# Restaurants that make no sense **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [May 10, 2012, 4:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/restaurants-that-make-no-sense/621475 "2012-05-10T04:05:36Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Flutterby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/6f9a4e/32.png) [@Flutterby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Flutterby)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2012, 6:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/restaurants-that-make-no-sense/621475/61 "2012-05-10T18:26:50Z")
> [@Ferret\_Herder](#): > > Restaurants like that always scare me! You wonder how much is prepackaged and microwaved. Probably all of it! If they settled on one thing and did it good I bet they’d make a killing. It’s right on a corner by a junior high, very residential, and there are always lineups at the wash bays on a nice day. Just not schwarma, there is an awesome place about a block up the road already. ---
**Author:** ![It\_s\_Not\_Rocket\_Surgery](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/it_s_not_rocket_surgery/32/312_2.png) [@It\_s\_Not\_Rocket\_Surgery](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/It_s_Not_Rocket_Surgery)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2012, 6:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/restaurants-that-make-no-sense/621475/62 "2012-05-10T18:27:50Z")
[This Korean restaurant](http://chungkiwharestaurant.com/) in Florence, KY next to I-75 almost never has customers. Their website does nothing to dispel my suspicions. Some of the [Yahoo reviews](http://maps.google.com/maps/place?q=Chung+Ki+Wha+Restaurant&cid=8539987589450042969) wonder if it’s a front. ---
**Author:** ![Ludovic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ab992/32.png) [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2012, 6:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/restaurants-that-make-no-sense/621475/63 "2012-05-10T18:28:52Z")
> [@Saint\_Cad](#): > > Because the only meat they had was SPAM. It’s certainly uncontaminated by Prosciutto. ---
**Author:** ![aruvqan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aruvqan/32/2891_2.png) [@aruvqan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aruvqan)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2012, 6:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/restaurants-that-make-no-sense/621475/64 "2012-05-10T18:41:41Z")
> [@Wendell\_Wagner](#): > > This place: > > [http://www.cococabanagrill.com/A55C3D/cocobg.nsf/webhome?OpenForm&ParentUNID=786495DD85EDDC01882570D200645189](http://www.cococabanagrill.com/A55C3D/cocobg.nsf/webhome?OpenForm&ParentUNID=786495DD85EDDC01882570D200645189) > > It’s in a space that used to be a bowling alley. The room is huge and there aren’t that many tables, so it’s like a small group of tables in the midst of a room with space around the edges. Five or so years ago I went there half a dozen times over about two years. I was nearly always the only one there. The menu is bizarrely diverse. (Even the free appetizers they put out when you get there make no consistent sense. They give you chips and salsa and also bread and butter.) The food was actually good. There’s no way that they can be making money on the restaurant. It’s next to a nightclub and owned by the same people, but I don’t understand why they would be bothering with the restaurant. Makes sense if there is a regulation about needing to serve food to get a booze license. They are probably using the weird restaurant as teh food portion of the operation. ---
**Author:** ![John\_DiFool](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_difool/32/19543_2.png) [@John\_DiFool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_DiFool)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2012, 6:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/restaurants-that-make-no-sense/621475/65 "2012-05-10T18:54:20Z")
Old but related thread: [Businesses you suspect of being fronts?](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=418278&highlight=SUSPECT+FRONTS) ---
**Author:** ![Death\_of\_Rats](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a6a055/32.png) [@Death\_of\_Rats](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Death_of_Rats)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2012, 6:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/restaurants-that-make-no-sense/621475/66 "2012-05-10T18:58:11Z")
> [@It\_s\_Not\_Rocket\_Surgery](#): > > [This Korean restaurant](http://chungkiwharestaurant.com/) in Florence, KY next to I-75 almost never has customers. Their website does nothing to dispel my suspicions. > > Some of the [Yahoo reviews](http://maps.google.com/maps/place?q=Chung+Ki+Wha+Restaurant&cid=8539987589450042969) wonder if it’s a front. Wow, that place has A LOT of sushi and korean Barbeque! They even had to list them twice! ---
**Author:** ![Phoebestar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/13edae/32.png) [@Phoebestar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Phoebestar)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2012, 7:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/restaurants-that-make-no-sense/621475/67 "2012-05-10T19:33:54Z")
I’m amused that I’m familiar with two of these locations on the list but never considered the possibility of them being fronts. I lived in Lexington for 13 years, for most of it NEAR Sir Pizza, and never tried it or knew anyone that did. And my boyfriend’s from Florence, and we’ve passed that restaurant many times, rarely seeing anyone there. I’m originally from WV, and there was a Tim Horton’s in town that my mom and uncle thought was a front for something. I had to explain to them that it wasn’t a front, just Canadian. ---
