Bash Burger Company made one of the most recent jumps from being a food truck to a brick and mortar restaurant back in March. The move, however, proved to be unsuccessful as the restaurant quietly shut down for good late last week.
The strip at 315 N Bowman has seen its share of restaurant struggles over the past several years, often failing to attract enough guest to keep the doors open. That is part of the reason that Bash owner Ryan Ashcraft cites as contributing to the closure.
“Unfortunately the Bowman location just wasn’t doing the business we had hoped. Through discussions it ended up closing,” Ashcraft tells us. “Originally the plan was to possibly transfer ownership, but due to lack of communication it fell through and was too late at that point to save it.”
On the other side, the history of declining customers in the area seems to attract restaurants more likely to fail in the area. A quick look at reviews across the internet at Bash shows frequently bad reviews, mostly citing poor customer service, long wait times, and overall uncleanliness of the restaurant. Things that have no correlation with the location. The same can be said for other failed attempts in the shopping center like Bruno’s Italian Bistro that occupied the same space before Bash, and Bill’s Country Kitchen.
That part of the luck seems to be changing with other tenants. We hear consistently good reviews from LuLu’s Latin Rotisserie and new to the area Honey Pies is off to a great start.
Honey Pies, who hopes to open later this month, is not only placed next door to Bash, but was actually subletting the space from Bash. Their location was used as a private dining room for previous restaurants, and is physically tied with the Bash restaurant space and kitchen. Thankfully Bash’s closing will have no impact on Honey Pies opening.
“We decided the best thing to do was to just take over the entire lease for both spaces,” Owner Sharon Woodson tells us. “We are extremely close to opening and I would hate to lose all the hard work we put into it. Instead we are going to take some time after open and try to get the restaurant portion to a level where it is a great location for a future tenant.”
Woodson plans to do major work in the kitchen occupied by Bash including heavy cleaning and fixing a number of broken appliances. After that she hopes to do a dramatic remodel to the dated dining space to bring in more light and make it much more inviting. Judging by the work she has done in her own space next door, it will a huge improvement from the current state. Her space is unrecognizable from before, and will hopefully be a proud spot in the center.
Woodson says they do not currently have a replacement for the space Bash occupied, they are exploring bringing other restaurants in as well as concepts of their own.
As for Bash, Ashcraft says he will most likely not relocate. A Bash Burger location has opened in Saline County at the Silver Springs Country Club. Ashcraft says he has no partnership with the space, but he is helping the owners with the restaurant.
