allen Posted November 23, 2010 Report Share Posted November 23, 2010 I would never have known about it if not for allenonline. I still have never actually seen the establishment and have no idea where it is/was. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
mgrayar Posted November 23, 2010 Report Share Posted November 23, 2010 I would never have known about it if not for allenonline. I still have never actually seen the establishment and have no idea where it is/was. And 95% of the people in a 15 mile radius of the place would say the exact same thing. If he could afford the old Jabary space, he would at least get some good exposure. That's one of the few high traffic strip centers with moderate rent. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
TC2112 Posted November 24, 2010 Report Share Posted November 24, 2010 Speaking of Jabary... :offtopic1: j/k Quote Link to post Share on other sites
mgrayar Posted November 24, 2010 Report Share Posted November 24, 2010 Yeah, I saw that too. May have to wait a little while longer for that space to be officially available. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
jrob Posted November 24, 2010 Report Share Posted November 24, 2010 Sorry to hear RE closed. I heard the old Jabary location was going to be a donut store. I'd rather see LaFinca Chiquita move there. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
rw Posted November 24, 2010 Report Share Posted November 24, 2010 Hate to see Ruth Ellen's close...everyone I sent there liked it too...word of mouth advertising just didn't get the job done...the problem wasn't the food! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
CupOfCapp Posted November 24, 2010 Author Report Share Posted November 24, 2010 Its sad to see Ruth Ellen's closed. I was there a week and half ago. The place was almost packed. The foods is always wonderful. Missed their fried green tomatos. Yep, its wasnt their foods, I was told it was their job.. didnt pay the rent that caused to close down. Sad. I was told someone already bought this place and find what it will be next. I'll wait and see if its really going to be what I was told. Wait and see. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
scrapmom Posted November 28, 2010 Report Share Posted November 28, 2010 In my opinion the problems with small businesses in Allen is the lack of signs.With the sign ordinance in Allen Terry was only able to hang a sign in the front. Imagine if he could have advertised on Main. I can't tell you how many times people told me they couln't find Ruth Ellens and gave up looking. We really loved this place and Terry was great! Terry if you are reading these posts please tell us how it's going and if you think you will try again somewhere else. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
George Posted December 31, 2010 Report Share Posted December 31, 2010 That's too bad because their food was wonderful. It looked as though their business had picked up but that doesn't mean other factors hadn't contributed to their demise. .... I wonder if lack of parking contributed to their closing? There is plenty of parking around that area but it seemed Salon at Eaton court had 95% of them. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
cloggergirl66 Posted January 1, 2011 Report Share Posted January 1, 2011 I had wondered the same thing about the parking issue. It seems The Salon's determination to "reserve" all the parking in the lot east of the building would be detrimental to any business going into the Ruth Ellen's location. I do hope Terry opens another restaurant in a more visible location (maybe somewhere on the square in McKinney would be a good option) because there are so many people who miss Ruth Ellen's and there's certainly nothing comparable in the immediate area. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
denisew Posted January 21, 2011 Report Share Posted January 21, 2011 I had wondered the same thing about the parking issue. It seems The Salon's determination to "reserve" all the parking in the lot east of the building would be detrimental to any business going into the Ruth Ellen's location. I think that is a big problem with any business that goes in there as much as marketing issues discussed earlier. There needs to be more available parking for the business that goes into that house. It really is a shame Ruth Ellen's is no longer there. We really liked the food and as most here are saying, we heard about it at Allen Online. It just wasn't enough even though we told people about it as I'm sure others also did. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
nomoon Posted January 21, 2011 Report Share Posted January 21, 2011 It seems The Salon's determination to "reserve" all the parking in the lot east of the building would be detrimental to any business going into the Ruth Ellen's location. The Salon's "no parking" signs seem hostile. It also seems like they paved much more parking space than they could possibly use. Is there some history of hostilities between the two owners? Maybe they couldn't agree on a selling or rent price of some parking spaces. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
readingu Posted January 21, 2011 Report Share Posted January 21, 2011 Seems an unfriendly Salon. Is it their land? From what I've seen the street is a public parking area. Or is it a street. Hurry get CNN on it.. they can blame FOX Quote Link to post Share on other sites
BigDaddy Posted January 22, 2011 Report Share Posted January 22, 2011 I dined at Ruth Ellen's at least a dozen times. Parked right in front of the entrance every time. Never had a parking problem. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
AllenFans Posted January 22, 2011 Report Share Posted January 22, 2011 Does anyone else think it's awesome that a restaurant open for only 8 months has had the most traffic out of all but maybe two other restaurants on this forum? They're closed and still getting publicity! I hope Terry gets wind of this to help ease the pain that is losing your business. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