**Author:** ![Scumpup](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ce73a5/32.png) [@Scumpup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scumpup)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2012, 7:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/restaurants-that-make-no-sense/621475/68 "2012-05-10T19:39:50Z")
There’s an “appliance repair shop” not far from here that is a known front. Nobody I know has ever seen an appliance go in or out of the place, much less taken anything there for repair themselves. Apparently, in their case, they front for a bookie joint rather than launder money. ---
**Author:** ![GrandWino](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/grandwino/32/67_2.png) [@GrandWino](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GrandWino)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2012, 7:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/restaurants-that-make-no-sense/621475/69 "2012-05-10T19:44:47Z")
> [@Coup\_Fourre](#): > > I gotta tell you, I love this message board. I learn so many things! > > Having said that, I grew up in Chicago, but five years ago moved to Rockford. There is a restaurant there called Lucerne’s. It’s apparently a fondue place. I have been baffled about this restaurant since I moved there. They are hardly ever open, but they are not closed. I think I’ve seen them open twice since I moved to the Rkfd. > > I asked someone about it once and they claim that they only open if you call them. I thought that was weird–and I’ve NEVER heard of a restaurant doing something like that. Now I’m thinking about the whole money laundering/front thing. > > Anyone else know about this place? [Here’s the Yelp listing for Lucerne’s](http://www.yelp.com/biz/lucernes-fondue-and-spirits-rockford). Only 3 reviews, the last being posted in 2009. Rockford might not be hotbed of Yelp users though. The overall ratings are pretty poor. ---
**Author:** ![Soylent\_Juicy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/82dd89/32.png) [@Soylent\_Juicy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Soylent_Juicy)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2012, 7:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/restaurants-that-make-no-sense/621475/70 "2012-05-10T19:49:13Z")
Someone once showed me an “ice cream store” near his work that was open all winter and always had black Lincolns parked outside. ---
**Author:** ![Saint\_Cad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/saint_cad/32/18907_2.png) [@Saint\_Cad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saint_Cad)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2012, 7:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/restaurants-that-make-no-sense/621475/71 "2012-05-10T19:59:52Z")
> [@Scumpup](#): > > There’s an “appliance repair shop” not far from here that is a known front. Nobody I know has ever seen an appliance go in or out of the place, much less taken anything there for repair themselves. Apparently, in their case, they front for a bookie joint rather than launder money. That’s not an appliance repair shop, it’s a furniture store. I know because I lived across the street from it. ---
**Author:** ![VOW](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/vow/32/3043_2.png) [@VOW](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VOW)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2012, 10:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/restaurants-that-make-no-sense/621475/72 "2012-05-10T22:16:19Z")
> [@Flutterby](#): > > \it’s the same building as a car and dog wash but I’m not sure if the same people own the whole thing.\ The line about a “car and dog wash” is KILLING me here! ~VOW ---
**Author:** ![Infovore](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/infovore/32/420_2.png) [@Infovore](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Infovore)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2012, 10:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/restaurants-that-make-no-sense/621475/73 "2012-05-10T22:17:11Z")
There’s a place about a mile from where I live that’s next to a Goodwill. It looks completely out of place and I never see anyone there no matter what time of the day I go by. It’s a nice little building, but there’s never anyone parked there. We call it the CIA building. I don’t know what it really is (apparently some kind of architectural firm) but it seems odd that it appears to have no employees. We joke that most of it is actually underground, and I think people must be getting in through a secret entrance in the back of the Goodwill store or something. ---
**Author:** ![TBG](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c89c15/32.png) [@TBG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TBG)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2012, 10:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/restaurants-that-make-no-sense/621475/74 "2012-05-10T22:30:20Z")
> [@Phoebestar](#): > > I’m amused that I’m familiar with two of these locations on the list but never considered the possibility of them being fronts. I lived in Lexington for 13 years, for most of it NEAR Sir Pizza, and never tried it or knew anyone that did. And my boyfriend’s from Florence, and we’ve passed that restaurant many times, rarely seeing anyone there. > > I’m originally from WV, and there was a Tim Horton’s in town that my mom and uncle thought was a front for something. I had to explain to them that it wasn’t a front, just Canadian. You aren’t afraid of the hoser mafia, eh? ---
