Another local restaurant that had a mid-pandemic opening is calling quits already, and that is Daughter's Diner in Oakland. Hoodline covered the opening of the retro-inspired diner in October 2020, but after just a year and change owners Keven and Justyna Wilson say they can't keep the place afloat any longer. The last day of service was January 16.
"With broken hearts but looking towards new beginnings we have decided to proceed with the closure of Daughter’s Diner," the couple wrote in an Instagram post last week. "We are forever grateful for the community of customers and supporters we’ve built in the past year."
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The all-day-breakfast spot had earned fans for its marzipan-filled pancakes and caviar-topped fried egg sandwiches, but the Wilsons say that after a stressful year, the Omicron surge was just too much to weather.
"We actually had a really good October and November,” says Justyna Wilson, speaking to Berkeleyside. “Thanksgiving was great … And then, like, end of November, when all the headlines started to come out about [omicron], we saw an immediate impact on the business that was already trying to basically just survive."
The couple thanks the landlord — Isaac Abid, the same landlord of the recently shuttered Luka's nearby — for helping them through this difficult transition, and being able to close quickly. They say it might have been a "blessing in disguise," after running out of rent abatements and sources of outside help.
But this is another sad ending for a promising new project from a fine dining chef — and just one of many restaurant casualties in a pandemic that sometimes feels like it will never end.
The space at 326 23rd Street (at Webster) is now up for grabs again.
