The recession continues to accrue casualties and our neighborhood wasn’t spared. Sometime during the past week the long and storied era of the San Antonio Grill & Bar officially came to a close. I say that in jest of course – oh, the restaurant did close but it did not have a ‘long and storied era’.
The fact of the matter is it never opened.
The building it occupied – or wanted to – was the site of a former Chi Chi’s which closed it doors well over six years ago. The Coyote Grille opened on the location for a brief period but it was one of many restaurants in the Twin Cities that suffered a loss of clientele when the Clean Air Policy was initiated and eventually closed it’s doors – September, 2005 to be exact.
Since then the place had been vacant but late in 2007 there was quite a bit of activity inside and outside the place. Soon the marquees, that had for so long been empty shells, displayed the signage of San Antonio Grill & Bar with the lettering on the marquee pad exclaiming COMING SOON! But, it didn’t…oh well.
I’m not sure why the efforts to open the San Antonio Grill & Bar succumbed but maybe the newest tenant, Chilito’s will make a more promising candidate. I’m guessing that it will feature Mexican cuisine with that name and I did not see any postings on the doors announcing a date for opening. The roadside marquee on Shingle Creek Parkway reads simply CHILITO’S. Perhaps wisely considering what happened to the previous restaurant venture there.
FYI – I googled for information on the closing of San Antonio Grill & Bar but it didn’t return any hits other directions to the location, nothing on why they just gave up…and I doubt they were victims of the Clean Air Policy.
UPDATE: 10/14/09 – At some point over the past two months the new owners added the words COMING SOON to the marquee. I would suggest this to be the ‘kiss of death’ but there are visual signs of life about the place. For instance, the same single car is usually parked in the lot in a different location each day and there is a length of yellow warning tape across a small area of the sidewalk near the front entry where I believe some cement may have been repaired…or needs repairing. Maybe, just maybe, this time the restaurant actually opens!
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