Nick’s Roast Beef and Dockside Bensalem restaurants shut down abruptly

The Northeast Philadelphia location of Nick’s Roast Beef and the Bucks County restaurant Dockside Bensalem, both owned by veteran restaurateur Matt Rossi, closed abruptly over the weekend.

“I think the easiest answer is just ... financially we weren’t able to continue,” said Rossi, who was credited in 2022 with saving Philadelphia’s largest food-truck commissary from financial ruin under its previous operator. “It’s as simple and cut and dried as that.”

Rossi opened the Nick’s location, a popular sports bar featuring live bands and drippy roast beef sandwiches just outside of Philadelphia Mills mall, in late 2018. He previously owned the longtime Nick’s Roast Beef location on Cottman Avenue in the Northeast, which closed in February 2023 after what Rossi said was a substantial rent increase.

Rossi’s Northeast Philadelphia restaurants were unrelated to Old Original Nick’s Roast Beef, founded in 1938 by the DeSipio family as a taproom at 20th and Jackson Streets in South Philadelphia. They also operate locations in Springfield, Delaware County, and West Chester. Other Nick’s locations were spun off over the years, operated by other people.

Rossi opened Dockside, a sprawling restaurant and catering facility with a deck overlooking the Neshaminy Creek, in April 2023 on the former site of Water’s Edge.

On Facebook, employees, customers, and members of bands that played at Nick’s were critical not only of the suddenness of the shutdowns but the timing, on the eve of the holiday season.

In a brief phone conversation, Rossi acknowledged that the closings also would force customers to rebook parties. “We’ve already talked to everybody, and every single person is being refunded,” he said. “Anything along those lines is being rectified.” He said he had no plans to file for bankruptcy protection and that vendors were being paid.

Rossi, who also has a mobile-catering company, oversees Philadelphia Food Trucks Commissary in Yeadon, Delaware County.

Other restaurateurs tried to pick up the pieces. A manager for Chickie’s & Pete‘s advised laid off workers to apply for jobs, while Sweet Lucy’s, a Northeast Philadelphia barbecue restaurant, offered burned customers its private catering room, recently expanded to accommodate up to 80 people. Broken Goblet Brewing in Bensalem asked musicians to reach out. “We can’t promise a guaranteed solution, but we are acutely aware of how it feels to have something happen out of your control,” its post read.