The Demise of a Restaurant
I hate seeing restaurants close down. This is especially true for individually-owned smaller mom-and-pop restaurants.
Admittedly, I won’t lose much sleep over big corporate chains suffering occasional shutdowns or distant shareholders losing money. But I do sympathize with an ambitious cook or an immigrant family struggling for years and then investing everything they own into a small foodie place….only to see not enough people come through the front door to pay the bills. Sometimes, really good restaurants shut down because of factors no one could foresee. Sometimes restaurants deserve to close because they suck. It varies.
When this Italian eatery opened only a year ago, initially I was excited. Las Vegas’ west side can’t possibly have enough great Italian restaurants——not for me. Then, when they finally opened up we visited and the prices were like walking onto the lot of an expensive car dealership and getting slapped with sticker shock. What appeared to be an informal bistro was priced more like the premier white tablecloth restaurant at an upscale resort. Instantly, I remember thinking to myself — this place doesn’t stand a chance. It’s doomed. No one will pay these prices for what amounts to menu items and ingredients anyone could get down the road for 60 percent of the price.
And yes—-I understand expenses are high and margins are small in the restaurant business. Perhaps the landlord was simply too greedy (I’m willing to bet the “over” here).
Well, the “under” got there. The new Italian place didn’t last even a year. Maybe several months. Then, poof! One day it was no more. The Italian restaurant shuttered. Gone for good. Let me just say, Arrivederci, though we won’t meet again. The letters on the sign were pulled down.
First Photo: March 2023
Second Photo: February 2024
Shaking my head. What were these people/investors thinking?
One thing that I don’t understand is this: Owning and operating a successful restaurant isn’t just about making good food. It’s much more about common sense. Anyone who ever dined here in the short time frame it was open could foresee it would fail.
__________
