Jackson Jambalaya

"New York CNN —

Fans of Outback Steakhouse may be surprised to see their local restaurant permanently closed after the chain’s parent company abruptly shut down dozens of locations around the US.

Bloomin’ Brands revealed in an earnings call Friday that it closed 41 “underperforming locations” across the brands it owns, including Carrabba’s Italian Grill, Bonefish Grill and Fleming’s." https://www.cnn.com/2024/02/26/food/outback-steakhouse-closures/index.html

corporate restaurant with dilligaf employees. went once never returned.

It was a hotspot when it first opened. It had a decent run for a chain.

Just one more place you mourn on here that I had never heard of.

Since Covid, eating out is not worth it - almost everywhere. The quality of service and the quality of food have both gone down the drain.

Maybe a Penn’s or Long John Silver will take their place.

Would be a good spot for J Alexanders.

But it's being replaced by Top Golf.
I'll take that trade any day!
Go to the Top Golf restaurant & watch golfers slice their shots while eating a grill cheese sandwich.
What fun.

The Bam Bam Shrimp was always a good take out.

That would be the Bang Bang Shrimp, which might not be a wise choice to order in the Jackson area. Too much bang bang, no shrimp.

Of course, maybe you can get the Bam Bam Shrimp with a side of Fruity Pebbles.

We enjoyed the place for years before it became just another sandals and ball-cap joint. It was as close to 'fine dining' as Madison had for 5 or 6 years, white table cloths and all.

I can tell you exactly why it closed, but there goes my hope to see this post in print. It went steadily down hill when 'the Canton and Jackson crowd' took it over, not unlike Red Lobster, Olive Garden and Long Horn (Madison). And when patrons don't tip or tip very poorly, wait staff will not stay on board - nor will competent bar-keeps.

Initially, Bonefish was not a take-out joint but seems it leaned totally that way over the past three or four years, with the main dining room NEVER full as it had been for the prior 7 or 8. And don't get all damp over COVID. This closure had nothing to do with COVID.

Half Shell has taken off like a sonic boom but give it three more years (at most) and it, too, will post a closed notice, and for the same reasons.

Take a look at the Half Shell over in Rankin County. Lit and sailed like a rocket for 5 years and then the downhill of clientele appeared. The place is no longer the destination it was in the beginning.

No a Penn's would not survive there. A buffet in this market is not going to last. Why do you think all the Chinese buffets are gone. And any place that serves crab-claws is going to have a three year life span.

Never heard of J Alexanders, and the proper name is Bang Bang Shrimp, 7:54.

@8:43 AM - 100% correct and accurate.

Macy's won't be coming to the metro either as they are closing 150 stores. Maybe because of theft?

Last time I ate there it was during COVID. The restaurant was half full because they didn't have enough servers to fill every table. The manager complained to me about how "no one wants to work anymore." If you've never worked in the service industry, this translates into: "$2.13/hr plus tips, erratic scheduling, and I make your life a living hell."

Food was fine, place was nice, but I'm not surprised it didn't survive.

Next?

I don't have hopes for the new Jason's Deli (2-3 years?). The Madison location is replacing the Jackson location, but the same Jackson clientele will ruin it also.

@8:43, you nailed it! I used to go to Mama Hamil’s 2 or 3 times a month but not anymore. A certain element took over and the prices continue to go up to cover the ones who fill 2 plates and then make 2nd and 3rd trips to the buffet. It became so unpleasant I just quit going. They abuse everything they touch. The downfall of Half Shell and Zea Rotisserie is well under way.

I remember when it opened and it was a nice date spot and enjoyable atmosphere.

And as 8:43 said, the rowdy poors and unwashed masses of all skin tones ruin all these places.
If you serve fruity drinks and blue cocktails, they will appear and they will be loud and they will complain about everything and then refuse to tip.

You lose your decent clientele and good staff in the process. If you had any decent staff in the first place, that is.

I feel sorry for owners. It seems inevitable.

Over/Under on Mexican joint?

Hate to say it, 8:43 is spot on!

The only way to enjoy an evening of fine dining would be not to do it around here.

Local patrons have no class or respect for anything. Loud, obnoxious laughing, cell phones blowing up, out of control kids and tables of 25. It's just not worth it anymore.

Yea, you all know what I'm talking about.

Char seems to have gotten a handle on the situation by a prominently displayed (and enforced) dress code - no tanks tops or sports bras, no provocative or overly revealing outfits - and don't expect to be seated if you're reeking of weed. Also, no professional photography, and an automatically added gratuity for larger parties.

And they've been known to call the police when certain diners pull that stunt where they complain about everything, expect it all to be comped, and refuse to pay when it isn't.

