Italian eatery shuts at Toco Hills
Osteria Cibo Rustico, the Italian restaurant that replaced Mirko Pasta, has closed its only location at Toco Hills Promenade on North Druid Hills Road. The restaurant opened early last November after originally operating as a franchised unit of Atlanta-based Mirko Pasta. Mirko Pasta had opened in the center in October 2011 when the center completed an extensive remodel under owner Edens.
Strangely, there is no sign/notice of the closure aside from the "Available" sign from an Atlanta-based real estate firm. The restaurant's facebook is down while (as of Sunday night) its Twitter and website remain up without mention of the closure. Their phone rings through to a generic answering machine.
Osteria Cibo's space is just under 2500 square feet and has both indoor and outdoor seating. According to the online offering for the restaurant, $400,000 was spent in 2011 to build it out as Mirko with another $200,000 spent in last year's conversion to Osteria Cibo Rustico.
The restaurant is available for $195,000 with "owner financing options." The listing sites an October 15th "partner split" as the reason for the closure. The site goes on to say
"Owner is a non-restaurant owner who hasn’t ever run a single shift and was actually more of an investor thus super motivated to sell and will look at all offers."
Chris Hadermann and John "JP" Piemonte, along with "proprietor" Quincy Evans owned Osteria Cibo Rustico and apparently made the decision to close the restaurant due to their "numerous upcoming new ventures."
Osteria Cibo Rustico is part of Southern Proper Hospitality, a group that also includes Big Ketch Saltwater Grill and Smokebelly BBQ in Buckhead and Milton's Cuisine & Cocktails in Milton. Southern Proper also includes the recently opened Gypsy Kitchen and the soon to open Southern Gentlemen, both in Buckhead Atlanta, as well as a second location of Big Ketch, opening soon on Canton Street in Historic Downtown Roswell. Chris Hadermann and John "JP" Piemonte are two of the three principals in Southern Proper and are both also involved in the multi-unit Tin Lizzy's Cantina restaurant as well.
Are you surprised by the sudden closure of Osteria Cibo Rustico? Do you think Southern Proper is becoming too diverse in their restaurant offerings? What would you like to see open in place of Cibo Rustico at Toco Hills Promenade?
Please share your thoughts below.
4 comments:
If their version of Italian is as bad as Tin Lizzy's version of Mexican, then good riddance!
Went to this place when it was Mirko, but frequented it more in the Cibo Rustico incarnation. My wife in particular was a big fan of their menu.
Never appeared crowded, which every other place in the two centers seemed to get on weekends, which was probably writing on the wall.
I do worry this group is over expanding. We love Big Ketch and have been going there since it first opened, but I'm afraid they'll lose their focus with all of these different concepts! Time will tell...
I liked the prior Mirko location and went there often. I tried the new place once and never went back.
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