Westview Village is Heating Up
I was in the bank yesterday and someone there was talking about the new Cheesecake Factory and Dave & Busters they said were going up at the new Westview Village Shopping center. He said it was no rumor and he was talking to some of the people on site doing the construction.
So after a yummy sushi lunch at Matsutake, I drove through Westview Village, being developed by Saul Centers.
I only saw one car in front of the Mattress store and two guys in suits inside, but WOW Cafe & Wingery seemed to have a good crowd and the Firehouse Subs looked crowded, too. Mimi’s Cafe is still under construction, but looked like they are starting to set out some patio furniture.
What I was really looking for, though, was some sign to confirm the rumors of the Cheesecake Factory and Dave & Busters.
Does anyone have a way to substantiate the rumors? Know any other business moving into Westview Village? Any opinions of the places there already?
I don’t buy it Jim. Based on the square footage of all the places still available in that plaza, none of them are big enough for a Cheesecake Factory or Dave and Busters. Unless they are planning a stand alone place (like Mimi’s), I think the Cheesecake Factory is still just a rumor.
I was driving by there not to long ago and i saw a perfect place in the shopping center where it can be held
How about writing to the two companies and asking them if they plan to open up in Frederick.
I had heard the construction had slowed down because the builder wants to price the square footage the same as in Montgomery county, which is a lot higher than Frederick county.
I don’t think we could handle ourselves with a Cheesecake Factory in town.
I know there are at least 2 or 3 more stand alone buildings (like Mimi’s) that are in the plan desings for the shopping center. So technically those could be Cheesecake or D&B, but I still doubt either of those will be in Frederick anytime soon.
Those rumors have been making the rounds for nearly four years and strike me as just plain unbelievable. Not only isn’t there space, but thinking logically, neither the location nor the strip mall locale match those businesses’ models. While I’m sure Cheescake Factory would do just fine there, I would doubt that CF considered it seriously. What I would like to hear about is the status of the plausible rumors about Mama Lucia and Five Guys going in there.
It was mentioned in comments on another post that Mama Lucia pulled out of Westview when the rent was doubled. They have since been removed from the developer’s list of tenants.
http://frederickmarylandonline.com/2008/06/11/free-for-allwestview-shopping-center/#comment-26393
New store just signed….
Sport Clips
its a sports fan geared haircut place. Works for me.
http://www.sportclips.com/AboutSportClips/ChampionshipExperience.aspx?ekmensel=e2f22c9a_26_30_btnlink
Looks like Mia’s Cafe is Open. The parking lot was packed with cars on Sunday Morning and there was a billboard out front, but I didn’t stop.
Anyone been there, yet?
I emailed their HQ and was told opening day is Nov 5th. Either they were having a soft opening or that was a job fair for servers.
Oops, Mimi’s Cafe, that is..
Dave and Buster’s is a no go. After constantly hearing that they were going to open up i emailed to find out. The developmental guy in charge of deciding where things are going said they just opened one up in NoVa. We don’t meet their population within 3 or 5 miles.
Mimi’s Cafe still not open. Tried it today around 3 pm. Nothing. Sign inside says Opening Soon.
Thanks for the update gypsy. Hopefully there’s not too much of a hold up!
Anyone know when Mimi’s is actually supposed to open? My wife and I got a fakeout the other night. Locked doors but every light on and it looks completed. The site says nothing and my attempts to ask their PR have gone unreturned.
Thanks,
Sean
I’ve emailed them twice with no response. I did email them a few weeks ago and they responded right away that opening day was the 5th. Needless to say, that wasn’t true. Now they don’t answer at all. Maybe they can’t hire enough servers? Alcohol license problem? Can’t get chefs?
With “the poor state of the economy,” one would think that they would be swamped with applications for these positions!
Sadly, too many people don’t want to get their precious fingers “dirty” with “that” kind of work. I know people who tell their kids it’s better not to work than to “live like that.”
How ridiculous! Everyone whining about how there are no job openings in the area and how they’ll have to lose their house and they won’t take an opportunity smacking them in the face. Hard work is good for children, too! Oh, the people of the world =)
Boyfriend had some coupons for $5 off a $15 breakfast on the kitchen counter this morning, along with the to go menu. Don’t know if he picked them up at Mimi’s (across from his job) or if they have people on the street delivering menus to the local businesses.
