Well, let's not beat around the bush: "I'm here today to announce the permanent closure of Trattoria Mucci in Minneapolis," Mucci's owner Tim Niver announced in an Instagram post Thursday. "It's not been easy, but it's been wonderful.
"I love Uptown, I love Lyn-Lake, I love Lake Street," Niver added. "It just didn't work out this time."
Niver, who's also behind Saint Dinette and the original Mucci's Italian in St. Paul, first came to occupy 901 W. Lake St. in the summer of 2018 with Meyvn. That bagel-and-lox, Jewish-deli-style sandwich spot closed a little under a year later to make way for Trattoria Mucci, which traded in the same fun and inventive pizzas and fresh pasta as its sibling across the river. (Don't worry, Niver assures in the Instagram video—the original Mucci's is fine.)
As for what, specifically, is behind the closure at Lake and Bryant? Well... *gestures wildly at everything*. As Niver noted in a recent clip from season two of his podcast, Niver Niver Land: "Coronavirus can fuck off. It can go away any time now!" Speaking with Minnesota Monthly earlier this week, he added that foot traffic in Uptown "is dead."
"We all know the reasons. There's a lot of reasons," Niver says in that farewell video. "I'd rather not dwell on the reasons and just say, 'Hey, it's a decision we had to make based on what we know right now.'"
He notes that they're not "slamming the door shut" but will take the next few weeks to say their farewells, giving folks a chance to stop in and say goodbye and giving their staff a chance to have a smoother transition into something else.
Your last chance to grab brunch at Trattoria Mucci will be this Sunday, January 16; the last dinner service will be Saturday, January 29.
