Ryan’s Daughter Irish Pub in Belvedere will close on Jan. 21 after 14 years in business, according to a post on the restaurant’s Facebook page.
“It has been a pleasure serving and getting to know each and every one of you,” the post says. “Throughout the years we’ve celebrated weddings and funerals, birthdays and anniversaries.”
“From day one,” the post continues, “we wanted the pub to serve as a place where friends and neighbors would feel home, we feel that was accomplished.”
In a phone conversation with Baltimore Fishbowl, Andreea Zmarandache, who has co-owned the pub with her husband, Marwan Daas, since 2009, said the prolonged recession took its toll on the restaurant’s business.
“As you know, the economy is not very strong right now, or we don’t see it,” she said. “The salaries are not increasing while the prices are.”
Zmarandache also said Ryan’s Daughter lost loyal customers who moved out of the neighborhood, and newer ones didn’t come in to take their place.
“It’s sad. We’ve been a neighborhood place for a long time and we’ve made a lot of friendships, we know so many people,” she said. “It’s sad that this is happening. It’s part of life, I guess.”
Zmarandache and Daas are going to think about opening a new, smaller place nearby, possibly going as far away as Towson. But the concept and location are still to be determined.
“We’re just going to try to close the place and take a couple of weeks off and then start thinking about what’s to come,” said Zmarandache.
This story has been updated.
Not to be a naysayer, but my family had dinner at Ryan’s Daughter about 3 weeks ago and our experience was horrible. The atmosphere in the place was uninviting (super powerful LED lights or CFL’s in every chandelier, chilly inside), and the place was filthy. Soot from the fireplace was overwhelming, and the bathrooms were in deplorable condition. We decided to tough it out because we were exhausted and just didn’t have the energy to find another restaurant and wait a long time for a table. We made the wrong decision. Despite being only one of a handful of tables in the place with people at them, our fries came out cold and all of the buns on sandwiches were stale. The waiter, who was the bartender, was awful. Took 15 minutes just to get us some waters. So word to the owners: it’s not the economy that’s caused your revenue to decline. Your downfall relates directly to the experience that my family, and I’m sure lots of other families, had.
What prolonged recession? Wasn’t aware we were in one?
Seems like excuses for failing to keep up with changing tastes. The heavy Irish/English pub style food doesn’t seem popular these days among those with disposable incomes, especially younger affluent diners who live in Homeland and Towson (geographically the market for Ryan’s Daughter). To see what people are eating – look at Hampden.
Failure to keep up with changing tastes is a common problem for restaurants.