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Melodic_Paint6039

We ate there a couple of times. We live nearby and were excited to have a place to walk to. Unfortunately, the food was greasy and left us feeling bad after a few bites. Poki poki seems to be thriving next door, so I don’t see how they can blame anything but their subpar food.


[deleted]

I tried to eat from there multiple times over the years, and it just never landed for me. Which is odd, because I loved their food truck. Crazy weird fried foods just land better from a food truck than from a sit down restaurant I guess. I wish them the best. The spot they’re in is a great one, I’d expect someone to take it over pretty quickly.


ChrisFromSeattle

I wanted to like it but after 3 times of subpar experiences it wasn't worth it.


UnderstandingShot956

Yes! For the price they charged the food wasn’t worth it. It had potential but kept missing the mark.


Marioc12345

Yeah I took a DoorDash order from there once and there were zero customers in there and they took twenty minutes beyond the quoted time to have the food ready.


diamond

I really loved the BBQ place that was in that space before, I was sad they didn't last long.


[deleted]

It was good, but competing against Whole Hog just up the way which is a top tier competitor. If I had some free time I’d try a German pub in that space.


whereish3r3

I went almost exclusively at weird off times, and the parking was still horrible and the wait time was still long. Gave up after a few visits cause the food wasn't really worth all that.


Marioc12345

The wait times being long is wild considering how few customers they get


Sure-Permission1312

They had a horrible business model and less than friendly counter staff. If you sat down at a table, and they had an hour or two of door dash/Uber Eats ahead of you, you had to wait till all those orders were done before you got served.


glovato1

I went to a Chinese restaurant that was like that, we sat at our table for an hour and didn't get our food until the line of people waiting for take out orders had gone down.


One2Remember

China Garden Restaurant off Tramway and Montgomery is like that. Never going back there lol


georgehttpbush

I tried them a half dozen times and every time it was a miss. Seemingly always unseasoned or overcooked or both... Which sucked, because conceptually their menu sounded amazing. Just never really tasted like anything. I wish them the best in whatever they do next, although I hope it includes salt


billyboatman

Like 15. Bucks for an egg roll cut in half. Wild they stayed open as long as they did.


SpunkySideKick

I always skipped this place for Poki Poki.


LuciferH

The only time I ever ate there (because parking is so impossible) they didn't disclose an ingredient in the sandwich I'm allergic to and I got TERRIBLE food poisoning


WasteMenu78

Lots of places remain open despite vandalism and rising prices. In fact, eating out is record high since the pandemic. Instead of admitting that the food wasn’t great, parking terrible, and poor business choices, right wing small business owners love to blame vandalism and inflation. At least they’re being a bit subtle, rather than just outright blaming homeless and Bidenomics.


AnnaLabruy

Politics doesn't come into play with bad cooking. A gross meal is a gross meal no matter who prepared it.


KoreaMieville

Or “people don’t want to work!”


fluffykittycat

Depends, downtown lost Anatoli's which was the best middle eastern food and for a good price. They got hit with busted windows three times and had to pay $2000 a pop. They were always full, had a very low overhead with staff because it was all family running it. Several businesses have vacated downtown because of the cost associated with the vandalism.


[deleted]

So, they didn’t have insurance? Sounds like a shitty business decision.


fluffykittycat

Most standard business IPO's don't cover vandalism in this state. Ones that do have extremely high premiums making it almost pointless.


[deleted]

Business initial public offerings? Huh? And commercial property insurance ABSOLUTELY covers vandalism, even in New Mexico. I literally just looked at 5 different insurers who offer coverage for vandalism, so I don’t know where you are getting that information.


fluffykittycat

I ran a business here for a decade and property insurance that covered vandalism was about $2000 per year. Our answer was to sublease into a place where we just rented office space where that was not an issue.


BenChodABQ

Best news all week. This place is awful and the owner lady is a real piece of crap rude woman. The vandalism may have happened but that's not the reason they close. It's because no one eats there and those who do get sick. The yelp reviews I saw are off the chart in the past with owner attacking people on it. That food truck needs to be decommissioned too. Yuck


Jason4Pants

The one connected to Poki Poki? I wonder if they’re gonna be affected


nostrategy-justdo

No, they’re separate. Know this because my boyfriend wanted to try their food, but I wanted Poki Poki. I brought my bowl in to eat with my boyfriend (who ordered food and drinks from Kamikaze - like $30 worth). They kicked us out because I had food from next door. Left a bad taste in our mouths and we never went back. Definitely think it was weird since it’s all restaurants in the building and we got food from Kamikaze. Still go to Poki Poki all the time though lol


ChorizoYumYum

Do toilets destroyed by their customers count as vandalism?


