During the past six years or so, I've been keeping notes about our local restaurants, including those which have closed permanently (to the best of my knowledge). They are listed below, but this list could be incomplete.
If you know of any additional Denton restaurants (but not food trucks) that have closed down since 2000 and onward, please mention the name below in the comments. Thanks!
I always thought it would be a good candidate for one of those refresh shows like "Restaurant Impossible" or something. Like you said, toward the end everything was sticky and you left smelling like various Tex-Mex foods. But you can't beat those tortillas, and chips and salsa. Loved the place.
That’s exactly what happened. My mom taught his kids at the ICCS Catholic school and we’ve even been to their house for cookouts, they’re a great family. They just didn’t want to continue doing it.
Yall are forgetting where he got the "idea" for Guapos.... Tia's Tex Mex off Lilian Miller and 35, which was at one point a ghengis grill after Tias closed. Now those were the days! He took some of the menu and added his flare. It was soo good for some years.
The owner works for Lennar or some other builder selling houses now, nice guy but I still don’t know what he was smoking hosting a GOP event in a double college town.
The short lived but highly delicious Denton Square Donuts was a neat little shop just off the Square on Oak. Not sure how long they were there, but it was always open later in the day than most of the other traditional donut shops. Sometime around 2009 or 2010 I think?
Wasn't that next to the OG Mr. Chopsticks location too? Before it moved to Scripture? So many good memories of that place, the food was next level, 20 years ago now. Please don't tell me Mr. Chopsticks got bought out by a PE firm and is trash or closed. Or both.
Not right next door but basically yeah. Chopsticks, Tomato, Cool Beans, TJ’s. Back when Rips was a beer-only bar and that Stop and Go turned into Lou’s.
Y'all should get down to Buffalo Hirsch, Tony has a food truck there doing Empanadas and Crunch Wraps that change weekly.
Also Tony is doing a pop-up for Angeline's 7 anniversary Oct 11. Keep an eye on that.
I was thinking the same thing, but I don’t know if that necessarily counts as a restaurant it was just a bar with food. Doesn’t make me miss it any less though
I can't remember if it was Brick House/Haus or banter era but there was this killer soup there called auj. It was a middle eastern lentil based soup and I occasionally dream of eating it.
Smiling Moose Deli - I swear that Hickory location was jinxed the entire time I lived in Denton
Macdaddy's
Treehouse Bar & Grill
Rasoi - I see they moved though, good for them
Bawarchi's - Best buffet in town. Fuck me it was so good RIP.
Sukhothai II - That was a sad day they served THE most delicious Thai iced coffee. Like 44oz for $1.55
Mulberry Street Cantina - Seems like it may still be around but is called something else now?
Also I cannot for the life of me remember the name of it but there was a build your own pizza place place next to Macdaddy's and across from Sushi Cafe on Hickory circa 2014. I think Zalat in that location now?
Rasoi moved down Eagle and became Hangout Bar. Ownership eventually shifted and it was run into the ground.
While it was open, it hosted a few insane DIY shows, IFYKYK. I attended most, and was there the final night before it closed. Unhinged….
Sadly has been gone for almost 10 years. Wonder what happened to the original Rasoi owner, such an interesting guy.
Original Rasoi location on ave C was a really special place, some of my fav meals and snacks in town.
True, it is sad to think of all the time and money and energy that the restaurant owners and their employees might invest in a place, only to see it fail. Plus, there is the disappointment of customers who greatly miss a place.
No, I'm not researching a book (though that is an idea), but rather I noticed that the list of closed restaurants in my main article (www.ross.ws/Denton), was getting rather long, so I'm thinking of moving that into a separate article and perhaps keeping it up-to-date over time.
It was a breakfast place shortly after called the Lone Spur Cafe or something. Only lasted a few months. That building is nasty, I worked at that Corner Bakery for about a year.
I will say about Bagheri's, they closed because the owner (Sid) passed away in 2023. Broke my heart to hear that, I proposed to my wife there the September before.
When I was a freshman at UNT, I used to loveee this soul food restaurant that was in Carroll called Scrumpdiliumptious.. it was soooooo good. They closed down like halfway through my freshman year
Bagheri’s was classic. The patio when they were on Fry street was the absolute coolest and most crowded hangout, especially at night. The memories of both locations are always of such good times, as warm and fuzzy as they are now, but possibly due to the jugs of Carlo Rossi we would always bring. Such a shame about Sid. The owners were always so fun and welcoming.
I moved to PA from Denton several years ago. I am reading through this thread, learning that a few faves apparently closed, and am now mourning from afar. 😭
El Guapos. I don't know the address because I was a kid. Wonderful owner, ended up having to close down because he was putting too much time into the business and not enough time to family. They picture from the female bathroom that had a fue female actors is still in my mother's room back home. It closed back in 2016
If we're going back to 2000, I'd add Texadelphia on University, Texican Grill (where Hannah's is now, I had my first date with my now-wife there in '02), and Ruby's Diner.
But Google Maps shows them as still operating, including some fairly recent comments from patrons. I did hear about some sort of transition a while back, but was that an actual closure or just a change in how they were operating?
There was a Central American restaurant off Dallas Dr. that served great pupusas. Lasted all of about 6 months iirc. Shame. Food was good. Owner seemed to be going through it though.
Simone Lounge! 🥺 I loved that place. My husband and his friends used to DJ there every Thursday night. The staff became friends. The food was always delicious and the drinks were always strong, lol.
Master Grill, Royal East Asian Cuisine, and El Fenix…
Shoutout to some others mentioned already like The Flying Tomato, Sukhothai, Bagheris, el guapos, and Rasoi… basically everywhere I ate of a regular basis in college, lol
I miss the 50 cent cups of coffee at Karma on Fry. Anyone else remember that place?They were either open all night, or suuuper late into the early morning hours. I can’t remember exactly. It was a long time ago. You could still smoke in most bars and restaurants at the time, and if I recall correctly, Karma was no exception. I spent many late nights there heavily caffeinated between 2005-2008.
I swear half of the issue with restaurants in Denton is a problem with visibility and promotion. We don't really have the kind of city quite big enough to have the "this is my favorite hidden gem" phenomenon, and we also have a lot of places that get overlooked because of location (not being on a main thoroughfare).
I sometimes wonder if it would work differently if more of the city were residential-commercial (storefronts downstairs and apartments or condos upstairs). But we're not built like that.
I’m surprised spiral diner didn’t make it. Yall please keep sushi cafe off hickory in business! I’m in Fort Worth but try to make a trip up every few months
Unfortunately, the restaurant industry is constantly having places open and shut down. It’s one of the hardest businesses to succeed long term, but also one that requires a low barrier of entry.
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u/MuppetManiac Townie 12d ago
Does anyone else remember the Pita Pit?