Our Best restaurants (Jeffersonville & Louisville) closed

I don't have first hand knowledge about this, but I'm told Our Best restaurant at 2835 Holmans Lane in Jeffersonville is closed. They reporting stopping by for lunch today (Tuesday, 2/8/11) and there was a sign saying, "Sorry - Closed" on the door.

Anyone have info on this? I've been worried about their status for weeks now. We were just in there on Sunday for breakfast. Noticed a few hours later that the parking lot was full for the lunch rush.

This location is still listed on the company's website: http://www.ourbestrestaurant.com

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POST-SCRIPT: As noted below, all of the Louisville and Jeffersonville locations apparently closed on Monday, February 7, 2011.

Here's the article on Tommy Lancaster's closing:

http://newsandtribune.com/local/x207262 ... angs-it-up

I passed the Our Best restaurant on Preston Hgwy. today and they were closed for lunch today, but I didn't look for any sign. Did I miss something or are they closed?

The Our Best in Fern Creek was closed on Sunday evening. They had a handwritten sign on the door saying they were closed for the evening, so it may have just been related to the Super Bowl. One of my kids worked at the Our Best on Preston for a while and she said it wasn't unusual to only have thwo or three tables throughout the course of the evening.

Just tried calling the Preston and Bardstown Rd location. No answer. I called the Smithfield location and a nice lady told me that on Monday they closed all the locations except the original in Smithfield.

Just tried calling the Preston and Bardstown Rd location. No answer. I called the Smithfield location and a nice lady told me that on Monday they closed all the locations except the original in Smithfield.

I was afraid that was going to happen....some things are best left original.....Glad Smithfield survived, though. Makes for a nice drive out there.

No doubt a bold move to open 3 additional locations in this market and during an economic downturn.

It was a typical move for expansion. Too much, too soon with weak management probably drove this demise more than anything else.
I ate a there a couple of times and was far from impressed, but I liked the idea.
At any rate, there are some nice free standing restaurant locations out there now. I'm curious about what the rent will be at the Fern Creek one.?.......................

Rick Bowman might know. I think he worked there for a spell.

It was a typical move for expansion. Too much, too soon with weak management probably drove this demise more than anything else.
I ate a there a couple of times and was far from impressed, but I liked the idea.
At any rate, there are some nice free standing restaurant locations out there now. I'm curious about what the rent will be at the Fern Creek one.?.......................

Rick Bowman might know. I think he worked there for a spell.

I did work there and was on the opening crew, about this time two years ago. The management was terrible, I was only a line cook, and I was far from impressed working there. No controls on quality and consistency. I met alot of good kitchen staff there. The only thing I liked there was the coconut cream pies. I would expect the rent to be high, especially if the equipment would stay, it was a state of the art kitchen two years ago. Has a big walk-in refrigerator and decent size walk-in freezer. Large dining room, back office and breakroom area, it even has a drive through window. If the equipment stayed, they had a Henny Penny pressure deep fryer, 3 large Vulcan fryers, flat griddle, 6 burner stove. 2 convection ovens and two conventional ovens, 3-larger steam kettles. An electric flour sifter, large floor mixer.

I'm curious about what the rent will be at the Fern Creek one?.......................

Looks like you have an idea in the back of your mind Dan!

Although I was, much like everyone else, disappointed with the food at the satellite locations, this news frustrates me. I would blame bad management over the economy because for a while after they opened in the Creek it was usually very busy.

Once the food quality started being inconsistent and sometimes just downright bad, that killed it for me. Sorry, but any restaurant billing itself as "home cooking" should NOT serve insta-potatoes. End. Of. Story. Then there was the issue of drowning the cornbread with gravy.

In the last few months, the customers just seemed to dwindle. I do believe some were lost to the new BBQ place up the street. I know I made the switch.

While not a fan, I hate to see another indie bite the dust in this area.

I don't understand why the concept of homecooked "meat and three" is so anathema in this area. Why do I have to drive halfway across town for good country fried steak, homemade mashed potatoes, and green beans that weren't just dumped out of a can? Homemade mac & cheese? Chicken and dumplings?

Maybe too many of my fellow Creekers stick to Cracker Barrel. *eyeroll* (and yes, I do eat at CB occasionally). Then again, what do I expect when we can't even get an upgraded Kroger?

I hope someone can make good use of the space. Maybe Goose Creek Diner--Fern Creek divison?

I hope someone can make good use of the space. Maybe Goose Creek Diner--Fern Creek divison?

I can tell ya what we don't need:

Mexican
Sushi
Pizza
Steak House

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I'd be up for anything else...Wild Eggs, but doubt they would put one so close to CB. A decent bar would be good as we only have Bungalow Joe's and Beef O Brady's in the immediate area. *shrug*

Even the Smithfield location seems to have slipped foodwise. My brother lives across the street so we eat there frequently and I have a hard time finding much to enjoy other than the fried chicken and the hoe cakes.

I think a wild eggs would do a great business in Fern Creek.

Even the Smithfield location seems to have slipped foodwise. My brother lives across the street so we eat there frequently and I have a hard time finding much to enjoy other than the fried chicken and the hoe cakes.

The "Our Best"/Smithfield is a few minutes drive from our home, and we've always had a consistently good experience there...but I held my breath when they made the decision to expand, wondering if the same level of high quality would extend to the other locations. I've eaten at only one of the "satellite" locations (in south Louisville) on a Mother's Day...service was buffet-style, so it was difficult to gauge how they compared directly with Smithfield, but I thought it was "mediocre" at best. Needless to say, I'm sorry to see them take a step back in their growth plans; it's a good concept, and could work as a chain, but they will need to hire someone to manage that expansion who has a lot of experience in successfully developing multi-unit, full-service restaurants...it may simply be outside the scope of their current family-oriented management structure.