The Venue Tuscaloosa plans to add concert series, more restaurants

Despite the often-sung chorus of supply-chain headaches leading to construction delays, The Venue Tuscaloosa opened late this winter, and based on early success, already has expansion in mind, and in progress.

Groundbreaking began in January 2022 on the 5-acre piece of land owned by Bryan and Lee Finison, at 6052 Watermelon Road, just across from Sokol Park. The Finisons moved to Tuscaloosa 20 years ago, and 14 years back opened Treehouse Farm and Nursery, which covers a couple of those acres. To accommodate anticipated crowds at The Venue, the Finisons also added 116 more parking spaces to their lot.

Another full acre went to create the green-space at The Venue, with a 20- by 25-foot stage to the south, fronted by rings of movable chairs, and facing across the way an 1,800-square-foot tent. Flanking to the sides are dining and beverage options — Venue Market: Deli and Pizzeria, Liza's Sweet Shoppe, Finny's Pub, Smokehouse Grill, Tacos Locos — that keep food and funds flowing. Patrons can choose from an array of offerings including tacos, pizzas, smokehouse meats, hot dogs, smash burgers, salads, ice creams, smoothies and shakes, and for adults, cocktails and craft beers.

One coming addition will be Lighten Up, with wraps, soups and more salads. Long-range, the Finisons are planning on another option, fine-dining, probably on a second-floor building to come, placed on the foundation where the tent is now.

As the Finisons, with four growing and grown children, had hoped, The Venue has become a family and group hangout, for those seeking a place to be together where everyone doesn't have to agree on the menu, with inside and outside options, where kids can run around and burn off energy while adults visit, or enjoy live music played on the stage, weekend and occasional other nights.

The standing tent, with fans installed to combat summer, can be rented out for groups, weddings, parties or other gatherings, at about 100 seated, or 200 standing. Not attached to the Venue, but just steps away, the Finisons also have the Open Air Pergola for rent, with 3,000 square-feet opening onto a private garden area. Finny's Pub, which seats 54 indoors, is open for smaller group rentals.

The main space at The Venue works for families in part because there's no admission charge, and that will continue to be the case the majority of days, Bryan Finison said. But one thing they're adding is a concert series, with its top name thus far on Aug. 17, featuring Nashville hitmakers Diamond Rio, with Opelika-born singer-songwriter Adam Hood. For those concert occasions, the Finisons will create a larger temporary stage in the parking lot, facing away from Watermelon Road and toward the green space, somewhat like the old downtown CityFest would do.

The plan is for eight such concert nights per year, which will necessitate admission charges. The first toe in the water dipped July 1 for Freedom Festival, an Independence Day-themed night played by The Venue's house band Watermelon Road, comprising top-tier local musicians who can perform just about anything to fit a mood or theme, Finison said.

Tickets for Diamond Rio and Adam Hood are $39.50, with $10 for parking in R.C. Jenkins Park. Door time will be 6 p.m., with the show starting at 7:30, Aug. 17. General admission tickets can be upgraded to VIP for an added $25, which will grant 4:30 admission into the show, access to private restrooms, air-conditioned facilities, and a pre-show by performance by Watermelon Road.

There will also be admission-charged events such as the album release party for local jam band Reed Brake on Aug. 4, with a more modest $5 cover.

Free live music plays on The Venue stage most Thursday and Saturday nights, acoustic solo, and bands. The Venue is also adding occasional movie nights, the first to be July 18; karaoke has also recently been added, for Tuesday nights. For the full event calendar, see www.venuetuscaloosa.com/events.

Family options

Part of the Finisons' plan was to offer family-friendly, group-sized options for folks either living or visiting north of the Black Warrior River.

"We are capturing the folks that visit the park," Bryan Finison said, "who come over after games and things, and although we don't have to just see groups, groups is what we're built for. So your traditional restaurant sees the bus pull up and they all panic. Your host or hostess is kind of the gatekeeper. Well, we don't have a gatekeeper.

"So 400 people might walk in at the same time, so we better be ready."

Even with its atypical setup, the Venue sees some of the same concerns as standard restaurants: Slower Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday, picking up toward weekends, and more evenings than lunches. Of course, Finison adds, that may be driven in part by daytime summer heat.

The rentals do well, but they don't close the rest of The Venue for that.

"We don't rent the whole Venue out, because we always want to stay open for the public," Finison said. Most evenings, The Venue stays open until 9 p.m., and weekends until 10. Those times will run a little later for concert nights, but on the whole, groups tend to enjoy the Venue from 5:30 until about 8:30 most days.

"Unlike other restaurants, we're not looking to turn over tables," he said. "We're big enough you can come and stay five minutes, or three hours.

"We're seeing a couple of hundred on a weeknight, maybe 300 or 400 on a weekend."

As with any new venture, getting the word out is crucial, as is getting folks on site for a first time, so they can go out and share the news.

"There's definitely a covey of close friends that tell us 'Hey, everybody's talking about it.' " Finison said. "But I still get a lot of phone calls: 'What is it? Where is it?' "

Things may change with autumn's cooling weather, but as this will be The Venue's first fall, they're still waiting to see. Aside from rentals, the Venue doesn't take reservations.

The Venue has private security, but will hire extra as needed for the larger concert nights. So it's not just offering entertainment options for families, but it's a safe spot to gather, Finison said. Patrons can bring their own blankets and chairs, but no outside food or drink is allowed in, because food and drink sales keep the lights on.

Thus far The Venue Market sees its most traffic, he said, for the top-selling smash burgers ― smashed on the griddle ― pizzas, chicken fingers, sandwiches and salads. Tacos Locos is probably second most popular, offering several options, open face, soft tortilla, with charred chicken, carne asada and others, topped with varied seasonings. Smokehouse Grille's barbecue may do better come cooler weather, he said, but patrons do seem to love their nachos.

The old-style ice-cream parlor is named for their fourth child, the only daughter, Eliza, shortened to Liza.

"That has probably been the biggest home run of everything, in this heat," he said. "There's not just 24 flavors of Mayfield ice cream, but coffees, sweet shots, smoothies and shakes.

"And honestly, there's no better feeling than seeing your kids and grandparents, whatever your family unit is, just sitting together and enjoying ice cream, then watching the kids run around on the grass."

For more, see www.venuetuscaloosa.com.

Reach Mark Hughes Cobb at mark.cobb@tuscaloosanews.com.

This article originally appeared on The Tuscaloosa News: The Venue Tuscaloosa to add concert series, more restaurants