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Welcome to the Eater Boston restaurant closings roundup; this page is updated weekly, with the most recent updates at the top, highlighting all the restaurants that have bid farewell to the Boston area in recent weeks and the ones that have announced an upcoming closure but haven’t yet closed. Something missing? Email boston@eater.com. (Looking for info on recent restaurant openings? Find that here.)
December 19, 2019
BOSTON PROPER
Today’s reportedly the final day for the Charles River Plaza location of bakery-cafe chain Au Bon Pain (209 Cambridge St.), and it’s been swiftly removed from the company’s list of locations. A Cambridge location also closed this week (more on that below). A dozen Massachusetts locations remain in operation.
The Social Register, located in South Boston’s Aloft Hotel (401 D St.), is now closed; it opened two and a half years ago, serving throwbacks like chocolate lava cake and lamb lollipops, from the team behind the Brahmin in Back Bay and Landmark Public House in Dorchester. In a December 16 Facebook post, the Social Register team wrote, in part: “Social Register will always hold a place in our hearts, however, it is with great sadness that Social Register has closed its doors as we move on to other ventures ... Our time in South Boston was filled with great memories and we will never forget them. Thank you again.” It will reportedly be replaced by Alma Gaucho Prime Brazilian Steakhouse.
Not yet gone: Chinatown’s BLR by Shōjō (13 Hudson St.) will close on December 21, as reported earlier this week, as the team focuses on its other restaurants, including opening a new one soon as well as adding booze and full-service, izakaya-inspired dinner to Ruckus. While BLR by Shōjō has only existed in its current form since 2016, it’s been around for nearly 40 years, first as Best Little Restaurant.
South End cocktail bar Lion’s Tail (354 Harrison Ave.) will close on December 30 to make way for a new location of its Dorchester sibling Yellow Door Taqueria, which could open in January. Lion’s Tail opened three years ago, featuring cocktails by partner Jarek Mountain (Abby Lane, Back Bay Harry’s) and food by Diego Orsono (Dante). Mountain will stay onboard, overseeing the drinks at Yellow Door Taqueria. (He was behind the original cocktail menu at Yellow Door’s first location, too.)
CAMBERVILLE
The Charles River Plaza Au Bon Pain wasn’t the only location to close this week; Cambridge also lost its final one (648 Massachusetts Ave., Central Square). As Cambridge Day notes, the chain once had many ties to the city, including a longtime flagship location in Harvard Square, not to mention the fact that one founder went to Harvard and another went to Harvard Business School.
December 12, 2019
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BOSTON PROPER
Temporary closure: Financial District restaurant Flame Cafe (2 Oliver St., downtown Boston) — which opened in 2013, serving Greek and Armenian food — is now closed and focused on catering. But a sign posted on the restaurant’s door, dated December 1 and still up as of December 11, indicates that the closure is just temporary.
Not yet gone/temporary closure: On the heels of the closure of Tony C’s (see December 5 update below), another Fenway sports bar is closing — but not forever: The Baseball Tavern (1270 Boylston St., Boston), notable for its rooftop. “It is with a heavy heart that we announce the soon closure of The Baseball Tavern,” the business posted on Facebook on December 12. “Since 1963, we have been a Fenway tradition, serving up fun, smiles, and cold beer to our loyal customers. It has been a fantastic journey and wouldn’t have been possible without the support of our family, loyal customers, friends, and dedicated employees. We are very grateful to everyone who has supported us over the years. We wish you all the best life has to offer, and please stay tuned for future developments. Goodbyes are not forever!” It will eventually reopen in a new development on the site — without a roof deck, but with a street-level patio. The bar might be open until around late February, when demolition is expected to begin. This won’t be the Baseball Tavern’s first move; it was once located elsewhere on Boylston St.
CAMBERVILLE
Harvard Square pizzeria Cambridge 1 — open since 2002 at 27 Church St., Cambridge — is now closed, with a brief note on the door thanking customers. The restaurant featured grilled pizza and had a Fenway sibling location for a few years.
Not yet gone: 15-year-old cafe the Biscuit will say goodbye to its 406 Washington St., Somerville, location (right by the edge of mid-Cambridge) on December 31, 2019, ultimately moving to a new, undisclosed location nearby. The cafe is running an Indiegogo campaign to help with the move and blames an “unreasonable landlord” for the situation, saying that the landlord “wants [the Washington Street space] empty and fallow, like the majority of their other properties in the neighborhood.”
