Michael Mina’s namesake restaurant in San Francisco will permanently close

Michael Mina’s Michelin-starred eponymous concept in San Francisco is permanently closed, according to the restaurant.

In its place will be another concept from the Michael Mina restaurant group: Estiatorio Ornos a Michael Mina Restaurant, which is slated to open in September.

With move leaves only one location named Michael Mina, which is operated by the group in Las Vegas at the Bellagio Hotel. Michael Mina’s multiconcept group operates more than 30 restaurants, including seven locations of steakhouse Bourbon Steak, three locations of steak concept StripSteak, Wit & Wisdom, Pabu, International Smoke, Indie Superette and the delivery-only concept Tokyo Hot Kitchen.

“I started my career introducing people to new seafood dishes at AQUA, and Estiatorio Ornos is an evolution of this ...” Mina said in a statement. “This new iteration of the restaurant will not only continue to offer a tasting menu, but also an à la carte experience that feels more social and uses its roots to pay homage to the Mediterranean seafood experience.”

Mina told the SF Chronicle that he “missed the energy of his former seafood restaurant in the space.” 

Estiatorio Ornos opened in Miami last year and took over the space occupied by a previous Mina concept, International Smoke.

Estiatorio Ornos is a high-end Greek seafood restaurant named for a beach on the island of Mykonos where Mina says he had a transformative meal.

The menu features multiple catches of the day along with myriad preparations for each one. For those who are wary about seafood or those wanting to try something different, there will be a “fish sommelier” circling the restaurant to offer preparations for each fish to patrons.

Dishes like sea bass ceviche with lemon citronette, prawns in a spicy tomato sauce with dill and feta, and phyllo-crusted dover sole will be on the menu, as well as the fish specials.

However, the two locations will not be the same. Mina told the SF Chronicle that the San Francisco outpost will be “more elaborate with a different menu and tableside plating.”

The Bay Area location is expected to have 76 seats with wrap-around booths and a bar with a revamped cocktail menu.

Like the Miami location, the estiatorio in San Francisco is a collaboration with Las Vegas restaurateurs Girair “Jerry” Goumroian and Nikolaos Georgousis, owners of the casual Meraki Greek Grill. Both are originally Greek, and the menu is modeled to reflect what they grew up eating in Greece, according to Mina.

“While I am so proud of what we were able to do at Michael Mina, the evolution of our Middle Eastern tasting menu seemed like a natural fit, given the history of Greek influence in ancient Egypt,” Mina said in a statement. “Last year was a collective reflection period and I sat back to really think about what I wanted the next chapter of this space to be and what is best for our city in transition.

"San Francisco is always going to be one of the best food cities in the world,” he added, “and I am 100% committed to continually evolving our concepts to support its growth and really honor a place I would be nowhere without.”