(Update) Downtown Roanoke’s Ernie’s restaurant in talks to sell
Update: Click here to read the story that food writer Lindsey Nair and I wrote for today’s newspaper.
Ernie’s Bar and Grill, a fixture downtown for more than 25 years, is talking with a restaurant owner who wants to buy Ernie’s out of its space.
Ernie’s owner Aimee Simmons stressed that nothing has been finalized with the owner of Jack Brown’s Burger and Beer Joint, which has a restaurant in Harrisonburg. If talks fall through, Ernie’s will remain open, Simmons said.
Read more here.
January 15, 2013 - 11:25 AM
I hope Ernie’s stays downtown!
Its not Ernie’s that I’ll miss, it’s the place he came from – The Boiler Room – that I sure wish was still in business. One of the 2 or 3 best hamburgers I ever had. Used to serve them on butcher paper as I remember back in the late 70′s…when you’d bite into one the juice would just run down your chin. Sadly long gone now…
Glad to see this, since it’s last long time owner, Bill, sold the place everything about Ernies was God aweful, service, food quailty, taste, you name it….It would be nice to have a place on the market with an affordable hamburger….$9.oo for a dinky little burger at Fork in the Market is one reason the market vendors are doomed to fail.
Oh man wouldn’t it be great to get a cheeseburger with egg, lettuce, tomato, mayonaise, onion on a kaiser roll…….but it would only be good if he had to stop cooking it and go take a phone call in the wooden phone booth
I love Jack Browns. They had over 100 beers, great burgers, and fired oreos!
I have to say I’d love to see something replace Ernie’s. As another viewer said the service is awful. Food is ok but I’ve seen so much nasty stuff by the cook I can’t go back. He scratches his head while cooking. He dropped some eggs on the floor and wiped them up with his cooking cloth. He even dropped the rag on the floor and took his shoe and wiped the eggs up. Then I watched him use the cloth on the cooking station. Never again did I ever go in that place.
I remember The Boiler Room in the 70s. Ernest taught me so much working for him,when he opened up Ernie’s on the market it was just like he had never left The Boiler Room.
Ernest helped me open up my own place in the early 90s and I thank him for that.
I’m all for a place that has a good beer selection. I looked at their web site for Harrisonburg and they have my favorite beer! (Young’s Double Chocolate Stout)
I have been eating at Ernie’s for ten years now! I will miss my favorite Restuarant downtown Roanoke. It is such a pleasant atmosphere, the food is always great and affordable. Not to mention the servers are so kind and on the ball. It’s hard to believe people have negative comments. Just think about what goes on in kitchens when you cant see them cook. Very sad to hear, but I wish the wonderful staff there the best of luck with what they do next. They will be missed greatly!
@ Angie – decent food at decent prices but if you have an open kitchen for the public to see, be clean!!! The waitresses are slow and dingy and the cook has done some nasty stuff. Me and my wife walked out after what we saw. I know they have their regulars but we will never return. So come on Jack Browns!
If you remember the Boiler Room there is a place in Garden City 5 minutes from downtown that serves up the old Boiler Room foods,called Abbotts. Love that place,great food and service
I think Ernie’s is a great restaurant, it has been one of my favorites. It has come a long way since the previous owners sold it. Before, the cook would leave his spit bottle on the counter for all to see as he prepared the food. The “belly-shirt”clad waitresses took orders as they puffed their cigarettes! WOW, what a difference! I will miss the new Ernie’s, but look forward to trying Jack Browns.
Wow! I had heard this in the rumor mill but didn’t know for sure. There are a lot of great spots for lunch specials down town but Ernie’s is close to my heart for it’s old school charm, great prices and amazing friends and company i’ve made there! I’ll miss it!
Yeah the previous owner was much better with waitresses taking orders while smoking a cigerette and the previous cooking chewing tobacco with his spit cup on the bar. Ernie’s is very clean compared to what it was four years ago. Don’t get me wrong I’m exited for a new Restuarant to come, but Ernie’s is far from nasty.
Amanda,
I saw something about a new Lebanese restaurant coming to downtown on another www site. Do you have any info on Cedars Lebanese?
