Rest In Piazza? Big Scandal in Little Italy

Tom O’Malley | Nov 17, 2009 11:00 am | 5 comments | 1497 reads

CBD-based Piazza Italia has closed leaving debts in excess of RMB 500,000, according to a report in the Global Times yesterday. The three-floor Italian culinary centre, housing a deli and café, cooking school, grocery and utensil store, wine enoteca and upscale restaurant, is well and truly boarded-up, with angry suppliers threatening to sue over unpaid bills.

We talked to a former employee at parent company Crai Commercial who had this to say: “We were getting busier and busier, but there were deep problems. I have no idea if they will reopen – I think they are trying to make deals with other investors. I don’t think I should say anything more.”

So there you have it, a generous slice of scandal sprinkled with intrigue (and shavings of fresh Parmesan). Right, I'm going for a coffee. Stone Boat Café, anyone?

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admin's picture admin Submitted by Guest on Wed, 11/18/2009 - 13:56

There's got to be a story behind the story -- RMB 500,000 in debt doesn't sound like a whole heck of a lot for an establishment that size -- hell I'll bet their rent was close to that each month

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esperegus's picture esperegus Submitted by Guest on Wed, 11/18/2009 - 11:41

They had really nice stuff in the deli/cafe area. But way, way too expensive. If their coffee, pizza sandwiches etc had been better priced they would have had tons of people going in for lunch every day - as it was I never really saw it get busy.

Also, the whole "massive building completely full of Italian restaurants/cafes" concept seemed hugely overblown.

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