Barrio, a restaurant and tequila bar that brought some badly needed life back to St. Paul’s Mears Park in 2009, called it quits on Friday in Lowertown.

A printed sign posted in the door says: “Barrio Lowertown has closed. Our last day was September 6th. … Come visit us in Minneapolis or Edina. … Thank you for 15 great years in St. Paul!”

The St. Paul location is no longer advertised on Barrio’s website, which lists three Barrio venues: Nicollet Mall in downtown Minneapolis, 50th Street and France Avenue in Edina and Terminal 2 at Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport.

The restaurant, which offered sidewalk seating facing Mears Park, maintained a sizable bar inside the historic Railroader Printer building at 229 E. Sixth St., which is also home to the Bulldog-Lowertown restaurant and bar.

Several restaurants situated around the park closed or relocated during the pandemic, including the short-lived Big Biscuit Bar, Public Kitchen & Bar, Noyes & Cutler and the Handsome Hog, which moved to the corner of Selby and Western avenues in 2020. Saint Dinette, located about a block off of Mears Park on Fifth Street, has announced it will likely close in March 2025.

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