That location is definitely NOT cursed. Bellini's was overpriced and you couldn't get in and out of there for lunch in less than 90 minutes. Pearl's was there for 10 years and thrived in that building. I heard the reason it folded was that it was so successful, the franchise fee was jacked up to $50,000/year. The owner could not afford that, so he closed it as Pearl's and re-opened it as Island's. That seemed a half-hearted effort and without direction. It was Red River Ranch steakhouse for a while, then Othello's West. It failed as Othello's for he same reason Al Eschbach's place (which is now O'Connell's) folded - the owners got the crazy idea to pick up stakes and move to Bricktown to compete with the big boys. Both ventures failed quickly. The Chinese place was just nasty. The cajun place had potential, but the food was overcooked and overseasoned. In sum: the restaurants that actually failed at that location failed because the food & service were sub-par. The restaurants that voluntarily moved away to bigger markets were foolish.
The place can be a great restaurant; plenty of parking, decent sized building, etc. It just needs a new owner and a new concept. A decent seafood place would thrive in Norman.

That location is definitely NOT cursed. ... In sum: the restaurants that actually failed at that location failed because the food & service were sub-par. The restaurants that voluntarily moved away to bigger markets were foolish.

Sounds like a sub-par/foolish curse to me.

That location is definitely NOT cursed. Bellini's was overpriced and you couldn't get in and out of there for lunch in less than 90 minutes. Pearl's was there for 10 years and thrived in that building. I heard the reason it folded was that it was so successful, the franchise fee was jacked up to $50,000/year. The owner could not afford that, so he closed it as Pearl's and re-opened it as Island's. That seemed a half-hearted effort and without direction. It was Red River Ranch steakhouse for a while, then Othello's West. It failed as Othello's for he same reason Al Eschbach's place (which is now O'Connell's) folded - the owners got the crazy idea to pick up stakes and move to Bricktown to compete with the big boys. Both ventures failed quickly. The Chinese place was just nasty. The cajun place had potential, but the food was overcooked and overseasoned. In sum: the restaurants that actually failed at that location failed because the food & service were sub-par. The restaurants that voluntarily moved away to bigger markets were foolish.
The place can be a great restaurant; plenty of parking, decent sized building, etc. It just needs a new owner and a new concept. A decent seafood place would thrive in Norman.

I agree 100% a decent seafood place would thrive in Norman. Pappadeaux would just kill it here. I thought the Pearl's did well too as I ate there quite often in the early 00's when it was in that building. It was definitely the most successful of the lot. I don't really and truly believe in "curses" necessarily, but it sure seems like one considering all of restaurants that have tried to make it in that building.


(I respectfully disagree about Pearl's thriving in that location for 10 years. That building was only constructed in 1999, and it was Bellini's for the first year or so. That means Pearl's would have had to have been there until 2010, and that's not possible considering all of the other restaurants you correctly listed that place has been since. I'm not 100%, but I recall Pearl's lasting only until about 2005 because I ate there all the time and was upset when it became The Islands.)