FARTHER AFIELD
Blue Dalia, the full-service Mexican restaurant and tequila bar inside the Natick location of Wegmans (1245 Worcester St.), closed on December 7 after about a year and a half in business. The restaurant “did not consistently meet ... projections,” a spokesperson told the Framingham Source, noting that competition with the rest of Wegmans’ dine-in options, including burgers, sushi, and pizza, was a large part of the problem.
Morrell’s BBQ (577 Washington St. [Rt. 138], Stoughton) is now closed, but the business will live on through catering and bringing its food truck to private and corporate events.
Not yet gone: Newton mainstay Lumière (1293 Washington St.) will close around February 2020 after two decades in business. “The restaurant has run its course,” chef-owner Jordan Bailey told the Globe, noting that the market “has changed quite a bit” in terms of suburban fine dining. In 2016, founder and chef Michael Leviton sold the farm-to-table French bistro to Bailey, who was the chef de cuisine at the time.
Korean-American restaurant Simjang (72 Shrewsbury St., Worcester) — sibling to Deadhorse Hill — will cede its space to a new member of the same restaurant group, Luci’s Taco Shop and Margarita Bar, but that’s not the end of the line for Simjang. It will reopen at a new, to-be-announced location next year. (It’ll stay open in its original space through December, with Luci’s opening in January.)
Simply Smith’s (1 Pleasant St., Cohasset), an Italian restaurant that has been open for about three years, will close on December 22. Chef Greg Smith told The Patriot Ledger that he and owner Jean Sullivan, his girlfriend, were having trouble attracting local customers. They want to open another restaurant — but not in Cohasset.
Update, 6:15 p.m.: This piece has been updated to indicate that the Baseball Tavern will eventually reopen in a new building on the same site.
December 5, 2019
BOSTON PROPER
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Swissbäkers abruptly closed all locations on December 4, 2019, saddening chocoweggli fans throughout the region. In a note posted to Facebook, the company wrote: “To the best guests in the world. It’s with a heavy heart that we must inform you that we have to close our doors. We want to thank you for letting us help start your morning the Swiss way for the last 13 years, it has been an honor. We wish everyone a happy holiday season and we hope you know how much we will miss serving you.” Founded by Helene and Thomas Stohr, Swissbäkers got its first retail storefront in 2006, although the company dates back to 1998 and was a longtime farmers market staple. The small local bakery chain specialized in pretzels, breads, and other baked goods. Its giant Allston space opened in 2013 (168 Western Ave.), but there was also an older Reading location and a newer Harvard Square location.
Sizable Fenway sports bar Tony C’s has closed after a little over three years, unable to renew the lease. The bar took over for Jerry Remy’s in 2016 (and later took over the Seaport Jerry Remy’s as well). Staff members will be moved to other locations within the small local chain (Boston’s Seaport District, Burlington, Somerville, and Peabody).
Attractive Bay Village restaurant Nahita — which served Peruvian-meets-Japanese cuisine with some Turkish influences from its Turkey-based ownership team — closed after just a year. The owners are reportedly opening something new in the same space.
Temporary closure: Robotic restaurant Spyce (241 Washington St., Downtown Crossing), mentioned in the November 14 update below, is now officially temporarily closed for renovations, with plans to reopen around when its new Harvard Square sibling opens “in the coming months.”
CAMBERVILLE
Temporary closures: Harvard Square mainstay Border Cafe (32 Church St., Cambridge) is temporarily closed following a two-alarm fire that reportedly moved through the restaurant’s ductwork between the kitchen and roof. No injuries were reported. The restaurant hasn’t yet announced a reopening timeline.
Family-friendly Full Moon (344 Huron Ave., Huron Village, Cambridge), mentioned in the November 14 update below, is now officially closed after over two decades, although new owner Bhola Pandey plans to reopen it under a new name without many other changes.
FARTHER AFIELD
The Wellesley location of the Upper Crust Pizzeria chain (99 Central St.) is now closed (again). It also closed back in 2012 (along with most of the chain) but reopened soon after under new ownership.
In other local chain news, the Lexington location of Margaritas Mexican Restaurant (438 Bedford St.) is no more, about a year after the chain’s Medford location closed.
