Cassis Restaurant serves its last meal
'Chef Mavro' says he will return full-time to his King Street eatery
Cassis Restaurant & Wine Bar closed for good after dinner service on Saturday.
"The downtown space of over 13,000 square feet was way too big for what I love to do," said chef-owner George Mavro-thalassitis, in a statement. "Cassis won awards and had many enthusiastic regular guests, but we were still losing money."
The restaurant, at Harbor Court, had 38 employees.
"It's very sad for all of us now, but there is good in the Cassis story," he said. "Our staff really cared about what they were doing. I think they leave with more knowledge of cooking, service and wine than when they started."
The restaurant and its staff also participated in dozens of charity events since opening April 30, 2007.
Cassis' predecessor, Palomino Restaurant Rotisseria Bar, closed for similar reasons in February of last year.
In an April interview with the Star-Bulletin, Steve Stoddard, president and chief executive of Palomino's parent company, said the restaurant had been "underperforming," but that declining to exercise its five-year lease renewal option was "painful" given its "beautiful location."
Cassis opened to mixed reviews with $25 and $28 lunch prices, higher than Palomino by far. By last fall Cassis introduced a lower-priced Wikiwiki menu.
Mavrothalassitis' attention will return full-time to his Chef Mavro restaurant on King Street, which opened in 1998.
"I expect to be just as busy," he said. "We have our new Spring Menu coming up, 10th anniversary receptions throughout the year, my cooking classes, March and April culinary events on Maui and Kauai, and lots going on."