Partnership Woes Will Shutter Prima e Dopo in East Boston

A bar affiliated with Rino's Place, a popular Italian restaurant in East Boston, will close by June 1, due to a conflict between partners in the business, Boston Restaurant Talk reported.

In a long Facebook post, Anna Dicenso, co-owner of Rino's Place and its across-the-street neighbor Prima e Dopo, says she and her husband, Tony, failed to buy out a partner who asked for "ridiculous" compensation to do so and keep Prima open. "We have done our part to make it as best as it could have been, and it's been great! With that being said, when things went bad, we needed the other half to come forward and work together as a team, I'm sorry to say my partner didn't and wouldn't," Dicenso writes.

Prima e Dopo — "before and after" in Italian — opened about three years ago as a space for spillover Rino's Place traffic, where waiting diners could have a drink and appetizer before getting a table at the well-regarded Italian eatery (or have dessert after). Rino's Place, which was featured on a 2010 episode of Guy Fieri's Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives, was opened by chef Tony Dicenso's parents, Rino and Anna, more than two decades ago. It will remain in business on Saratoga Street.