Comments on: Suddenly, downtown West Palm Beach has a dynamic dining scene

By: Jonathan Tully

Jonathan Tully — Thu, 26 May 2011 21:02:30 +0000

Well, Maggie — if you look at the date on the column, you’ll see it’s from 2009, so yeah, it’s likely to be dated. We’ve done a lot of stories about restaurants since that time.

By: maggie

maggie — Wed, 25 May 2011 16:26:01 +0000

this column is SO dated, what happened people???? embarassing..if your job is in media- you should be up to date and on it!

By: wallace waldon

wallace waldon — Mon, 28 Dec 2009 23:20:32 +0000

I do not patronize downtown establishments. Why? Parking. Or rather the lack of it. I’d rather go 10 minutes south to Lake Worth
where you are not penalized for owning a vehicle. I am surprised the downtown “authority” does not focus on that. To have to mess with a meter is punitive. The elimination of parking fees would result in a dramatic upswing in Clematis business.

By: K

Sat, 26 Dec 2009 02:06:59 +0000

Awesome Doug! Yes, the good ole days of braving Respectables!

By: Doug

Doug — Fri, 25 Dec 2009 22:35:06 +0000

I miss the ambiance of the mid-1980′s…the machine gun shootings on Iris street every Friday night lending a special 3-D stereo effect to Miami Vice on TV. Who can forget the empty eyes and canker sore faces belonging to the crack wh&@$s on South Dixie Hwy. I especially miss those long quiet walks to the library in the evening hours, wondering if I’d make it back without beating off a mugger with a bag of books. I sure did enjoy living downtown back in the day…..These kids today don’t know what they missed.

By: Willie A. Miller, Jr.

Willie A. Miller, Jr. — Fri, 25 Dec 2009 20:31:43 +0000

Downtown West Palm Beach: an emerging world class international destination for shopping, dining, arts and entertainment.

Go West Palm Beach ~

Willie A. Miller, Jr.

By: Robert

Robert — Fri, 25 Dec 2009 17:03:26 +0000

Just moved from downtown to Los Angeles after 35 years there.
Charles, if you rewrite this article in 2 years, you will see an
entirely new list of restaurants. People with money want parking,
and there is none as you know. And it will never be any different.
The reason Third Street Promenade in Santa Monica is so successful
is that there are numerous free or nearly free parking structures.
And that’s why the silly and very expensive new waterfront will
be a squalid mess within a very short period of time. One day, I predict,
some developer will get the city’s permission to tear down the entire
area and do it right…like the Grove area of LA.

By: wpbdwlr

wpbdwlr — Fri, 25 Dec 2009 16:52:53 +0000

Are you people kidding me? Delray better than West Palm?! Delray is ONE FRIGGIN ROAD! One street with a few restaurants, some nice coffee houses and a handful of boutiques. THAT’S IT. Otherwise it’s a complete cultural wasteland.

While not perfect, West Palm is at the very least getting better. Yes, more is required, especially in the area of cultural venues, independent coffee houses and such establishments, but at least it feels more urban than the ridiculous village for retirees that Delray is. Plus, Clematis is better than it has been in a long time.

I am SICK of hearing people bigging up Delray — it’s a road. A nice, fun, vibrant road it may be, but get over yourselves and discover the world.

By: Alan

Alan — Fri, 25 Dec 2009 15:13:01 +0000

Joey Lee nailed it. West Palm is for kids and Delray is for adults. Adults want more than just restaurants, music and bars; it’s a larger atmosphere they crave. Delray has all sorts of quirky, interesting, unique niche stores selling everything from jewelry to art to pet supplies to rocks/minerals and a whole host of other neat things that attract a better clientelle. And those stores stay open late to take advantage of the restaurant crowd. There are also many places for the younger generations too.

All we ever hear about downtown West palm regards restaurants but you cannot build a destination on restaurants alone; the competition is too stiff from areas with much better parking. Everyone keeps focusing on the restaurants as if that’s the key but it isn’t. A boatload of very good restaurants have come and gone from downtown over the past 15 years as diners tired of the area offering little other than food. REALLY good bistros and coffee houses have left us that could have thrived in a more diverse environment.

