Cafe Ribant Bites the Dust
It looks like the copyright issues weren’t the only problems plaguing Cafe Ribant (nee Cafe Mei Mei). We reported the restaurant’s opening a year ago and the forced name change back in June, and just yesterday a tipster sent in this photo of a For Rent sign up in the window. Evidently the place went…
It looks like the copyright issues weren’t the only problems plaguing Cafe Ribant (nee Cafe Mei Mei). We reported the restaurant’s opening a year ago and the forced name change back in June, and just yesterday a tipster sent in this photo of a For Rent sign up in the window. Evidently the place went dark about a week ago, but now we know it wasn’t for a summer holiday. The owner’s looking for $125,000 in key money, according to the listing on Smith Hanten, and the $4,500-a-month lease has nine years left on it.
Streetlevel: Cafe Mei Mei Renamed Ribant [Brownstoner] GMAP
New Restaurant Opening on Court Street [Brownstoner]
Chrishavens,
no, that’s in Mandarin. If cantonese, it would be moi moi
Mei Mei means ‘little sister’ in cantonese
When I moved in to the neighborhood it was a cooking school, which I always thought was a great use of the space. Haven’t liked a single thing since they left.
Heard that the same owners owned the College Bakery, which was replaced by a tanning salon around the same time.
It’s sad, really.
Is it even possible to make a restaurant work in this small a space? Seems like a similar situation to Whim/Chicory/Ultimate Burgers space. (I recall at least two other restaurants in that space whose names escape me at the moment.) Even the originally teeny tiny Petite Crevette expanded into the former flower shop next door. high-volume takeout seems like the only workable model.
So sad. Best eggs ever!
Really wanted tot like this place — had brunch there and the service was comicly bad although the food was good.
Unfortunately, that was just a dreadful restaurant. The owners seemed like rank amateurs, and they hired even less experienced people to run it. The food was highly uneven, and when it was bad, like that curly-haired girl, it was dreadful. The only surprise is it lasted as long as it did.
Isn’t key money illegal?
oh no! i’ve wanted to try that place forever, never got around to it! esp Lobster MOndays. Bad consumer, bad!