Jackson Jambalaya

Read the Yelp comments for the last two weeks. Bad food, bad service, big tickets!!

Sad to hear, but that's the free market at work. Didn't seem like the transition from the old location on Lakeland ever really worked. It was hands down the most expensive bar in Fondren - there are too many other good options within walking distance that didn't cost nearly as much.

Any word on if Mermade Cafe or Cilantro being affected?

WLBT says Mermaid is staying open.

Should never have moved from Lakeland. Loved it there, never went after they moved.

Thank you for 30 great years.
Nick’s is now closed.

Since it’s opening in 1983, Nick’s has served as one of Jackson’s premier fine dining establishments. Its reputation is in large part due to the wonderful employees that have served the restaurant throughout the years. Our success is also owed to our faithful customers—“thanks” is not even an adequate word for what we owe you and how much we’ll miss everyone.

I have made the decision to close the restaurant for one reason… family. Over the years, I have spent most of my time either in the kitchen or out on the floor. I’ve been blessed to be able to provide for my family while running a business I feel passionate about—not many can boast that fortune. But now is the time to focus life outside the workplace with my family. This closing will allow me to spend time with those that supported me during all the late nights and long weekend hours. Alice and I are looking forward to being together and with our five young grandchildren. At the same time, I’ll still be at our sister restaurant, The Mermaid Café.

Nick’s was always considered a family-run, small, neighborhood business. This closing was a family decision and we didn’t feel that a large farewell was necessary. Nick’s came on the scene 30 years ago without much fanfare and our goodbye will be just as simple.

So as of, May 26, 2014, the doors of Nick’s will remain closed. It is with much affection that I say goodbye and wish you all of the best. Thank you for your patronage, support, and friendship.

Thank you for 30 great years.
Nick’s is now closed.

Since it’s opening in 1983, Nick’s has served as one of Jackson’s premier fine dining establishments. Its reputation is in large part due to the wonderful employees that have served the restaurant throughout the years. Our success is also owed to our faithful customers—“thanks” is not even an adequate word for what we owe you and how much we’ll miss everyone.

I have made the decision to close the restaurant for one reason… family. Over the years, I have spent most of my time either in the kitchen or out on the floor. I’ve been blessed to be able to provide for my family while running a business I feel passionate about—not many can boast that fortune. But now is the time to focus life outside the workplace with my family. This closing will allow me to spend time with those that supported me during all the late nights and long weekend hours. Alice and I are looking forward to being together and with our five young grandchildren. At the same time, I’ll still be at our sister restaurant, The Mermaid Café.

Nick’s was always considered a family-run, small, neighborhood business. This closing was a family decision and we didn’t feel that a large farewell was necessary. Nick’s came on the scene 30 years ago without much fanfare and our goodbye will be just as simple.

So as of, May 26, 2014, the doors of Nick’s will remain closed. It is with much affection that I say goodbye and wish you all of the best. Thank you for your patronage, support, and friendship.

I used it for business lunches several time a month at new and old locations. Always was pleased. New bold city must have finally got them..

Just ate there this past Sunday for brunch. Food was great, the place filled up after we arrived. Only negative was how long it took to get seated and served. Will miss the Sunday brunches, but not the slow service.

Outside of Sunday brunch, I haven't been there in years.

Will definitely miss that brunch and Bloody Mary bar, it's been a once-a-month thing for years for me and my family.

Will my Nicks gift certificates work up in the Mermaid? Isn't that located somewhere in the Delta?

Another one bites the dust as the bold new city is yet another step closer to being DOA and doesn't even know it....

Always enjoyed eating there for business lunches and the service at lunch was always good and it was always pretty full there. Sad to see them close, especially with no warning.

Nick was the reason Nick's did so well. Another Greek treasure bestowed upon Jackson. Thank you sir.

Someone else with vision will step up and create something....maybe we will even see an African American step forward and open and run a restaurant equal to Nick's. Its high time.

Not the first and not the last to go belly up in Hypeville, er, Fondren.

who didn't see this coming? service has been going down for several years. "Nicks" does not have the same cache that it did 10 years ago, and the competition to the north has gotten so much stronger.

The closing doesn't have anything to do with Jackson or Fondren.

