No parking
I had dinner last week at both the Helmand and Sammy's Trattoria, and, of course, both times parking was an issue.
I had a long discussion with a friend recently about whether parking can make or break a restaurant. The Helmand is a special case -- it would do just fine in the middle of the Sahara (admittedly, there would be plenty of parking there) -- and Sammy's seems to be doing OK. But I think a lot of those places in the Mount Vernon area come and go in large part because of the lack of parking.
And not just there, of course. I got an e-mail from Nancy Longo yesterday pointing out that Pierpoint has its own parking, just like the now-closed Longo's did. The restaurant owners know how important it is.
It's particularly an issue as more restaurants open around Patterson Park/Butchers Hill -- at least in Mount Vernon you know you can find a lot if you're willing to walk a little. I think my friend and I concluded that parking was going to be a huge obstacle for those new ones, but I'm not sure. Personally I don't mind walking a few blocks unless it's a safety issue.
One problem for restaurants is that Baltimoreans don't like to valet park the way, say, Angelinos do. In LA, everybody valets everywhere -- I saw a cleaners that had valet parking. But maybe that's changing. If you want to eat in the hot new places in the Harbor East area, you better be willing to valet and to pay handsomely for the privilege.
That's a dish from Sammy's in the photo, by the way. I thought you'd rather look at it than a row of parked cars with no space for your car.
(Barbara Haddock Taylor/Sun Photographer)
Comments
Parking has certainly been a consideration for us when deciding where to go for dinner. More times than not we hem and haw over whether to venture to Mt. Vernon from Federal Hill simply because we don't want to fight for a parking space or have to deal with the odd "honor system" lots. I know I propbably should be, but I'm never quite comfortable putting my money in the slot and walking away. Especially if there aren't many other cars in the lots.
I welcome reasonably priced valet. I don't mind the $7 valet at Harbor East. although $5 would be more reasonable. But it's nice to leave your car after having dinner and walk to one of the other places for an afterdinner drink. I guess I personally live in the city because of the convenience of local restaurants and stores. When parking is an issue, it's not so convenient anymore.
Posted by: RP | August 9, 2007 12:19 PM
Parking in the city . . . hmm. Maybe people will one day move back from the suburbs and make Balto a vibrant work/play/live city it has the potential to be.
Posted by: lgl | August 13, 2007 3:52 PM
We currently live in Howard County and love eating out in the city. Parking has never been an issue to us even when we go to places like b bistro, or Salt both in residential neighborhoods. Even Charles St places such as Cazbar, Sotto Soppra or Minato - we never had any issues with parking. I think the parking issue is more like a suburban mentality problem expecting to always have "convenient, right at the door" parking to every restaurant much like when people go to a Bennigans or a Carrabbas in the suburb. We go to a city restaurant because of the experience and the food, and not really worry about the parking - something we don't have much expectation with because it is the city after all.
Posted by: Eric | August 14, 2007 1:23 PM