C.F. Donovan's closed

By adamg - 11/12/09 - 11:55 am

The well known Savin Hill restaurant and bar is shuttered today. Nobody's answering the phone and the Web site's been turned off.

The Hyde Park Bulletin recently reported owner Arthur Donovan had defaulted on $300,000 in loans from the city for his never-opened Hyde Park location.

Comments

why did the city give them $300,000?

By Brett - 11/12/09 - 2:27 pm

n/t

From the Boston Local Development Corp., which the BRA runs. It was so he could take a closed Italian restaurant and turn it into the sort of, well, C.F. Donovan's-like neighborhood restaurant/bar that Hyde Park doesn't really have. And now, apparently never will (unless maybe you count the Hyde or Townsend's, but they're really more restaurants than bars).

Interesting question is what happens to the liquor licenses. "Pocket" liquor licenses (i.e., licenses that the owner sits on, yet never uses) are illegal. To date, the Boston Licensing Board has only threatened to revoke the Hyde Park license. Meanwhile, Boston Police recently cited a Brighton convenience store for NOT selling beer, for which they had a license.

The Hyde

By Ron Newman - 11/12/09 - 2:37 pm

I enjoyed breakfast there Sunday morning while waiting for a bike ride to start. They told me they were the only place in all of Hyde Park that serves breakfast. Is that really true?

Depends how you define "breakfast"

By adamg - 11/12/09 - 2:51 pm

The McDonald's and the two Dunkin' Donuts do serve breakfast-like food substances.

But in terms of your Somerville-like brunchish kind of places, yeah, they might be it. I think Townsend's opens for brunch on special occasions, such as Mother's Day.

Mmmm ... McGriddles ....

By Cleary Squared - 11/12/09 - 7:56 pm

The items from McD's and DD taste so good, but are exactly what you describe - breakfast-like and not good for ya.

But give me a couple of McGriddles anytime...:-)

So if they defaulted on the Hyde Park loans....

By Jack (not verified) - 11/12/09 - 2:32 pm

...and lost this other property as a result, does that mean the city now owns it and is looking to sell?

Too bad, many a good meal in this place, was always busy with a nice atmosphere

If you are wondering why he

By anon (not verified) - 11/12/09 - 5:21 pm

If you are wondering why he got the 300k, it's as simple as being a Friend of Tom (FOT). The election is over, time for that miserable bastard Mr. Donovan to cash in and move to Florida.

Oh No! : -(

By anon (not verified) - 11/12/09 - 9:42 pm

This is a sad day for Savin Hill! Many good memories and meals were had by the Girls of PLY / Tuttle at Donnies. We will miss you Arthur. Best of luck!

Oh No! :-(

By anon (not verified) - 11/13/09 - 9:06 am

This is a sad day for Savin Hill. Many good meals and memories were had there by the Girls of PLY / Tuttle. We will miss you Arthur and your great staff. Best of luck and hope to see you back soon!

This is awful news. We have

By Michael M (not verified) - 11/13/09 - 8:38 pm

This is awful news. We have loved going out to CF Donovan's.

That is really sad. That was

By Jamie (not verified) - 11/21/09 - 3:38 am

That is really sad. That was a great restaurant. My mom and dad are from savin hill, my first experience there was after my grandmother's wake a 4 years ago, My whole family ate dinner there. I went back there probably about 4 times after that, and I live in West Roxbury. Always a good meal and a great atmosphere. I hope the owner is able to sort things out, and I hope something good opens up at the Hyde Park location, because Hyde Park needs a good restaurant/Pub like Donnovan's would have been.