"I have made the decision to close the restaurant FOR ONE REASON… FAMILY. . . This closing will allow me to spend time with those that supported me during all the late nights and long weekend hours." - Nick Apostle

Will the mental midgets who insist on gnashing their teeth please learn how to read before they start spouting off their opinions, which have no basis in fact?

Nicks was always a wonderful restaurant. I had many fantastic meals there and I am sorry to see them go. Nick is one of the best people in the industry and I am glad he will get to spend more time with his family. I am very sorry to see it go.

I am sorry to see Nick's close after 30+ successful years. I am glad that The Mermaid Cafe is still going to stay open. As patrons of The Mermaid from the time it first opened, and witnessing changes in management, chefs and the menu, we miss many of the entrees that are no longer on the menu. Bring back the flounder.

12:56, If closing has nothing to do with Jackson, you sell the good business. A business is closed when it has no value or buyers.

It closed because it was unprofitable. The old space was open and you could see everybody. The new space was fragmented and isolating. Nick made a mistake, and those of us with many choices chose to go elsewhere. As someone else commented, it's the free market at work.

I'll miss the Crab & Brie chowder.

Doing it for family time seems like a perfectly PC way to say "we cant make it here anymore".

Either the bafoons in office of the bold new city or the Fondren hipsters weren't allowed to come in looking like steel workers to use their typewriters....you decide.

1:23. Many people who run family businesses do not want to sell to outsiders. "Nick’s was always considered a family-run, small, neighborhood business." - Nick Apostle.

I feel like I'm talking to a four year old who needs everything explained to him.

Nick's was a game changer in Jackson. A 30 year run under one owner is a rarity in this business. Only best wishes to Nick/family.

The unfortunate move from the original location was based on a new landlord's refusal to renew Nick's lease (Kane Ditto). Things never seemed the same following the relocation.

Let's be real here. Nicks closed, not because of Jackson but because of Nicks. The food and service have been awful for a while now and nobody wanted to go. If you're going to be successful in this town, you have to be good. Don't blame Fondren when every other restaurant is thriving in that neighborhood.

I will miss Nick, his excellent staff, and frankly, everything about Nick's, including the location and food. I'm disappointed for our community as a whole, and am most concerned that the increasing costs of providing excellent food and service during these challenging times will potentially drive other excellent restaurants out of business.

Chedders recently closed. There goes Dogwood and Flowood.

@12:32, Que Sera is next. On life support. No liquor license.

Haute pig closed. There goes Madison. It's all Queen Mary's fault = logic of these commenters.

Leave it to 12:27 to make it about race...

Cheddars closed for remodeling. Not that it was any good.

Nick's was great all the way to the end. Will miss it badly, as will the rest of MS. Best wishes to the Apostle family.

Fondren has become too formulaic and boring.

For real, will Nick's gift certificates be honored at Mermaid's? I just gave some Nick's certificates as gifts last week. I'm disappointed they sold them to me if they knew they were closing today.

The place obviously went broke. You don't let people that work for you show up on a Tuesday morning to find a note on the door. Horrible way to let people know they are out of a job.

If I worked at the Mermaid, I'd be looking for a new job right now.

When he changed locations he changed the menu. The food was horrible. The jackass that ran it into the ground opened the place in canton which has nothing to do with Nick.

@4:40 You mean Craig Fant?

The best thing about Fondren is the always-camera-mugging St. Andrew's "artiste" Josh Hailey. You won't find more pomp, droning self-promotion and outright BS anywhere in Mississippi short of Donna Ladd.

I just gave some Nick's certificates as gifts last week. I'm disappointed they sold them to me if they knew they were closing today.

All of Jackustan is a ruse friend.

Cheddars is closed? Is Golden Corral still open?

someone, please put que sera out of its misery.

Who exactly posts anything as "anonymous"? Speculation is always easy when you have the latitude of hiding your name, isn't it? Don't you think our children, our family and friends see any of this? You should be ashamed.

@12:36,

I doubt "competition to the north" had much to do with it. The people who eat at places like Nick's aren't interested in Georgia Blue or Bonefish Grill.

Nicks was simply too damned close to Whole Foods and McDades. Parking congestion did them in. Right?

