Monday, January 26, 2015

Basilico A Bust in Roswell

Mediterranean restaurant shuttered in downtown Roswell.

Basilico, which served Mediterranean fare, opened this past August, and closed January 10th.  Basilico owner Nasser Samad also owns Cedar's Mediterranean and Ray's Pizza in midtown.  The 7,000 square foot Roswell restaurant was located in an endcap of a Clocktower Place, a shopping center on Atlanta Street, not far from historic downtown Roswell.  

For ten years, the restaurant space was home to Sugo restaurant from Castellucci Hospitality Group, but closed March, 2013.  Shortly after the Sugo closure, Dominick's, an Italian restaurant, opened.  Dominick's closed this past July ahead of the Basilico opening.  Sugo's Johns Creek location remains open as do Dominick's locations in Buford, Lawrenceville, Norcross and Watkinsville.  

With Basilico lasting less than six months, one has to wonder what went wrong. Basilico's facebook page says of the closure, "It was a strictly business decision and was needed."  The restaurant was reportedly a partnership and there was also talk of a "partner split" causing the closure. 

The restaurant had a perfect five star rating on Yelp, albeit with a small sample size of only eight reviews.  Additionally, on a recent trip to Table & Main in historic downtown Roswell, I noted that they had nearly 7,000 check-ins on facebook compared to Basilico's 124.  For what it's worth, Table & Main has been open for over four years but clearly Basilico was lacking in the patron department. 

Steve Josovitz of The Shumacher Group is again offering the space for lease.  Josovitz has previously represented revolving-door-restaurants such as HOLA! Mexican Cantina in Decatur and Saskatoon in Buckhead, among others.  

Did you ever dine at Basilico?  If so, what were your thoughts?  Is Basilico's closure a loss for the neighborhood? What would you like to see open in its place?  

Please share your thoughts below.  

1 comment:

jeff a. taylor said...

Sorry that my take back in August was correct -- just a very, very challenged location right now that may only been able to support a very, very low overhead type place. Like a killer pho shop, maybe in the warm months use the patio for Asian street food. More of the same in the space is just not going to work.

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