Temporary closures: Medford’s Dim Sum Cafe (679 Fellsway West) is currently closed, citing understaffing, but hopes to reopen after “a short period of time.”
Not yet gone: The last of a casual local chain founded in 1984 will close: Spud’s Restaurant & Pub (255 Newburyport Tpke., Rowley) will be sold in January and replaced by a seafood restaurant under different ownership.
November 21, 2019
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BOSTON PROPER
31-year-old Ethiopian restaurant Addis Red Sea has closed in the South End (544 Tremont St.), several years after it was listed for sale. (It had a Cambridge sibling, too, but that closed a few years ago.)
Also in the South End, Appleton Cafe (123 Appleton St.) is now closed after over 20 years, during which it went through several ownership changes. A new spot called Greystone Cafe will open in its space next spring.
Not yet gone: Coppersmith (40 West Third St., South Boston) will close at a to-be-announced date in early January 2020 — after a string of farewell events — as its building is being redeveloped into a biotech building. The giant restaurant includes two food trucks parked permanently inside, a roof deck, cafe space, a large bar, and a patio, and it serves a variety of comfort foods.
In other “not yet gone” news, Northeastern University’s Chicken Lou’s (50 Forsyth St.) will close at the end of April 2020. The casual restaurant has been open since 1990, but the business started long before that in the form of canteen trucks back in 1977.
CAMBERVILLE
Ginger Exchange, an Asian fusion restaurant with several locations, has closed its Inman Square outpost (1287 Cambridge St., Cambridge); a restaurant called Corazon de Frida Mexican Cantina will open in its place.
FARTHER AFIELD
The Loading Dock (11 Brighton St., Belmont) — open since 2016 and serving Mediterranean and Middle Eastern food — is now closed.
November 14, 2019
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BOSTON PROPER
Today, November 14, was the final day for Bubor Cha Cha (45 Beach St., Chinatown), which originally opened in 2009 serving Malaysian, Thai, and Indonesian food but later shifted to dim sum and Cantonese.
Not yet gone: Scoozi, an Italian restaurant near Boston University and Kenmore Square (580 Commonwealth Ave.), will apparently close to make way for the first American location of Chinese hot pot chain Shu DaXia. Scoozi’s other location, which was on Newbury Street, closed in 2017.
Not yet gone/temporary closure: Robotic restaurant Spyce, which is expanding to Harvard Square, announced today that it would temporarily close its original Boston location (241 Washington St., Downtown Crossing) on November 22 for renovations to allow it to adapt to a new, more customizable menu that adds salads to its collection of bowls. It’s expected to reopen “in the coming months,” around the same time as the Harvard location, with exact dates being announced later.
CAMBERVILLE
Not yet gone: Full Moon, a family-friendly restaurant in Huron Village (344 Huron Ave., Cambridge), is preparing to close after over two decades; an exact date has not yet been announced. Bhola Pandey, owner of a Nepalese restaurant in Winchester called Mitho, is reportedly taking over the space and naming it Melting Pot but not really making any other changes.
FARTHER AFIELD
Country Mile (136 Belmont St., Watertown) is closed after a year, with owners Matt and Nancy Sargent moving on shortly after announcing adjustments to the restaurant’s menu, staff, and service model. Their former partners in the business have quickly opened an Italian restaurant in the space and are currently still operating under the Country Mile name. Under Matt Sargent, the original incarnation of the restaurant served small plates based around very seasonal, local ingredients whenever possible. The new Country Mile, in a collaboration with chef Jeffrey Cincotta of Molinari’s in Dorchester, includes dishes such as fettuccini carbonara, chicken saltimbocca, mussels fra diavolo, and tiramisu.
The owners who took over D’amici’s Bakery in 2017 have abruptly closed all of its locations (Melrose, Reading, and two in Lynn); the bakery originally opened in 1993. In a now-deleted Facebook post, co-owner Sandrine Coyer (one of the new owners) cited “overwhelming” problems with the business that weren’t apparent during the sale. “We tried until the last day, but we met a dead end.” Coyer faced backlash on the Facebook post due to reports that employees found out about the closure at the last minute.
The final standalone Friendly’s location within Rte. 128 (611 Main St., Stoneham), mentioned in the October 17 update below, has now officially closed.
Mr. Crepe has closed its fairly new Salem location (83 Washington St.); its original Somerville spot remains open.