I'm resigning my position to spend more time with family. Sound familiar?

my mother was a lady. she said "if you can't say something nice, don't say anything at all." that will help you to act like a gentleman. I think some folks who comment here didn't have a mother who was a lady. with their remarks they expose that sad ancestry to the world.

I NEVER WHY people pay so much for food. Whether it's a cheeseburger from Waffle House, or a $69.00 steak from "The Floosie Tavern", it ALL turns to #2 and is flushed away........

How does anyone truly know your identity Alice?

Ms apostle. We wish you and your family the best. We will, however, miss your restaurant. Sniff

Maybe someone else can explain how he opened this restaurant in Canton, but closed the one in Jackson? Or did he really open the one in Canton? It had the name on the door.

Alice -
Take JJ for what it is... a mix of all kinds and comments behind the veil of the internet. Your husband has always been a leader in the industry and a father to many in the kitchens of his restaurants.

KF - don't know why my first comment wasn't approved about Cilantro etc... but it seems tame compared to what else has been said here. It doesn't all add up.

It strikes me as a really shitty thing to do, to close a restaurant with no warning like this. They should have given loyal patrons a chance to come in to pay for one last meal, or one last drink at the bar. To tip your favorite waiter extra well. What do you think it means to the wait staff, the cook staff, to be done this way? Nick's always had a good solid name in this town. A bad way to end things.

His mother was a lady but her son was not a gentleman.

Alice at 7:01. You, Nick and your children are icons of the community. These anon AH's like me do it anon because most of the people that post here are smart ass zeros and go for humiliating comebacks meant to hurt and embarrass, for whatever sick, demented reason. The owner of this blog is a twisted little shit

Do know that your family is loved and respected. These lightweights ain't ever done shift, but be big shots anonymously, like me..

Nicks (on Lakeland) was my favorite restaurant for many years. The paneed fish and mashed potatoes was my favorite!

I never made it over to the Fondren location though.

Shame to hear they are closing!

Thanks KF for your guilty commentary.

Nick's closing had NOTHING to do with the city or crime or whatever else some of you people think it is. Restaurants close all the time across the country, but when it happens in Jackson, Mississippi ... OMG it's the city's fault that it closed .. What BULLCRAP. So a restaurant closed ... It was HIS and his FAMILY's decision. Nothing more. I am very tired of people still picturing Jackson as the wild, wild west of the South as it was 20-25 years ago. Things have CHANGED. It's called PROGRESSION and the FUTURE. Yes Jackson still has crime, but no big city is CRIME FREE. Not even your precious little Madison is crime free as a couple was ROBBED and the JSU Chair was MURDERED there. So shut up saying the closing of Nick's was the city's fault because that is the STUPIDEST thing anyone can say.

"It strikes me as a really shitty thing to do, to close a restaurant with no warning like this. ......What do you think it means to the wait staff, the cook staff, to be done this way? Nick's always had a good solid name in this town. A bad way to end things."

Bingo! If this guy was such a saint why didn't he give his staff at least two weeks notice, severance pay, etc?

Despite all the accolades for the previous 30 years, like Haley Barbour, he will be remembered for his last act in public life.

Personally, I ate there three times since Christmas and thought the service was great each time. Employees deserve better than finding a sign on the door telling them they're out on the street. "Spending time with the family" can be arranged a few weeks in advance, to give others time to arrange some other means of paying their bills and feeding their families.

What's up with the boorish remark regarding Georgia Blue and Bonefish? Those places are packed to the rafters. I never could figure out where the door was at Nicks in Fondren. The atmosphere at places like this remind me of an Episcopal Church Service. Lots of hoodoo and haughty wafting thru the air.

And for the boob who lamented that 'our children are reading this', were your children also reading the note to employees taped to the door advising them they are now unemployed? What lesson did that teach 'the children'?

May 27, 2014 at 10:49 PM

Yes, Madison, too, has been subjected to the criminal element.....FROM JACKSON. Also, the political scandal involving some pictures.
In Jackson, the most recent murder suspect's bond was $50,000. In Madison, bond for robbery suspect was 1 MILLION bucks.
Ridgeland, also, is having a rise in crime, again, the Jackson element is involved.
Where other areas are reworking roads to widen, Jackson is reworking roads and going from 4 lanes to two....(Fortification
St.) Try as hard as you will, but defending Jackson is a lost cause.

