North Raleigh Lucky 32 Closing

Well, it certainly wasn’t the customers’ fault that the menu turned to crap.

Yes we havent been back since the change in menu format, and I guess we never will. Interesting though, look at this:
http://www.raleighing.com/2006/01/luck_changes.html
The article notes the start of the downward trend and its ultimate demise with the loss of manager Laurie Thornburg. I find it humorous that user “Raleighlover4ever” is so pointedly countering everything all the other postings say and valiantly singing the virtues of Lucky 32. Do you think that user is a rogue agent of the management of Lucky 32? I may have been born in the morning, but not yesterday morning…

But maybe just a few mornings ago?
When the Executive Chef for Quaintance-Weaver Restaurants & Hotels placed a comment on a subsequent followup post here on Raleighing, he used his name and very openly admitted they had made some mistakes.
http://www.raleighing.com/2006/03/luck_changes_ba.html#comment-15635523
Seems to be rather above-the-board if you ask me. Then again, conspiracy theories are more entertaining, for sure…

My experience was ruined when they got rid of the bbq-bluecheese salad dressing..
It really is sad.

I was a big fan of Lucky 32 about 2-3 years ago. I agree that it just seemed to work well. Some tasty dishes, even if they were not exactly cutting edge. I mainly go to the location in Cary. My coworkers noticed it first about a year ago that we were not enjoying our experience as much as we used to. I hope they can get back on track. When it worked, we really enjoyed ourselves. More recently a lot of us just leave a little disappointed – but it is still not a bad experience overall.

It’s a shame for NoRa to lose a mid-priced restaurant that was so reliable once upon a time. We could take my grandmother in her 90′s and my toddler niece and all of us could find something really good to eat. I guess the only constant…is “change”.
When I think about the perks of living in NoRa vs. Cary or the Southpoint area, the list is dwindling. NoRa is getting overrun with strip shopping centers full of non-descript stores and mediocre chains. It seems that despite the amount of pure growth, the number of unique retail outlets worth the drive out there is shrinking.

NoRa? Seriously? Do people actually call it that?
I remember a couple of years ago folks were trying to get Glenwood South known as “GloSo” or something like that. Strange.
As for Lucky 32, always had a pleasant but not memorable experience there. To me it’s like an upscale Applebees — which ain’t saying much.

It’s sad for the restaurant but I can’t say I didn’t see it coming. We were big fans and took all of our friends and family that came into town there a few years ago. Sad to say but almost once a week. After Laurie left, things just went down in service and quality and up in price. A tragic combination of events for a restaurant. My father in law recently visited and really wanted to go there. I didn’t have the heart to tell him of the decline so we went. When we left I said it would close within the year, guess I was right. Sad to see a good place that was a fairly interesting, decent priced, great for all ages, somewhat local flavor go. amy

I prefer Michael Dean’s anyways.
I just wish Butterflies was still open.

You are all wrong to a great extent. It is upper level management, their strategy, and their close interaction with their managers, other company personnel and the customers that makes any organization function at its highest level. At her level, Laurie was an extremely dedicated manager for the North Raleigh location and for the opening of the Cary location who made sure that the operations ran smoothly and that her customers were satisfied.
My wife and I were both very frequent customers, and with the leaving of Laurie, noted the lack of the same prior attentiveness to staff, food, and customers. We are sure that her leaving left a definite void that enabled degradation, but was there more beyond this? Change is forever, and in the business world you must strive to stay ahead of the competition.
The patio is probably one of the nicest in the area. Lucky 32 in its heyday was an enjoyable place to go. Agreed, it is not Green Valley Grille as at O’Henry’s in Greensboro.
P.S.: Most people in the area don’t savor good food, however, so that makes the restaurant business even more competitive (Remember the “Wicked Smile” in downtown Raleigh; perhaps not!

Yep. Most of us folks here in Raleigh just “savor” mustard greens and possum innards.
Hayseeds, dontcha know!

Yep. Most of us folks here in Raleigh just “savor” mustard greens and possum innards.
Hayseeds, dontcha know!

Yep. Most of us folks here in Raleigh just “savor” mustard greens and possum innards.
Hayseeds, dontcha know!

Yep. Most of us folks here in Raleigh just “savor” mustard greens and possum innards.
Hayseeds, dontcha know!

Yep. Most of us folks here in Raleigh just “savor” mustard greens and possum innards.
Hayseeds, dontcha know!

Wicked Smile! That place was wonderful.

B@W&S;: That schtick was good for a chuckle at first but it has grown old… let it go.

Some friends of mine dragged me to Lucky 32 (the cary one) recently. I don’t think I’ve ever been to a more over-rated restaurant in my life. Well, except maybe Azitra.

Gregory’s in Cary is on my list of the most over-rated restaurants. I cannot figure it out at all.

I don’t about the NoRa (hehe) location, but I worked at the Cary L32 for about six weeks. Their training program was elaborate, but with no follow through. Managers from G-boro would inspect your sugar containers for the proper number and color order of packaging. But the schedule was constantly out of whack and the day-to-day managers were inconsistent. I left because when I was hired I noted I couldn’t work more than four days a week (had another job), but every schedule came up with me for nine shifts a week. Each person I spoke to handed me off to another person. A hostess who’d been there for years left at the same time, for the same reason – bad management. Will L32 Cary be the next to fall!? They probably brought all the top servers from NoRa down, so there’s hope if you like it.

I ate at L32 not so long ago and had the Suffolk Chicken and it was quite good. I was amazed at how few people were there. I went by Winston’s last night and it seemed OK for a Monday night.
But you are correct, NoRa is loosing so much that why would you want to live there outside of getting to work and sitting in your house watching the bigscreen. I just assumed to go over to Capital and find some small ethnic restaurant where people don’t speak English then hit some strip center palace.

Woo hoo so glad this place is leaving!

Managers always treate the staff like crap at Lucky 32 North Raleigh – scheduled you for days you already specified you could not work, then constantly threatened all employees with firing (most of whom already had other jobs, which is why they specified certain days to work!)..is it any wonder this extremely poor management trickled down to the customers?
Really sad, beause the food was good.

Agreed Nova. I worked PT at Lucky 32 North Raleigh, I’m a school teacher and mom with 2 young children. Worked hard for them, yet they knew I had a regular day job and could only work evenings – always scheduled me for times that caused a conflict with my other job, then threatened to fire me if I couldn’t work. (at times they already knew I couldn’t).
Great way to treat employees, but I’m sad for the customers…they were great people and the food was good. A place can’t last long though when the managers are jerks.