Monday, May 15, 2017

Fiorello's Fails in Fewer Than Fifty Days?

Less than 50 days after opening, Brookhaven eatery shutters 

Fiorello's Italian Bistro, an upscale Italian eatery that opened in place of Brookhaven Provisions at Brookleigh Marketplace, has closed.  The restaurant opened March 30th and reportedly closed yesterday, May 14th after what at least one Facebook user indicated was a popular and successful Mother's Day brunch.  

Fiorello's posted the following message to their Facebook page earlier this afternoon.  

"It is with sincere disappointment that we announce Fiorello's Italian Bistro is now closed, for reasons out of our control. Thank you to all of our amazing guests for your business and for allowing us to share our love of delicious food, wine, friends, family and music! We are forever grateful. Arrivederci"

I have been thus far been unable to reach anyone at the restaurant to get further clarification for what exactly the "reasons out of our control" are.  

Fiorello's menu offered lunch and brunch entrees in the $10-15 range while dinner entrees were priced in the $20-37 range.  The March post on ToNeTo Atlanta received a tremendous amount of interest and comments.  Many readers praised the restaurant, its menu and staff while at least one reader noted the seemingly high menu prices.

As I reported in March, Brookhaven Provisions, which Fiorello's replaced, lasted just under a year in the approximately 3,500 square foot space.  Both concepts were "subsidiaries of sorts" of The Hungry Peach, a catering company co-owned by Tricia Patterson. 

Are you surprised that Fiorello's Italian Bistro has closed? Do you have any insight as to what caused the restaurant to close? What would you like to see open in its place?

Please share your thoughts below.  

18 comments:

himynameisashlyn said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Anonymous said...

No one eats pasta anymore.

Greg said...

Interesting turn of events. Wonder- and I have no inside knowledge of the situation- if their change of use violated a restriction of another restaurant within the shopping center (Marlowe's or Pure).

Brookhaven Provisions actually had a high-quality menu, but their space and execution were absolutely uninspiring unfortunately.

Anonymous said...

Would really like to see a family friendly Italian Bistro...you know with checkered table cloths, Chianti bottles with candles and garlic/olive oil as the primary offering.

Fiorello's had tasty food, at least the one thing I had, but the decor was COLD and uninspired, and the price points were too high for the overall tone and service level. Too bad...freindly folks.

RichKnobSales said...

Never heard of this place until now. Were they not getting customers? That tapas place over there closed and they seemed full all the time but their plates were erratic.

Anonymous said...

Bring back Fazolis please!

Anonymous said...

I was there, tried so hard to like it. Their overall execution was unbelievably horrendous, their closure was horrendously believable. I agree with one of the above comments, the common thread is (not only) Tricia but also the Hungry Peach - catering and box lunch experience does not equate to experience running even a casual restaurant or a fine dining establishment. I wish Bagelicious would take the space or an experienced real Italian restaurant (not a Pizza Restaurant ala Galla's or Corner Pizza). Lastly advice for the next restaurant to occupy the space - if they left the dining furniture behind please toss it all in a dumpster fire.

Anonymous said...

Maybe Alfredo's can take over the space.

Anonymous said...

Brookhaven is a place where restaurants go to die

Coolio said...

You have to earn more than your expenditures...

I would love to know the business plan going into this venture...

I hope it didn't consist of, "If you build it, they will come..."

Anonymous said...

You have no idea how much time, love and energy this family put into the restaurant. Your comment is "horrendously" unnecessary.

Anonymous said...

Actually in terms of closures Sandy Springs is where restaurants go to die, Brookhaven has a pretty good track record. The new pizza restaurant on Johnson ferry at Glenrifge Circle? steps from Grubys Is next to go.

Anonymous said...

50 DAYS IN: ATLANTA

Anonymous said...

I've met the proprietors, great people, there is no question as to the time, love, and energy - and passion put into it - just very scattered and unplanned and misguided. Look they went from the Brookhaven provisions concept on a Saturday and literally overnight perhaps over a 1 to 2 day period hung some drapes and painted the sign and opened as Fiorello's. It was a very high-priced fine dining menu but yet zero effort was put into the atmosphere and dining tables and chairs. Half the room was literally outdoor furniture, and the other half the room had the most uncomfortable chairs that were taken out of storage from an old restaurant in the 80s Fiorello himself literally told several people he pulled it all together quickly and used what was available. They had the best attitude and customer service nailed perfect, but around that terrific human emotion there was nothing else around it that was tangible to support and sustain such an high-priced fine dining operation. From the outside in the parking lot it looks like it could be the next Saint as in St. Cecilia and from the inside it felt like the next El Monterey.

Anonymous said...

"You have no idea how much time, love and energy this family put into the restaurant. Your comment is "horrendously" unnecessary."

If you can't handle the heat ....
Seriously this is a BLOG not the Obituaries

Anonymous said...

@Anon @ 12:01 - Fazoli's. Isn't. Going. To. Happen. Inside. The. Perimeter. Or any other close suburb. Based on their location list, big cities is not their target.

Anonymous said...

If you like Fazolis you will like Galla's.

Coolio said...

Anon @ 7:39: I dunno... it is kinda like the obituaries... for businesses, lol!

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