Play Food and Wine closing in January [Ottawa, Byward Market]

Regional Dining Discussions Ontario
1

Popular Ottawa restaurant Play Food and Wine will be closing on January 10th. Owner Steve Beckta said he will not be renewing the lease. The last lunch service will be on December 19th and the last dinner service will be on January 10th. They will be accepting gift cards right up to closing day however if you don’t use your gift card by closing day it will be accepted at both of his other restaurants, Beckta and Gezellig. More info is here.

This is a real shame because it is one of Ottawa’s nicest restaurants. I’ve been a few times and the food, drink and service is excellent and Steve Beckta is a really classy guy. Steve didn’t say why he is not renewing the lease however it wouldn’t surprise me if the rent went up. It’s in an expensive neighbourhood and people aren’t eating out as much since the pandemic started.

2

Too bad.

I had a lovely dinner there.

Lately, 5 or 6 restos, bakeries or coffee shops in Toronto seem to be announcing closures each week.

While inflation is hurting business in terms of amount of food people are ordering and how frequently they are ordering food, the bigger issue is landlords not cutting resto owners a little slack during difficult times in Toronto.

Very tight margins, even for restos with a lot of business.