Symcha's Sure Looks Closed

Lee Klein

Symcha's appears to be as closed as the umbrellas.

There is no sign on the window announcing closure, but Symcha's hasn't been open for business during at least the past four nights, and no one has answered the phone. I snapped these photos Sunday, at an hour when the restaurant was supposed to be serving dinner. Looks like it's curtains for the elegant eatery, which opened last year across the street from Joe's Stone Crab in South Beach's SoFi neighborhood.

Venezuelan restaurateur Symcha Zylberman provided a warm ambiance at his eponymous eatery, and by most accounts the fare was creative and tasty. Unfortunately, by those same accounts it wasn't nearly tasty enough for the price -- cream of tomato soup went for $12, a crabcake appetizer was $23, and a half-rack of lamb cost $45.

The orchid, at least, is still going strong.

If I had to guess the reason for Symcha's not succeeding, that would be it. There are too many affordable options in the neighborhood for anyone to have considered dining at Symcha's for anything but a special occasion. And when it comes to special-occasion restaurants in South Beach, Symcha's was on nobody's shortlist.

Let this rule of thumb be Symcha's epitaph: One should always wait until one's restaurant becomes a destination before charging destination prices.

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