It's a public service by the good people of Madison County to let us know how totally fucking racist they are.

I guess this wasn’t in Jackson since the location was not mentioned……

Attn 11:08 Which Ivy League school did you graduate from? My educated guess would be Murrah High school.

I used to love Char, so I am glad to hear that 11:12.

I probably still wont see enough positives to outweigh the negatives associated with traveling into Jackson, but I do with them well and happy to hear they have made efforts to make the restaurant enjoyable again.

They. Don't. Know. How. To. Tip.

As a 30-year veteran of the restaurant industry I'll applaud the comments of 11:06 and 11:08 and agree with 11:12. You ain't gonna get servers who depend on 2:13 an hour minus deducts while serving diners who complain about everything and leave a couple of dollars or no tip. Yet they will go on Jackson Foodies and complain about the poor service and the fact they didn't get comped or were put out that you had to service four other tables and couldn't hover over their party which was constantly asking for extra this and that. Fine dining? Gone. Gone. Gone. Casual dining? Dying. Dying. Dying.

Just ordered take out from there a week ago. It was a grilled grouper meal. Over cooked and salty af.
Disappointing, they had a pretty good sea bass at one point.
Contrary to comments made here, I don’t understand how you blame any patrons for a restaurants failure.
Either your food and service are good, or it ain’t.

One of the better restaurants tries to enforce a dress code and you would be amazed at the hell they catch for it. Was there in lobby one day, dude comes in with family. He is wearing bright red warmups and baseball cap. Wife and daughter were fine. He was not happy when told he couldn't be seated because of his outfit. One little rich socialite got made because her teen daughter was wearing a pre printed t shirt . Of course Mommy went to Facebook and raised hell for affirmation. One time a chick was doing a live zoom call on speaker phone in the middle of the crowded dining room. Threw a real fit when asked to stop it. Then threw a bigger fit when told to leave because she started abusing the manager and refused to stop zooming.

One of my pet peeves. Was in D"Angelos one time. Necks at next table just had to crank up their phones so they could watch videos. Very annoying. some restaurants don't allow that crap. However, most just don't do anything, even when asked.

I’m very sad to see this happen. Jobs have been lost, real estate is vacant and I am quite sure they had some good employees, not many , but some who were hanging in there to make it work. 8:43 and 10:06 just summed it up. I couldn’t express how I classy some places have gotten. Caps worn at the table (yes, I’m from the old school where it would be slapped off your head if you wore it at the table), dirty clothes, unwashed people and people who were never taught how to act in a public setting. This is why some establishments have raised their prices to turn these people away. And I can attest that my family and I have skimmed down our choice of places due to all of this. We live in a classless society with no manners or respect for others or pride in appearances. Thank you for letting me say my piece because it is not fair to the owners or the good hard working employees.

Whatever opens there I just hope it expensive. Let Ridgeland have the "reasonable" price places.

1:08 its the patrons and the restaurant's lack of controlling their patrons that make people not dine somewhere. The red/blue drink, cackle and talk on the phone, facetime, take 50-11 pictures, then find a hair after they finished their food crowd that makes me not want to go places. I also am not alone. Those people can also be of any race.

Go broke trying to serve the woke crowd. Happening more and more these days.

I was in an Outback not long ago. A black female came in to get her to go order at the bar then sat down and called her baby daddy about the side piece he was banging and proceeded to scream at him and call him the n-word repeatedly. I should not know all this but she made it our business.

Every decent patron of all colors got up and left when she then began to call ever girl she knows on speaker phone and retell them what we all just were forced to hear live.

I spoke with the manager who agreed it was awful, but we also agreed that she seemed to be doing it on purpose, hoping to get her own viral victimhood video.

Its a no win situation for restaurants. Contrary to what 1:08 thinks.

High prices from the get-go do serve to delay the eventual takeover by the snot-nosed, nasty and entitled. But, the key word here is *eventual*.

When a friend or business associate tells you, "...but the place is a bit pricey!"....That's exactly where you want to go.

I’m not really shocked by the thinly-veiled racism. It’s the fact that Kingfish is approving it that disturbs me.

Mississippi is an absolute shithole. Why haven’t all of you left yet?

@1:08 You have no idea just how wrong you are. Bad patrons will absolutely ruin a good restaurant. Bad patrons are obnoxious, treat the facilities badly, and don't tip. Obnoxious behavior runs off the good patrons. Without tips, even half-decent servers won't consider working there. Then, the restaurant becomes known as a poorly maintained place with loud, obnoxious, customers and bad service.

Bad patrons are like cockroaches. They contribute nothing while crawling around ruining things for the rest of us.

It will be replaced easily with a better / newer selection.

