‘do At The View’ does Italian food with ‘theatrical lighting, concert sound, iPads, video on every wall’
What happens when a production company produces a restaurant? — do At The View happens, that’s what.
Christian Ruffin, founder of One Stop Productions, will open do (pronounced “dough”) At The View April 30 in West Midtown, according to their website.
The Italian restaurant at 955 West Marietta Street will focus on integrating technology into their “musically inspired” menu, according to Ruffin, who said in a release there will be a 20-foot wide by seven-foot tall video display.
“We have the capability to completely transform the space with the touch of a button,” Ruffin said. “The visual treatment of the venue begins in the parking lot.”
Technological features include red lips projected on the side of the building, a waterfall and “270 degrees of seamless video mapping on the walls that will allow images of birds, cars or even bubbles to move throughout the interior without a single break.”
The restaurant’s other features have motivated us to provide a list of DO’s and DON’T’s for future restaurateurs.
The Italian eatery touts a “paperless” business model. Patrons are given an iPad to call for valet, order food and checkout.
Do: Offer cool Apple technology. Don’t: Let robots run your restaurant.
And the bathrooms? Be sure to check out the motion-censored hand dryers and sinks with iPads as mirrors.
Do: Have a sanitary restroom. Don’t: Record people doing their business.
Oh ho ho, and the menu? The dishes are categorized as preludes (appetizers), interludes (salads), features (pizza entrees) and finales (dessert).
Do: Offer three-course meals. Don’t: Try and be cute (it just confuses the hell out of people).
Menu items include “The Maestro,” a pizza with garlic cream sauce, spinach, shrimp and cheeses, as well as the Chipotle Shrimp and Avocado Flatbread with Mango.
Ruffin: it’s a restaurant, NOT a production.
For more excruciatingly painful details about do At The View, click here — and we recommend you do, for the laughs alone.
(Amy Wenk with Midtown Patch contributed to this report)
do At The View
955 W Marietta Street
Atlanta, GA 30318
14 Responses
I hope this is wildly successful and he makes more money than he knows what to do with. I really do. I know it takes courage (and money) to do something creative and different.
But…This just sounds like WAY too much going on. I’m exhausted just reading about it. If that restaurant is half as cluttered-looking as they made their site, yikes. Also, I’m not in any danger of being mistaken for a scientist, but is “video bouncing off of each molecule” of water even possible?
He says “Nice ambiance isn’t enough. Good food isn’t enough.” I kinda think they are, assuming that someone also takes your order and puts food and drinks in front of you in a marginally timely and competent manner.
Finally, maybe I’m boring and dumb and someone will tell me to go eat at Chili’s or something, but “takes it to the next level” is right up there with “exclusive,” “designer” and “VIP” on the list of meaningless marketing-speak that it would just delight me to never hear again.
i lol’d.
btw, its “King Plow”
hi owen r.– updated! thanks.
–cjs
I know you’ve been dogging the resturant on here and on twitter, but it seems like something I think will be cool. It seems cutting edge and like a fun place. The food also sounds pretty good. I’ll be visiting it sometime within the first month they open
Now if their website is any indication of what is to come, then they are in trouble. I first clicked it and wrote it off because I was pretty confused by the whole design. I just thought it was a pizza place with a lengthy explanation of what inspires them. Then you kept talking about it and I gave it another look.
I’m 27 and my life revolves around technology. It appeals to me. I suspect it would appeal to a lot of Georgia Tech students as well. Depends on the price point. Pretty good location if this is true.
I’ll let you know how it feels once I get a chance to go check it out.
A $499.00 bathroom “mirror”. So that’s (1) “mirror”, which has a whooping 9.7-inch (diagonal) surface area. Wow… that’s really really brilliant. I’m sure women will love standing in line waiting to use this “mirror”.
I’m actually really looking forward to this place opening. I think it is genius that they are using the technology of today and have created a restaurant that gives you more bang for your buck. Not only do I get to eat what sounds like really good food but I also get to tinker with an iPad and see some really cool stuff on the walls. I’m sold and I’m sure all of my friends will be as well.
@Leonard I was concerned about the mirrors too but I heard from one of my editor friends that there is actually a large mirror outside the bathrooms that women can use
I think the initial comment on this thread (by 396) summed it up pretty well, as least from my perspective. Perhaps the only additional comment I can offer up is to snort about the absurd pretentiousness involved with this debacle:
do At The View is pronounced “dough At The View.”
How perfectly avante-garde. And pathetically ridiculous.
It’s either all hamburgers, all the time or this insanity. What happened to common decency with ATL restaurants?
The name is pretty terrible. Searching ‘do Atlanta’ on Google…
I’m interested in how the parking will work and will definitely give the place a try.
Ah, This is a resturant right. Ah, how come we are not talking about food.
The drinks was ok, sevice was terribke the employees acted like they were too hollywood to assist me, and though they offer valet it took me 15 minutes to receive my car which further frustrated me.