San Marco restaurant Bistro X and its adjoining sister restaurant, Limoncello Ristorante, will close Sept. 28 and reopen as a fresh concept under new ownership.
Bistro X is at 1440 San Marco Blvd.
Owner Marcello Villani cited changes in dining preferences and cuisines as reasons for selling the business.
“People are getting tired of French cuisine. They want something fresher, newer and younger,” Villani said.
“Twenty-five years is a long time.”
The new owners are James Stuart and Joel Mesa. The two have worked for other successful area restaurants including Taverna and Oceana in San Marco and Midtown Table at Gate Parkway.
Stuart, who has years of experience as a sous chef, will be executive chef and Mesa will be the general manager. Stuart and Villani declined to reveal the purchase price.
Stuart and Mesa, both under 40 years old, have been operating Bistro X since mid-July, Villani said. They are currently serving the Bistro X menu.
The plan is to close after Sept. 28 and then open a new restaurant sometime in October.
Stuart declined to talk about the cuisine or release the name of the new restaurant.
“We have some great ideas about the future and what we might be getting into, but right now the main focus is just making sure that every guest comes in and gets the best experience they can,” Stuart said.
“We want everybody to come in say goodbye to Bistro X one last time, let them know it is in good hands and we want everybody to relive all those memories that they’ve had over the last 25 years.”
Limoncello Ristorante will become a bar and lounge for the new restaurant, much like it was when it was the Onyx Lounge in Bistro Aix.
The closure of the restaurants was announced in a social media post that read: “New things on the horizon ... Bistro X and Limoncello will be closing September 28th make sure to join us one last time to celebrate 25 years of great service.”
The Bistro X building is owned by Cesery Companies of Jacksonville through Billbar Inc.
Mike and Terry Schneider, founders of the Loop Pizza Grill chain, created Bistro AIX in 1999.
Villani recently rebranded the restaurant’s name to Bistro X.
The Schneiders sold it in 2014 to Forking Amazing Restaurants, which owns The Cowford Chophouse in Downtown.
In 2020, New York City-based San Marco AIX LLC purchased it for an undisclosed price.
Tom Gray, owner of Prati Italia in St. Johns Town Center, was the original executive chef when the Schneiders opened.
Last November, Villani rebranded the adjoining bar and converted it to Limoncello Ristorante. It operated as a separate restaurant serving lighter and less expensive fare. The bar served both restaurants.
The new concept was doing well when it first opened but business lagged during the summer, Villani said.