Closure of Cafe Oop

by **mcphaig** » 12 Sep 2003, 00:18

Very sorry to see the closure of another local business in Portobello, and I believe that the Friday and Saturday evening meals were very good.

However I have to say that I believe that their lack of success was mainly due to the bad marketing. Were they are a cafÃƒÂ© or were they a restaurant? They were badly situated where they were as they did not stand out from the other shops in the street. They did not highlight the cafÃƒÂ© from the main road! Did they advertise? I was certainly not inundated with leaflets! I would say (and some will disagree) that we do not have a good quality restaurant (apart from Chinese and Indian) who supplies good food in the evening.

I agree with Bob that I believe there is an excellent business opportunity for a quality restaurant in Portobello and IÃ¢â‚¬â„¢m looking forward to Bob opening his Seafood Bistro Ã¢â‚¬â€œ Book me in for the first night!!

by **Guest** » 12 Sep 2003, 19:12

I'm sure that Charles will appreciate all this advice on how he should have run his restaurant! The good news, however, is that rumour suggests that it may well be sold as a going concern, so perhaps the new owners will get the formula right.

People are prepared to travel to the most inacessible places for quality food (The Three Chimneys on Skye?) and word of mouth is often the best form of advertising in this business but whoever takes it on will have to maximise their daytime takings as well. The trade is there, but you have to cater for it.

In the meantime, unless I win the lottery over the weekend, you may have to wait a bit longer for that lobster dinner on the Promenade, but I'll accept your hypothetical booking and I assume you will want a table by the window?

by **Mamma** » 13 Sep 2003, 13:20

Rumour has it that OOP may continue running under new management, but as a family-focussed cafe open into the evenings. What do people think? :?:

by **bellybabe** » 18 Sep 2003, 14:20

I must say i was extremely taken aback when i saw the Oop! notice in the Reporter, as i felt it was in very poor taste and not at all fair. When Oop! opened, a great deal of their immediate success was based on their child-friendliness, with a good children's menu and a play area. Nearly all the people I know who used Oop! were parents of small children who were very grateful for somewhere to go that was so obviously welcoming for children and also provided good food. Unfortunately, somewhere along the line that policy was changed and parents of small children were made to feel less welcome than before. The last time I was there, I noticed that the children's area was simply curtained off with toys still visible - an impossible situation to take a two-year-old into! You can not build up a business with a particular clientele, then decide you want rid of that clientele and then decide that you're unhappy with the entire clientele when it doesn't work! The notice was very offensive to many of us, and as has been said, Kitcheners and the Blue Bean are both very nice places to go for food or a coffee - when i first moved here one of the things I loved about porty was the abundance of cafes which cater to all sorts of tastes. I think if it were to open as a child-friendly place again many people would continue to support the new venture. Sorry for the rant!

by **Rachel** » 25 Sep 2003, 20:42

by **Guest** » 25 Sep 2003, 21:20

by **Mamma** » 25 Sep 2003, 22:15

by **bellybabe** » 30 Sep 2003, 09:58

by **scossie5** » 04 Oct 2003, 11:47

by **gillsmith** » 19 Oct 2003, 09:52

Yes, I totally agree with Paula's comments regarding the changed attitude at Oop towards children. We used to meet there regularly in the afternoons with our babies but were made to feel less welcome (and quite disgusted with the lack of nappy changing facilities in a child-friendly place). The big "no pram" signs were a bit over the top as the place was often very quiet when we met up and without our prams (which could all be folded up anyway) we wouldn't have been there! Eventually we pretty much stopped going there in the afternoons.

However we were sad to hear of its closure as it was a place we enjoyed going to at the beginning with good coffee and food. You could always count on an excellent bowl of soup there which is admirable as so often soup is a disappointment in restaurants!

I hope the new owner will maintain the high quality food and coffee (very important to my husband and me!) but also provide facilities for nappy changing if families are the target market. My husband's main problem with the place was their choice of music!

Looking forward to the opening of the new place - is a new name planned?

by **Mamma** » 21 Oct 2003, 20:47

The new cafe will open on November 8th as The Macaroni Penguin. We look forward to welcoming anybody and everybody who appreciates good food and coffee in a welcoming place.

by **Dave Connelly** » 26 Oct 2003, 17:08

GOOD LUCK WITH THE NEW VENTURE
HOPEFULLY IT WILL SPARK A BIT OF ENTHUSIASM AND COMMUNITY IN THE AREA.

by **Guest** » 26 Oct 2003, 19:56

So, Mamma, how about an introductory opening week offer for 'Portobello Online' forum users? For example, how about a free coffee, providing that they use the phrase 'Portobello Online' when they order? And in return we will paste a picture of a macaroni penguin below:

by **Mamma** » 17 Nov 2003, 12:58

Unfortunately the lease of the cafe fell through at the VERY last minute with no warning. Thanks for all the support, I hope to open the cafe in Porty one day, reasonable landlords allowing!

by **Burt Toast** » 27 Nov 2003, 21:35

by **Beach Babe** » 09 Jan 2004, 23:07

by **ecm** » 18 Oct 2004, 18:16

The premises have recently been bought over and I noticed signs on the windows today offering chairs, tables etc. for sale.
I wonder what it's going to be used for now? Anyone heard anything?

by **CatzVP** » 19 Oct 2004, 08:14

by **Beach Babe** » 19 Oct 2004, 10:21

by **Epykat** » 19 Oct 2004, 11:55

by **wangi** » 19 Oct 2004, 12:00

by **Sandra** » 19 Oct 2004, 12:06

by **Dadaist** » 19 Oct 2004, 12:09

by **Epykat** » 19 Oct 2004, 12:23

No, by the time I got round to it they were gone! Looks suspiciously like they're going to open it up as something else though - probably along the same lines - does nobody cook in this town? :wink:

(says the woman who took her oven out to fit in a dishwasher!!!)

by **ecm** » 19 Oct 2004, 16:30

A sit-in Indian would be nice. I haven't been to an Indian restaurant for ages.
We miss the Datta too - the food was great and as Dada said, the people there were lovely.

Getting hungry just thinking about it all now.

by **Beach Babe** » 19 Oct 2004, 17:20

by **bellybabe** » 11 Nov 2004, 15:22

by **Jay** » 11 Nov 2004, 18:21

by **teddygirl** » 11 Nov 2004, 23:33

I heard the other day that the now closed Datta is going to be a Pizza takeaway/ sit in establishment. Now that's what Portobello really needs

by **ecm** » 13 Mar 2005, 11:43

by DG » 13 Mar 2005, 12:00

by **MrSpoon** » 13 Mar 2005, 15:14

by **Maria** » 13 Mar 2005, 15:30

Check out this thread MrSpoon .

Closure of Cafe Oop

Closure of Cafe Oop

Closure of Cafe Oop!

OOP OOP and away!

All it is not lost re: CafÃƒÂ© Oop!

OOP!

OOP

GOOD LUCK

Macaroni Penguin

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