Orange County welcomed a wave of new restaurants in 2025, including Viet Nguyen’s Qua, Le Hut Dinette helmed by veteran chef Ryan Garlitos, Sara Lezama’s new Rye Goods in Costa Mesa and “Top Chef” champion Charbel Hayek’s Ilya. These debuts signaled a region springing back to life in majestic, destination-worthy fashion.
Despite the marquee openings, launching a successful eatery in 2025 remained a high-wire act. Industry data revealed that while customer demand has stabilized, the cost of doing business has hit historic highs. According to the National Restaurant Association, operations costs (specifically food and labor) have skyrocketed roughly 35% over the last five years, squeezing profit margins to a razor-thin 3% to 5% for many full-service spots.
And in Orange County, where commercial rent premiums and labor competition are fierce, operators faced a perfect storm of inflationary economic pressures. For many owners, a single slow quarter or a lease renewal hike proved the difference between survival and shuttering.
While the dining scene continues to evolve, this year’s losses were deeply felt. From decades old stalwarts that awed generations of diners to relative newcomers that arrived boasting critical acclaim, here are a few of the closures that hit hardest in 2025.
JANUARY
Starting off the year’s major closures was Ivan Spiers’ Bodega Laguna and Skyloft, which opened in 2015. The popular Coast Highway eateries vacated the historic Heisler building on Jan. 2.
Another early January closure was Slapfish, the fast-casual seafood franchise noted for its sustainable practices. It shuttered its remaining Orange County location in San Clemente. The brand has one remaining California footprint at Los Angeles International Airport (LAX), as well as spots in Indiana, New Mexico, South Carolina and Utah.
An Irvine IHOP closed on Jan. 29 after 32 years on MacArthur Boulevard. “This decision was ultimately made for us when we unfortunately lost the lease for this location,” said co-owner Angela El Haj (who, along with her sister, Mariam, also co-owns Calaca Mamas in Anaheim), in a written statement. El Haj cited “significantly higher rent” prices as part of her decision to close the pancake house. A Chick-Fil-A took over the place later in the year.
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Mexican restaurant and bar Hectors on the Circle in Old Towne Orange also closed in early January. Opening in the former site of Watson’s Soda Fountain & Cafe, which first opened as a drug store in 1899, Cajun seafood chain the Kickin’ Crab, founded by restauranteur Jan Nguyen, moved into the space.
FEBRUARY
After 14 months in operation, Hoot Wings, Hooters’ fast-casual chicken wing spot, shuttered its Orange location. Unlike its “breastaurant” foremother, Hoot Wings hired both female and male servers, who donned comparatively modest t-shirts and khaki pants. Created in 2017, the business model was an attempt to offset revenue slowdown at Hooter restaurants. As of late December, only two locations in Illinois remain open, according to the company’s website.
The Black Marlin in Tustin will temporarily close to to undergo an extensive renovation. (File photo by Paul Bersebach, Orange County Register/SCNG)MARCH
Seafood favorite the Black Marlin, located in Tustin’s Old Town, closed its doors in March. While initially framed as a temporary hiatus for a major renovation, the restaurant later confirmed the closure is permanent. “It is with a heavy heart that we announce the permanent closure of the Black Marlin Restaurant,” read a message posted to the eatery’s website. “We want to thank the thousands of you that have walked through the doors of the historic Tustin Garage to eat amazing seafood, hang out at the bar and relax on the back patio.”
One closure that packed a bittersweet punch was the Spaghetti Bender, which closed after 55 years on March 2, along Coast Highway in Newport Beach. Owner Michael Hoskinson explained, “The ultimate reason is that we hit 55 years and we decided to go out on a high note. What else do we have to prove?” The red-sauce joint, noted for Italian-American staples like spaghetti and meatballs, gnocchi and saltimbocca, as well as its interior decor that hadn’t changed since the 1970s, went out on a high note, with tables booked until the very end.
A Chinese-American food staple for 40 years in Dana Point, Peking Dragon temporarily closed on March 16 to make way for extensive renovations. No word yet as to when the owners plan on reopening.
Gema, a restaurant on El Camino Real in downtown San Clemente, closed in 2025. (Photo by Mark Rightmire, Orange County Register/SCNG)APRIL
Gema, the acclaimed Mexican gastronomy eatery in San Clemente by restaurateur Sarah Resendiz and executive chef Juan Pablo Cruz, closed in late spring after nearly three years in operation. According to Resendiz, “We closed for a medical situation, but we hope to be up and running again, maybe in another space.” The El Camino Real spot opened to rave reviews, including one from food critic Brad A. Johnson, who beamed, “Here’s a chile relleno unlike anything else in Orange County. In fact, here’s a Mexican restaurant unlike anything else in Orange County.”
The rock-music restaurant chain Rock and Brews, co-created by Kiss members Gene Simmons and Paul Stanley, closed on April 6 after five years in Tustin. “After much consideration, we have decided to close our Rock and Brews Tustin location,” said a Rock and Brews spokesperson, in a written response. “We were recently approached by a buyer interested in the space and, after careful evaluation, decided to accept their offer.” The thematic gastropub featured featured 52 beers on tap, 17 flat-screen TVs and a menu of wings, burgers, ribs, beer and craft cocktails.
