Once listed among U.S.’s best new restaurants, a Fort Worth bistro closes for 2nd time
La Onda, an oyster bar and seafood bistro ranked by a national magazine in 2022 as one of America’s 50 best new restaurants, has closed for the second time.
The restaurant was praised by food critics for its original Race Street location, but that closed in April. It reopened in September inside the Hotel Revel, 1165 Eighth Ave.
“We are sorry to inform, but La Onda has closed,” the restaurant announced Saturday on social media. “We are sorry for [guests] who have placed reservations. And thank you for the support from the community.”
The restaurant had announced its weekly “Saturday Supper Club” menu, featuring octopus adobo and a corn-potato soup with roasted oysters.
Misty and Victor Villarreal had closed the old house on Race Street after diners didn’t respond, even when Bon Appetit magazine lauded Victor Villarreal’s ceviche, dry-aged wahoo or “shark-cuterie” with gravlax as “seafood magic.”
The Hotel Revel offerings broadened to include a “live fire” menu with smoked picanha, roast chicken, roast branzino, roast oysters or roast octopus.
La Onda’s timing was unfortunate. It opened at the same time as a spate of other new chef-driven Near Southside restaurants. They included the New Orleans-themed Walloon’s oyster bar, 701 W. Magnolia Ave., and Teddy Wong’s Dumplings, 812 W. Rosedale St.., along with its adjacent Bushi Bushi Market.
Another chef-driven restaurant, the “Asian-Tex” Eazy Monkey at 401 W. Magnolia Ave., opened but has since gone dark in what chef Andrew Dilda has described as a temporary break.
This story was originally published January 22, 2024 at 10:24 AM.
