New Spanish eatery to open at Princeton Shopping Center
The Gretalia Hospitality Group, which owns PJ’s Pancake House, More than Q, Osteria Procaccini, and Trattoria Procaccini, is opening another eatery in Princeton.
Mi España is slated to open this month at the Princeton Shopping Center. The Spanish restaurant will be located in the space formerly occupied by the Pho Spot. For many years the site was home to Taste of Mexico.
Billed as a Spanish street food restaurant, Mi España will feature tapas, soups, sandwiches, paella, and desserts by Chef Jose Diaz.
Opening night is set for Jan. 24 but is subject to change.
The popular Pho Spot closed permanently in December and the owner plans to open a new Vietnamese restaurant in Edison in the spring.
That’s wonderful news. Princeton has been in need of a Spanish restaurant for some time.
I agree. Despaña was a great place and it is a shame it closed due to Covid. I hope this new place is authentic Spanish cuisine
Let’s see how long this lasts, as the owners of the shopping center continue to demand sky high rents, drove it down so they can apply for money from town to make more money, on less quality stores.
Sad thing is that the majority of restaurants are awful in Princeton, and Princeton allows a monopoly to exist. Nothing has come close to ( the old) Bon Appetit run by Mr Lemmerling, and Main Street (even though the food was just passable it was a great community meeting place.
This is needed. Hope that it tastes good and is reasonably priced.
Why there and not where Main Street was. I miss the outdoor cafe.
This company makes awful food. PJ’s pancake house is basic and over priced. More then Q BBQ on route 1 is trash, just look at all the negative reviews. The quality of food per price is NOT what Princeton needs. Sara is right – most of the restaurants in Princeton are awful. We leave town to go to Hamilton, South Brunswick, Lawrence, to find better food at reasonable prices. This place will probably close in six months
Sara, what do you mean about the Shopping Center getting money from the town? Please expound on this. Also, there are plenty of good restaurants in town – and plenty of so-so restaurants, but we are luckier than most towns in the quality and quantity of restaurants that we have.
@anonymous The Princeton Shopping Center was declared an area in need of development by the town last year. One theory is that the Shopping Center wanted this designation to allow them to redevelop the Shopping Center without needing to follow the usual zoning approvals. Also, once PSC was declared an area in need of development, they were released from having to pay property taxes for a set period of time. Instead, they make a much smaller payment to the town (and nothing in taxes for the school district or county). In effect, by lowering their taxes, the town “gave” PSC money.
One of the reasons given by the report that the council had written was that the occupancy rate was just under 50%. Some people believe that PSC was upping the rents to encourage vacancies so that PSC would look like it needed to be redeveloped. There was a lot of controversy last year about this and it will be interesting to see what the final version of the PSC will look like.
They are making the Walgreens a separate building with drive thru and also adding a four story 200 unit apartments complex in addition to a condo complex off of Terhune behind PSC. Pay attention residents for the smart growth of Princeton. More housing and a senior development is being built on Thanet right now. Next up, Graduate Hotel over Morning Glory and Jammin Crepes, another affordable housing midtown and another behind Thomas Sweet. More traffic and parking issues on the way.
Princeton Shopping Center Rent $18,000
Downtown Nassau Street Rent $9,000
Research yourself about how businesses have learned to manipulate council. Look at high rents and the parking issue, high rent and redevelopment. In the end the consumer and taxpaying residents pay more. Despite endeavors to have spa like dispensaries the same will happen with the Princeton pot shops because, like Big Alcohol, Big Tobacco and Big Pharma, Big Pot will actually be running the show. Addiction is Big Money and you are about to be duped into their trap. Wake up council and residents as big business pushes out locally-owned unique shops in favor of chain stores.