Hooters

Forty tables. Four of them filled with a two or three people at the bar. This is a normal Sunday night at Hooters to the dismay of the managers and the employees. This is surprising considering the theme and popularity of a regular Hooters restaurant. Most people don't even know that there is a Hooters so close to them that opened last September and that is due to many reasons.

As you walk in, you can tell that Hooters has a very distinct and different atmosphere then other restaurants that you're used to. Around the world Hooters is known for it's fried chicken wings and beautiful girls, but not a lot of people go for the chicken wings.

While waiting to sit at a table, you can look around for 5 seconds and know what kind of restaurant it is, it's a place to watch sports and hang out with your buddies. Not ideal for going out with your significant other for a romantic evening but just by the name one can tell that it isn't.

So why is it doing so empty on most nights? For starters, the choice of location (Greenfield Park on the South Shore) is not the most ideal place to set up a restaurant like this. Greenfield Park is a suburb, so most people will go there sometimes, but a suburb isn't the best place to set up a booming business. Montreal would be more ideal, because there, you would get a lot of business because of the loads of people and the consumerism atmosphere.

Since they don't get a lot of business nowadays, so they're doing a lot of things just to get anyone to come in. They've recently come out with a menu for kids and a bike night on Mondays. They try and advertise this on the radio sometimes but it's only once in awhile. They had a tremendous turn-out for the Super Bowl as well but that was because it's the biggest most watched sporting event in all of North America so very sports restaurant is bound to be packed.

There wasn't any hockey during the summer so that is when they've implemented these new things like the kids menu. Just the principle of the kids menu can be seen as being rediculous since Hooters is not known for being a sort of family atmosphere.

Yet that is what they're trying to turn it into to get some clients in. It's not as if the restaurant is hidden and hard to find, on the contrary it is on the main boulevard in Greenfield Park but the choice of location is still poor which may be the reason that not many people know about it.

Another reason for why there is not a lot of business is the lack of advertisement since there has been little to none at all. It wouldn't hurt to try and get out there to radio stations to try and get the message out to let people know that it's out there.

The people in the community that know about it do try and help to get the message out, hockey season is also coming back so that should get the restaurant filled up again. They have specials on beer for the hockey nights so that helps get business flowing as well.

As for the food itself, the chicken wings are generic but the curly fries are different and delicious. They have a burger and seafood part of the menu too but the burgers aren't very good and their really expensive while the seafood is not expensive but it's easy to spot why since it also isn't very good.

But it's still a great atmosphere just to relax after a day of work and to have a beer so you should still check it out if you're in the neighboorhood. It's on Taschereau in Greenfield Park right near the Jacques Cartier bridge.