What a confusing and poorly organized grand opening…
Mimi’s Cafe IS OPEN! I called the number today. (Nov 11) and was told that they opened on Nov 10. So, go and enjoy!
Yea!!
Boyfriend picked up breakfast there this morning. Said the food was good, but not as spicy (think he had the southwest breakfast burrito) as he would like it. Says there are plenty of people working there and there were plenty of people coming in for breakfast on their second day open…. The bar is nice, but they don’t have their liquor licence yet. The answer he got when asking about the liquor liscence was they were told they would get it when they got it.?? Not sure what that’s supposed to mean.
That probably means whoever he talked to was either a)sick of answering that question or b) had no clue what the answer was. Either way, not very professional. If they applied for a license, they should have a good idea of when they will get it, even if it’s just an approximate time frame.
Went to Mimi’s Last night. They still have a lot to figure out…
+ Seated right away (maybe thats not good for a new restaurant to have no wait)
+ French Onion Soup and Broccoli Cheddar Soup were very good (half of mine was empty when they brought it to me though)
+ Dinners were ok, but pricey for what it is
- The 3 course fresh start menu was offered and promoted to us, once we ordered off of it, the waitress came back and said that 2 of the 4 entree options were not even available any more. We all had to reorder. Then we asked about drinks and she said they only had some so we had to keep asking her until she could tell us if they had it since she didnt know what they DID have.
- The waitress took forever to do anything, dinner lasted 2.5 hours from start to finish, which is absurd for midlevel american chain food
- Food Review: Soups were good, Ribs were ok, Brie Chicken Dijon had like a tiny shaved piece of Brie on it (not what I expected). The pesto has pine nuts for those with allergies (not mentioned on the menu). We were told fries were fresh cut but they definitely tasted frozen. Rasberry iced tea tasted like watered down Kool-Aid. Cocktails are pretty pricey, no deals are offered. Bread is good: pumpkin, carrot and sourdough. Dessert was ok, the apple crisp was good.
- now for the kicker, at the end of the night we wanted to split the bill 50/50. The waitress goes away and comes back with 2 separate bills but instead of 50/50, she split up what each of us had, ok, fine (she said they cannot split a bill and i have never heard of that). Then she gets out this portable creditcard machine and runs each of our cards in front of us and tell us that we have to tell her how much tip we want to leave her so she can enter it in the machine. Awkward.
So, I will give it one more chance in a month or so since its opening week but I really wasnt impressed. If they want to survive against other offerings, they better get it together. Grade: C-
It’s brand new…shrug… maybe you should wait to really review for a month or two. And I’m pretty sure pesto and pine nuts are a given, non?
True, I said that its the first week and I would try again in a month… The review is in context for readers to take it for what its worth. Also, pine nuts and pesto not a given in restaurants, especially due to allergies. Its usually mentioned if it contains. My experience is ‘basil pesto’ on a menu usually does not have pine nuts unless noted, or it can also be made with walnuts as a subsitute as walnut allergies are far fewer than pine nuts.
Oh that’s interesting. Every pesto recipe I’ve ever made/seen has pine nuts. I thought it wasn’t “Pesto” without nuts. I guess I was wrong.
yes, pesto is a ‘style’ not a specific recipe with specific ingredients (risotto is confused in the same manner). Pesto means ‘pounded’ and if you research italian cuisine, you will find that there are hundreds of different recipes for ‘pesto’ as pesto is a style of making a paste or sauce, usually with ingredients used in italian cooking.
Cool.
They’ll get better. We’ve eaten in them in California, Arizona, and Colorado. They were all good, all consistent in food quality, all consistent in good service.
I ate at Mimi’s on Saturday night. The service was excellent. From the hostess to the server, to the manager, and everyone there. They were very friendly and outgoing.
I too had the chicken and brie, as that is a seasonal special it won’t always be on the menu. It was good, the brie was a small piece of brie, I agree and not enough sauce for the amount of food they give you, which was a large portion. My date had the chicken pot pie which was huge, and excellent.
I’m not sure how I feel about the credit card machine at the table. I commented on it, and the server said how wonderful it is. While I see the benefit of it, protecting against identity theft, etc. It was different. You pushed the button 15, 20, 25% for tip, and the receipt prints out right in front of you. You do the tip part yourself, as she handed us the machine. It was just different…. but certainly has its advantages.
