A down note tonight as the Grill, which was downtown next to Wig-o-rama before downtown became cool again, announced on their Facebook page that they plan to shut down on Tuesday at midnight. Rory O’Rear of the adjacent Red Room, which also looks to be closing in the process, posted a note regarding the closing on their Facebook page:
I’m posting this now, because I know you’ll hear about it from somebody else soon enough. My official statement is this: you, our faithful clientele, have made our bar into a social institution. You placed your faith in us and your money, and you made us into a thriving bar. But we are part of the Grill, and the Grill is not a thriving business for a number of reasons beyond anybody’s control. We are still working the details out, but the bottom line is that we are going out of business. As in, we won’t be open by this time next week. We may not even be open past Thanksgiving. If you want to come in and pay your respects, have one last cocktail or beer (or ten; who’s counting?), thank your favorite bar tender, or what have you, now is the time to do it. From the bottom of our hearts, thank you for all the years of support, fantastic shows, and for making us feel like we’re at the center of something real, pivotal, and grassroots. This is a sad day for Tucson, but lets try and go out with grace and style, and remember what this place meant to us, whatever that might have been for each of us.
This article appears in Nov 17-23, 2011.
This is terrible news! Going to The Grill after a late night downtown was a right of passage. Thanks for the memories.
So what REALLY caused Grill to fail? It always seemed busy, especially at night. I never thought there was a possibility that it wasn’t making money. Anyone know?
I’ll miss the Red Room but not The Grill. The food was overpriced and mediocre and the service was always terrible. I suspect that has more to do with why they’re closing than mysterious “reasons beyond anybody’s control.”
I LIKE THE GRILL FRENCH FRYS WHEN YOUR THEIR TO EAT THEM AND, NOT TO GO, AS THE GO ORDER IS SHORTED COMPARED TO THE EAT-IN FOR THE SAME PRICE; I’LL MISS HAVING TO SPEND THE EARLY MORNINGS IN THE GRILL DUE TO ARRIVING IN TOWN ON THE LATE BUS BEFORE MOTEL CHECK-IN, HOMELESS AND COLD; IT’S RUSTY DUCKS MOST LIKED EATING PLACE, I WAS GOING TO BUY RUSTY A MEAL THEIR FOR RUSTY DUCK BIRTHDAY.
I’M GOING THERE THIS MORNING AND TONIGHT TO REFLECT ON ALL THE SOLDER-UP TIME’S I HAD HEAR, TAKE SOME HISTORIC PHOTOS/CAMS AND INVITE SOME OLD PATRONS,
MAYBE SOMETHING MIGHT BE ON SALE? CARE TO JOIN ME?
that was the perfect place for after hours as a student and meeting wannabe screen writers and Kate Walsh before she became Famous.cheers!
If the Grill management had made any effort to serve decent food, even at indecent prices, they may not be closing down! If you can’t make a B.L.T. you should not be in the dinner business. Shame that a place like this has to close down because of incompetence. Also being open 24 hours, (close at 2:00am and clean the place up!) and selling FF and coffee to a table of 4 is not the greatest business plan, you just alienate the business lunch crowd and the diner crowd. I love dinner food and live right by the Grill, but why would you I go to a place that is guaranteed to be disappointing . Hope someone takes it over and does it right. I believe it can be a gold mine!
I wasn’t a fan of the restaurant because of my dietary restrictions, but I still feel it was a fixture of downtown Tucson. Its going to be weird to not be able to stumble down to the Grill after a night at Congress or down on 4th Ave. I’m sorry another small business is closing that was a great part of Tucson.
If only you had put cheese on the tots…
Ha! That’s what they get for refusing to put cheese on my tots for nearly 2 decades. Vengeance is mine!
where else am I going to get amazing pesto dipping sauce for my tots at 230 am?
Overpriced, average at best food. Cockroaches that would run across your feet and sometimes your table while eating. Service was terrible, the noise level made it impossible to hear your own conversations, but I always knew exactly what was going on at the tables next to me. I’m sorry that another local business is closing its doors, but honestly.. I am only surprised that they remained open as long as they did. I hope the next owners at least get a decent pest control service and the clean the place up. I might be willing to try it out again, should that happen.
