Francesca's On Seneca Officially Opens

i was wondering about this place, its 5 blocks from my house and the progress has been looking good from the outside.

id love to see a buffalo rising review of the food and some more info on the inside. Is it a place to go for a sabres game too or exclusively a restaurant?

Also, ive been watching the progress of the vacant storefronts across from M&T Bank on seneca, someone has been doing work and i've seen Americorps signs around, i assumed they were just helping clean up but the fact that there is an announcement Monday is very exciting.

Now If Mayor Brown would come down here more he would realize that seneca is in desperate need of a repave or complete gutting and resurfacing, it would increase the appeal of the neighborhood 1000%...

Will any of those who complained about $100K of city BERC money to One Sunset also complain about the $70K to this? Doubt it. Why should a small handful of Buffalo's many restaurants receive those amounts from City Hall while almost all don't?

"The Mayor also discussed the city-funded improvements to the Seneca business district in South Buffalo, which includes $1.3 million for infrastructure improvements, new street lights, road repaving, landscaping, and sidewalks."

That part is good. Unfortunatley it's rare. The public infrastuture money being spend to build a huge fishing-hunting products store would be far better used instead to extend across much more of the city the kinds of "infrastructure improvements, new street lights, road repaving, landscaping, and sidewalks" the mayor bragged about in the article.

As a little bit of clarification, the $70,000 is a loan; the $7,025 is a matching grant. I think the bigger complaint about One Sunset was that the money kept coming even after the restaurant was obviously failing, and the restaurant had hands-on help from a BERC executive and rent checks (that bounced) from a Common Council member.

I don't disagree with you, though. I don't really like the idea of City Hall subsidizing some hand-picked restaurants at the expense of others. On the other hand, it's not a bad thing to make low-interest loans and other help available to small business and entrepreneurs, as long as the funds are available fairly, and there's no favoritism involved.

If you look at the minutes of a BERC meeting, you might be very surprised to see just how many familiar and long-established restaurants and businesses receive financial help of one sort or another from BERC.

The difference is also the location. This area of Seneca Street was dying. The original purpose of BERC is to help in new businesses in struggling areas. The One Sunset did not fit that catogory. Mr. Stokes (if he was as big time of a Basketball star as some would say) should have had at least half the money he got from the city, and then thier is the hole Mayor Office and the police mess and his constant arrest record (he just got arrested again recently for violating a restraining order). BUT anyway, the purpose of BERC is to help in the slow and struggling commercial districts such as this one on Seneca Street.

I'd like to see those promised infrastructure changes to Seneca St. that supposedly was supposed to happen 3 years ago and still haven't. City Hall has assured every year that the money is set aside for it but nothing is getting done. Seneca St. needs to be re-worked if they ever wish to bring reputable businesses to the area.

jsmith>"see just how many familiar and long-established restaurants and businesses receive financial help of one sort or another from BERC"

Really "many", or a very small portion of the total in Buffalo?

Lego - granted, One Sunset was such a mess that it drew attention to the subject of a few restaurants (few is a better description than many) getting City Hall financial help. If Stokes didn't have criminal charges for otehr things and if he was minimally competent to keep it open another year or so (average lifespan of any restaurant), that wouldn't make taxpayer help he received any less of a bad idea. The only difference is it would have stayed much quieter.

These are Italians (I assume) - they must borrow and repay. "Gigi's" got free money, while Stokes stole free money. Maybe it depends on your ethnic group?

What council district is this in? Just have to wonder if there is a reason for the council person to be missing from the photo op? Is this story just political opportunism? I can remember that Seneca Street has been on the redevelopment list for the last thirty years, going back to the late seventies or early 80's.

Live right near the restaurant...they've had the sign up for months now...glad to see it is open. It'll be nice to have another option on this stretch of Seneca (along with Manny's and Blackthorn), and look forward to trying it.