When it opened in August 2017, Wayward was a breath of fresh air in the large, windowed space where the Millennium Bridge drops onto Little Raven Street.
It replaced Zengo, the much darker, moodier Asian fusion restaurant that lived there for 14 years — giving it a brighter, warmer look to set the mood to showcase chef Patrick Kelly's vegatable-forward seasonal creations.
On Tuesday, owners Chad Michael George, Kade Gianinetti and Jared Schwartz announced that they're closing their young restaurant.
"We're disappointed to close Wayward and are grateful to our staff and guests, but this will enable our team to focus on the overall health of our business and divert resources to our other restaurants," Schwartz said in a statement. "We look forward to serving the community for the next few weeks and hope to welcome guests to American Grind and The Way Back in the future."
Wayward's last day of service will be Sunday, April 15. The team's other spots — The Way Back and American Grind — are still running as usual. The partners said in a statement that they hope hire as many Wayward staff as possible to work in those restaurants.
“Giving people a reason to come to Little Raven is difficult with so many other great spots popping up on both sides of us, towards Union Station and LoHi,” George told Eater.
What happens next is still up in the air. Right now, they're looking for another restaurant to take over the lease and hope to continue operating a bar out of the smaller space next door where they've been doing pop-up bars.
