Bye Bye, Joey’s

For many who visit our theater buildings on Belmont in the Lakeview neighborhood, over the past many years a renovated warehouse made into a family owned restaurant Joey’s Brickhouse was a familiar haunt. How many pre-theater dinners and after theater “cast parties” took place over the years? I know that we enjoyed the food and the Morelli family. I have read many of the recent reviews on all the websites where people can write in, but I would venture to say that more people will write gripes than good experiences. I am not taking sides relative to the incident that took place that caused Joey’s to lose the theater community, but will tell you that Greg did all that he could to put the situation right, but with the Internet filled with stories, it is almost impossible to stop or revise what has already been said ( over and over). I know a businessman, an upholsterer who supposedly did a bad job on a customer’s sofa, which he redid after he saw what was wrong. During the four days between the customer notifying him of the problem and his revisit to repair, the customer wnet to all of the Internet avenues to “rate” this business. He knocked him so hard that he came close to closing his doors as well. The customer did go back on all of the sites after the work was done to his satisfaction, but it was irreversible, The upholsterer lost 12 jobs and had  to let a worker go. The Internet is supposed to be a wonderful form of communication and efficiency, but it can also be a dangerous weapon for destruction of a family’s business and or reputation. Think about this next time you sit down to write a complaint! Think about what would happen if someone wrote something about you ( true or not) that could cost you your job!

Meanwhile, if you are going to be on Belmont over the next few days at Stage 773 or Theater Wit, stop by Joey’s and say good-bye and thanks fr the many years of great martini’s, juicy burgers, super fried calamari and as my grandson says- great cheese sammies!