Westbury Farms (925 Main St., Walpole) has closed. The restaurant had been around for a couple of decades, focusing on casual, family-friendly breakfast and lunch. Its Norwood sibling remains open.
November 7, 2019
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BOSTON PROPER
Popular Allston roast beef joint Roast Beast (1080 Commonwealth Ave.) is closed, reportedly following owner DJ Lawton’s refusal to comply with the fire inspector and switch from electric griddles to a panini press, a compromise that would have allowed Lawton to avoid installing an expensive ventilation system. Instead, he chose to close up shop, vowing never to operate a business in Massachusetts again. (The shop had been open for eight years; Lawton had apparently been told back in 2011 that he didn’t need a ventilation system, and regular inspections proceeded without issue over the years.) He is entertaining offers to sell the Roast Beast brand so someone else can reopen it somewhere.
Mentioned in the October 31 update below, Papa Razzi (159 Newbury St., Back Bay) is now closed after nearly a decade at that location and three decades overall in Back Bay. (Two suburban locations remain in operation.)
CAMBERVILLE
Victor’s Deli (710 Broadway, Ball Square, Somerville), open since 1982, is now closed. “Saying goodbye was not easy but there comes a point in life when it’s time for a change and that’s where we are now,” the Moccia family announced. “The family as a whole decided it was time to close and move on to the next chapter of their lives.”
Temporary closures/moves: Perfectly quirky wine bar Upperwest (1 Cedar St., North Cambridge) is closed as its building, a veterans club, is being sold, but the closure is intended to be temporary: Owners Kim Courtney and Xavier Dietrich plan to reopen elsewhere, ideally nearby. Stay tuned.
Fortissimo Coffeehouse (365 Somerville Ave., Union Square, Somerville) closed on Halloween, per a sign on its door, but it will reopen soon a very short walk away at 75 Bow St., in a former salon space. Signage is already up, but a reopening date hasn’t been announced yet.
FARTHER AFIELD
CLC Cafe (442 Common St., Belmont) — open for a couple of years, but born out of a 25-year-old catering company — is now closed, with the owner citing medical issues that forced him to sell.
After nearly 50 years, Buccini’s Mister Sub (64 Billings Rd., Quincy) has closed; it had been under the current ownership since early 2018, when it was already “at the edge of closing,” per a Facebook post from the business. The new owners had thoughts on how to resurrect it but couldn’t find enough of a “qualified work force” to turn things around.
The year-old Cugini’s Market (129 Waltham St., Watertown), which served breakfast, lunch, and a few dinner items, such as steak tips and chicken parmigiana, is now closed.
Da Bomb BBQ (744 Broadway, Revere), open since summer 2018, has closed. It was a spinoff of a food truck specializing in savory filled pastry dough rounds that owner Meghan Fitzgerald calls “bombs.”
October 31, 2019
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BOSTON PROPER
Doyle’s Cafe (3484 Washington St., Jamaica Plain), the 137-year-old Jamaica Plain pub mentioned in several updates below, is now officially closed. The bar played host to a wide range of locals, politicians, and celebrities over the years, not to mention several major film shoots.
The Puritan & Co. team’s six-month pop-up Café Beatrice has reached its planned end in Allston (182 Western Ave.), closing after service on October 31. It’s not really the end of the cafe, though, as it will be reincarnated as part of the team’s forthcoming venue at Cambridge Crossing, a development near Lechmere in East Cambridge. The new spot will include, in addition to the cafe, a restaurant and a cocktail bar with a rooftop terrace.
Local bakery chain Swissbakers has closed its location inside of Boston Public Market (100 Hanover St., downtown Boston), but another location remains open quite close by (1 Nashua St., North Station, West End), and there are others in Allston, Harvard Square, and Reading.
Not yet gone: Back Bay mainstay Papa Razzi, part of a small local Italian chain, will close its 159 Newbury St. location on November 3, citing a “changing landscape and increasing rent structure.” It’s been at that location for about a decade — but three decades total in Back Bay. Concord and Wellesley locations will remain open.
FARTHER AFIELD
West Newton Mexican restaurant La Tate (1255 Washington St.), open for a little over a year, is now closed.
A Quincy Center Thai and Japanese restaurant called Len Sennn Noodle Design (1554 Hancock St.) closed on October 25, citing “expropriation” — likely related to Burgin Parkway construction.