I like downtown and agree that there are many individually good things there but the right mix has never been achieved to invite an enduring stream of money-spending patrons. Maybe the new waterfront will invite a more varied collection of retail businesses.

By: Stephen

Stephen — Fri, 25 Dec 2009 14:37:14 +0000

I’ve lived in downtown WPB for 15 years and this is the best I’ve seen the Clematis district. Keep up the positive vibes!

By: Sara

Sara — Fri, 25 Dec 2009 14:10:55 +0000

Well, my husband and I are downtown residents, having moved here from Palm Beach a few years ago. We eat at a Clematis restaurant at least three nights a week. We love the variety, the locals, the diversity and the vibrancy and the food is delicious and reasonably priced. The new Forte? Amici entrees at half the price! What a pleasure to have Maurizio greeting us on Clematis. And it is great to be able to drink a pitcher of margarita’s at Rocco’s and be able to walk home!
Thank you, Charles, for your review.

By: Joey Lee

Joey Lee — Sat, 19 Dec 2009 13:35:36 +0000

All I can say is this (because mom said if you have nothing nice to say shut up) West Palm is trying.It will never be Delray on Atlantic who knows why since it is also a former tough neighborhood.That is still surrounded by the underprivileged. Which means people need to travel there. The demographics also are so different it seems Delray seems so well healed and West Palm is a bunch heals. It’s like all the grown ups go to Delray and leave West Palm for the kids. The best thing to
happen to WPB is BB KINGS by far. Good food,great staff and a beautiful venue showcasing first class talent.If this places fails I’m moving out of WPB. Because we don’t deserve places like this if we don’t support them.

By: Charles Passy

Charles Passy — Fri, 11 Dec 2009 19:10:29 +0000

Interesting responses. I’ve not tried enough of the places to make an overall statement about the quality. But what I do like in what I see along Clematis is fun, casual restaurants at the right price — I wish there were more ethnic (why hasn’t someone put a semi-decent Chinese place on the street?), the Rocco’s/Grease Bar/Reef Rd. stuff works for me, especially when coupled with decent pizza at a couple of spots, Phat Sandwiches and that new arepa place (yet to try). It’s a good solid start — and I’m not sure downtown needs a Dolce or what you see on Northwood; the cutting-edge or fringe neighborhoods may be the very best places for highly creative food.

Re CityPlace — yeah, that’s a big problem. Nobody has great food — at best, you can settle for okay to good food. But maybe we can’t expect more in a tourist-driven destination. I mourn the loss of La Salsa, the best of the casual Mex chains I ever tried. Hopefully, the place replacing it will maintain the quality. It would be nice to see at least one high-end REAL (as opposed to chain) restaurant with interesting food establish itself there. But maybe that’s asking too much.

By: eatwell

eatwell — Fri, 11 Dec 2009 13:06:17 +0000

I also enjoy seeing a sort of rebirth of our downtown area, but I honestly agree with Freakerdude. I feel downtown is Mediocre at best and only wish that most of these places could maintain consistency. I do appreciate what the boys of Pistache have done to hang on during the rebuild, but dont feel a need to drive downtown to get good food. Although I would travel outside of the downtown to cross the railroad track to eat at Dolce De Palma. As for City Place, forget it! Charles thanks for all your efforts in keeping food alive in West Palm Beach.

By: freakerdude

freakerdude — Thu, 10 Dec 2009 17:45:45 +0000

I am pessimistic in that downtown needs to recognize what caused it to fail before and take steps to prevent it. Adding mediocre restos will not bring people downtown except for the people headed downtown for the nightclubs. I can’t say there is currently one resto which I would drive down for alone. Rocco’s is mediocre at best, Grease bar is pure bar food, and Forte is too high end for average people to visit regularly.

City Place is mainly chain restos which only the tourists will patronize and not the locals. I have lived here for 3 years and have no desire to visit City Place. With the recent addition of BB Kings, I might visit it a few times.

The best thing about downtown is Dr. Feelgood’s and that’s about it currently.

By: Mark P

Mark P — Wed, 09 Dec 2009 14:49:19 +0000

What’s happened down here is amazing. I hit Clematis Starbucks every morning and I see changes every day, from the restaurants now open or coming soon, and the type of people who are calling this neighborhood their home turf. Well educated, hip downtown types who are building a pretty good scene here.