The snarky Georgia Blue comment reminds me of the snide crap freepressheads said when BeBop closed. There was finger pointing at people in Rankin and Madison, that they couldn't appreciate the need for an independent record store, as if people in those places are duty bound to patronize a business just so hipsters can sneer at them when they buy a One Direction CD for their daughters.

Georgia Blue nor Bonefish nor McDonalds on McDowell Road had anything to do with this. We know you people love to run down the suburbanites while simultaneously crying about people mocking your ersatz hipster Disneyland of Fondren, but get over it. Not everyone is a 24-year-old artist who lives to drink PBR at Babalu on the weekend.

The successes of the northern and eastern areas of the city speak for themselves. I know you people take your cues from Donna "I'm not a journalist but I play one in Fondren" Ladd and her hand wringing and teeth gnashing over the fact that there are people in Madison and Rankin who are living happy, fulfilled lives without venturing into Jacktown to buy Chane gear and drink craft beer, but it's just the way things are.

Just keep your eyes on the prize: the Farish Street Entertainment District and its seventeen blues clubs. Once that's up and going, those suburban robots will be dying to uproot their families and move into the King Edward or onto West Street! And when they do, you can gripe about how the neighborhood sucks now that it's too mainstream.

From what I heard from staff, mistreatment was nothing new to them. This was entirely in character.

6:04 AM, you forgot the Daiquiri Bars.

I am truly heartbroken there will no longer be a Nick's in Jackson. I worked for Nick Apostle and his wife Alice from 1989 until 2000, first as a waitress and then as private dining director and administrative assistant. I adored the job and time I spent there...one of my greatest regrets was quitting and getting married, for I will never, ever find another job as perfect as that one was for me. It doesn't seem to me that any of you making comments about Nick really know who he is. Nick Apostle was a joy to work for...I was always constantly amazed at his work ethic, his loyalty, his talents and creativity and his honesty. This man would jump behind the dishwasher and wash dishes, cut fish, get behind the line and cook, run to the grocery store to get something we ran out of in the middle of dinner, run behind the bar and help when it was backed up, act as hostess, take phone reservations, bus tables, chat with his longtime loyal customers at their tables, etc.....and that was just during a lunch or dinner shift. He worked tirelessly for the rights of restaurants and liquor reform in the state. He took the time to sit down and talk with us when we had problems and would always come up with solutions. He listened to us and took our suggestions seriously. All this time he had three young children that he tried to spend as much time with as he could. This is what a family-owned business is all about.

If Nick Apostle wants to spend time with his wife, children, grandchildren and friends at this point in his life...accept that and let him, and let him be.

I've seen Que Sera mentioned twice here... upsetting. Please don't let it go away. Best cajun restaurant outside of New Orleans that I know of.

Also, what happened to their liquor license?

Well said, Mauri!! The cowards who post anonymously can lie through their teeth with relative impunity, while you - with actual first hand knowledge of the man and his work - are willing to speak up with the truth. Sounds like Nick Apostle is a real man.

Well said, Mauri!! The cowards who post anonymously can lie through their teeth with relative impunity, while you - with actual first hand knowledge of the man and his work - are willing to speak up with the truth. Sounds like Nick Apostle is a real man.

'The Jackson element'

You mean black people, right?

Yep, Nick is one of the good guys.

His daughter is the member of the family involved with Mermaids.

Those of you who think Fondren restaurants are failing, need to try to get a reservation at Manship.

Que Sera had a liquor license still Sat. a week ago for lunch and was packed.

Y'all apparently haven't been to Walker's or Babalu's and don't know about the new restaurants, two more opening soon in Fondren.

Walker's is fantastic, and it has been packed every time I have visited.

None of the praise being heaped upon Mr. Apostle seems to explain the utter disdain he had for his employees when their termination notice was a note tacked to the door. If the restaurant were a manufacturing firm, this would be a federal violation of the W.A.R.N. Act.

9:51
The Manship is in the BELHAVEN building, in BELHAVEN. Not Fondren

These out-of-nowhere unannounced shutterings are usually the result of a massive cash flow problem. There will likely be more news coming out of this beyond a farewell.