**Author:** ![Chimera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/8e8cbc/32.png) [@Chimera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chimera)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2012, 10:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/restaurants-that-make-no-sense/621475/75 "2012-05-10T22:49:52Z")
> [@John\_DiFool](#): > > Old but related thread: > > [Businesses you suspect of being fronts?](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=418278&highlight=SUSPECT+FRONTS) I’m amazed that I never posted this in that thread. When I lived in the Lake Nokomis neighborhood of Minneapolis in my ex-wife’s house circa 2003, there was a little Italian named pizza place just SE of us a fair number of blocks. Only ever saw gangbangers in there. Only a few people I’d talked to even knew it existed and no one could never recall anyone actually ordering from the place. I have to admit, I was like 1/10th tempted to walk up to the place just to see how they reacted. But you know, why would I bother testing some hole in the wall gang-run pizza place when the [best place around](http://www.fatlorenzos.com/) delivered. ---
**Author:** ![Flutterby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/6f9a4e/32.png) [@Flutterby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Flutterby)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2012, 10:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/restaurants-that-make-no-sense/621475/76 "2012-05-10T22:58:17Z")
> [@VOW](#): > > The line about a “car and dog wash” is KILLING me here! > ~VOW That’s what it is, a car wash (drive in bay, pressure washer type) a dog wash (in a door, I’ve never been in but probably tubs to wash dogs in) and the restaurant. 🙂 Oh, and I found the name of the restaurant! (I didn’t know it to look at the building, they advertise so much of what they make you can’t tell the name!) it’s called Sushi and Bubble Tea. ---
**Author:** ![Bambi\_Hassenpfeffer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Bambi\_Hassenpfeffer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bambi_Hassenpfeffer)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2012, 12:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/restaurants-that-make-no-sense/621475/77 "2012-05-11T00:21:08Z")
> [@WhyNot](#): > > \*I’ve got an absolutely perfect picture of it on Google Street View, but it doesn’t seem you can share a link to it, being Flash and all. If you’re terribly interested, look for the CTA depot at Western and Howard, and then back up about 100 feet. Look east. Spooky, eh? That red pedo van is ALWAYS there, too. [Right here](http://g.co/maps/crb4e). And yeah, it’s a little creepy. To get a link like that, go to the upper right of the sidebar and clink the button with the chainlink on it. The URL is in the box that pops up, and you can shorten it there if you want. ---
**Author:** ![Bambi\_Hassenpfeffer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Bambi\_Hassenpfeffer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bambi_Hassenpfeffer)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2012, 12:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/restaurants-that-make-no-sense/621475/78 "2012-05-11T00:26:52Z")
And on further reading, both my link and advice are unnecessary. Shoulda read the whole thread first. ---
**Author:** ![missred](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/missred/32/14096_2.png) [@missred](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/missred)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2012, 2:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/restaurants-that-make-no-sense/621475/79 "2012-05-11T02:16:58Z")
> [@DoctorJ](#): > > In Lexington, KY there’s a chain of pizza places called [Sir Pizza](http://www.sirpizzaky.com/index.htm). There are six of them, plus one in Winchester; there used to be a lot more. > > I lived in Lexington for eight years and grew up nearby. I never ate at Sir Pizza. I probably asked everyone I knew at one point or another–most of whom were college students, no strangers to pizza–and I never talked to anyone who had eaten at or ordered from Sir Pizza. I never saw anyone eating at one when I drove by. I never saw their delivery cars, even though I saw them all the time from other stores. They barely advertised, while other pizza places blanketed the city. > > “Legitimate business front” was the obvious conclusion. I thought pizza restaurants were a little on-the-nose as a front for an organized crime syndicate, but some people don’t do subtlety. > > (The more likely truth is that it was a popular chain before I lived in Lexington that mostly got pushed out of the market by the big national companies, and has low enough overhead that they’ve never quite closed.) I’ve been in the Nashville area for 17 years and have only ever eaten in one. If it was any kind of example, there’s a reason there are rarely many cars there. I’ve seen a number of them locally and they’re all 70s style architecture with few visable customers. Personally, I think it’s just a chain that’s seen better days. ---
**Author:** ![alphaboi867](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alphaboi867/32/3898_2.png) [@alphaboi867](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/alphaboi867)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2012, 3:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/restaurants-that-make-no-sense/621475/80 "2012-05-11T03:32:58Z")
> [@Rhythmdvl](#): > > …Its windows were constantly covered by… sheets of newspaper. Not old, faded lazy newspaper, but a relatively refreshed set. There were occasional signs of life within (a TV on or heard through an open door), but never any sign of people in or out. I lived in teh area at the time and did a lot of walking around, so while it’s possible that timing was off, I never saw who lived there. Oh, and I think the lights were rarely on. Fodder for the Very Vaguely Creepy thread… It’s possible that someone may actually be living there. I had some people in college who were renting a shopfront and using in as an apartment. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/restaurants-that-make-no-sense/621475.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/restaurants-that-make-no-sense/621475.md?page=5)