Chick’s Social on 7th Street Is Closing

If you’re a fan of Chick’s in Queen Village (or is it Bella Vista? Headhouse District?), you’ll be unhappy to know that the restaurant with one of the prettiest bars in Philadelphia (and one of the oldest active liquor licenses in the state… number 376!) is going to close.

The restaurant, which recently transformed from Chick’s Cafe & Wine Bar into Chick’s Social Kitchen + Bar, will stop doing business by August 1st, according to the sole bartender/server on duty Tuesday night. I heard the same thing from another source on Monday.

In its heyday, Chick’s was a mob hangout. Then in the 2000s, Chick’s became one of the first establishments in Philadelphia to jump start the “mixology” craze. Two of the city’s most skilled bartenders once worked there: Katie Loeb and Phoebe Esmon.

The 3,900-square foot building housing Chick’s had been on the market for $1.35 million since at least February, and, apparently, a buyer has been found. “And he doesn’t want to keep Chick’s,” the bartender told me. “He wants to do something different.” So you better hurry if you want to get in on their $18 lobster dinner special, which is still running.

“They had a good run,” says Loeb, who just returned from Ireland, where she was one of ten bartenders representing the United States at the Jameson Global Bartenders Ball. “I love that place. Wish I had investors to take it over myself.”

No word on who the buyer is, and there’s not yet a city record of a real estate transaction for the property. Current owner Jim Piano was unable to be reached for comment.