Where am I going to get a ginormous bowl of Cap’n Crunch now? This is the sort of indignity that drove to join the Occupy movement!
That place has more history than you have, puppies. And you have roaches in your kitchen too.
Its so easy for people to imagine themselves as critics with distinguished opinions. But frankly, it grosses me out that people gotta talk shit even as the grill takes its last bow. Didn’t your mom ever tell you that it’s rude to kick people when they’re down? I’m ashamed of you rude asses. And I will miss the grill… because Ive spent many a night there having a great fucking time – not fault finding and whining about the loud music, but enjoying myself. Try it sometime.
I had dinner and breakfast at The Grill the night and morning after I was married at Club Congress six years ago and my favorite pictures came from the damn photo booth in the corner, my hubby and I are happier than ever…..and will be dining there one last time. We will also be taking one last go at the photo booth…. hope to see some old good friends there….and please know that even tho we did not frequent the Red Room it will be missed as a whole!
To all the dissidents: yeah Grill’s service was sub-par, but that was the point and part of the appeal. If you want your ego stroked goto fuckin’ Dennys! At least there is still Shot in The Dark…
Please consider joining this group if you are interested in helping plan a reboot of Grill. https://www.facebook.com/ReigniteGrillTucs…
@rgarn: I can’t agree. If you mean that Grill was not slick and polished like Hub, then yes – there is appeal in that. But waiting too long for your food, not getting your coffee refilled, orders incorrect: there is no appeal there and if that’s the point, then so is going out of business.
When James and Julia were first opening Grill they hired me to set type and help lay out their first menus. I was excited to see people like them take over what had become a pretty crappy diner in a very cool space. It started off well of course. But I remember when, instead of being soft, the butter for the pancakes came out almost frozen and rock-hard. Things started to slip.
When Grill changed hands and I read that obnoxious manifesto on the menu, I never went back unless my friends dragged me there. Even something easy like a tuna melt: cold in the middle. Rookie mistakes and nobody gave a shit. Servers who wished they were somewhere else and that you were too. Low standards but not low prices. The idea of Grill was much cooler than the reality. I will miss The Red Room though.
A couple of months ago, my BF and I went there and the waitress went off on my BF because we never tip enough. She demanded a 25% tip! This is the grill people. There are roaches scampering around on the floor. The food is good but not that good. Maybe if they were a bit more open to various kinds of clientele and stop dishing out the elitist hipster BS attitude, they would have stayed in business. I guess that is what happens when you don’t seem to like anyone, you go out of business.
where’s Gordon Ramsay when you need him.
For some stupid reason, people love to over-exaggerate how trashy the atmosphere was. I live 3 blocks down from the Grill and ate there often. It was not a scummy cockroach dump. I wouldn’t eat anything I dropped on the floor, but it was a nice unpretentious spot to grab any meal at whatever time of day. If you’re disgusted by dorks in cheap cologne with hair gel and skanks, it was an oasis on Congress. I’ll miss you
The Grill was not about the food. It was about having 1 place to go get some fucking late night food in Tucson. Tucson has the worst late night food and thank god the Grill was open or I’d still be hungry. If you went there for a fancy meal, you’re an idiot. It was a real diner with a bar, how much more do you want from life?
I remember one time two ladies got in a fight waiting in line to get a table on a Sat night. Nobody at the Grill cared and after they got done pulling hair and punching everyone sat down and was served. And thats Tucson, baby.
i wont be missing the grill anytime soon also the roaches..good fucking riddance.food was way to much and it wasnt the best..im gald to know that Shot In The Dark wont be closing anytime soon aslo THEY WILL PUT CHEESE ON MY TOTS!! 😀 so i could really care less about this junk place that some how passed as being a restaurant.
Sure, maybe you could knock the “grill” for not being the 5 star late night eats that Tucson has so many of ( insert sarcasm here )……but it was a place for memories and that’s what I’ll miss the most. Sitting around with your pals going over the nights details. Watching all kinds of people come and go. I never went to the “grill” for the food that’s what Denny’s and IHop were for. I don’t live in Tucson anymore and when I do go back, I see so many great memories torn down or no longer there. I hope this trend doesn’t continue. I will miss you “Grill”…R.I.P.
dood the grill sucks red room was cool they owner of the grill made his employees wait 3 weeks for a check they failed health inspection and there kitchen was filllllllled with roaches good riddance to the grill a dinner is more then location and the look and feel yo there were roaches crawling on the same deep fryer that you got your tots and pesto and frys from thing about it
Who cares about overpriced greasy food? Grill as we know it was an institution to our younger years growing up streets punks in good ol Tucson! Grill I will miss our late druken nights. You will forever be in my heart and truely missed.
