[twlewis]

Curious to know what DB residents thought of the plaza facelift.

We wandered around yesterday and were blown away by the look and feel of all the restaurants etc... It has been 5 years since we last visited. We went to Hemingway's - it was Ok. Nothing awesome - but nothing awful. But what a blast of refreshing change.

Aside from the obvious new restaurant choices for all ages, these places ultimately provide venues for adults to meet, to eat, to drink... and may provide a different scene than the usual "DB Plaza hang out" which can sometimes look like a mixed salad of friends, tourists, kids, dogs, plastic take-out food containers and beer bottles tossed about the concrete DB plaza bowl .....which is still alive and well

Am happy for all our kids to "own" the world for 18 hours of the day, but the new plaza looks like it might retain some kind of exclusivity for those that want to leave the kids behind once every few weeks for an adult evening.

In DB, families are able find what they need....the high priorities get taken care of (eg. green, safe, other families, clubs, schools, activities etc..) ...and now it seems like DB might start appealing to broader demographic. Singles, still, need not apply - way too tame.

[KnowItAll]

Been hearing good things about the facelift and some of the restaurants there.

Have also heard that the restaurants are not filling up as much as they had hoped -- given that disco bay is still a bit of a family land.

[goodkarma]

Most of the places are dead during the week but hugely busy on weekends.
I had never been to DB til last year when the new plaza was built and wow, it's gorgeous out there.

[MelissaM]

When I first came to HK I lived there ... and there were only a few eateries and a supermarket , a mac donald and a laid back pub and food joint....

Takes 40 mins to take the ferry every day twice up and down... got so bored that I moved ....lolx

But the air is better and I always enjoyed my morning jog...

[discobay]

I remember the ferry taking 25 minutes.

[MelissaM]

Originally Posted by discobay

I remember the ferry taking 25 minutes.

40 mins.. cos I always missed the one going ... when I q to buy the sand wiches from pacific coffee

[Beth Danae]

had dinner there sunday - was so nice to sit outside on comfy couches near the water's edge, hoping not too many people venture over, don't want it to be crowded like everything in central

[texasaxel]

Originally Posted by KnowItAll

Been hearing good things about the facelift and some of the restaurants there.

Have also heard that the restaurants are not filling up as much as they had hoped -- given that disco bay is still a bit of a family land.

I don't whether the restaurants are doing financially well but from my experience they are not significantly less crowded on weekday evenings than the average restaurant in SoHo. Although one might add that some of us have to get used to eating out again in DB after the year of plaza construction, which greatly limited our dining options and led me to do more home cooking.

The number of choices available also means that there is more competition and restaurants with poor service and value for money will probably struggle as word gets around quickly in a small place like DB.

[goodkarma]

texas has a good point.

It would be so cool if we had wait staff who honestly could get it right......HK is so expensive to have staff that have no clue which end is up. Friendly yes but not always enough.

[texasaxel]

Originally Posted by goodkarma

texas has a good point.

It would be so cool if we had wait staff who honestly could get it right......HK is so expensive to have staff that have no clue which end is up. Friendly yes but not always enough.

It appears to me that in many of DB's restaurants, wait staff is not assigned to look after a dedicated set of tables and with everyone responsible for all tables ultimately no one is. Far too often I encounter wait staff walking straight past my table, eyes to the floor or the sky, making them oblivious to my hand signals. On more than one occassion, items ordered were forgotten or delivered only after repeated reminders. To me these are issues that a little training can easily overcome as I have previously explained to the manager of one DB venue with - at that time - particularly troublesome service.