens to the space should La Madeleine really be on the way out.
The baby Jesus weeps!
Part of the reason their dinner business is probably low is because they close so early, like 7 or 8 pm, I think? Maybe if they were open later that would help.
[...] Downtown La Madeleine To Close? So the rumor [...]
That is really odd, here a business like La Madeleine can’t cut it in the evening and yet no one has any trouble finding their only other location on Camp Bowie.
I wish they would have opened a location on South University or on South Hulen near the Trinity Commons.
I don’t really think the store will be missed, there are so many others’ waiting in the wings to open.
I’ll miss it. I always enjoyed the downtown La Madeleine. As I mentioned, I have a fondness for their tomato soup. And I loved sitting there looking up through the old Plaza Hotel light well.
Hopefully another cool restaurant will fill its space. I just hope it’s not a steakhouse.
To be honest the service I have gotten when I go there was not as good at other La Mad’s. They are often brusk or inattentive. Also, they always close early or try and push you out the door at closing time.
Channel 5 just ran a story the downtown Chili’s is closing on January 26th.
I worked there as a chef for three years. We stayed open at nights until ten fri. and sat. nights, eight every other night. We would get a decent amount on weekend nights and during bass performances. Other than that, we were short staffed because of the fact that we couldn’t get enough sales at night to afford people. That limited customer service and the overall guest view of a true french bistro experience.
Noooooooo!!!!!!! I love that La Mad! And I like that Chili’s, too. What is going on? Where are we going to be able to walk downtown for a fast lunch with healthy low-carb options? La Mad’s salad, soup, and strawberry combo was the perfect thing.
I went there at least once a week.
Am I the only one who’s happy that we’re losing a Chili’s?
I’d like to see more independent restaurants around town (or at least regional chains).
I won’t miss Chili’s, but I will miss La Mad. They had such a great selection of food, and I liked the laid back atmosphere.
Living downtown for 8 years and seeing some of these places go is kinda overwhelming. Bennigans last year (which I personally thought was a dump), now Chili’s (awesome lunch spot for the downtown business crowd), Picchi Pacchi, La Mad, Pour House (ok food for the lunch crowd if you don’t mind going back to work smelling like a bar. I was a regular there, mostly evenings, nothing but love for them)…so who next? Don’t get me wrong, I’d love to see some new restaurants come in downtown but who knows how long that will take. We still have an empty space with Bennigans. Just saying.
Is this a sign of a trend away from Downtown and toward West 7th St? Is the development on West 7th moving as much business as it is growing total business?
Probably not. This is probably just because of a down economy and Downtown will rebound when the economy begins growing again, but in the meantime we better hope no tipping point is reached.
Kevin, how about an overall update on downtown? I haven’t heard anything from the Neal P in a while. Did they end up selling? What’s the news on the former Tandy center?
Neil P.’s new owners brought the prices down and as far as I can tell it’s moved much better. I only see one unit on MLS at the moment – a 1,150 square foot unit for $219,900. If I were buying Downtown I would take a good long look at the Neil P. – gorgeous building and development and as quiet/peaceful as you could find in Downtown.
City Place…has been a vacuum of news for a while. I assume they are still attempting to lease the old mall, but I haven’t heard of any progress or seen any real work on the building in a while.