Tiffany Delesandro had been to Bistro di Marino in Washington Township many times with it being minutes from her home.
With the restaurant just minutes from her home, she made a reservation there for Valentine’s Day on Feb. 14—also her birthday—but was surprised when she received a call the day before to say that her reservation at that location had been canceled. The cancellation was due to the sudden shutdown of the restaurant.
The Williamstown resident said she drove by the restaurant on Friday morning and saw a padlock device on the front door.
A two-day old sign on the door read: “We will be closed today, 2/12/2025, due to the ongoing winter weather conditions. We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause.”
Bistro di Marino, owned by chef/owner Jim Marino, also has its flagship location in Collingswood and previously had a location in Marlton, but that one closed in 2023.
The Washington Township location opened at 415 Egg Harbor Road in January of 2020 in a space briefly occupied by Pesce Ristorante.
Before that, it was home to Mozzarella Grill for a long time.
“It’s funny because I normally don’t go there for Valentine’s Day, I go to another restaurant," Delesandro said. "I had been getting text messages through the week ‘confirm your reservation’. Yesterday I get a call from the Collingswood location. It’s a young man. He’s like, 'I’m calling from the Bistro di Marino in Collingswood ... I’m calling about the Sewell location.'
"He said, 'We have to cancel all of the reservations, we’re closing effective immediately due to the economy and financial constraints.'"
Why did Bistro di Marino in Washington Twp. close?
Marino shared a statement with the blog 42freeway about the closure of the Washington Township location after five years in business there.
“In the last year and a half, especially in 2024, the restaurant business, and small businesses in general, have been up against very challenging economic conditions with increased operational costs across the board and a decline in customers, particularly during the week, due to increases in the cost of living," Marino wrote.
"In my 20 years of business, starting with my Collingswood location, I have never had a more challenging year in business than 2024 and while I have tried to maintain a thriving restaurant, unfortunately it has come to the point that my Washington Township location is no longer sustainable.”
He added that he was thankfully for all the customers over the years.
"My staff and I have truly appreciated your loyalty and support," Marino said. "As Bistro di Marino moves forward, I will be concentrating on making my Collingswood location the best it has ever been in it’s 20 years of business. For those of you who have booked events with us at our Washington (Township) location, please know that we are not going to leave you hanging.”
Delesandro, however, felt like she was left hanging.
“It’s Valentine’s Day and it’s my birthday," she said. "That’s a pretty crappy thing to do to people in under 24 hours notice. I said, 'There’s nothing you can do?' He said, 'Let me see if I can move the reservation to Collingswood.' He very nervously said, ‘Oh yeah, we can see you at Collingswood.’”
Delesandro said she went on the website OpenTable and it stated that she still had a reservation for Washington Township, with no mention of Collingswood.
She also didn’t want to go to Collingswood since it's further away and is also a smaller location. She said she wasn't confident that the Collingswood restaurant, which opened in 2004, would be able to accommodate customers from the Washington Township location at the last minute on a holiday.
'No restaurant business ever wants to close its doors'
There were messages on social media about the sudden closure on the South Jersey Food Scene Facebook page. One person posted about a baby shower she had planned to have at the restaurant and asked members of the page if they knew of another BYOB available.
“A few colleagues that I work with were actually going, too, and they never received phone calls about it being shut down,” Delesandro said.
Marino, in his statement, acknowledged that he was still in the process of contacting everyone about the closure. He asked for patience and understanding.
"For those of you concerned about gift card purchases, please know that you may still redeem them at our Collingswood location," he wrote. "I would like to also encourage people to remember to support their small, independently-owned, local restaurants and businesses and understand the challenges that so many are currently up against.
"No restaurant or business ever wants to close its doors.”
Please consider a digital subscription to help support our journalism.