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TurnsOutImAScientist t1_j9txv27 wrote

Awesome news, location of that space for Roadrunner pregaming seemed too clutch not to get another similar place in there. Baffling how Brato failed there, they must have really screwed up their finances or something.

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RhaenyrasUncle t1_j9tzwnl wrote

That whole area is kind of...weirdly dead.

Mostly commercial, so theres not a lot of foot traffic. The residential space that does exist tends to be on the lower income side of things, so they're not exactly the type to spend money on craft beer and expensive grilled cheese sandwiches.

Its just the vibe of a space you pass through to get to somewhere else, rather than a destination.

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SkiingAway t1_j9uuj06 wrote

I mean, it's not exactly "weirdly" dead. 5-10 years ago there basically wasn't a thing there of interest to the general public besides the liquor store and Stop & Shop. Redev of a lot of the rest of the area is still in progress.

Also, there is a good, longstanding, relatively cheap bar literally around the corner from where Brato was that also runs a solid craft selection on tap.

If your craft brewery isn't making spectacular beer, why would I drink there vs said bar?

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Electrical-Tax6982 t1_j9w09xf wrote

Less familiar with the area, you mean broken records, irish village or somewhere else for the cheap bar?

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SkiingAway t1_j9w18he wrote

> irish village

Yes. Been there for 50 years, owned by the same guy for the last 40 (who's actually an Irish immigrant, not the distant descendant of one), has a dartboard, you get the picture of what kind of bar it is.

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donkadunny t1_j9u14qg wrote

Their food wasn’t good enough or menu expansive enough to be a good restaurant and the beer wasn’t good enough to be a great brewery.

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TurnsOutImAScientist t1_j9u1h5f wrote

Hasn't stopped countless other places that fit that bill (and don't have the city's hottest music venue virtually next door) from staying open for years.

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Anustart15 t1_j9u2kxm wrote

It's also in a weird slightly out of the way location. The mediocre places are normally at least located somewhere very central so they are still always the "good enough" option to people that are nearby. With their location, they really needed to be a destination

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TurnsOutImAScientist t1_j9u2ym5 wrote

Yeah, trouble for that spot is what do you do on nights when there's no Roadrunner crowd. Brighton Center in general is pretty sleepy, although that might change as more and more big residential projects pop up.

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donkadunny t1_j9u32yg wrote

Sure but that area is weird and Roadrunner isn’t just gonna carry a place to success. Roadrunner (a) isn’t that big (b) doesn’t have shows every single night (c) isn’t actually next door to brato location (d) has several other better options for food and drink actually next door.

City’s hottest music club is MGM though.

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scarylarry2150 t1_j9umz5e wrote

I live nearby and tried to talk myself into giving it a shot numerous times over the past year or two, but whenever I pulled up the website it just seemed... underwhelming on all counts. Food options didn't really appeal to me, beer options sounded pretty meh, and the outdoor seating area was essentially just a fenced off parking lot. There's also not really anything else in the area, so it's not like you can just stop in for one and head somewhere else.

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donkadunny t1_j9uqkr2 wrote

That sums it up well. The brew operation set up looked unnecessarily large to boot.

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TurnsOutImAScientist t1_j9utksr wrote

Yeah I think the most obvious theory is that they blew too much cash building out their brewing op and along with the pandemic it was a two punch knockout.

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Workacct1999 t1_j9uj9ai wrote

The beer was absolutely terrible. I will never understand why places like this insist on brewing their own beer.

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man2010 t1_j9u3vxe wrote

Like the other commenter said, it's kind of a weird location. It's not too far from all the new development in the area, but it's far enough out of the way that people who live/work there might not go on a regular basis. A lot of the other businesses there don't really bring in foot traffic which limits it even more, and the pike cuts it off from being more walkable from the other side of it. As that area gets more developed it will probably turn into a better location for a place like Brato.

Aside from all that, it was pretty mediocre. The food was good, but not necessarily good enough to draw in people from outside of the Brighton/Allston area, and the beer wasn't anything special compared to other beer in Boston. It also felt like it was trying to be both a restaurant and a tap room, which made me feel like it wasn't much of either. It was nice that they almost always had patio seating available when it was warm, but that wasn't a good sign for the businesses itself.

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ajdragoon t1_j9xipyf wrote

Brato was a young business that opened right before the pandemic hit. There couldn’t have been worse timing for them. It’s impressive they went on as long as they did while more established operations had to close.

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