An avalanche of restaurant closures hit Fresno lately. Listed below are 5 readers miss probably the most
Tons of Fresno eating places have closed recently — at the least 30 within the final 12 months.
They blame the rising value of elements, together with worker pay charges and power payments. Mix all of it with prospects pulling again on spending, and it’s a recipe for failure.
The closures embrace breakfast spots, big-name franchises and little but popular coffee shops.
We requested readers who they missed the most among the many eating places that closed within the final yr. The highest 5 had been all longtime favorites.
1. Hunan Chinese language Restaurant
This popular spot at Cedar and Herndon avenues publicly put itself up for sale for $180,000 a few yr in the past in hopes of somebody rescuing it. Inflation and a declining variety of prospects had been killing the enterprise, regardless of its fame for genuine and Americanized Chinese language meals.
“Nobody is prepared to take the chance,” supervisor Isaac Huang mentioned on the time.
With no takers, it closed in late October of 2023.
2. Javier’s Mexican Restaurant
This longtime restaurant at Kings Canyon Street and Clovis Avenue virtually made it to 50 years.
For many years, Louie Duran ran the restaurant he based with spouse, Lupe Duran, utilizing recipes he realized from his mom. It was named after his son, Javier. The elder Duran died in 2022 and prospects have missed him ever since.
Different relations have tried to maintain the restaurant alive, together with by including Sunday brunch. However rising meals costs, energy payments, and a slowdown in enterprise pressured it to shut.
Javier Duran mentioned final summer season that he and his siblings hoped to reopen the restaurant, however he couldn’t be reached for remark this week. The restaurant has been closed since June.
3. Shanghai Chinese language Delicacies
Fresnans appeared to at all times rave about Shanghai’s meals in the identical breath as they complained about its location.
At Blackstone Avenue and Griffith Approach in a dying buying middle, it closed in March after 44 years.
The restaurant confronted an cascade of challenges: a slowdown in enterprise, a declining neighborhood and buying middle, a damaged air conditioner, thieves stealing copper wiring, and stories of pests and different well being code violations.
Proprietor Pauline Dunn mentioned on the time she needed to reopen in a brand new location. However she didn’t instantly return a telephone name or textual content in search of remark this week.
4. Oggi Cosi Si Manga
Oggi, as most individuals known as it, closed final yr after a fire. Proprietor Louie Maglieri at all times deliberate to reopen the restaurant within the quaint home within the Tower District on Van Ness Avenue south of Olive Avenue.
That was till the burned-out spot was plagued with issues with homeless individuals tenting outdoors and residing contained in the constructing. Sad with the response from police and town, Maglieri left Fresno in a blaze of angry restaurateur glory.
“F___ them,” he mentioned in a telephone interview with The Bee. “I’ll by no means open one other enterprise in Fresno. No freakin’ method.”
He’s now in Pismo Seashore, where he opened Louie the Lip’s Weenie World, a Chicago-style sizzling canine restaurant.
5. TGI Fridays
The one Fridays in Fresno closed abruptly in March after 45 years. It was the quintessential chain/franchised restaurant Fresno is understood for loving.
At Herndon Avenue and First Avenue, it had low-priced specials on meals equivalent to loaded potato skins, and an “all day, day-after-day” joyful hour with $4 cocktails and $2 beers.
TGI Fridays closed a number of different places across the identical time.
