Areal Shutters Abruptly in Santa Monica, Leaves Note to Employees on the Door

Santa Monica’s Areal restaurant has closed overnight, leaving little trace of what was formerly there behind. According to multiple sources, the restaurant simply decided to let the place go, turning away folks and taping a notice to employees to the front door.

Areal opened in 2011 as a kind of catch-all Italian restaurant along Main Street, serving everything from salads to pizza to pasta mains, along with brunch and a daily happy hour at the full bar — plus that killer patio. Eater reached out yesterday to confirm the shutter, with one person simply saying that the restaurant was now permanently closed. And while Areal’s OpenTable is still active, the company’s Facebook page has been completely wiped away.

As for the notice on the door, a tipster emails in to say that the place was closed up tight yesterday evening with only a single piece of paper taped to the front. On it was allegedly a message to employees who presumably were showing up for the dinner shift, informing them instead that the restaurant was permanently closed.

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