The Apostles had a great run with Nick's. I just hope that somewhere I can have Janice (sp?) bring me Crab and Brie soup and Paneed Tilapia.

I think 11:36 has nailed it.

Nailed what eternal loser at1:19 that continues with the same "nailed it" shit ad nauseum.

'The Jackson element'

You mean black people, right?
-----------------------------------

Columbo is on the case.

Oh, the Jackson haters. Restaurants open and close. It's business. You wish ill upon Jackson because you just don't understand why someone would eat at a good local restaurant (Walker, Basil's, Bravo, Babalu, Manship, etc.). I had a co-worker brag that Madison is getting a Longhorn. Sheesh. Keep lining up for bang-bang shrimp. Enjoy your cookie-cutter lives.

3:28 you are ridiculous. I live in Madison, and I love Walker's, Babalu, and I loved Nick's too. Madison is not that far from Jackson. Certainly not so far that people won't drive for great food. Of course they will. And people from Jackson drive to Local 463. The parking lot is packed with Hinds County tags every night.

Everyone is welcome to come to Madison for shrimp while all are cautioned about the Fondren crabs.

The same couple who owns Walkers has a struggling restaurant not three hundred yards from the Bang Bang Shrimp place. If you had a car you'd know that.

Local 463 is owned by....Derek Emerson....a James Beard nominated chef who also owns.....Walkers in Fondren.

All these comments are very comical. Nick Apostle just bought and remodeled a house across the lake from me in an upscale neighborhood in Madison. Coming from someone in the financial world I can guarantee NO bank (these days at least) would have approved a large mortgage on a house if they were broke. Or maybe he paid cash for the house, hell who knows, but they're definitely not in financial trouble. IT'S CALLED RETIRING PEOPLE, but most of the people posting this crap will never have that luxury I'm sure...

And I have heard from several people in the restaurant business over the past few months that Nick was selling the restaurant to the manager of Nick's Restaurant, I guess the guy couldn't perform. So maybe his former employees should be mad at that guy instead of the guy that employed hundreds of people over the past 30 years.

Best Regards,
Thomas M.

4:48. And LIVES in Eastover.

Grant Nooe's Fondren gig. BOOM! Kaput. LOL.

Just because Nick has money doesn't mean the business wasn't in trouble. Nick's is registered as a corporation which is legally separate from Nick as an individual.

Nick would have been paying himself a salary over the last 30 years and building up his personal nest egg. Just like if your employer went belly up it wouldn't affect the savings you had accumulated, the restaurant starting to loose money wouldn't affect Nick unless he decided to take his personal money and put it back in the business.

I can't imagine if the business was making money that Nick and his family would have wanted to cash out on the goodwill, name, and client base.

Based on the sudden closing and the lack of notification of any of the employees it is a reasonable opinion that the business must have been loosing money, Nick wasn't going to prop it up with his life's savings (I wouldn't either), and a buyer couldn't be found to take it over.

Fondren. 100% leased. TOTALLY FULL. LOL

Hey JPS at 6:57. It is not "loosing" or "loose" anything. Try "losing" and "lose" Mr. Public Schools.

When Teddy's District opens Fondren will bleed market share.

8:13. When will your smart asks develop a "Teddy's District"? Little man. Show your development balls. Where is it? Stay at home Mom.

100% 8:13. Read that and weep. WEEP.

As a former business owner, the time to get out is when your ahead. After many years in the business world, you develope an instinct about future business trends. In the long run, it's look out for yourself, because that's all the employees do. Yes, it would've been kinder to give the workers a "heads up," but they would've just left him in a heartbeat for their new job anyway. Now they can collect unemployment for a while and enjoy their families.

Interesting comments over issues none of you really know anything about. Go about your lives, spewing venom,giving of nothing good. Nick, Godspeed Man, thank you for years of service and GREAT food!

463 in Madison has a packed parking lot every night? There are seven spaces in front of the place if you count the liquor store parking. However, the point about the place was in counter to the Fondred Boobie who ridiculed the same area (Bang Bang Shrimp).

You can actually be a planet-renowned cook and have a restaurant that ain't shit, like 463.

Buyers are rarely interested in an enterprise that loses money.

