44 Austin-Area Restaurant Closures in 2023 So Far

This is a running roundup of every restaurant, food truck, and bar closure throughout the Austin area in 2023 so far. See a closing that Eater Austin missed? Let us know over at austin@eater.com.

May 2023

Sa-Ten: The North Loop location of the Japanese coffee shop is going to close on Saturday, May 27 because the team is declining to renew its lease. The original East Austin cafe remains open. (4917 Airport Boulevard, North Loop)

Sway: Though technically this is a March 2020 closure, Sway parent company New Waterloo confirmed the shutter of the Thai restaurant’s Rock Rose location this May. The sole remaining Sway in Austin is in Westlake, though there are plans to open one in Aspen, Colorado. (1501 Rock Rose Avenue, Suite 100, Domain Northside)

April 2023

Barlata: The longtime tapas restaurant closed on April 29 because owner and chef Daniel Olivella sold the business so that he can retire and move himself and his family back to Spain. He sold the restaurant to chef Laila Bazahm, who turned the space into a new tapas restaurant, El Raval, in mid-May. (1500 South Lamar Boulevard, Zilker)

Cain & Abel: The standby campus bar closed on April 28 because its building was demolished to make way for student housing. Owner Ellis Winstanley is planning on moving the bar elsewhere. (2313 Rio Grande Street, West Campus)

HandleBar: The downtown bar closed in late April; it became a new cocktail bar called El Cockfight. (121 East Fifth Street, Downtown)

JuiceLand: The Austin-based juice bar chain closed its shared space with Exploded Records in late April, because the address’s rent was increasing. The space is going to give way to a fancy gelato shop eventually. (4500 Duval Street, Hyde Park)

Z’Tejas: The original location of the Southwestern chain restaurant closed on April 1. Owner Randy Cohen had said it was too expensive to repair the older building. The building is owned by McGuire Morman Lambert Hospitality and real estate investment firm Riverside Resources (where Larry McGuire is a partner) is going to develop the block, as reported by Statesman. (1110 West Sixth Street, Clarksville)

March 2023

Sweet Cakes 4 U: The decadent cake bakery in Buda closed down on March 31. Owners and mother-daughter Dolores Diaz and Victoria Diaz decided to close because of increasing ingredient costs and staffing issues. (302 South Main Street, Suite 101, Buda)

Henbit: Parent company Emmer & Rye Hospitality decided to close two of its food hall restaurants within Fareground: this fast-casual American spot and TLV (see below) on March 20. The restaurant had served up general fare like burgers and sandwiches, along with partner executive pasty chef Tavel Bristol-Joseph’s epic Monster Cookies (which are no longer being made). The shutters happened so the company can focus its energy on opening its upcoming Mediterranean restaurant Ezov in Holly this year. There are loose plans to reopen elsewhere. (111 Congress Avenue, Downtown)

TLV: The Israeli food hall restaurant from chef Berty Richter under the Emmer & Rye Hospitality shuttered on March 20 along with sibling food hall restaurant Henbit (see above). Richter is leading the forthcoming Ezoz restaurant. There are loose plans to reopen elsewhere. (111 Congress Avenue, Downtown)

TLV

Mission Street Burrito: Austin food business Vegan Citadel closed down three of its vegan restaurants on March 17: this vegan Mexican restaurant, Italian vegan restaurant Fair Game (see below), and vegan pizza spot Pinsa Palace. Mission had been operating within the Austinite Market. The shutter happened because of increasing costs, trying to pay fair wages, and the such. Only one vegan restaurant remains open: Mission Burger Co. (3318 Harmon Avenue, Hancock)

Fair Game: This Italian vegan restaurant was part of Vegan Citadel’s three-business-shutter (see above) on March 17. This one had operated within the Austinite Market like Mission Street Burrito. (3318 Harmon Avenue, Hancock)

Pinsa Palace: The last of Vegan Citadel’s shutters (see above), this vegan pizzeria also closed on March 17, but that has been parked at Buzz Mill Coffee. (1505 Town Creek Drive, Riverside)

Knead: The roaming vegan bakery closed on March 17 (along with sibling vegan food truck Forking Vegan, see below) because co-founders Stephanie Herrera and Cisco Chavez moved back to Albuquerque to open a physical bakery and restaurant. (roaming)

Forking Vegan: The vegan food truck closed on March 17 (along with sibling roaming vegan bakery Knead, see above) because the co-founders moved back to Albuquerque to open a physical bakery and restaurant. (7107 East Riverside Drive, Montopolis)

Spartan Pizza: The Austin New York-style pizzeria closed its northwest Austin location on March 12, as reported by Community Impact. Its East Sixth restaurant remains open. (7318 McNeil Drive, Suite 109, Los Indios)

Spartan Pizza

Truluck’s: The original downtown location of the seafood and steakhouse chain closed in mid-March so that the company could relocate the business to a nearby downtown address to open sometime this spring. Taking over the original space is a new sprawling lounge. (400 Colorado Street, Downtown)

Nau’s Enfield Drug: After a prolonged period, the longtime pharmacy and diner (the latter which had been temporarily closed for some bit) officially closed in March. A new company/person bought the property. (115 West Lynn Street, Clarksville)

Austin Eastciders: The South Austin tasting room location of the Austin cidery company closed on March 8 because it wanted to refocus its attention on creating ciders. The Govalle tasting room remains open. (1530 Barton Springs Road, Zilker)

Word of Mouth: The remaining bakery from the catering company closed on March 3. Owner Leslie Moore is looking eventually retire. (917 West 12th Street, West End)