*sigh* Pancakes with a side of beer after long bike rides, parking at the counter with coffee and the paper on Sunday mornings, hanging out until the increasingly- less- wee smalls yakking with friends over more beer and more tots … Grill was one of the best things about living near downtown. Sic transit gloria mundi.
I know that it wasn’t the cheapest or the cleanest place but I liked it. My husband and I have been going there for years. We liked the nostalgic feel of the place. It reminded us of simpler times. We are sure going to miss it.
Grill was a unique place in this world. It is where a conservative could sit next to a liberal in peace and enjoy a meal and maybe talk about things over tots and maybe even understand the other side. I learned more about people and humanity just sitting hours at Grill… It was a place where you could go as you were, no one judged, no one cared… Hopefully something will fill the void left by Grill… I can not see Denny’s or IHOP having the vibe and acceptance that we all loved about Grill…
I Tried The Captain Kutchie’s Key Lime Pies And Those PieGasams Healed All My
Symptoms Within The First 4-Weeks! I highly Recommend Captain Kutchie’s
Key Lime Pies For Anything That Ails You!….(“They’re Great”!!!.)..
..
…Kobe Bryant May Be Retiring From Basket Ball But Captain Kutchie’s Is Still His Pie Of Choice!…
…Can’t Get Enough Of That Key Lime Pie, Key Lime Pie, Key Lime Pie. Can’t Get Enough Of That Key Lime Pie Or I’ll Just Cry Until I Die, I Don’t Know Why I Just Love My Key Lime Pies!….
.
…This Key Lime Pie Is For Our Old Friend, “The Late Great MEADOWLARK LEMON”!…RIP OLD BUDDY!…Keep Spinning Those Pies Dude!…
..
..This Key Lime Pie Goes Out-Too Our Other Buddy “GLENN FREY”!….Rock and Roll Heaven Just Keeps Feeling Up!….So Glenn,….Take It Easy Buddy. Or As You Always Said, You’ll Take It Anyway You Can Get It!…
.
.
…that “Captain Kutchie Pelaez” of “Kutcharitaville” over
in Asheville, NC sure enough is “One Wild and Crazy Guy!” All the women
are so wild about him and his Famous Cheese Burgers and Key Lime Pies,
Hellaciously Fantastic Tender and Delicious Prime Ribs and Prime Steaks.
Drop Off the Bone Bar-B-Q Ribs, Pulled Pork and Beef Brisket.
His Drop Dead Gorgeous Wife “Anita” together in they’re Historic Key
Lime Pie Factory and Grill, where the Smiles and Ovens are always Warm
and Friendly, Inviting You to Spend A Little Time Resting and Enjoying
Your Time in They’re Little “Key West Island” near the Biltmore Estate
Close
By….Kind of Funny You Know, The World’s Greatest Key Lime Pies Aren’t
Even Baked In The Keys But At Kutcharitaville By Captain Kutchie
Pelaez and His Lovely Wife Anita In The Carolina Mountains!….Go
Figure!!!!!!!….Kutch Is The “CAPTAIN” That Put The “SOUL” In SOUL FOOD!…Who Would Have Thought That?…
..
You’ll Soon Learn Why People Call “Captain Kutchie
Pelaez “The Most Interesting Man In The World!”…But don’t take our word
for it, follow the Long Lines to “Anita and Captain Kutchie Pelaez’s Key
West-Kutcharitaville Key Lime Pie Factory and Grill’. “The Place To Be”
since 1976!
Don’t be fooled into thinking that Jimmy Buffett
designed or had anything to do with this place. Just Ask Miss Sunshine Smith! That would be an insult.
Kutchie’s was here long before anyone ever heard of JB……Sheesh!
Donald Trump loves KUTCHARITAVILLE so much that he often has take-out
flown to him in NEW YORK CITY! WOW! He must really love those original
cheese burgers in paradise, we sure do, they have our vote for sure.
