A local sports bar chain with two locations now has one: The Green Gator, a bar-restaurant serving Cajun & Texas food, has closed its location at the Toyota Music Factory in Irving.

Owners Jeff Coleman and Ash Mansinghani closed the location on October 2, after three years.

"We are saddened to announce the closing of The Green Gator Music Factory," they said in a statement, before expressing gratitude for being a part of the Toyota Music Factory family. "We invite you to visit our Frisco location to get your Cajun fix and enjoy all things fun, food & sports."

The original Frisco location at 5566 Main St. near FC stadium opened in 2015 first as Dodie's Live, an offshoot of the original Dodie's Seafood Cafe chain on Greenville Avenue in Dallas.

In 2016, the owners rebranded it to The Green Gator and changed the menu from strictly Cajun to half Cajun-half American, adding dishes such as shrimp & grits, stuffed mushrooms, and a bacon cheeseburger.

They opened the Irving location in 2019, with the same Cajun seafood-American menu — po' boys, gumbo, oysters, jambalaya, crawfish — plus HD TVs, huge wall TV HD screen, patio, and live music, taking over a space previously occupied by a short-lived BBQ place called Highway 61 South.

The Irving Texas website (which already has its listing for The Green Gator marked as "permanently closed") describes it as being "known for its family-friendly, casual atmosphere with sports and live music ... Green Gator Cajun Sports Bar brings Cajun and American classics together for an experience that is equal parts excellent dining and excellent entertainment."

But anyone patronizing the Toyota Music Factory complex as of late might have observed that the general direction has been less family-friendly and more entertainment, live music, and drinking — not compliant with the family-friendly direction that the city of Irving originally conceived.

Coleman and Mansinghani, who were unavailable for comment, were also involved with Jia Chinese, the Preston Center restaurant that closed in March 2023. A Jia sibling called Jia Asian Bistro opened near White Rock Lake in late 2022. A September 30 post on its Facebook page says it is "closed for a couple of days" due to a gas leak, but will reopen on October 5.