Prime 131 Grill (131 Boston Post Rd., Wayland), a steakhouse with ties to Jimmy’s Steer House in Arlington and several other suburban restaurants, closed over the weekend. (Gift certificates will be honored at its sister restaurants.) The restaurant opened in 2010, initially called Primebar Grill.
October 24, 2019
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BOSTON PROPER
Local burrito chain Boloco closed its Copley Square location (569 Boylston St., Back Bay) on October 20, directing customers to nearby outlets by Berklee and Boston Common. The space will reportedly become home to Boston proper’s first location of controversial chicken chain Chick-fil-A, which has been trying to come to the city since 2012.
In other Back Bay news, Globe Bar & Cafe (384 Boylston St.) closed on October 19 after nearly two years in its current space — the former Rattlesnake Bar & Grill space, complete with enviable rooftop — and over a decade in Back Bay overall.
And yet another Back Bay update: The naughtiest bakery in town, Sweet-N-Nasty (90 Massachusetts Ave.), is now an online-only operation, although the florist that shares the 90 Mass. Ave. address is serving as one of a couple local pickup locations for the bakery’s R-rated treats.
CAMBERVILLE
Colorful Kendall Square tapas joint Kika Tapas (350 Third St., Cambridge) — which featured eye-catching decor inspired by filmmaker Pedro Almodóvar — has closed after eight years. Its surviving Instagram account now directs customers to sister spot Solea in Waltham.
FARTHER AFIELD
The two locations of Del Frisco’s Grille (33 Boylston St., Chestnut Hill; 92 Middlesex Tpke., Burlington) mentioned in the October 17 update below are now closed as planned.
Mystic Brewery (174 Williams St., Chelsea), mentioned on October 3 and October 17 below, is also now closed as planned.
In other beer news, Battle Road Brew House (20 Sudbury St., Maynard) has closed.
October 17, 2019
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BOSTON PROPER
Downtown fast-casual spot Piperi Mediterranean Grill (1 Beacon St.) is now closed, but it is continuing on as a catering business.
A Japanese restaurant in Brighton, Asahi (418 Market St.), is closed — but it has moved to Brookline, reopening as Kamiza Japanese Cuisine at 696 Washington St. and continuing to serve Japanese food (and a bit of Chinese).
FARTHER AFIELD
Quincy pizzeria Angelo’s Coal Fired Pizza (1657 Hancock St.) has closed after five years.
Not yet gone: Two of Massachusetts’ three Del Frisco’s Grille locations (33 Boylston St., Chestnut Hill; 92 Middlesex Tpke., Burlington) will close on October 20, 2019, amid the sale of the chain. The Westwood location — and Boston’s locations of sister restaurant Del Frisco’s Double Eagle Steakhouse — remain in operation.
Also, as noted in the October 3 update below, Chelsea’s Mystic Brewery (174 Williams St.) will close soon; it now has an official closing date: October 19, with a very hoppy special beer available and free pizza from Ciao.
And in other “not yet gone” news, the final standalone Friendly’s within Rte. 128 (611 Main St. [Rte. 28], Stoneham) will reportedly close on November 10.
October 10, 2019
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BOSTON PROPER
Decades old sports bar Four Winds (266 Commercial St., North End) apparently closed at some point over the past few weeks.
Not yet gone: Doyle’s Cafe (3484 Washington St., Jamaica Plain), mentioned in several updates below, still hasn’t announced an exact closing date, but it will likely be in late October, so visit while you still can.
FARTHER AFIELD
Towneship (140 Main St., Easton) was mentioned in the September 26 update below as an upcoming closure; it is now closed, as confirmed by an October 9 post on the restaurant’s Facebook page that notes that co-owner Chandra Gouldrup will continue to run her older Easton restaurant, Farmer’s Daughter, with an eye toward expanding it “into other New England communities.” Farmer’s Daughter is a popular farm-to-table brunch spot; Gouldrup opened the more upscale dinner destination Towneship with David Howe in a beautifully renovated former Swedish church a little over a year ago. Howe will be bringing Falmouth’s La Cucina Sul Mare into the space.
Not yet gone: Charlie’s Junction Deli (65 Exchange St., Lynn), a breakfast-and-lunch spot open for over 20 years, could close as soon as this weekend, depending on the timing of the sale of its building.
