50 Popular Restaurants That Won’t Reopen After the Pandemic

“We are sad to announce this chapter has come to an end,” wrote the proprietors of this 20-year-old Mexican standby in Chandler, southeast of Phoenix, on the restaurant’s Facebook page last month. They left open the possibility of reviving the place in a new home in the future. Meanwhile, they continue to operate three other establishments, one each in Chandler, Mesa, and Phoenix.

A San Francisco restaurant icon, opened in 1937 above the remains of the historic 1894-vintage public swimming complex called Sutro Baths, Louis’s is no more. The owners — grandchildren of the original owners — posted a message on the restaurant Facebook page in mid-July reading in part “After much deliberation and a lot of tears we have decided after 83 continuous years of business…to close our business permanently.”

“With these uncertain times, we have made the difficult decision to close our doors permanently,” reads a notice on this 40-year-old Chinatown institution’s website. The restaurant was known for its Sichuan specialties and for its Peking duck, hailed by LA Magazine as one of the city’s best.

After 46 years serving seafood dinners and a popular brunch on Tomales Bay in Marin County, this establishment called it quits as of May 31. The owners cited a substantial rent hike, on top of the financial difficulties imposed by the lockdown, as making it impossible to continue.

An upscale 170-seat Chinese restaurant, which cost a reported $7 million to build, Hakkasan closed permanently in late May after eight years of serving black cod with Champagne and honey, black truffle duck, and other luxurious specialties. The decision was made “To preserve the long-term stability of our business,” according to a company statement given to the San Francisco Chronicle. There are 11 other outposts of the chain — three more in the U.S., two in London, and one each in six other cities in Asia and the Middle East. Some others might not reopen, but details haven’t been confirmed.