The Gardens Restaurant is pulling up roots, moving out of Botanic Garden
The Gardens Restaurant did not rebid to serve the Fort Worth Botanic Garden and will move to a country club in far south Fort Worth near Burleson, the owners said Saturday.
After 23 years serving visitors and luncheons in the city’s public flower garden, the restaurant will move Dec. 30.
It will reopen next year in the Southern Oaks Golf Club, which recently changed owners, owners Arif Fazal and Rebecca Madan said. The club restaurant will be renamed Garden Oaks and opened to the public.
A new operator is expected to take over the Gardens Restaurant’s space next year when the Botanic Garden’s management changes, Fazal said.
“With the uncertainty here, we thought it was time to move on,” Fazal said.
The Gardens will continue to host and cater local events using the former location of Mariposa’s Latin Kitchen, now a catering hall.
Fazal and Madan live in Mansfield, closer to the new location, he said.
“The Fort Worth Botanical Society has been so nice to work with,” Fazal said.
“They have helped hold this place together. There is so much here. ... The Japanese Garden is one of the finest anywhere, and nobody knows about it. We have been so lucky to work in this beautiful place.”
The Gardens Restaurant has hosted meetings, civic and church groups for weekday lunches. For many years, it served one of the city’s few Sunday buffets, but recently switched to a weekend brunch menu.
The Gardens remains open through Dec. 30 for lunch only daily except Mondays at 3220 Rock Springs Road, deep in the Garden; 817-731-2547, gardensrestaurantandcatering.com.
This story was originally published December 10, 2018 at 2:02 AM.