October 3, 2019
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BOSTON PROPER
The Kenmore Square location of fried chicken chain Popeyes (21 Brookline Ave.) has reportedly closed. Other Boston and Boston-area locations remain, but this particular location was known for becoming the target of Red Sox fans’ ire in 2011 after a Globe story, tracking the disastrous collapse of a season that started off well, detailed how “Boston’s three elite starters went soft, their pitching as anemic as their work ethic.” Josh Beckett, Jon Lester, and John Lackey, as the Globe’s Bob Hohler reported, had a “habit of drinking beer, eating fast-food fried chicken, and playing video games in the clubhouse during games while their teammates tried to salvage a once-promising season.”
Casual North End pizza joint Pushcart Pizzeria (117 Salem St.) is no more.
Equal Exchange Cafe (226 Causeway St.), mentioned in the September 26 update below, is now officially closed in Boston’s West End.
Mobile Cooks has closed its vegan kiosk at Time Out Market Boston, MC Kitchen, after a three-month residency. Founder Matthew Kaplan is seeking investments to open a permanent space, MC Cloud Kitchen, and possibly other future food hall pop-ups. At Time Out, a new restaurant called Greek Street — from the Saloniki team — will take over the MC Kitchen space.
Not yet gone: The new-ish owners of longtime Beacon Hill dive bar Beacon Hill Pub, who reopened it in January 2019 after a brief closure, said they wouldn’t be making major changes to the beloved neighborhood spot. Well, they’re making major changes — closing it and turning it into a new fine dining restaurant. According to the current planned timeline, construction may begin in summer or fall 2020, with the pub staying open until then.
CAMBERVILLE
Another day, another decades-old dive bar closure. Courtside (291 Cambridge St., East Cambridge), the 76-year-old bar with a distinctive bright blue exterior spangled with yellow stars, closed at the end of September, leaving karaoke fans in the lurch.
In a rare turn of events for the fast-growing Tatte Bakery & Cafe chain, the local company has closed its 205 Broadway location in Cambridge’s Kendall Square on September 29, after seven years. In a note posted on the company’s website, founder Tzurit Or wrote that Tatte Broadway was “born out of a need for a space to support our wholesale business,” but after one season, at the request of the landlord, Or turned it into a full-fledged cafe. Now, seven years later, the lease is up: “Although we love it here, we’ve grown and understand that Tatte needs more space to be Tatte… to run our operations and present our brand and product as we would like it to be presented,” Or wrote. (Newer locations that have opened in the past couple years are considerably larger.) There are plenty of other locations still in operation, including another in Kendall Square (318 Third St.), and several more on the way throughout Boston and beyond.
Perillas, a year-long bibimbap pop-up at Bow Market (1 Bow Market Wy., Union Square, Somerville), ended its run on September 28, and owner James Choi is looking for a permanent location. Its Bow Market space will be taken over by vegan Egyptian pop-up Koshari Mama for the next year.
FARTHER AFIELD
Not yet gone: Chelsea’s Mystic Brewery (174 Williams St.) has announced that it is winding down operations in the coming weeks, with founder and brewer Bryan Greenhagen citing a number of factors in the closure, including “dramatic change in taproom volume” and “fragmenting of the market.”
September 26, 2019
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BOSTON PROPER
Popular Allston-Brighton izakaya Ittoku (1414 Commonwealth Ave.) closed on September 22 — but not forever. It will reopen soon, probably in October, in Cambridge (1815 Massachusetts Ave.), where it will have a full liquor license as opposed to the beer and wine license it used to have. The restaurant opened in late 2013.
Longtime Beacon Hill restaurant the Hungry I has apparently closed; more details to come, but the French restaurant had been on sale since mid-2018 (along with the rest of its building, including residential space). Over the years, it ended up on some lists of the city’s “most romantic” restaurants.
There’s only one Uno Pizzeria and Grill left within Boston proper as the Back Bay location (731 Boylston St.) is now closed. A location remains in operation in Kenmore Square.
Not yet gone: Equal Exchange Cafe (226 Causeway St.), open for over a decade in Boston’s rapidly developing West End, will close at the end of service on September 30, but the worker-owned cooperative behind it will remain in operation.