An amazing run with some pretty good food.

The location is key.

Hard to get that traffic count.

Maybe an In and Out?

Never know.

And what’s up with all the typos in the replies? Usually the grammar police are on top of it….and 8:43 AM is absolutely and repulsively correct in her assessment. And yes I said her. No dude writes that well and makes no mistakes.

Two Rivers (which is actually in middle of Canton), Shapley's, Ely's ( which actually got rid of their fruit punch machine), Koestler, Ticos and others solved the problem by being very expensive. We never ever have any of the problems mentioned above. I'm glad to pay the price and you always need reservations. The staff is very well compensated and has been there for years. So yea, the problem is the customers when a good one goes down. You want to survive, jack the prices up!

Bonefish would still be open if Mississippi expanded Medicaid.

Hey 1:46... Kingfish and Elon Musk of X still believe in and promote something called FREEDOM OF SPEECH, and I have the choice of reading and believing in whatever I read, unlike your preference. Censorship.

I vote for it become the new Crechales. Bob won’t put up with that bullshit. It’s the lone survivor holding out in heart of Jackson and still manages to keep the scum away.

Ridgeland has better restaurants than Madison. More home owned restaurants with charm and fewer big chain restaurants.

The end of an era...I would never eat at them but I am slightly nostalgic for chain restaurants that once lured the masses!

@2:27 PM. All of those restaurants are great. But I can't afford that kind of money for a meal. I think the dress code thing is a good idea.

I worked at a nice restaurant for many years. We had an off duty policeman who was there every night. Just stayed in the background, great guy. The second anything might get out of hand, all you had to do was look at him and he was there. He was fantastic at it. Never loud, never mean, just a quiet voice, in uniform, who told the person no. That solved 99% of the issues. There were 1 or 2 times over the years when that didn't work. And make no mistake, that policeman could grab hold of the person, and in 1 very quick move, remove him from the restaurant. If you were not watching, you would never have known what he was doing. His name was Keith and he was excellent.

Darn, where are the Reunion "Karens" going to eat and "demand to see the manager."

Is it racism or just reality that we actually see play out with our own eyes and experiences? There are so many people telling us not to believe our lying eyes these days over so many things. Like with so many things over the last few years, I'll form my own opinion based on my own gathering of knowledge and evidence.

Being a realist and stating facts and observations is not racism, 1:46.

Sorry it hurts your little feelings. It is what it is.

For all those claiming racism… Racism is not anti-thugism. If you really believe anyone under the age of 50 cares what color you are, you are the racist. MLK’s dream is becoming more true everyday. The race baiters come out in these type of conversations because there are so few actual racist things happening here now.

That said, if you show up with your pants around your knees or a 3 foot red and blue weave with 5” nails, smell like snoop dog’s basement, and are yelling into your speakerphone about your personal problems… Bye Felicia. Same goes with a redneck in a torn up camo shirt with worn out boots while smelling like bourbon street. A nice restaurant is a place to enjoy food and good company not a place to take pics for all 5 of your insta followers.

As for Bonefish, it wasn’t a good restaurant to begin with. The portions were small, the fish usually overcooked and over seasoned, and the place was pretty gimmicky for what clientele they were trying to pull. It was the equivalent of a Joe’s Crab Shack mating with an Outback Steakhouse. I like half shell much better for the same price… or Koestler and Caet for not much more. It just didn’t have a place in the Madison market. I am honestly surprised it lasted as long as it did.

easy fix. add 18% to all orders and "no refunds or exchanges" in giant letters in the menu. You have to lead the infants, they can't do it themselves

Just noticed the Burger King on Lake Harbour in Ridgeland was vacant too…. Seems to be a lot of restaurant turnover lately. Is it lack of staff or bad management? Probably a mix of both….

Hey, 2:27 - If you think Two Rivers is 'in the middle of Canton', you don't get out much. The place barely makes the city limits, is west of the Interstate and is priced so as to deal with issues.

@11:27 #truth
I am appalled at how openly racist the people who post on here are.

I don't fully understand how it is racist to point out that you were factually forced to deal with a black person that was being obnoxious.

I have wanted to punch plenty of white people in WalMart for facetiming and blocking the aisle. Please do defend those dumb rednecks while you are rescuing the POC. Otherwise you are the one being racist.

My experiences are my own and they are valid.
Your being triggered by my facts is not my problem.

"As for Bonefish, it wasn’t a good restaurant to begin with. The portions were small..."

That's because all of you rednecks are used to pushing back from the picnic table, holding your beer can up high and hollering, "Hey, bring me four more of them catfish fillets and some Ketch-UPP.

Mississippi, the hospitality state.