801 Fish on Nicollet Mall in downtown Minneapolis suddenly closed this week. The 801 Restaurant group spent a lot of money renovating and refreshing the former McCormick & Schmick’s in the central business district, but the large space never attracted enough diners.
Courtesy of 801 Fish
We enjoyed it—Executive Chef Lawrence Kirkland is very talented, and I’m told he’s staying with the site to develop a new concept. “We are renovating the property this summer with Shea Architects to bring a new concept that has a warm and welcoming vibe that we feel will suit the space better than a straightforward seafood restaurant,” Chad Waldon, regional service director at 801 Restaurants, told me. Jase Westeen and Amelia Linton will still be running the front of house, which always had welcoming and kind service.
Restaurants are all trying to figure out what diners want right now, especially on Nicollet Mall, which is showing signs of rebirth, but still doesn’t have the reliable business dining crowd that you need to sustain such a large, high-end restaurant. Are we destined to only have burger and pizza joints on the mall? Easy stuff for people coming downtown? The mall is the trickiest part of downtown right now—we have convention business, but those folks aren’t necessarily coming all the way east to 801. We have people coming to Hennepin for theater productions and to our arenas for sporting events—but again, the mall is not exactly the epicenter of that activity.
U.S. Bancorp is in the process of remodeling their lobby and skyway level, and the new 801 concept will open around the time that work is done. Perhaps the fall will be another boost of business activity. Many of our downtown restaurants used to break even with lunch and happy hour and then the convention/business dinner action was profit. That isn’t how it works anymore.
Downtown is certainly still hopping—Apicii, the team that runs the restaurants in Hotel Ivy, just announced Stock & Bond is about to open inside the Westin (in the former BANK). It’s going to be gorgeous, with the same beef provider that supplies Manny’s, along with Minnesota’s Fellers Ranch.
Courtesy of Apicii
Steak works. Fast-casual works. Seafood only? Clearly not.
