Pao Town, the fast-casual Asian concept by the owner of the highly successful Sushi Maki, closed its doors this past Friday.
Owner Abe Ng had high hopes for Pao Town, which offered cuisine from different Asian countries divided into four sections: mains, salads, buns, and sides. In a First Bites post about the restaurant in September 2013, Zachary Fagenson also had high hopes. "We're betting Pao Town will be a popular spot for the Gables crowd. It's situated right off Miracle Mile, a corridor flooded with chain and Thai restaurants, and will enjoy plenty of business from the lunch crowd."
See also: Pao Town: A Different Asian Concept for the Gables
Indeed, the restaurant proved popular for lunch, but it failed to draw the more profitable dinner crowd. A spokesperson for the restaurant explained Pao Town was "doing great business at lunchtime, but we're falling short at dinner and on weekends."
Pao Town will be reincarnated in the future, but for now all efforts are on launching a new menu at Sushi Maki in October.
Here's the sign that was posted on Pao Town's door Friday:
Dear Friends,As of Friday, August 30, Pao Town closed its doors to refine the restaurant concept. Our entire family has truly enjoyed serving you over the past year and will be back at some point in the future, definitely tweaked for a new concept more appropriate for the Ponce Corridor. We can't thank our loyal fans enough for their frequent visits, many laughs, and abundant appetites; you haven't seen the last of Pao Town.
We take away lots of learning from this one year "experiment" -- including some fabulous menu items which will be making appearances on menus at our catering events, Canton Chinese Restaurants, Sushi Maki and possibly even American Airlines Arena. We don't know when and where we will re-open -most importantly, we have gained many amazing team members at Pao Town, all of whom have been offered jobs at Sushi Maki, Canton and our Catering division.
In the interim, some favorite Pao Town menu items will still be available next door at Canton Chinese and the restaurant space is available for private events; just call our Catering Department at (786) 507-3333 for more information.
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