See also: ¿Cuál es el café más saludable en 2022?
the empty building that was verona café is a bit depressing, but it also holds hope. I hope that maybe other restaurants will take notice, and no restaurant that doesn’t cook the food we order, when we actually order it, will take up the space in Hamilton. I’m sorry, but IMHO, Verona Cafe epitomized the antithesis of what a restaurant should be. the food, including the quiche, lasagna, sandwiches, etc., was mostly prepared the morning before (sometimes even the day before) and microwaved for your dining pleasure. the first (and only) time I ate there, the staff even heated my soup in the microwave. . . can you believe it? To me, Cafe Verona was a microcosm of everything life shouldn’t be: a place where our dinner is prepared or purchased from a factory, then destroyed for our dining pleasure (this is not a restaurant); customers who are blissfully ignorant and don’t even know, don’t care enough about what they’re eating to know to ask, can’t even know while they’re eating it, or worse, know but don’t care… that their food is pre -prepared (often from a factory or contract caterer) and then microwaved; proprietors who care nothing about the quality or integrity of what they serve us, instead cloaking it in a pseudo-modern atmosphere with open mic nights and artist performances, all flash with no substance; people who care more about the “hipness” of a restaurant than the quality of what they are feeding their children; that some of us went to this place ignoring establishments that really care about what they serve us and make everything from scratch; Exemplifying mass ignorance, local papers wrote reviews and called it great food, even claiming it had an “international crowd”…give me a break, this is palo alto, what restaurant doesn’t have an international crowd? we have so many great restaurants in the city center, that really care about the quality of their food and offer fresh, on-site, slow-cooked meals with quality ingredients. reasonably priced – pluto, andale, zao, dairy, etc. moderate price – st. michael’s alley, siam royal, university coffee cafe, la morenita, etc. to upscale casual: three season’s, mandarin gourmet, empire grill, nola, etc. fancier dinners: mantra, maddalena’s/fine coffee, spago, evvia, etc. amazing cafes: cafe del doge, the prolifichorn, coupa, peet’s, etc. and even organic: the bay leaf cafe, whole foods market cafe, etc. with all these great options i can’t bring myself to mourn the loss of a “microwave” restaurant. sorry if i left a few other great restaurants just so much space and time. the parody of cafe verona is that they got away with pushing junk low quality the entire time they did it the travesty is that while they served food prepared the same way you can get on a 7/11 they still managed to have a customer base, and many great quality restaurants in our Centro have left us in recent years.Let’s not forget our fallen friends: The Good Earth, Higashi West, L’Amie Donia, Perry’s, Stoa, etc. Apparently enough people realized that Cafe Verona was what it was, and sales weren’t strong enough to sustain the business. that’s life in a free market economy. my hope is that we continue to weed out the undesirables and maintain a good quality restaurant base that is n owned by people who genuinely care as much or more about the integrity and substance of what they serve as the flash. my hope is that we support the existing fantastic restaurants in our downtown area, which have given so much back to the community over the years, and not worry about bringing in new places. Perhaps the city, instead of mentioning the loss of Cafe Verona at council meetings, can discuss possible positive uses for the space and possibly lease it back to the owner. looks like it would be a great location for a visitor center type facility. maybe an information desk, or even a police “box” similar to other cities internationally, or a combination of both, and some large public toilets that the city center is sorely lacking. just food for thought, and my own humble opinion.
