Maison 208, with its rooftop bar in Washington Square West, has closed

Maison 208, the French-influenced bar-restaurant that opened in June 2017 in a new building with a retractable roof at 13th and Chancellor Streets, has closed.

In a statement, owner Herb Reid said, “We didn’t quite meet our own expectations. The city deserves better than what we gave."

He also said: "A lot of heart and soul went into the creation. ... We appreciate everyone that came through our doors and spent their hard-earned dollar with us. We thank our staff, old and new, over the past few years, that worked diligently, tirelessly, to provide our patrons a unique experience. I can’t express how appreciative we are of the people that chose to work at Maison. We are very proud of what we built, from the ground up, a space that was widely lauded and appreciated by all that visited.”

The building shouldn’t be vacant for too long. Reid said he was fielding offers.

Maison 208, named for its address on South 13th Street, initially had chef Sylva Senat out front. The Haitian-born, New York-raised Senat, who appeared on Bravo’s Top Chef and on Food Network shows, picked up two bells from Inquirer critic Craig LaBan, but he left in summer 2018 to become executive chef of the Pyramid Club and to open Baby Buns, a stand at the Bourse food hall that sells sliders.

Maison’s opening on the former site of a Dewey’s, and later Letto Deli, was long-delayed. In September 2015, as construction was more than halfway complete, an arsonist torched it, causing an estimated $1 million in damage.