The last of the Bay Area’s popular Chow restaurants is shutting down, just a year after its big reopening at Bishop Ranch in San Ramon.
“We’re closing after our service on September 10th,” the restaurant team said in an Aug. 27 Instagram post. “Please join us in saying goodbye over the next couple of weeks. We have little time to share our thanks with each other, and to say our proper goodbyes to all of you, and to your families who have embraced us over the years. With your gracious support, we were almost there – but we just ran out of time.”
“Our hearts are heavy with this news,” the post said.
Known for its globally inspired comfort food menu and brunch offerings, the restaurant chain has had difficulties in the past. Chef-owner Tony Gulisano opened the first location in 1997 and at one point had five eateries: two in San Francisco, and one each in Oakland, Danville and Lafayette. But they began to close one by one in 2018 and by November that year, the Oakland location shuttered after being open for just eight months. By May 2019, the last of the five restaurants — the Lafayette location — had closed.
Gulisano reopened the restaurant at a new location, the City Center Bishop Ranch shopping center in San Ramon, in August 2022. The new restaurant featured craft cocktails, vegan and vegetarian menu offerings, a large outdoor patio, a market selling items for home cooking and catering, delivery and to-go options.
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The restaurant could not be reached for further comment by press time.
Details: Chow café, bar + market opens Wednesdays through Sundays at 8 a.m. at 6000 Bollinger Canyon Rd. Ste. 1100 in San Ramon and its last day is set for Sept. 10; chowfoodbar.com.
