I’m exaggerating a bit here, as this doesn’t appear to have been a one day thing. But two restaurants in Lakeway – both located in the same development – have closed recently and suddenly.
Trattoria Toscano doesn’t have any sign up explaining their closure, but the sign is gone from the front of their building and their former domain is parked with GoDaddy. I ate there a couple of times, and it seemed just a little expensive to me: also, most of the menu items were not things I personally had a taste for. However, other people I ate with thought the food was good, and the restaurant itself had a nice atmosphere. I’m kind of sad to see them go, but they faced competition from Mandola’s in Bee Cave, Verona just a short drive up the road, and another Italian place coming soon on Bee Caves Road.
McArthur’s Gastro Pub Bistro. The sign on their front door says “Closed temporarily”, but doesn’t suggest that there’s any mechanical issue or other reason. It seems odd that they would be closed on a Friday night without very good reason, as the joint was always packed.
McArthur’s was always kind of a weird duck for us. They announced their opening, and started sending out coupons, almost a full year before they actually opened. I suspect they had problems with the Travis County/Lakeway permitting process, but a full year’s delay in opening can’t be good for your finances.
When they did finally open, we expected a gastro pub along the lines of Oasthouse. What we got was closer to a sports bar with typical sports bar food: burgers, wings, flatbreads, etc. Part of the problem was that it was inconsistent, both in food and in service. They did do a pretty good weekend brunch, but going there for dinner was a gamble every night except Friday night. We avoided Friday nights because it was so loud you couldn’t hear yourself think, much less carry on a conversation with your table mate.
They used to do a pretty good version of the Monte Cristo, with really good thin fries. But they dumped the thin fries for some reason. And the last time we were there, the Monte Cristo was bad: the bread was wrong, and it was oily.
Someone told me that the owner plans to take over the old Carlos and Charlie’s space on Lake Travis. Apparently, there’s money behind him: we actually got one of those coupon flyers in the mail the other day, with coupons for McArthur’s and a short essay by the owner. (High points: his family is in the restaurant business, his father died while he was building McArthur’s, and his dad’s ashes are incorporated into the restaurant walls. Seems to me like that makes leaving the property awkward.)
The other interesting thing is that both of these restaurants are in The Oaks at Lakeway, which is a fairly new shopping complex. McArthur’s was one of the earliest tenants to open there, and if memory serves, they’ve had the space for close to three years. I wonder if part of the issue for both restaurants is that the rents were jacked up to the point where staying in The Oaks wasn’t sustainable. There’s a new La Quinta going in to the complex as well, and the current owners may feel like any restaurant in that center has a more-or-less captive audience: which, in turn, justifies a rate hike. I don’t know, this is all speculative, but it makes sense to me.