DETROIT (WWJ) – Two restaurants that have become go-to destinations for Metro Detroiters are closing their doors for good on Sunday.
Old Mexico Restaurant in Livonia and Midtown Detroit’s Cass Cafe welcomed throngs of customers on Sunday as they dished out customers’ favorites one final time.
Chuck Roy, owner of Cass Cafe, called it a bittersweet day, saying he will miss the community that supported his business for nearly three decades.
“That will be the difficult part – the community that’s come out and supported us, the community we’ve supported down here by Wayne State,” Roy said live on WWJ Sunday afternoon. “It’s been a great run and it was just time to end that chapter.”
Cass Cafe first opened in 1993 along Cass Avenue, near Forest, as a place to feature local artists while providing a relaxed atmosphere for the community to come together.
It became a mainstay gathering place in Midtown, the center of Detroit’s art and food scene. But the toll of the pandemic bringing about rising prices and falling numbers of employees and customers, it was time to call it quits.
Roy said ever since the news broke that Cass Cafe would be closing, business has been booming.
“It has been what we would call in the industry, ‘slammed,’” he said. “Especially for us, because it has been such a challenge to get people in the doors.”
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Roy told WWJ’s Greg Bowman live on air Sunday that Cass Cafe may make a brief comeback this fall for “Dally in the Alley” – Midtown’s annual block party along the Cass Corridor that will be making a return in September after a two-year COVID-induced hiatus.
Meanwhile in Livonia, a popular Mexican joint is also saying goodbye after four decades.
Old Mexico Restaurant has been around for about 45 years, but the owners say they’re ready to retire and relax.
The owners of Old Mexico could not be reached for comment, though customers say the place has also been “slammed” since it was announced they’ll be closing for good on Sunday.
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