After failing to live up to PR-fueled expectations during its tumultuous few years in business, the $3 million Civico By The Park restaurant has shuttered in San Diego's Bankers Hill community, although ownership is claiming the closure is only temporary.
In 2018, we broke the news that the family behind Little Italy's popular Civico 1845 had plans for an new, upscale Italian restaurant concept to open on the base floor of the Manchester Financial Centre building that houses Mister A's and sits across the street from Cucina Urbana in San Diego's Bankers Hill community. The upscale "Calabria meets San Diego" fusion restaurant named Il Dandy opened in May 2019 at the cost of approximately $3 million. Launched in partnership with the with father and son chefs Antonio and Luca Abbruzzino of Italy's Michelin-starred Ristorante Abbruzzino, Il Dandy was a 7,000 square-foot stunner with Michelin ambitions of its own, but the restaurant never lived up to its public relations-backed hype.
In May 2020, amid the pandemic, Civico 1845 founders Eugenio and brothers Dario and Pietro Gallo, who all hail from the city of Cosenza in the Calabria region of Southern Italy, rebranded Il Dandy to become an offshoot of their original Little Italy restaurant. Dubbed Civico By The Park, the new concept offered a more casual vibe and menu than its predecessor and operated without former partners Antonio and Luca Abbruzzino.
We received word that Civico By The Park was permanently closed as of today, so we stopped into the Little Italy location and confirmed the information with an onsite employee. Ownership has since stated they aim to reopen, but sources claim the space will be put up for lease. Civico 1845 remains in business in San Diego's Little Italy.
For more information, visit civico1845.com.
This is a developing story. We will update this post as we learn more