The restaurant is huge, very family friendly, and a nice bar. I thought it was priced very reasonable. Considering they have a 3 course menu for $12.99. My chicken was $12.99 and it came with 2 pieces of broiled chicken, mashed potatoes and asparagus. To say the least, we were full. The chicken pot pie was priced similar, and it was so large, but very, very good.
I would go back, and I would go with a large party as well. They have big tables, huge booths, and the menu has something for everyone.
Overall, we were quite pleased.
Any news of any other stores coming to this shopping center? It looks mostly vacant.
The developer hasn’t updated their web site since 10/13 and I didn’t see any “coming soon” signs when I drove by there on Friday.
http://www.saulcenters.com/properties-metro/md/westview/lease.htm
Oh my! I was interested in trying out Mimi’s… until I looked at the “nutrition facts” listed on their website. If you plan on going there any time, do not dare to peek at them. I can feel my jeans getting tighter by the second! YUCK!
Re the nutrition issue–Mimi’s menu does include some smaller portion “Just Enough” dishes. My dinner companion and I both ordered one of these–the Chicken Piccata–which we found to be quite good and satisfied our appetites.
Also, to be fair, Mimi’s does not stand apart from most restaurants when it comes to the less-than-desirable nutrition specifics of most dishes. Not condoning this, just noting that most people don’t really seem to be interested in basing their dining-out decisions primarily on nutrition content.
I have to agree. Nutrition standards simply are not at the top of my list when going out to eat. I take care of that in my at-home meal preps. But when I go out I want to indulge and the food police will not sway me.
We ate at Mimi’s tonight to celebrate settlement on our brand new house. There were 3 of us – me, hubby, and 23 yr old son. We were seated right away (5:10 pm) at a large booth and our drinks were brought in good time. I had ordered a glass of Pinot Noir and the server set a glass of white wine down. I immediately pointed out that I had asked for a red and he realized he had brought Pinot Grigio, but that was actually fine with me. I just didn’t want it to be chardonnay. It was an excellent Pinot Grigio and my husband’s “house red” was also very good. We had two glasses each. Son doesn’t drink and had Sprite. Meals ordered were: Blue cheese and walnut salad w/chicken for me, lamb shank for husband, beef dip sandwich for son. The food did take awhile to arrive – maybe 20 minutes but we were in no hurry and it all arrived at once. Salad was huge and excellent – lots of chicken meat on it and very good dressing. Husband enjoyed his lamb shank. Son had asked for just cheese on his sandwich and it came with peppers as well but he just picked them off. Simply not worth making a fuss over. When the check came it was handled the same as in any restaurant – server took our card and came back with the receipt. No little “machine” at the table. We were happy with everything and would happily return.
Gypsy.
I am glad you had a good experience and congrats on your house. We went for breakfast to try it again and the food and service was excellent. I strongly recomment breakfast at Mimi’s. Its much better than most of the other options up here. Also, the little “machine” apparently is something they use when they get very busy, otherwise they dont. We just lucked into it on our first night there.
We enjoy breakfast out and will definitely give Mimi’s a try for that!
Re the at-the-table little machines that people encountered at Mimi’s: We saw none in use while we were there for dinner. They were quite busy at the time, but checks were handled conventionally.
The developer of Westview Village recently updated their site to include a Cici’s Pizza. That’s the pizza buffet restaurant.
http://www.cicispizza.com/_template.php
http://www.saulcenters.com/properties-metro/md/westview/lease.htm
Enough with the buffets! come on frederick, we can do better. Sorry, but there are so many economic and health implications of all these buffets in this area. Plus, with Ledo’s, Il Forno, and Pizza Blitz, I would never have a desire to eat 4.99 all you can eat pizza. I hope it doesnt work out. I bet its going wherer Mama Lucias was supposed to be
I have to agree. Too many buffet restaurants attracts too many retirees. I realize how that sounds, but we left two towns over the years, one in AZ and one in SC just a few years ago that had started this same thing. They went from being nice family cities to retirement centers – retirees move into a town and don’t want to see anything change. They fight everything that isn’t centered on their interests, vote no on all school issues because they don’t have kids now and feel they’ve already paid their share, and eventually the town stagnates. The only new businesses are more and more buffets. (The town in AZ was actually listed as one of the “best places to raise a family” – right up til the snowbirds discovered it. Then they started lobbying to shut down the brand new high school and turn it into a Senior Center.)