Plano, TX is 50% larger than Jackson, yet is rated the safest city in American by Forbes Magazine. Sounds like a better place to open a restaurant.

Nick, have you considered Detroit? Some here locally are saying it is better than Jackson. There is even a Whole Foods there and it is downtown!!!!! Don't you get it?

Was that the 13th step being practiced?

Come on haters....only 3 to go for 100 posts on a restaurant closing in Fondren. One closes in Madison/Ridgeland and crickets. I LOVE jealousy!

What? Cheddars closed? I havent been able to squeak my truck in parking lot since all the "Jacksonians" took over a few weeks after it opened. Cheap, decent, and good portions. Seems like a recipe for enticing "Red Drank Cacklers". Parking lot full of Buricks, Chargers, and Chrysler 300s. All with Hinds Co plates, unless Nascar based, and most with rims. Remember its not stereotyping when its the truth. I went once, wont go back.

Back on subject. What happended to Nicks is bad. To not give any waring to employees, or landlord, or anyone then BOOM, closed shop. That screams there is more than meets the eye. If you're wanting to go out to spend more time iwth family, do it honorably.

I AM 100!!! HOT DAMN!!!

"If you're wanting to go out to spend more time iwth family, do it honorably."

My point exactly!

This is no way to treat people who have worked with you for years, or maybe even decades.

Miso is closing Saturday... Oh snap!

At least Grant Nooe had the decency to give people a heads up and let his wait staff know before they showed up for work, too.

Just went back and reread KF's post. It says that someone at Nick's HUNG UP on him when he called to ask if Nick's was closed. This is not the behavior of someone who has made a well thought out decision. It is someone who is cutting and running in the middle of the night with no regard for patrons or employees. I will not go to the Mermaid Cafe again either.

Supply and demand. Too many restaurants in the metro than can be supported by the patron base.

Come on haters. Is 104 all you got? You are losing your touch.

I always enjoyed the food and service at Nick's. The employees were great. I understand wanting to spend time with family, but I don't understand the callousness of closing a restaurant and giving employees no notice. Let's say the business really was losing money (likely the case)... I'm sure the owner has enough cash in his personal account to pay two weeks of employee salaries while they look for other jobs. Spending time with family is honorable, choosing to screw over good employees who worked hard for you and your customers is beyond disgusting.

7:53. How do you KNOW that is what happened. Share your insight with us.

A thought on the employees… can't imagine how shocking it was. However, several of the posts talk about the employees that were with him for a very long time. In the restaurant business that is a rarity. Despite the ending, he obviously was able to provide for both them and their families for a number of years in an industry with a pretty high turnover rate. That's pretty strong. One more thought re: the turnover…. besides those that had been with him forever…. if he had given his employees a closing date, the majority would have sought greener pastures beginning the next night and the "goodbye" could have turned into a terrible debacle for all involved. Not trying to sway anyone but always smart to take a look a different perspective.

The tell-tale warning signs when a business is about to close are always there. The employees probably knew something was up.

Fondren sucks. Period. Jackson period sucks. Madison is the only icon this entire has to marvel and now every other surrounding town mimics their every move. Nicks was a cool place. I really enjoyed to food there and am disappointed to see them go.

Again, Fondren sucks. Nothing but pot heads and weird fools sporting the retro when they know they can't. You want to see a real city, move to RALIEGH NORTH CAROLINA. Get out of the bubble called Jackson and be normal fucking people. What? What do you have? Magoos? The bulldog? Raleigh shits on you. Enjoy south Jackson dominating.

Good bye Nicks!

I am reluctant to ask a question in a thread with so many posts by semi-literate and/or schizophrenic people. But I'll ask, anyway. Is the current 'Nick' closing the current incarnation of the restaurant the same 'Nick' who ran the establishment for a quarter-century on Lakeland? Or is the current 'Nick' a son of the original?

If the original 'Nick' died, then it is possible that poor estate planning may have left the business under-capitalized - necessitating the move. The restaurant on Lakeland was very nice. But the one in Fondren was just small and sad. I'd assumed that my perception of the interior was just a failure on my part to appreciate subtle aesthetics. Like most people, I don't respond well to dark, dull, and understated spaces. I assumed that this place was for more cerebral people, who outranked me, and who wanted someplace quiet, subtle, and intimate. It is possible that this was so.

