HOUSTON — Acme Oyster House abruptly closed its Houston location Thursday, citing issues that have affected the hospitality industry since 2021.
Acme Oyster House opened its doors to Houston residents in April of 2021 after renovating and restoring a historic movie theater in Montrose.
The restaurant said the COVID pandemic took place right when it was putting the finishing touches on its renovation plans, but despite the uncertainty, Acme Oyster House moved forward, making the Houston opening "the most thrilling in Acme's history."
However, the restaurant said it quickly faced many of the same issues that have affected many other businesses operating in the hospitality industry since 2021, including staffing shortages, the inability to source products, rampant inflation/food costs and a host of other issues.
"Further, the mass mixed-use development of the Montrose corridor to our east completely stalled, not unlike real estate development across a large part of our country. As many of our neighboring hospitality businesses began closing in 2022-2023, the Acme Family doubled down on Westheimer strongly believing “normal” would soon return," the restaurant posted to Facebook.
But it didn't for the Houston oyster house, which led to management closing the doors to the Montrose location Thursday.
"The team here at Acme also wants to thank the entire Houston Community for its outpouring of support and assistance. Your city and the Montrose area are just going to continue to get better and better. We can’t wait (and will be a little jealous) of the major development of this Montrose corridor over the next ten years! We truly believe in this area," the restaurant posted to Facebook.
Acme Oyster House has five other locations -- three in Louisiana, one in Alabama and one in Florida.