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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.
August 2023
Spartan Pizza [East Sixth]: Seems like the Austin New York-style pizzeria closed its last remaining location sometime after it had closed its northwest Austin location in March (see below). (1007 East Sixth Street, East Austin)
July 2023
Carabao Express: What had originally been pegged as a temporary shutter for renovations by the fast-casual Filipino restaurant is now a permanent closure because the space is being turned into another location of popular Mexican restaurant Carnitas El Guero in the late summer. (2309 West Parmer Lane, North Austin)
Teal House Coffee [food truck]: The cinnamon roll bakery shuttered its short-lived truck in Dripping Springs, which had opened in May but closed on July 31. (Fair Lane Cocktails and Coffee, 29035 Ranch Road 12, Dripping Springs)
Anchor Bar: The sports bar closed its San Marcos location in mid-July because, as owner told Community Impact, “lack of revenue.” The San Antonio and Schertz locations remain open. (1400 Aquarena Springs Drive, San Marcos)
Birú Cocina Peruana: This is more of an indefinite pause than a shutter but the Peruvian restaurant operating out of commissary kitchen hub Wingman Kitchens is temporarily closed as of mid-July. The reason is that owner and chef Julio-Cesar Florez is going to work as the executive chef of the downtown restaurant Ember Kitchen. (1023 Springdale Road, Building 1, East MLK)
Fleet Coffee [Tarrytown truck]: The Austin coffee shop closed down its trailer at Littlefield’s in mid-July because it’s opening a new truck in Cherrywood this July 21. (2401 Winsted Lane, Tarrytown)
Radix House: The short-lived physical cafe from the CBD-oriented coffeeshop closed in July after being open for less than two months. It turns out that the property is being turned into apartments, which owner Roger Pilney writes on Facebook wasn’t disclosed when the lease was signed. (11600 Menchaca Road Suite A, Far South Austin)
The Blue Starlite [Mueller]: This location of the drive-in theater with snacks and the such closed in early July to the public (though it’s available for private events through the end of the summer). Owner and founder Josh Frank plans on opening a new location elsewhere. (2015 East M. Franklin Avenue, Mueller)
Hedgehog Brewing: The brewery and beer garden, which started in 2019 and opened its public taproom in 2021, had its last day in late July. (3200 Woodall Drive, Cedar Park)
June 2023
Mr. Natural [South Lamar]: The South Austin location of the Tex-Mex vegetarian and vegan restaurant closed in late June after over 20 years of service, because the Mendoza family had to finally do it. The original East Austin location remains open. (2414A South Lamar Boulevard, Zilker)
Juan Pelota Café: Because host site Mellow Johnny’s Bike Sho is moving somewere else in downtown Austin, its on-site cafe closed in late June.
Taconmaye [Lakeline Mall]: The mall location of the Mexican restaurant shuttered in late June because it opened a new restaurant, Conmaye, in Anderson Mill during the same time. (11200 Lakeline Mall Drive, Cedar Park)
Lucy’s Fried Chicken [Cedar Park]: The fried chicken chain shuttered its northern location in June, making the off-South Congress location its sole remaining restaurant. (401 East Whitestone Boulevard, Suite A108, Cedar Park)
The Native: The former hostel-turned-multi-business-space shuttered permanently in June, which means its on-site bar is closed. It’s being turned into a putt-putt golf course by an Australian company. (807 East Fourth Street, East Austin)
Tiny Diner: Because host site the Native shuttered (see above), this Japanese comfort food restaurant also closed in June. (807 East Fourth Street, East Austin)
Mama A’s: Also because the Native closed (see above), the Jamaican food truck pivoted to catering and meal prep services as owner and chef Nia Ashanti looks for a new location. (807 East Fourth Street, East Austin)
Bisous: The Vietnamese-Souther truck closed in late June because chef and owner Bianca Fraiser is going to focus on a personal project. She’s open to reopening the truck late though. (1109 South Lamar Boulevard, Zilker)
Valentina’s Tex Mex BBQ [the truck]: The barbecue/Tex-Mex spot finally opened its long-awaited restaurant out in Buda. The team had originally temporarily shuttered the far south Austin truck in order to focus on the impending opening, but now it’s a permanent shutter so they can concentrate on the restaurant. (11500 Menchaca Road, Far South Austin)
BBQ Ramen Tatsu-Ya: The Tatsu-ya group decided to shutter its barbecue ramen restaurant in mid-June. The company plans on reopening the restaurant somewhere else at a later time, and there are no immediate plans for the original address. The space had been home to the important Austin restaurant Contigo, which closed in December 2021. The Tatsu-ya group opened BBQ RAmen in October 2022. (2027 Anchor Lane, MLK)
Paper Route: The fantastic cake bakery closed up shop in mid-June. Owner and baker Aaron Seriff-Cullick is going to take the time to explore other ventures. It opened within a side space of Cenote in 2018. (1010 East Cesar Chavez Street, East Cesar Chavez)
May 2023
Il Saporis: The Italian food truck shuttered ahead of owner Tony DeStefano’’s forthcoming downtown Italian restaurant Sapori Italian Roots sometime this summer. (601 West Live Oak Street, Bouldin Creek)
Sa-Ten: The North Loop location of the Japanese coffee shop closed in late May 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) [Ed. note: This location has since reopened.]
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)
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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. (7318 McNeil Drive, Suite 109, Los Indios)
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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)
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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)
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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)
