Issue of convenience
As my time at UVA has come and gone, so too has a restaurant on the corner, known fondly as “Big Dawgs.” While the idea of this dining establishment was by no means novel, it was, however, a viable late night option for the UVA student. Unfortunately this place met its demise, not because of the food it served, but because of its inconvenient location and attempts to play in a saturated corner food market.
If you don’t know where Big Dawgs, and now Two Guys Tacos, was located, then I wouldn’t be surprised. It sits across from Boylan Heights in a small nook barely big enough for a counter, with no more than 5 inside seats available. This is not the problem with this building, however, as people don’t mind taking their tacos and dogs to go. It’s the issue with location. People want to be on the corner, not off the corner. And to make it to this location, you have to pass the corner and all its wonderful food options. Very few people were and are willing to pass Little John’s, Take-it-Away, and Bodo’s to go get a hotdog, and now, it appears, the same problem is happening with tacos.
For these places to be successful, they need to be the late night spot for UVA students, but again, they face stiff competition. It is my honest opinion that no place will ever truly be successful in this location, and this space will serve as a revolving door of restaurants trying to get their piece of the corner action. People are already at Trinity, 3, and the Virginian when they are ready to eat late night food, so naturally they head straight to the White Spot, Little John’s, and Qdoba for their late night fix. It’s not necessarily that their food is inferior, it’s just more a matter of location and convenience.
