gailtm

I ate at Fresh City - very disorganized. As far as food, not great. But than again, why would you expect any better? Looks like novices are preparing the food and it is fast food wraps. Of course the quality of the food wont be great becuase most of it is probably no freshly prepared by a highly trained chef. Prices are cheap, but you get what you pay for. If you want cheap go there. But if you are into quality, go somewhere else. Also, did anyone have issues with parking? Very frustrating. About 1/2 of the stores still need to open - it will be a parking nightmare.

Rosie, I own Cafe Serene in Livingston. I do think the restaurants in the center of town will do well - there will be outdoor dining, which is nice. The center of Livingston has been run down for so long - it needed a renovation. I do think the residents are looking forward to it (except the traffic it might bring). There are rude people in every town. Most of the customers at our restaurant have been great - (occasionally there have been diffucult ones, but that is the nature of the restaurant business anywhere).

Livingston is a very tough town - I have been living here most of my life and I own a new restaurant in town. On the most part, I have had good experiences with customers and they provide helpful suggestions to improve (some of the suggestions are off base, but you accept them graciously) I think people in Livingston are accustomed to staying with the "landmark" restaurants and maybe are not ready for change. They get comfortable going to the same restaurants. As far as the town center, there are stores that already exist in Livingston that are moving to the town center.

Fresh City will be moving in - as far as restaurants failing in Livingston within 5 years - it seems most have been there a long time - Eppes, Diner, Stretches, Calabria, Nero's and other small places such as pizzeria's and Chinese. Seems most do survive - but certain locations such as the one Pizzeta is in - is always changing (blue dolphin, Blue Moon, etc). Also, on the second floor in town center there will be a fine dining italian restaurant and a Meditteranean restaurant. It will be difficult for all the restaurants in Livingston to survive since more are being created.

I have lived in Livingston for 38 years. Unfortunately, no bakeries have survived in Livingston. With the "improvement" of Shoprite and King's bakeries and stores like Costco nearby, it has put the little guy out of business. Quality does not always win.