Another Northern Kentucky restaurant announced its closure on Thursday. That would be the third one of the day if you’re keeping score. This time it’s Opal, a rooftop restaurant in Covington that I named one of the best new Cincinnati restaurants of 2023.
The news follows the announcement that restaurateur Nick Pesola would shutter Amador, a Cuban restaurant, as well as his Bridgeport Food Hall, both located at Newport on the Levee, later this month.
Opal, which opened just 15 months ago, is owned by Morgan and Bill Whitlow, who also ran Rich’s Proper and Hangry Omar’s Slider Shack, in Covington, both of which shuttered in December.
The Whitlows posted about the Opal closure on social media citing “barriers that have ultimately hindered the long-term viability of Opal on this rooftop.”
When reached for comment, Bill Whitlow told me he couldn’t elaborate on what those barriers were just yet. But he said the state of the restaurant industry didn’t help, making it all but impossible to work around them anymore.