January 6, 2013

Deja Vu: The Mystery Restaurant at 1298 Church Street

Seems like we've written this post before -- the never-ending restaurant project at 1298 Church St is making progress but there's still no end in sight. This weekend, the paper finally came off the windows and there are lights, tables and chairs on premises. Readers want to know what's up.

Some history: In 2008, the former barbershop was granted the second of three new restaurant permits available in Noe Valley and  has been under construction ever since. [Contigo was the first, Noe Soup never opened; the restaurant limit has since been lifted.] The original permit was filed by Charles Stern and it is registered to the owners of Regent Thai at 1700 Church St.

What we don't know is what exactly it will be - and when. The employees at Regent Thai on outer Church confirm the restaurant is in the works and related, but still aren't saying if/when the restaurant will actually open. Nor do they know if it will be Thai or Vietnamese (as the various contractors over the years believed it might be), or something else altogether. There's also no sign on the building, no ABC permit and the DBI permits are still incomplete. But there is a new ADA accessible ramp out front.

What does it all mean? It means that 5 years into this project we're still waiting. Here's hoping Church and 25th Streets will gain a new restaurant this year.

Bonus feature: Double-paned windows make for some cool photos: here and here.

Update 1/7: The windows are covered in paper once again.

[NVSF: Update: Never-Ending Project at 1298 Church St]

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Paper comes down, everyone gets excited, a bunch of food blogs pickup the "mystery restaurant" story, and they put the paper back up. What the hell is wrong with these people? If you are opening a restaurant you should get some damn publicity!

Anonymous said...

Oh come on, people opening the restaurant, give us a hint!

Anonymous said...

Have you heard anything new on this project? Just recently I walked by, the paper has partially been taken down (again) and saw construction crews inside. There are now some curtains installed on the front windows.

Anonymous said...

It is horrible. They have recently started again. Every time I walk by that restaurant the noise from their fans is unbearable