One of the owners of Valencia & Kebab at 525 Valencia St. confirmed this week that the Mediterranean restaurant has shut its doors for good after just 10 months of business in the Mission.
Emin Tekin co-owns the restaurant and two others – both called Kobani Mediterranean Grill, in the Marina and another in Berkeley. Tekin said that the restaurateurs “wanted to stay open but could not find the right team” for their Valencia location.
“We could not find the right management [and] the employees would not give the service we usually give,” said Tekin, adding that most of the brothers’ customers would come to see them “because of long-term relationships in the neighborhood.” The brothers officially closed the doors to Valencia & Kebab on September 8.
“The business is not just eating and drinking, it’s hospitality and needs attention and touch. You don’t just go inside, eat, and leave. Employees, like the flavor, [have] to be consistent,” he said.
And that ingredient, said Tekin, was missing. When asked to elaborate, Tekin explained that the ownership increasingly received “bad reviews on Yelp” and “calls from clients” complaining about the service at the restaurant.
Valencia & Kebab moved into the Mission space that formerly housed the Indian seafood restaurant Gajalee in November 2015, after being forced out of Hayes Valley. Their former location, Hayes & Kebab, was torn down to make way for a five-story mixed-use building.
Back in January, Tekin told Mission Local that Valencia & Kebab would continue its operations regardless of whether they managed to re-open in Hayes Valley.
SFist reports that a temporary liquor license had been issued for beer and wine sale in June, and that a permanent license transfer is still pending.
Tekin said that he withdrew the application for the liquor license and is looking to sell his lease.
This article has been corrected – it previously incorrectly represented ownership of other restaurants in the Tekin family.
I think Radish at 19th and Lexington also closed.
It is indeed. http://www.cappstreetcrap.com/uprooted-neighborhood-favorite-radish-for-sale/
I wish the owners luck – they are really nice people.
I think, in 2016 San Francisco, if stores and restaurants want quality service, they are going to have to pay way more than minimum wage. No one is going to commute to a lousy minimum wage retail job and be happy about it.
Shows what bad employees will do to a business. As a business owner, you need to get rid of the cancer employees right away or else this will happen. It’s hard to be the boss as you have to be an asshole sometimes and fire people. I wish them luck.