Popular Spanish restaurant in Toronto shuts down after walking away from lease
Toronto has already lost far too many neighbourhood restaurants as a result of the financial impacts of the pandemic, and now there's a new spot to add to the list.
Popular Spanish restaurant Carmen, located at 922 Queen St. West, has officially shut down after roughly seven years of operations.
Landlord for the West Queen West building and sales representative at Chestnut Park Homes Joseph Gatto first revealed the news by posting that the spot is for lease on Instagram three days ago.
The post indicates that the addresses at 920 and 922 Queen West are now available for lease at a price of $12,000 per month.
The nextdoor location was once home to the restaurant's bodega, Mercat del Carmen.
In an email, Gatto confirmed some of the details.
"The tenant abandoned the property last Tuesday even though the landlord (I am the landlord) was willing to do CECRA and extend their lease with no increases for 2 [years] that was expiring in Aug 31 this year," he said.
Carmen has yet to announce the closure on any of their social media accounts or their website and did not reply to a request for comment.
Morris Lum