readingu Posted January 22, 2011 Report Share Posted January 22, 2011 Big dude daddyo - there have been two foodies there and both were dusted - no doubt that parking is a problem. City should have some say there. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
MCDUFF Posted January 22, 2011 Report Share Posted January 22, 2011 This is an interesting thread. Parking has been the favored blame for the reason the this restaurant closed. Interesting, but I can not find a post saying someone went there and was turned away because parking was an issue. I have read about parking always being available at the front door. I ate here twice and it was OK. Not great but OK. But, at the price one could not expect great. There is a small amount of profit in food and at this price point they had to move a lot of food. The thing that struck me was the large amount of food that was given away as specials, coupons, free food for kids and such. It takes a lot of sale for profit to make up for free. I don't know why this restaurant closed, nor do many people, but speculation will continue as absolute fact. They may have simply decided restaurants were not the fun they thought. Or, they may have been unable to survive on the profit from free stuff. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
readingu Posted January 22, 2011 Report Share Posted January 22, 2011 You must be an example of the Salon - Nice Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Al C Posted January 23, 2011 Report Share Posted January 23, 2011 Very well stated. The toughest, most unprofitable time for your average restaurant is the first two years. They obviously didn't have enough traffic in there to keep up. We went there a handful of times and never had a problem parking, so I seriously doubt that was the cause. The only way I heard of RE's was through this forum. I never would have known it was there otherwise. That says a lot. Yes, word of mouth is good advertising, but we Allen Onliners are a small portion of the city of Allen. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
CupOfCapp Posted January 23, 2011 Author Report Share Posted January 23, 2011 I have ate there many time and had no problem with parking. I found out the real reason they were closed because they didnt pay their rent. Thats too bad. I did mention this in early post. I still see people is still blaming on the parking. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
onette Posted January 24, 2011 Report Share Posted January 24, 2011 First of all, they had a great relationship with their landlord. She ate there quite a lot. I met her about 1-1/2 months before they closed. I took my grandmother there and she was there eating lunch. Sweet lady. And I don't think parking was the reason they didn't make it. It was confusing sometimes, but if you wanted to eat there, you'd figure it out... I loved RE's...My kid is still hoping they might "come back"... The truth is, their business volume wasn't consistent. Some nights, they'd be busting at the seams. Others (especially during the week) they were dead. Terry tried a lot of things (like coupons, etc.) to get new people in the door and keep the old ones coming back. A few Fridays during football season (even when Allen had a home game), they were completely "dead" at 7 pm. Not something you expect in the restaurant business. The location didn't help direct people their way. There were some things they wanted to do that I think the city wasn't in favor of. I know that Terry wanted to add a bar area with live music (upstairs?) similar to what The Belmont did or add some outdoor seating with live acoustic music. He had told me there were some issues with that. I know that in the few weeks before he closed, I knew something was wrong. He had previously been upbeat and happy all the time...and was looking worried and kind of sad. I do hope he'll try it again, but find another location that has more drive-by traffic. The food was wonderful to me and my family. We loved all the people there...the servers...the atmosphere. Everyone's different, but I am so missing that pan-fried steak on Thursday nights! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
jogo Posted January 24, 2011 Report Share Posted January 24, 2011 I found out the real reason they were closed because they didnt pay their rent. I imagine they didn't pay their rent because they didn't have the money to pay their rent - not just because they chose not to! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
texmomma Posted January 24, 2011 Report Share Posted January 24, 2011 I loved Ruth Ellens, but it was very hard to find if you didn't know exactly where it was. My family went there several times, and I referred friends to it and they all loved it as well. One thing we loved was that it was quiet enough (even with several tables full in the room) to carry on a conversation. It's unfortunate that they are gone now, it was a unique place. I hope they can find a location that's easier to find and come back somewhere! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
csquare Posted January 24, 2011 Report Share Posted January 24, 2011 Meanwhile, wouldn't it be cool if some enterprising local restaurant owner would honor the now useless Ruth Ellen's gift certificates--maybe at half the original value? It would be a great promotion, and engender lots of good feeling from former RE customers. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
zaphoid Posted January 24, 2011 Report Share Posted January 24, 2011 Meanwhile, wouldn't it be cool if some enterprising local restaurant owner would honor the now useless Ruth Ellen's gift certificates--maybe at half the original value? It would be a great promotion, and engender lots of good feeling from former RE customers. If your referring to the ones from Restaurant.com, they will refund those for you. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
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