A Fort Worth restaurant wanted to appeal to ‘nerd and pop culture.’ It’s closed.
Fanboys Grill, promoted as a restaurant that would bring comic-book fandom and “nerd and pop culture” to dining, has closed, according to a Facebook post Sunday.
Fanboys, 2708 W. Seventh St., opened in November as a cross-branded spinoff of Fanboys Marketplace, a comics and toy retailer.
Owner Mike Rogers said when the grill opened that the restaurants would help promote the stores.
But Fanboys continued to suffer the same identity problem as predecessors 360 Smoke Shack and Emmy’s Smokeshack.
Unless you knew what Fanboys was, it was never clear from the name or signage — in bold, comic-style lettering — exactly what the grill was like or what it served.
An odd menu change recently switched from promoting wings, sliders and sandwiches to focus on hot dogs and kielbasa.
In the Facebook post, the restaurant cited “half a dozen factors.” But sales were low “and we’re not making any money,” the post said.
The restaurant only recently reopened after menu changes and renovations to add a patio.
The restaurant had previously won praise for chicken wings as Emmy’s Smokehouse, and before that operated since 2020 as 360 Smoke Shack.
At the time Fanboys took over, one of Emmy’s owners said the restaurant was sold due to another owner’s illness and slow business during a street project.
It was previously home to Opa Mediterranean Cafe.
This story was originally published June 19, 2023 at 5:35 AM.
