[Talk Host]

It looked open the other day.

[Villages Kahuna]

Whiskey Creek is closed with even the sign taken down off the side of the building. I took a ride by on Thursday night (June 12) and it was dark as a tomb at 7:30 PM.

We tried it three times with bad results. It was either bad service, bad food, or both. At one point it was reported that they changed the management and staff in an effort to turn things around. That doesn't look like it worked.

From the viewpoint of a new restaurant or business opening in TV, the good news is that news travels fast (about a good place). Unfortunately, the bad news about TV is the same...bad news travels really fast. There are simply too many good choices for a poorly-conceptualized or poorly-run business to survive here.

Stone Cold Creamery was poorly conceptualized as far as location and pricing was concerned. Whiskey Creek had a great location and a good food concept--it has just been poorly executed. Some good examples of concepts that seem to have "worked" are Urban Flats and Kilwins Confections in Spanish Springs. Regardless of the time of day, those places always have a crowd. But they're notable for maintaining the quality of their products and having minimal problems with staff. Kilwins is a franchise and I can tell you that the products and the service are the same wherever you visit one of their stores. They have their concept and execution "down pat".

Whiskey Creek was also either a franchise or one store in a multiple store chain. Their other stores can't be as bad as the one in LSL or the whole chain would be belly up. The question is why couldn't they execute their concept here?

[redwitch]

Cold Stone is also a franchise. Have it all over California although I never could understand why. To me, the ice cream was pretty flavorless and way overpriced. My daughter, however, swears it is the best thing ever!

I've eaten at Whiskey Creek twice. The first time the service and the food were truly awful. The second time the service was okay at best and the food was okay but certainly not worth going back to unless a friend really wanted to go there.

According to a friend of my daughter's who worked at Whiskey Creek, it is closed. They left a note on the door saying it was closed and wishing their employees well.

Now, if TooJay's in SS ever closes, I'll be upset. I do think it is much better than the LSL TooJay's.

[Muncle]

If it does, it won't be the last one. There is just too great a difference in business between winter and summer. Some of these places that fill up in Jan/Feb and are empty in Jun/July are going to have to start closing off-season or going on a different schedule. And to do that, landlords are going to have to make changes in rents. We've been fairly lucking in LSL, probably because we're still growing. But look at the turnover in restaurants around Spanish Springs in the last few years. I think at SS, Too Jays is the oldtimers, and it's very new. Same with the Country Clubs. I'd rather see restaurants each close for a month or so (staggered) or even a few close for the whole summer than have decent places close for good or continue with the rotating rotisserie of restaurants of Spanish Springs.

[chelsea24]

I agree Kahuna. We only tried Whiskey Creek once and would never go back. The food was awful and the service was equally as bad. They're closing didn't surprise me at all. But that is a fabulous location for someone that knows what they're doing. I was surprised at DQ closing. Always popular and crowed in Illinois. Lots and lots of competition now here I guess. :dontknow:

[zcaveman]

The wife and I went to Whiskey Creek several times. The service was always great. The smell of the wood was a little nauseating and turned me off. The last couple of times we ate in the right hand side and the smell was gone. I did have one of my best prime ribs in TV at Whiskey Creek and will always remember Whiskey Creek for that.

One of my problems was that the menus and the peanut buckets were labeled WC. As I explained to my wife WC means Water Closet in a lot of foreign places and is a turnoff.

Please don't beat me up for that.