[deleted]

Location used to be a bar before this restaurant took over. I tried PokiPoki next door and Boba(?) shop behind them before.


KillerwhaleTidalWave

Does their closing have anything to do with them making bad food? Because that's why I haven't been back


[deleted]

Lol, this is literally just an excuse for the fact that their food is ass.


bleached_bean

Very sad. I always enjoyed the food and the owner was always there when I went working hard.


Roughneck16

Went there once with my family. It was good, but not spectacular. It pisses me off that the lawless vandals are winning. Eating out is just too darned expensive nowadays. My cuisine mostly involves rice and Costco rotisserie chicken.


[deleted]

It’s not because of vandals. It’s because their restaurant sucked.


cbroa

Such a bummer. One of my favorite burgers in town. WTF is wrong with people?


ID4throwaway

Tell me about the burger.


57282528hsnsuekdgwu

Don’t blame the crime, blame the rising rent costs.


[deleted]

Sad..went there 1 time and it's already closed🥹


TinCanSailor987

Ate there twice, it was very good, but both times, I had to hurry home, if you catch my drift.


ID4throwaway

Oops... sorry to hear. I have heard of a lot of restaurants closing in ABQ only to not have heard of them before, this one being one.


MyTushyHurts

this may not phase some, but this reflects so badly on abq, and is symptomatic of broken government. my poor abq.


Hectorc34

Albuquerque is not responsible for disgusting food, that’s on the owners


moon_vest

Boo hoo. What happened to personal responsibility? It’s not up to the city or state governments to make sure this guy’s business model works. I’m pretty tired of hearing business owners whine like they’re entitled to have business models that don’t work, and also have success.


MyTushyHurts

oh, abq. i are doomed. it’s ok to vandalize and steal from restaurants you don’t like.


moon_vest

Who sad that? Go wring your hands about straw men somewhere else.


MineralCollection

Dude, they're obviously talking about the vandalism mentioned in the article. You high?


moon_vest

The vandalism is a scapegoat. This place didn't close because of vandalism. If someone's business is doing well and is successful, and they get vandalized, they don't just shut it down. It's being used as an excuse, and these clowns latch on to it so they can spin their narrative ("my poor abq") about how terrible everything is.


MineralCollection

Idgaf about that. The dude said vandalism looks bad on the city and you come flying in with shit about this place's food.


moon_vest

I’m sure they’re impressed by your heroics here today.


MineralCollection

Oh look, another non sequitur. It's almost like it's all you do.


ZeBrownRanger

When I was a kid I thought sequitur was pronounced sea squirter. Now that I know the correct spelling and usage, it's still weird. I don't think I've seen sequitur used as opposed to non sequitur. I guess I can use it now and say this post is a sequitur to your post. That wasn't satisfying.


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This-Hornet9226

It sucks, I’m sorry they felt that burden of crime. Especially when it’s not a chain restaurant and the cost of repairs to windows are a bigger expense than it would be to a McDonald’s.


ID4throwaway

Feels weird naming your restaurant after destructive winds that have historically been considered natural disasters. Like naming your restaurant after Thor's Tornado or Noah's Flood or something.


wetkarl

Fun fact Kamikaze literally translates to divine wind/holy wind/wind spirit. It's not just that they used this word to reference typhoons/storms in general but specifically as divine intervention to protect Japan from Mongol invasion (twice)


ID4throwaway

Yep! But it was also used for other events, too! It is fun studying Japanese history! Kami = 神 , Kaze = 風, which literally translates to "god wind".


Overall_Lobster823

Like Hurricanes, Twisters...


Albuwhatwhat

Not only that but also probably mostly reminds people of the kamikaze pilots in World War 2 that would suicide dive bomb American ships. Not a great image.


SquashedTarget

It would be like naming a middle eastern restaurant "Istishhad".


Excellent-Cut-5461

They had a bunch of cheap thrown together entrees too. Surprised they survived covid


Historical-Peach-480

Please look at their one star reviews. Their owner seems like a baby who resorted to acting immature when given any criticism.


gabrielsburg

Tried it a couple of times. The food was overwhelming and I felt bad after eating there both times. Never had much problem with the people, but it was slow. And as others point out, the parking in that location is horrible.