February 2023

Metcalf BBQ: All three locations of the barbecue restaurant, formerly known as Stubb’s until it changed names due to legal issues, shuttered in late February, First there were the ones within Rainey Street bar Stagger Lee and West Austin bar Mean Eyed Cat on February 25, and then there was the Graceland Grocery location on February 26. (multiple locations)

Bento Picnic: The fast-casual Japanese restaurant and its wine bar counterpart Saba San’s (see below) closed on February 18. Owner Leanne Valenti says that she’s taking a sabbatical to figure out her next moves. Omakase restaurant Sushi|Bar, which had been operating out of Bento’s private dining room for some time, took over the entire space. (2600 East Cesar Chavez Street, East Cesar Chavez)

Saba San’s: Bento Picnic’s wine bar and shop closed down along with the restaurant on February 18 (see above). (2600 East Cesar Chavez Street, East Cesar Chavez)

Great Harvest Bread Co.: The bakery chain closed its only Austin location on February 18, as reported by Community Impact. (1110 Old Walsh Tarlton, Old Tarlton Center)

Dolce Bacio: The gelato truck closed its roaming space in early February because the owners wanted to focus on catering and wholesale jobs instead. (roaming)

January 2023

ATX Grill: The newer restaurant from the team behind shuttered spot Russian House closed suddenly sometime in January. The space, which had previously been the fast-casual restaurant Sala & Betty, is now a new European comfort food restaurant Rosé Gosé. (5201 Airport Boulevard, North Loop)

Julia Keim

Le Vacher: The French restaurant closed on January 29 by owner and executive chef Jacob Euler. (136 Drifting Wind Run, Suite 101, Dripping Springs)

Daily Juice: All locations of the Austin juice company closed in January because of how expensive things were getting for ingredients, labor, and rent. First, there was the Westlake one sometime before January 22, and then there were the Northwest Hills, North Shoal Creek, and Bee Cave ones on January 22. (multiple locations)

Cash Cow Burgers: The burger truck from Valentine’s Tex Mex BBQ closed on January 16. Owner/pitmaster Miguel Vidal had noted on Instagram that there are plans to “be back” in Buda, referring it the forthcoming physical restaurant, which is opening in May. (1710 North Farm-to-Market Road 1626, Buda)

Violet Crown Clubhouse: The cafe/wine-beer bar/arcade/etc. closed on January 15. The space turned into a new natural wine bar and bottle shop called Violet Crown, which opened in May. (7100 Woodrow Avenue, Crestview)

Plow Burger: Buzz Mill’s vegan burger spot shuttered both its East Seventh Street physical restaurant space and East Riverside truck this month, respectively on January 3 and January 15. Co-founder Jason Sabala turned the food truck into a meat-and-vegan burger truck called Buzz Burger, which opened on January 14. (1209 East Seventh Street, East Austin; 1505 Town Creek Drive, East Riverside)

Smokin Beauty: The Vietnamese-Texas barbecue restaurant closed after January 1, because co-owners Thao Phan and Matt Roth wanted to turn the space into a simpler business. They turned the address into a new casual bar Walnut Creek Pub, which opened earlier this month. They opened Smokin in 2020. (11806 North Lamar Boulevard, North Austin)

Counter Culture: The vegan restaurant closed after service on New Year’s Eve after ten-plus years of business. Owner Sue Davis decided to not renew the lease of the business because she doesn’t know what the future will entail. She opened Counter as a food truck in 2009 and turned it into a physical restaurant in 2012. She had talked about wanting to relocate the restaurant before the shuttering announcement, but real estate prices are too high. The space is now a new bar, but Davis opened a new food truck. (2337 East Cesar Chavez Street, Holly)

Rosewood Gulf Coast Chop House: The rather large South Texan restaurant closed down after one final service for New Year’s Eve. It’s unclear what the future of the space will be, but, for now, it’ll be used for private events as well as Austin pop-up restaurants. Co-owners DeLeon, Chas Spence, and Clark Evans opened the restaurant in 2018 as simply Rosewood, and they slightly changed the name in 2020. (1209 Rosewood Avenue, East Austin)

Logan Crable

Second Bar + Kitchen: The New American restaurant closed its restaurant within the Archer Hotel after service on New Year’s Eve. The hotel turned the space into its hotel bar mini-chain AKB, which opened on January 25. This Second Bar opened in 2016; the only remaining Second Bar locations in the city are within the East Austin hotel and within the Austin Bergstrom-International Airport. (3121 Palm Way, Suite 101, Domain Northside)

Fat City Stacks: Peached Tortilla’s slider pop-up-turned-restaurant had its last day of service on New Year’s Eve. Founder Eric Silverstein said they had to close the restaurant space (which was shared with dog park Yard Bar) because of inflation, staffing costs, and bad weather for a mostly outdoor space. It opened as a pop-up in 2020 and opened the Yard Bar space in 2021. (6700 Burnet Road, Allandale)

Trudy’s Del Mar: It’s unclear whether the Mexican seafood restaurant from Austin Tex-Mex chain Trudy’s closed in late December 2022 or early January 2023, but we’ll include it here since it was announced this month. Ownership company Hargett Hunter Capital Management is holding onto the space and will open a new restaurant sometime this spring. The space had previously been Trudy’s other restaurant South Congress Cafe. and turned into Trudy’s Del Mar in December 2021. (1600 South Congress Avenue, Bouldin Creek)

Abel’s On the Lake: Co-owner Ellis Winstanley decided to not renew the American restaurant’s lease at the end of 2022, which had opened in 2009. A rooftop restaurant from San Miguel de Allende, Mexico, Quince, is taking over the space this year. (3825 Lake Austin Boulevard, Tarrytown)