And it is possible that there were just not enough superior fans of understatement, to make such a restaurant profitable.

It is also possible that the financial pressures placed on a business owner, to take from the business enough profit to support five young children, prevented Nick from investing enough money on the building and decor to make the place competitive in terms of atmosphere.

The food was OK, and the waitstaff attentive (I'm no foodie, and was there working one last conference into a long day, by meeting over dinner). The atmosphere was subdued, and should have been conducive to a productive meeting. But I left feeling just cold and drab. Nothing excited me. Nothing stroked my ego. Foodies or barflies may have found something to qvell over about the place. But despite getting everything I wanted during the meeting, I left the dinner/conference feeling deflated and depressed.

I'm guessing that the move from Lakeland was necessitated by financial problems, and that those same problems precluded hiring a good designer to create a space worthy of the restaurant's legendary food. Personally, I wouldn't know good food from bad (nor can I distinguish between good and bad singing or acting: I'm just not that interested) But even for gourmets, food is only one component of a dining experience. I suspect that the underwhelming physical aspects of the restaurant caused patronage to dwindle.

For the 'Dick For Brains' that posted this:

"Yes, it would've been kinder to give the workers a "heads up," but they would've just left him in a heartbeat for their new job anyway. Now they can collect unemployment for a while and enjoy their families."

Collect unemployment and enjoy their families? Do you, ass-hump, have a clue how much a weekly unemployment check is in this state? Of course you don't. You're still spending your daddy's money.

For you to assert that Nick's employees would simply have jumped ship for the next job, is assinine. The right thing for the chump to have done would have been to call an all-employee meeting, advise them of the closing (a week or two in advance) and tell them all who stayed the remaining time would be given a severance check. That would have closed out the whole situation with something called DIGNITY.

And by doing that, and announcing the closing, the place would have been flooded, more than covering the severance promised. But, as the poster implied, people are expendable, social security numbers on a payroll, worthless and can fend for themselves.

I am reluctant to ask a question in a thread with so many posts by semi-literate and/or schizophrenic people.

I am always thankful when a pompous ass such as yourself stops by to communicate at the regulars here @ JJ. It is good to know that there are still holier-than-thous out there looking out for the rest of us.

The Mermaid is going down hill too. Nick may be a great guy but he let his business get away from him. The food and service is awful at The Mermaid.

How long are people going to continue to post comments about this? A restaurant closed, who cares, it happens every single day all over the world hahaha

I'm hungry! Think I'll go get some takeout and sit on the patio at Nick's before the homeless people start sleeping there.

Don't spit in that cops burger

And I was like whaaaaat, and she was like whaaaaat, and then we all was like whaaaaat

One time at band camp

It's FRIDAY! Everybody needs to take a break from the comments and go enjoy the weekend, just sayin

How long are people going to continue to post comments about this?

Let us know when you decide to stop. Okay?

I heard he has a house in Skiathos, Greece and a large shark fishing vessel flagged out of Lybia that ports in New Orleans and Miami. Sounds like some mafioso stuff to me so I have no comment here accept that I don't want to end up in a shark chum bucket.

Nick's was a great place to eat, until he moved, then it went to crap. I tried it a dozen or so times and it was always lackluster. A series of bad chefs that he hired to replace himself in the kitchen, even worse general managers in charge. Ultimately, he changed his format and food and alienated his older established clientele and the hipsters didn't replace them cause they really don't have the kind of money it takes to eat 75-100 bucks a head. Nick is a great chef and one of the most genuinely good guys around, but he made several tactical errors in a row. Had he kept Nick's the same and just moved, it would still be open. It is a shame however to see what I considered to be one the best at one point in my life now gone.

11:07 said it right. As soon as some Jacksuns found out Chedders had lots of food "fo cheap" you can't get in there. Not that you'd want to. Last I heard they started serving "sizzurp" at the bar. Genghis Grill is the same.

Oh lawd,
Zac is posting on this?
Haven't read all the posts but what about the consideration for the employees?! Some had been there for decades!
And they show up to work one day and learn the news from a note on the door?
Yeh, apparently the entire "family" theme stopped at those who were kin/owners