maia in villanova closed?

[sanfrantransplant]

a friend of mine who works/worked there tells me last night (sat 14th.) was their last evening for business... anyone else heard anything?

[Buckethead]

Rick Nichols has a decent article about the closing:

http://www.philly.com/philly/news/hom...

[Buckethead]

OK, *now* it's closed:

http://www.philly.com/philly/blogs/th...

Oh well. I wasn't a big fan of the place but I liked the food in the Bistro well enough. I guess once both of the founding brothers left, it was only a matter of time.

[the dog ate my homework]

Not even a year. First Fresh Grocer...then Maia. Never should have smashed down the skating place.

[mddletown]

Bring back the Villanova Diner!!!

[Chuckles52]

Let's not go to far overboard!!!! That place left a lot to be desired in my book.

[BeerFreak]

and Radnor Rolls!!!!!

[ewhitten]

I went there once, shortly after it opened. It was packed and extremely loud. Food was decent, but not outstanding.

It was interesting to watch all the main line cougars at the bar area, though. :)

[crazyspice]

That's funny!

[Buckethead]

I read this morning that the upstairs restaurant at Maia has closed and will be reopened with a new look and new chef. The downstairs Bistro is still open (which was the only part of Maia worth visiting in my experience).

http://foobooz.com/2009/03/quick-bite...

[Carole]

Is that both places? At one point I heard that the casual downstairs wouldn't be closing, but I wouldn't be completely surprised if both closed.

[sanfrantransplant]

I just called the restaurant to see what the real story is... they told me the upstairs is now only open on Fri & Sat with a prix fixe menu and the downstairs is open as normal... I don't really know what's going on there, but the guy I know said they let a lot of staff go on saturday and there is some problem with the lease. I will say, that is not a good sign in either case

[the dog ate my homework]

Can that initial headline be changed?? Maia's been operating as you describe for a number of weeks now: limited upstairs service and business as usual downstairs. I just hate to jinx Maia and write the place off before it actually happens. Talk like that is a deathknell for a borderline resto. But, the reality is the crowds aren't flocking there so much anymore; painful for those of us who were rooting for the place in the early days.

[LPhila]

Whether or not we're rooting for the place, I think any of this monkeying around with the restaurant's set-up sends a bad message to diners, regardless of the talk. For me, any place that's letting all that space sit is in trouble, and I don't think that they ever properly identified their food as cohesive. For what it's worth, I was there twice and found the food to be mediocre and the staff lacked all sense of urgency. Had high hopes though!

[the dog ate my homework]

Good...the addition of the question mark rather than the sentence being a statement of fact.