Sauce is toast...

[an-art-worker.livejournal.com]

Well no, it's not toast exactly - it's just out of business.

Old news? I walked by this morning and the windows were papered over. There is a note on the door saying something about "circumstances beyond our control" etc. and that a new resturant will open in that location April 1st. I never actually went there. It seemed a bit "too cool mall style" for my tastes but it's better than another bank.

Seems like there are a lot of street level vacancies in the Sq. these days. Rents too high? Not enough traffic for more food/coffee places? Or parking for serious retail?

Be nice if a good gallery opened but the chances of that are probably slim to none.

Comments

[ron_newman]

I went there once for brunch and once for a political victory party (Pat's? Denise's? Rebekah's? They all run together in my mind now...). But it never felt to me like a "Davis Square" kind of place. I'm not especially sorry to see it go.

[marphod.livejournal.com]

Sauce was an unimpressive Tapas bar that turned itself into a clone of the owner's other Davis Square restaurant (Joshua Tree). It earned some animosity by making Your move Games move to its current, lousy location and then just didn't do anything to make itself a decent restaurant.

I am unsuprised.

As for Davis Square, it is gentrifying. Which means higher rents.

[aspasia02.livejournal.com]

I'm very sorry to see it go! Sauce was a great place to get together if you wanted a slightly upscale place, especially one that wasn't dripping with newly-legal Tufts students getting wasted. Some of their food was quite good - actually, I had a great burger & glass of wine there just last week.

Dammit!

[surrealestate.livejournal.com]

I've only stopped in briefly, so I'm not sure why YMG's new location is lousy. It seemed rather spacious to me.

[spatch]

So the valet parking wasn't enough to keep the restaurant afloat, eh?

Pardon me while I have a moment of sweet, sweet schadenfreude.

Hee hee hoo! Hoo hee hee!

right

[cthulhia]

try hosting a game night there that isn't CCGs or warhamster.

great icon!

[cthulhia]

old movie icons, whee!

Closed temporarily??

[reed-davis.livejournal.com]

I heard that SAUCE was closed temporarily for renovations to the entry level area.

Re: right

[surrealestate.livejournal.com]

My recollection was that the old location was similarly set up to optimize for games-you-and-I-don't-play. Am I misremembering? As I said, I'm just curious, because in my head, the total space and tables seem pretty similar.

[c-m-i.livejournal.com]

It's a nice location, but a pretty crummy layout for a bar. The whole upstairs/downstairs thing left each half feeling really cramped. As for its previous incarnations, I wasn't too keen on the tapas prices and the 'we're just like the Tree, cept everything's a buck more expensive' theme failed to thrill me.

I'd love a place in Davis Square with a decent dartboard, but rents are too high for the space and owners are too ambitious to open up a "townie" feeling place it seems.

Re: Closed temporarily??

[reed-davis.livejournal.com]

Hey there -
Just read the entire original post & it looks like you have better information than I! I never really warmed up to SAUCE and would be happy to see a new establishment come in.

[denonymous.livejournal.com]

I spoke at length with the hostess there on Friday night; they're closing, renovating, and reopening as a new restaurant. She has no idea what the plan is, exactly, but that's the word.

[tsuki-no-bara.livejournal.com]

i actually liked it. the acoustics were terrible and the lighting was dim and the layout was weird, but the food was good. and the first time i went, my friend and i sat there for upwards of two hours and the waitress made no move to hustle us off or make us order more. i wonder what it's going to be now.

[prunesnprisms.livejournal.com]

Well, the original food was good, but too expensive for what it was. then they turned it into a shitty bar. the last time I was in there there were a crowd of drunk football fans sitting next to us. the place was empty and yet we couldn't effectively get away from them. Maybe something new and good will turn up there.

Re: right

[prog.livejournal.com]

The space is definitely smaller, for both the store and the game room, but they've dedicated about the same amount of square footage to selling and playing Magic and Warhammer. So other stuff is pretty marginalized, and if there's _any_ scheduled game event going on, then every table is in use with it.

On the other hand, it seems that with the fresh start they are keeping the downstairs gameroom a lot cleaner than the old place... I used to be embarrassed to bring people there, it was so gross.

[jadasc.livejournal.com]

It earned some animosity by making Your move Games move to its current, lousy location

I believe you're incorrect about the cause of that.

[marphod.livejournal.com]

'Spacious'? you've REALLY not been inside long, have you?

