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Streetcar construction forces Pizzeria Vesuvius to shutter
Neighboring business owner says Downtown restaurant plans to reopen.
UPDATE (July 18,2012):P’Cheen owners reopen Pizzeria Vesuvius
Construction on Atlanta’s Streetcar Downtown is leaving one business with little to desire.
Pizzeria Vesuvius, at 327 Edgewood Avenue, has closed its doors for “[streetcar] construction,” according to a sign posted to the restaurant’s window.
Matt Ruppert, the owner of neighboring restaurant Noni’s Bar and Deli, told What Now Atlanta on a trip to the space Wednesday, although he feels the streetcar will ultimately benefit the area, its construction has been “pretty terrible for a lot of businesses on this street.”
“From the middle of January through April, there was no way for guests to get to [Pizzeria Vesuvius'] front door,” Ruppert said. “Street parking has been unavailable to patrons for sometime.”
A sign posted outside of the restaurant bans parking on the street from January 30 until April 29, 2012.
“Pizzeria Vesuvius will be back up and running in a few months,” he said. “The owner is just taking advantage of the streetcar construction to remodel his restaurant.”
Pizzeria Vesuvius was not immediately available for comment.
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Chris
April 19, 2012 at 5:02 am
I appreciate the owner’s optimistic approach to this.
Tammy
April 19, 2012 at 9:03 am
According to all knowing Yelp things at Vesuvius had been changing over the past year or so…and not in a good way. When it opened, Vesuvius was great and I hope it can recapture that again.
David K.
April 19, 2012 at 10:03 am
Doesn’t Matt own both Noni’s and Pizzeria Vesuvius?? It’s odd that he would be speaking of “the owner” in third person.
caleb j. spivak
April 19, 2012 at 10:10 am
hi david, he did not identify himself as the owner of pizzeria vesuvius which we explicitly asked him.
–cjs
Shirelle
April 19, 2012 at 10:24 am
Matt is the owner of Noni’s and has a business interest in Vesuvius.
Marty
April 19, 2012 at 10:30 am
I find this sort of curious since when I drove by there a couple of days ago there was no visible construction going on and they were already closed.
I’m not sure they were doing so hot in the first place and this provides a convenient excuse.
s
April 19, 2012 at 10:34 am
according to a scout Mob….Matt is part of the ownership… http://scoutmob.com/atlanta/deal/866
caleb j. spivak
April 19, 2012 at 10:48 am
hi s, that’s interesting. he knew a lot about what pizzeria vesuvius was doing but never claimed ownership …
–cjs
DC
April 19, 2012 at 10:38 am
Where will the streetcar run from? Just down Edgewood? Can’t believe I haven’t heard of this, yet! lol
JonC
April 19, 2012 at 11:12 am
@DC: http://www.atlantadowntown.com/initiatives/atlanta-streetcar
jen
April 19, 2012 at 11:52 am
Caleb, at first you said you asked him explicitly whether he was the/an owner, and now you say he never claimed ownership, implying it was passive omission rather than an outright false statement. Which is it?
caleb j. spivak
April 19, 2012 at 1:01 pm
hi jen, don’t understand your confusion but I’ll clarify. matt said he was not the restaurant’s owner.
–cjs
rockauburn
April 19, 2012 at 12:39 pm
I like Vesuvius, but the 10 times I’ve been there, I’ve never parked in front of the restaurant…there is plenty of side street parking. So…not sure about the reason they give for closing.
Joe
April 19, 2012 at 2:11 pm
If I remember correctly Vesuvius started with a bunch of owners, but a few have dropped out. Matt even lives in the apartments upstairs…this is getting kind of funny!!
john
April 19, 2012 at 2:42 pm
I live around the corner and there has not been construction for weeks and people always park on the street in the evening.
ls
April 19, 2012 at 3:26 pm
There was no way for guests to get to Vesuvius because they couldn’t park right out front on the street?? That’s pathetic- both the lack of non-driving patrons and the fact that lazy drivers won’t bother to park around the corner.
JC
April 20, 2012 at 2:53 pm
When the City of Decatur build the new plaza over the downtown MARTA station, a lot of restaurant owners along the square blamed the long construction on their eventual demise. I think they probably had a good case since the construction period lasted a year and a half. But I’m surprised that the last few months have been so bad for Vesuvius. I drive down Edgewood a lot, and for a time the construction was pretty bad. But I didn’t think it was even still going on?
Brian
April 22, 2012 at 10:02 pm
I’m a transportation planner directly involved with this project and have to say that there is plenty of parking in the vicinity and sit down restaurants are not usually our concern in terms of adverse business impacts–these usually occur with dry cleaners and convenience stores, where the need for in and out service is often found. Mt opinion is that there were some issues before construction and the owner is using this as an easy out.
Mayor of Boulevard
April 23, 2012 at 10:54 am
Hopefully Vesuvius will take this time to go back to the pizza and ingredients they used when they first opened. Because, honestly, if they keep on making the pizza and over-priced salads that they have been making in the recent past, then it doesn’t really matter if they stay closed. Most people I know have written them off anyways.
Joe
April 23, 2012 at 4:13 pm
The food there was AMAZING when they first opened – but after about five months it went down hill. They had the best pepperoni!!
Mayor of Austell
April 23, 2012 at 4:45 pm
I agree! It was so yummy when it opened. They have such a cool space and the pizza oven can really turn out the pies. They just need to refocus.
Darin
April 23, 2012 at 9:05 pm
I’ll join the chorus here and add that I loved Vesuvius when it opened too. My family went here about once a week for many months. The crust was amazing. I loved the chopped salad too. Does anyone know who the opening chef was and where he went? I was really disappointed when the food and menu changed.
I’m a little confused by this — my understanding is that the construction on Edgewood (which ended a while ago) was just some utility alignment and that the actual streetcar construction hasn’t started yet. Surely there would’ve been a big news story if the real streetcar construction had begun. Am I missing it?
Heh
April 24, 2012 at 3:10 am
maybe they’ll take this opportunity to move their gigantic dough mixer inside instead of under the porch out back.
gross. good riddance, and a pox on both your houses.
Joe
April 24, 2012 at 2:21 pm
The opening Chef was Richard Silvey.
Brian
April 25, 2012 at 10:12 pm
Darin, the streetcar construction officially began on February 1. The recent construction was indeed the utility relocation, as you have indicated. The first phase of the project is utility relocation and then streetscape and intersection/signalization improvements. The second phase, which includes the track work and overhead catenary system will be later this year, with ridership set for early 2013.