A new restaurant is bringing a new taste to downtown Roanoke.
Cedar’s Lebanese Restaurant will open next to Benny Marconi’s on Campbell Avenue. The menu will include lunch and dinner.
Thanks
@Ernie: I spoke with the owner of that restaurant briefly a few weeks ago but he didn’t want to talk until it was closer to the opening. Maybe it is time to try him again.
All we need is more burger/beer places. We have really great LOCALLY owned places like Corned Beef, Martins Downtown, Billys and Blue5 already downtown. New places like Beamers (not locally owned) and Jack Browns are not going to offer any products better than those that are already available, they will only dilute and send Roanokers’ money out of the community. Don’t turn downtown into the corporate purgatory that is valley view mall, stay local! Don’t bother Aaron, you’re not welcome. (nice self promoting comment on this thread, by the way)
You had me at 100 beers
Thanks Amanda.
I love the current staff at Ernie’s. The cooks and waitresses are outstanding. The food is outstanding and prices better than other places in town. I hate to see it go, but change is great. I hope the new owners serve breakfast. Beer and burgers at night sounds great. Aimee, you are loved by many. Good luck. BTW, we like you better than the previous owner.
I have no problem with ernies at all, absolutely love breakfast there. It’s a downtown Roanoke fixture. A burger joint? No thanks.
I have been a customer at Ernie’s for many years and it is such a unique place. It’s one of those places where the staff is friendly and it feels like a home town place. I think the negative comments are unwarranted but every business has detractors but it’s almost impossible to find a seat in the place at lunchtime and on weekends so they must be doing something right!
I agree with #17. We should also build a moat that could be flooded by the Roanoke River with a 20 foot high wall around the Market where anyone from out of town would be stopped from entering and spending their money. While we’re at it we could revoke the business license of Chocolate Paper and every other businees that can not prove their owners were born within the City limits. The nerve of someone from Harisonburg thinking they would be welcome in Big Lick. Next thing you know someone from Salem will be wanting in!
yeah D Reynolds we can’t have those interlopers from Blacksburg & Harrisonburg a comin’ here and creatin’ jobs and payin’ taxes and such!
How dare they risk their money and reputation to try and open a business here!
Prior to the latest ownership, I ate at Ernie’s weekly. The best deal on GREAT breakfast in town: big slice of country ham, 2 eggs, potato cake, toast, $4.50. Lunch, too, was far, far cheaper and good. I left when the portion was slashed and the price jacked. Haven’t been since, so I’m looking forward to the new joint! Really missed Ernie’s the way it was, as many former customers I know agree.
Love me some Ernies!! It’s got that old school diner feel, the food is good, and the wait staff keeps things lively – Not sure I’ll find another place to visit for lunch if they close!
let me know where you can get breakfast for $4.50, with country ham. not at today’s prices. been awhile since you’ve been out???
@ jt. That’s easy, Paul’s Resturant on Franklin Rd. but it’s only $4.00 and they also have an open kitchen. And they are clean!! That’s where we started going when we walked out of Earnie’s after seeing the dirty cook.
Ernies is so dirty that I stopped going there. It looks like it hasn’t been cleaned since it opened. Yuck
This discussion reminds me of 2008 when everyone was commenting on the cleanliness of the Market vendors. Of course the comments ran heavily against them and some of them were probably deserved. But the comments on which restaurants were perceived to be ‘clean’ got me to checking the VDOH website where I learned that reality was much different than perception. The restaurants touted as clean often had more health violations than those in the Market building at the time. If you want to know who is really clean – go and do our homework. If you’d rather not know then keep going where you’re going and keep your head down.
Craig you are absolutely correct. Couldn’t have said that better myself. You have a great day!
I will really miss Ernie’s. I have had nothing but good experiences there. Great food, friendly staff with excellent customer service (which is really hard to find now-a-days)and fair prices. I only started going to Ernie’s about 4 years ago and I’ve never had anything to complain about. I love the old diner atmosphere and the hometown feel. Aimee, the owner of Ernie’s is incredible and I wish you and your staff the best. I will miss you Ernie’s but, I look forward to the new place too. It sounds like it will fit right into downtown Roanoke. A little change never hurt anyone.