Noted In Passing: Urban Picnic is Closed

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Everybody loves it when two new businesses open up downtown, but it goes with little notice or fanfare, except for 112 Yelpers on Yelp, that a business on Main Street has closed down.

It' hard to say if Urban Picnic just didn't deliver on its promise to create and give meaning to seriously sophisticated fast food at a reasonable price for the hip modern-day on-the-go person who is health-conscious, or there were issues with management, the quality and prices of the food, or customer service, or maybe its location in  close proximity to a national franchise Subway right across the street and a national franchise Taco Bell within a block.

This Notice of Business Closure, issued by Maricopa County Department of Environmental Services,  has been posted on the door.

Notices like this are usually done as a last resort when then are serious violations of of the health code standards for food establishments that must be corrected within a certain amount of time. Failure to do so results in this action if the violations are not corrected or removed.

From reviews of Urban Picnic posted on various sites, there were numerous negative comments about food quality, sanitation, and infestations of ants, as well as bad reviews for employee attitude/service and high prices.

The block on Main Street between Robson and Country Club Drive, where a new Valley Metro Light Rail Station will be open on August, is way overdue for some attention by all the property owners and planning offices in City Hall.
It's the only block west of Center Street that does not have verandas overhead to create shade on the sidewalks for pedestrians.
There's a mix of retail shops, like Fiber Factory, a gallery named Two Hawks specializing in Native American art, an aesthetics and cosmetology institute adjoining the Yoga Studio on Robson, and a number of churches, an auto repair shop, and a pawn shop as well as other established businesses like Mezona Inn and Il Viniao - quite a mix.

The now-closed Urban Grill on the left side of this building next to The Fiber Factory might be in a good location close by what is probably the highest-density residential housing in all of downtown, an early mid-rise apartment building that's taller than City Hall.
Robson Villas, a condominium complex, is on the other side of it @ 225 West First Street.