After eight years, Avelina’s flame has been extinguished.
The New American restaurant with seasonal, wood-fired cuisine, located at 1550 17th St. in LoDo, permanently closed its doors this month.
“We thank you for your support and patronage during very challenging times for the hospitality industry over the past few years,” the restaurant wrote on Instagram on Feb. 19.
Avelina, which opened in 2016, is the only Denver concept from North Carolina-based Urban Food Group, which owns seven other restaurants in North Carolina. Owner Kevin Jennings responded to a negative Yelp review from an Avelina customer, who was frustrated about a canceled reservation, on Feb. 15, citing a lack of downtown office traffic and the rising minimum wage as a reason for closing.
“We lost thousands and thousands of dollars trying to stay open after COVID,” Jennings wrote on Yelp. “LoDo offices are empty. We can’t even do one-half of the sales we were achieving before COVID. We paid to keep the place open for the last two years. We are now closed for good.”
He added: “All you idiots running this town can do is raise the minimum wage, running small-business owners out of business. Cry me a river about your dinner reservations.”
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