FARTHER AFIELD
A nearly 30-year-old Italian restaurant in Taunton, Bella Roma (239 Broadway), is now closed, with the owners noting on Facebook that the closure was “due to circumstances beyond [their] control” but that they “had a great 28-year run, made a lot of friends, and had a lot of fun.”
Not yet gone: Open for a little over a year, Farmer’s Daughter sibling Towneship (140 Main St., Easton) will close, timeline to be determined, with Falmouth’s La Cucina Sul Mare owners taking over the stunning space, which used to be a Swedish church. Also closing but not yet closed is the Tahiti (22 May Wy., Dedham), a Polynesian-style spot that has been sold to a local builder. It’s slated to remain open for at least a couple more years, though.
September 19, 2019
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BOSTON PROPER
North End shops Mike’s Pastry and Modern Pastry end up on all the tourist-friendly “best cannoli” round-ups, but locals knew that Maria’s Pastry Shop (46 Cross St., North End, Boston) was the real deal until its closure in mid-September 2019. “I’ve been working for 50 years,” owner Maria Merola told Eater last month. “I’m done.” She began working at the Italian bakery in 1970, when it was still under the ownership of Modern, and bought the business in 1982, operating it independently since then.
In Hyde Park, one of the neighborhood’s more upscale dining options is now closed as of September 16: the Fairmount Grille (81 Fairmount Ave., Boston). It had been open for a little over six years, aiming to serve good food at affordable neighborhood prices.
Boston Common Coffee Company has closed its final cafe (10 High St., Financial District, Boston), but the company remains in operation for online ordering, catering, and wholesale. Its coffee can be found at a handful of local venues, including the Merchant and Ziggy’s Coffee Bar.
Ubiquitous bakery-cafe chain Au Bon Pain is now a little bit less ubiquitous: The Prudential Center location (800 Boylston St., Back Bay, Boston) closed on September 17. There’s another location very close by, located in Copley Place (100 Huntington Ave., Back Bay, Boston).
Not yet gone: Owners Kevin and Lynn Smith plan to close their 10-year-old Charlestown cafe, Grasshopper Cafe (229 Bunker Hill St., Boston), in the near future, in order to retire and downsize. Meanwhile, there are no updates on a closing timeline for Doyle’s in Jamaica Plain (see September 12 update below), but the Boston Licensing Board did approve the planned sale of Doyle’s liquor license to a forthcoming Davio’s location in Boston’s Seaport District.
FARTHER AFIELD
Popular pizzeria and burger joint Easy Pie closed its original location in Braintree (1701 Washington St.) after the better part of a decade, but its newer Revere sibling remains open, and owner Spiros Stogiannis is also opening an Everett location soon.
September 12, 2019
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BOSTON PROPER
Chinese chain Xi’an Street Foods (182 Brighton Ave., Allston) — which opened its only local location in January 2018 and served rougamo, hand-pulled noodles, and more — closed its Allston shop quietly at some point in recent weeks; it’ll be replaced by a different hand-pulled noodles shop called IFresh Noodle.
Not yet gone: In Jamaica Plain, 137-year-old icon Doyle’s Cafe (3484 Washington St.) has announced that it will close soon — maybe in a month or two — as it’s too expensive to continue operating in the neighborhood. Its liquor license is slated to go to a new Seaport District location of Davio’s. The old bar has been a stomping ground for local politicians, a set for several films, and a home away from home for decades of locals.
FARTHER AFIELD
The Amesbury location of Trina’s Starlite Lounge (37 Main St.) changed hands and names on September 6; silent partners Eric Anderson and J. Grimaldi took over from executive chef Suzi Maitland, Bea Sturm, and Josh Childs, and they brought in Sean Toomey from Crave, to run what is now called Sky Hi Kitchen + Bar. Menu changes are coming soon.
Belmont gem Seta’s Cafe (271 Belmont St.) closed on September 7 after six years serving Mediterranean cuisine.
Quincy sports bar S6 (1550 Hancock St.), which served particularly good bar pizza, closed on September 10, making way for the building to be demolished and replaced by a new road. The venue was named for fallen Quincy police officer Jamie Cochrane; his brother Ed owned the bar.
Earlier this year, 23 northeast locations of Friendly’s closed. This week, another one shuttered — the location on Route 1 in Saugus. Nearby locations in Stoneham and Peabody remain open.
Red Bird (361 Moody St., Waltham), a five-year-old restaurant, has closed as the team reportedly looks for a larger space.