Closure News
Italian restaurant in Dallas' Expo Park closes following epic flood
Following a series of calamities including a recent flood, an Italian restaurant in Dallas has closed: Tarantino's Cicchetti Bar & Record Lounge, which persevered through the pandemic, threw in the towel after three years.
The restaurant was located in Expo Park, among the areas in Dallas that experienced heavy flooding during a rain storm on August 21.
Fans of the restaurant rallied to help owner Peter Tarantino clean up in the aftermath, including launching a GoFundMe. But Tarantino told the DMN that the event was basically the last straw.
Tarantino set out to open the restaurant in early 2020 — his third attempt to revive a family restaurant dating back to the 90s, but with a twist: incorporating not only a restaurant and bar but also a vinyl repository.
Family recipes included beloved meatballs and old-school dishes like fried ravioli with marinara sauce.
But with the pandemic, the timing and circumstances were ill-fated, with Tarantino facing the same food and staffing shortages that have beset the entire restaurant industry.
"It was up and down and we would get traction and something would slap us down," Tarantino told NBC DFW.
"We'd already invested a lot of time and money, and with the grace of the landlord they worked with us," he said.
Most recently, he temporarily closed when the Music Hall at Fair Park underwent a two-month remodel. They were planning to reopen this week.
"I really did have sort of a meltdown," Tarantino said to NBC DFW. "I put pretty much my whole life in all this."