JUNE
As part of the Dana Point Harbor’s ongoing renovation, Coffee Importers, one of the harbor’s oldest businesses, relocated near the Ocean Institute, closing its former location on June 15. The move added a bakery, expanding the outlet’s food options. But the move cost the business its ice cream vertical Scoop Deck, Coffee Importers’ other half for more than four decades. “That’s really hard, we’ve had ice cream (at the Scoop Deck) for 43 years,” owner Jim Miller told the Orange County Register. “People loved it and they’re bummed. But we’re shifting gears to make it more of a cafe. It’s another level up.”
Seafood-steakhouse chain Eddie V’s shuttered its Newport Beach location on June 15. “Closing this restaurant is a difficult business decision, and one that we made carefully and thoughtfully, particularly because it impacts our team members and guests,” a spokesperson for the restaurant told the Orange County Register in April shortly before its closing.
Harpoon Henry’s, which opened in 1975 at the Dana Point Harbor, will closed in 2025. Photographed on Monday, Dec. 2, 2024. (Photo by Brock Keeling / SCNG)AUGUST
Opening in 1975, seafood staple Harpoon Henry’s served its final meal this summer. The restaurant’s closure is part of an ongoing $550 million overhaul to the Dana Point Harbor, a project slated to add new hotels, parking structures, restaurants, architecture and landscaping to the 52-year-old harbor.
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After four years inside Corona del Mar’s Sherman Library and Gardens, executive chef Jessica Roy closed 608 Dahlia in late October. While the scenic “garden-to-table” restaurant, which made a cameo on season 19 of “Real Housewives of Orange County,” has shuttered, Roy revealed plans to open a new restaurant a few miles north sometime in 2026. “I am thrilled to share that we will be opening a new restaurant space just up the road in Sunset Beach, where we will continue to evolve and expand on our California garden-to-table cuisine,” she said in October shortly before 608 Dahlia’s closure.
On Oct. 11, GameCraft Brewing, a popular spot that combined games and suds, closed its “mothership” location in Laguna Hills. “The best way to express it is we have been unable to turn a profit at the location,” owner Scott Cebula said in an interview prior to the closure. The games spot and brewery celebrated seven years with a farewell bash replete with games, beer and merriment. The company’s two other locations in Anaheim and an outdoor beer garden in Tustin remain open.
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After a whopping 47 years in Tustin, Rutabegorz closed on Oct. 30. The eatery specialized in healthy fare, including wraps, burritos, sandwiches, soups and salads. Retirement was the cause for closure, according to the owner, but a report in the Orange County Business Journal suggests a rent increase could also have been a culprit. Rutabegorz, a riff off of the turnip-like vegetable rutabaga, has two other locations in Fullerton and Orange remaining open.
NOVEMBER
StillWater Spirits and Sounds, a 13-year-old speakeasy-themed restaurant and bar, called it quits in Dana Point. It’s last day was Nov. 2. In its stead, Shelter Distillery will move into the vacant space sometime in early-to-mid 2026, offering guests its own creations, including whiskey, bourbon and agave spirits, as well as vodka, liqueurs, rums, limoncello and even a take on absinthe.
Fourteen-day, dry-aged white sea bass at Detention in Santa Ana (Photo by Brad A. Johnson, Orange County Register/SCNG)DECEMBER
Originally opening as Playground in 2011, Detention, chef-owner Jason Quinn’s lauded membership-model dining experience in Santa Ana, is slated to close at the end of December. The end of Quinn’s nearly 15-year run on the corner of Fourth and Spurgeon streets is tied, in part, to the expiration of the building’s lease. “I feel a little bit like Tommy Lee Jones in ‘No Country for Old Men,’” said Quinn in his Instagram announcement on Sept. 23. “We’ve been going for such a long time, I just don’t know if we are still in the group of hot new restaurants or people who still have an idea what’s going on. And so we’ve decided not to renew our lease.” Quinn’s adjoining restaurant, Trust, is expected to bid adieu sometime in 2026.
On the heels of Dana Point Harbor’s in-progress overhaul, French eatery Gemmell’s served its final dish on New Year’s Eve. “Saying goodbye is never easy,” said chef-owner Byron Gemmell in a written release. “We appreciate the heartfelt support of our beloved patrons who’ve kept us going.”
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Another loss for the coastal enclave was the closures of Maison Cafe and Doheny Cafe, chef-owner Danielle Kuhn’s restaurants that said farewell on Dec. 24. In a farewell announcement, Kuhn detailed the financial pressure that made operating three concepts unsustainable, even for an owner who had “survived and thrived through the pandemic.” Noting that the dual closures were “such a hard decision to make,” she went on to offer a silver lining, adding, “Maison will open again one day and she will shine brighter than ever.” Giana Bakery & Provisions, Kuhn’s third eatery in Dana Point, is still open for business.
Costa Mesa brunch favorite Toast closed its doors on Dec. 16. In a heartfelt announcement, the owners shared that the decision was “incredibly heartbreaking” and “not taken lightly.” Opening in 2019, the Harbor Boulevard eatery offered such menu items as avocado toast, soba noodle salad, grille cheese and tomato soup, Korean fried chicken sandwich, pork belly bowls, sisig burrito and more. Toast’s Tustin location remains open.
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