While having lunch with co-workers, the subject turned to reasonably priced eating-out choices. I mentioned the rather negative remarks made here about buffets in general and CiCi’s Pizza in particular, since I found them a bit surprising and was curious about other viewpoints…
All five of my companions were puzzled at the negative ideas regarding $4.99 all-you-can-eat pizza with a wide array of toppings, plus buffet dining and the choices it offers at reasonable prices. A couple of folks–parents of school-age kids–pointed out that they wouldn’t be eating out, period, as a family were it not for buffet dining and other reasonably priced options (NOT fast food). Another guy commented that he simply likes the idea of a wide range of pizza (and salad) options at a good price, as at CiCi’s. Several others agreed, saying they aren’t always up for a “gourmet” pizza or an upscale restaurant experience– and know darn well their kids aren’t. As a “no-brainer,” everyone agreed that we’d much rather see another buffet come to Frederick than another fast-food place (fat chance!)–or the sort of high-end eatery we’d only visit on a special occasion (if then).
Just the viewpoints of six co-workers at lunch, for what it’s worth. (Needless to say, neither college students nor snowbirds.)
When I hear CiCis pizza, I think poor college students, not hungry retirees… that’s just my experience from living in a city with a cicis not too long ago.
Could be. I just know my experience of seeing too many buffets come to a town.
But speaking of college students (this could be moved to another thread)……I would love to see Frederick get a real campus of U of M. Not a small satellite one. A real campus. Hood is too expensive for many people and Frostburg, Baltimore, College Park and Salisbury are too far away for others. Many students could remain at home if they had a local 4 year campus to attend that offered liberal arts, engineering, and science degrees. We certainly are getting the talent to teach those classes and could easily draw more. It wouldn’t take from FCC because a lot of people want to save money by going to a 2 year school first or just want an Associates degree or certification of some kind. Others want to go straight to a 4 year school but have to face either very long commutes or very expensive room/board charges or find rental properties. A 4 yr U of M would also bring more in the way of good pubs, coffee houses, etc. We have the open space for a campus at least the size of Salisbury and I’m convinced we’d have the students for it as well – both fresh out of high school and returning non-traditionals. I’d go back in a heartbeat if there were a local campus.
I’d love to be an instructor if they had one. My husband would most definitely apply for a professor position.
The developer updated the website. A new store has signed on to Westview Village. Plato’s Closet: Brand name, gently used clothing.
http://www.platoscloset.com/
Looked at the website. They only carry clothes for teens. Great when I had teens, don’t need it now. Don’t know how many teens will consent to wearing “used” brand names. My own kids, while no snobs by any stretch and adults now, probably would have said no. Fear of showing up at school in someone else’s clothing would have been too much for them.
Yeah, I could have used this a couple years ago. Now, not so much.
The developer updated the website again. There’s a place going in called Goji Bop which, from what I can find, is a place that sells “Korean Wraps”. They have a Facebook page but it doesn’t have any information on it yet. I guess it’s possible that may not even be the same place. Anybody ever hear of a place like this?
http://www.saulcenters.com/properties-metro/md/westview/lease.htm
I was just at mimi’s for breakfast 8/2010 and staff there suggested a cheesecake fac. should be opening up in the westview shopping center area…. don’t know bout you but Im excited!!!
I have heard rumor like this before. Who know if this is ever really going to happen.
I hope they do bring up a dave and busters we need something like that up here in Frederick that way maybe it will give families more time to spend together and not have to drive far… and transit bus will make more money too as ppl can take the bus and not drive
Saw on the property site that a fruity tuity frozen yogurts is coming as well as an urgent care place. I also saw a commercial last night on cable for Plato’s closet, was suprised.
Excited about Fro Yo! Finally!
I think a Dave and Busters would be cool, but it would probably attract a lot of troublemakers who would ruin it for everyone.
I have heard rumors of a Cheesecake Factory for years but I dont see Frederick fitting their demographic. I would love it though.