By Dylan Bailey
Le Clos, an iconic Fernandina historic district restaurant since 1996 is no more. Serving Provençal dishes by candlelight in a charming, intimate 1906 cottage, it’s been a source of memories for many people.
But as of Monday, April 10, Katherine Ewing has decided to permanently close the restaurant.
The news came as a shock, since last year Le Clos closed for renovations, and it seemed life had been breathed back into the restaurant when it reopened.
The restaurant’s Facebook page posted the following statement: “Katherine Ewing, owner of Le Clos, has decided to permanently close Le Clos. Would like to take a minute and thank Burlingame restaurant, Espana, Wicked BAO, Joe’s Second St. Bistro, Patio Place, and Boat House for coming to the rescue with helping employ our staff that was left unemployed with no notice. We love our Le Clos guests/family and hope to see you around town.”
We were lucky, we had dinner there last Friday and were raving about our food. The place was packed. When we heard a couple of days ago we were as shocked as everyone else. I can still taste the escargot.
I just purchased a $200 gift certificate days before this abrupt closing. I requested a refund from Katherine with no response. What a terrible way to treat a customer and an indication of lack of integrity. And I am probably not the only one.Dishonesty will usually come full circle to those who defraud others.
One of our favorite restaurants…so sorry to see it go.
All gift certificates will be honored or refunded. Please email [email protected] with your details.
This is a sad day. We loved dining at LeClos BUT I also heard that they will reopen in October of this year (2023), so we’ll just have to ask Ms. Katherine …
So sad, thankful the other restaurants are employing the staff…..best of luck.
Received the following from email from Le Clos on April 6, 2023: ” Due to unavoidable circumstances, Le Clos will be closed until Tuesday, October 3, 2023″.
Posted this morning on Facebook & the website. There are rumors there was a fire but never saw any news coverage
Received this message this morning.
This is Katherine Ewing, owner of LeClos. LeClos has not permanently closed, only paused. We are going through a transition. On our webpage and business phone we state that we will reopen Tuesday, October 3, 2023.It may be earlier.
I just read that Le Clos is reopening in September. What is going on???
Great article, but what is Ms. Ewing doing about all the unused gift certificates that she sold to loyal unsuspecting customers? Our son gave us a $100 gift certificate to Le Clos that is now probably worthless. Calls to the owner have gone unreturned. We were loyal customers that probably ate at Le Clos 50 times over the years. Thanks Ms. Ewing!
Please see the update. Somebody at Le Clos played a dirty trick on Ms. Ewing and posted the Facebook story that Le
Clos was going out of business. Not so. They’re doing some remodeling and will reopen in the fall.
Do you know that for a fact? Were Ms Ewing & former employees contacted for statements? Just posting contradictory Facebook posts as news reporting and calling it a day?
I don’t know Mike. The first post mentioned they were going thru a “transition”???? They had just reopened recently after doing renovations…..and now the story is they are closing to do more? After talking to a few folks, I think the dirty trick is on the (former) employees and us!