The upper room is smaller than the first room in the old location, although it is close. THis is dedecated to card games, as the first room was the old location. The second room is maybe 1/3 the size of the back room at the old location. Board games and RPGs are here, but there is almost no room. The number of titles are way down, selection isn't so great, and it is cramped.

As for the computer space, I never used it at the old location or new, so I can't comment.

FOr gaming space, there are 6 cramped single tables at the new location. At the old location, there were more than twice as much space, with some double tables set up for wargames, and plenty of room for multiple card games and RPGs to run at once.

There is only one bathroom, rather than two, and it is size comprable.

Overall, they've lost at least 1/3 of the space they used to have. Maybe as much as 50%.

[dominika-kretek.livejournal.com]

Good riddance! Crumby atmosphere and lousy lousy food.

[komos.livejournal.com]

And quite possibility over-estimating the effect of an angry gamer demographic on a trendy faux-tapas bar.

some thoughts on why they failed

[ron_newman]

Some disconnected and not necessarily consistent ideas of why this restaurant did not succeed:

1) It tried to be trendy and upscale ... but Davis Square is at best indifferent to, and at worst mildly allergic to, those attributes.

2) It was on Highland Avenue. A wide one-way street with heavy traffic and narrow sidewalks, this part of Highland isn't an especially pleasant place to walk. People enjoy walking up and down Holland Street and Elm Street; they don't walk here.

3) somewhat related to (2): most of the businesses on this block are fairly boring: banks, insurance agents, travel agents, opticians, dentists. Despite their boringness, these are all useful things to have around, but they don't generate a lot of foot traffic, especially at night.

[xjustquietx.livejournal.com]

Oooh. I love the idea of a gallery. I like the art shows at Someday and Diesel, but I always feel like I'm intruding on someone's private conversation when I try to look at the work. It would be nice, and I think a perfect addition to Davis, to have a gallery space there. If someone wants to spearhead that effort I will get behind them.

[ron_newman]

People who've been here a while may remember Gallery Bershad, which used to be in the Dover Plaza building behind the theatre. The space doubled as an architecture firm's office during the day. Unfortunately, it closed about five years ago.

[on-reserve.livejournal.com]

I'd rather have a gallery than a another snooty, overpriced yuppie restaurant/bar. I might not be able to afford what's in a gallery but at least looking is free, providing a tangible benefit for the arts-loving-no-money-having peeps.

[sonofabish.livejournal.com]

Sauce is toast?

Naw, Toast is in Union Square.

[signsoflife.livejournal.com]

Everything I try to say about this comes out really self-important, so I'll just try this: I think Sauce was aiming at a market that's more Newbury Street than Davis Square. I did like their tapas, though.

[bostonartist.livejournal.com]

Actually.... Davis Square already has an art gallery :) !

It is just a bit tucked away between O'naturals and Subway.

http://www.willoughbybaltic.com/

[on-reserve.livejournal.com]

Even still, I'd rather have ANOTHER art gallery rather than another short-lived, overpriced, yuppie restaurant that's just going to flop in under a year anyway.

But thanks for the heads-up! :)

the Art Market, then?

[xjustquietx.livejournal.com]

So this might warrant its own thread, but I figured it was on-topic enough and as long as we're here anyway: If not Sauce, where do all the artsy types in this square go for a beer? I've always seen it like this: Joshua Tree is a meat market and I've stayed away; Burren is slightly better; Orleans is a little overpriced; Sligo and PJ Ryan's are where most of my (non-artsy) friends convene, but have more of a townie feel. Which is NOT a bad thing. I'm just saying I don't see too many creative types in there. We can't drink coffee all the time...

Re: the Art Market, then?

[turil.livejournal.com]

Redbones?

I go there with my artsy friends, and I'm even a vegetarian...

[ayelle.livejournal.com]

*snort*

[julyana.livejournal.com]

I had been there a few times for drinks.
It was fine, but went there after going to other places just for a change in scenery.
It could be a little annoying, but good times were had.

We'll see what happens next.

Re: the Art Market, then?

[-afton-.livejournal.com]

what do you eat at redbones as a vegetarian??

Re: the Art Market, then?

[cold-cold-water.livejournal.com]

the veggie burger, the mushroom sandwich, or some of the sides/appetizers that are veg.

[julishka.livejournal.com]

the space above sauce is for rent. has been for a while, actually!

I thought a dance club was going there

[an-art-worker.livejournal.com]

..no idea why I thought that. Did I dream it? Was that part of the Sauce plan?