sweet

I thought all the storefronts were filled. Is there space in the interior lobby area?

The last time I went by there was one 1000 sq ft storefront left. All the others were taken. I'll try to check it out this week.

My wife has been saying "when are the gonna put a SanSai downtown" for about a year now. I can't wait to tell her.

I don't know how anyone can get excited about a fast food joint. The last thing you want downtown is a string of ffjs along one of the major development area streets. These places generate tons of littler. I'd hate to see the snowstorm of trash coming out of a slew of these places. Downtown just needs better.

^

This place sounds a little more upscale than your typical Mickey D's, and will probably generate less trash. Sounds like kind of a Qdoba-type joint.

that is one of my fondest memories of living in new york was when i got off the subway in downtown brooklyn, i was hit by hot dog, pretezl wrappers, candy bar wrappers, newspapers, if it was paper of some sort, it flew all over the sky there. mostly becuaes there was nothing but fast food along the major street. i don't want that in st. louis.

Have you guys not tried SanSai before? There's one in Webster, one in Clayton and a new one in downtown Kirkwood next to Johnny Rockets. It's not fast food. It's called fresh food fast, but it's really just a Japanese restaurant that's quick.



They could also use a Crazy Bowls and Wraps (CBW) downtown. People who work down there need choices. You can't have a bunch of unique pubs and sit down Mom & Pop eateries for the downtown lunchtime crowd. SanSai is a perfect compromise. It's better than a Bread Co. for the downtown scene and I haven't heard people complain about that.



I understand what you're saying about not having Wash Ave full of chains, but it's places that people have heard of (The Gap, Borders, H&M) that will bring people in to eventually check out other places. If it's too much one way or the other you can have problems. Balance is what downtown needs.

yep, this is a great addition for the lunch crowd. DT needs more variety for lunch. But, as a resident also, I hope they decide to keep evening and weekend hours. Judging from the location, I would not guess so, but the new Zuzu's has evening hours for now so maybe.



Speaking of which, I hope all my neighbors take advantage of those evening hours at Zuzu's - I'd love to have a mexican option for dinner downtown. It's not as convenient as if it were closer to the loft district, but it'll do.

I disagree that fast food is a bad thing for downtown...I would love to have a complete mix, but aside from that I am looking for when a McDonald's arrives and here is why...



McDonald's fasability studies are pretty stringent and rarely does a McDonalds fail to perform, so if/when one opens that means that they believe that downtown has a population that will make their store profitable...and this is a good sign for downtown...



Sansai and Zuzu's are great additions this year, last year or the year before Lion's Choice and Panera opened, these are all good indicators, but when the major chains jump in, it cna only be a good sign



Also, we nee dmore street vendors, but that is a topic for another thread

Just started working downtown and I am impressed with the business the fast food restaurant do, and I appreciate having these options.



I don't see trash as a problem, most people I see are eating in or carrying it back to the office. And I think most of the downtown office crowd who fill these places are concencious enough to throw their trash in the can.



I most problems come with drive thrus, people eating in their cars and just pitching it. The worst I've seen is White Castles at Grand and Gravois.



Back to downtown, now all I need is a Penn Station Subs and I will be very happy.

Back to downtown, now all I need is a Penn Station Subs and I will be very happy.

Oh hell yes! I've also thought that a 24-hour Steak N Shake would absolutely clean up downtown - it could draw lots of business throughout the day.

I'm not sure McDonald's will be a "pure" study. They have a store very near loftland on Tucker that underperforms (which their data mining probably won't show is a result of well-below-even-their-standards quality) and two of those rare "McD's that didn't make it" stories include St. Louis Centre and Union Station.



On the other hand, the Ballpark Village certainly does seem like a prime location for one.



Not that this particular picky vegetarian gives a...

SanSai is good food, not fast food. My brother lives down the street from the one in Webster,and we often get it as take out. Very good food.

What's Japanese food like? What's everyone's favorite Japanese food item?

First and formost is sushi. Mmmm, sushi.



But it's pretty simple really...chicken, beef, with noodles, in a sauce of some sort. Here's the website: http://www.sansaiusa.com/

Normally, I'd say sushi. But Sansai's sushi is really just OK. It's not a sushi place, instead I think aiming to please the wider American palate. As you see in the menu, they have teriyaki chicken, lots of grilled vegetable sticks, salads (of dubious Japanese origin, but very delicious), tempura, steak, shrimp, and then sushi as mainly an afterthought.



For sure, I'll frequent it. I go to the one in Webster almost weekly. I'd be a little concerned about their ability to handle a lunch rush though. The one in Clayton seems to suffer at lunch because of the sheer volume of people coming in at one time. Since they don't mass-prepare food beforehand, and have only a limited sushi preparation space, waits got pretty long (I was there on a break from jury duty).



Anyway, another great addition to downtown.

Their sushi is very mediocre. It's definitely edible, but the rest of the menu is good.

oh come on everyone. SanSai is fantastic. I eat there almost every day in Clayton. The spicy BBQ chicken bowl is one of the best things. THis isn't just "fast food" as people have been saying. Zuzu's and SanSai are excellent additions to downtown. Also the Thai restaurant in the chemical building is one of the best lunches downtown.

That McDonald's was horrible.

Don,



A lot of that falls on the city to keep the streets clean. I think they have done a much better job recently.



Also, the shelters in the area hurt that progress. As well as the Kiel Auditorium progress...



But with the new residents taking over downtown, I think you will see a much more viable neighborhood where situations like that are much more rare.