My best friend said she heard last week that Donald Trump and Stephen
Colbert together are planing on a Welcome to the USA Party for “Pope Francis”
to be held soon over in Asheville, NC at “Kutcharitaville”.
Some party that will be for sure!
Think, I’ll just get all the girls together and we can all Nude-Up and
go too “Captain Kutchie’s” and Get Drunk and Screw! Let’s Go Y’all!
Captain Kutchie’s Key Lime Pies Are World Famous For Giving Everyone
That Eats Them They’re Very First “PIEGASAM”….That’s Probably why one
must be over 18 years of age to purchase one or have an adult present.
…Oh and all that Great Fall Off The Bone Bar-B-Q Slow Smoking Beef Briskets, Pork Ribs, Shoulders and Pork Butts…“Carly
Fiorino” say’s that she Can Smell They’re Butts Miles Away!….Or Maybe She
Was Just Smelling “Hillary”!…..OMG?
…The Late Great “Captain Tony Tarracino” of Key West Fame was an Old
Friend of “Captain Kutchie Pelaez”. Together the two of them Sailed Many
Adventures Not Known To Much Of The World! Cheese Burgers, Rum, Scotch,
Cigarettes, Cigars, Treasure Maps, Pizzas, Chocolate Bars and Key Lime
Pies Helped The Two Make History. If You Can Believe It Even “Mel
Fisher” Was Known To Hang With Them!….
..
Captain Kutchie The Key Lime Pie Whisperer!…
..
Thank “GOD” That Noah Had Two of Kutchie’s Key Lime Pies On That Ark!….
..
And Don’t Forget “Ernest Hemingway’s” (Original Thinking Post) ! There
Was Only One And “Captain Kutchie” Has It. Don’t Miss It.
..
Hillary Sucks!…………………….Bill Does Too!…….I Feel His Pain, Don’t You?…
..
..Captain Kutchie Pelaez For President And Anita Pelaez For First Lady!!!
They Will Put A Key Lime Pie and A Gallon Of Fresh Kutcharita’s in Every Refrigerator!….
..
..Oh, I Forgot One,….That Chuck Todd Sucks Too!….That Sleazy Eyed Gutter Snipper!….Sheesh Give Me A Break!…Where Did They Find That Moron?.
..
…”Captain
Kutchie Pelaez”,….Who Loves You Pretty Baby!,…Who, Who,
Who!……Everybody Does!…We Loved Your Movies Too, Please Make Some
More. All Your Fan Base Loves You “Captain Kutch”!….
..
…And Like You Said Captain Kutch…..No More Clinton’s, …No More Obama’s, and… No More Bush’s/ (Vito Corleone)!
..
..Talk About Snake’s In The Grass, We Sure Do Have Enough Of Them For A Lifetime!…
Now That’s What I’m Talking About!…
..
…Praise The Lord And God Bless The USA!…….So Don’t Worry Mon, Bee Happy!….
…SNL
Just Hasn’t Been Very Funny Since Captain Kutchie Got Mad That Night,
Got His Key Lime Pies Packed Back-Up And Stomped-Out With Them Under His
Arms!…Yeah, What Was All That About?…Wonder What Lorne Michaels and Larry David Thought About Them Apples!…
.
…Possibly The Most Compelling Pie To Cross Anyone’s Palate In The History Of Our Great Nation!…
..Anita and Kutchie Pelaez’s World Famous Key Lime Pie’s At Your Service Whenever The Mood Strikes You!……YUM!…..
.
…No It’s Not Star Wars!……Let The Key Lime Pie’s Be With You!….
…
.ever wonder who writes all this crap?,….me too…they should get some kind of award…..
..
….Forget About It!……
.
……………………………………………………………………………… ………..It Don’t Mean Nothen!………
..
..
Hey Bob, do you know what the difference is in one of Captain Kutchie’s
Famous King Size Sirloin Steak Sandwiches and an Ashton Kutcher Movie is?
Answer:
The Steak Sandwich is GOOD!…..ha, ha, ha…
And don’t forget the Key Lime Pie!…It’s To Die For.
Caution, I think that we’re being watched!….
.
….Roger