After more than two decades of business in Elkins Park, Marco Polo Ristorante & Bar has allegedly closed for good.
The restaurant has been listed as “Temporarily closed” on Google since June after a fire in Elkins Park Plaza caused damage to the building at 8080 Old York Road. A notice was posted to Marco Polo’s website shortly after the incident:
On August 6, the restaurant’s Facebook page posted an image which reads “Temporarily closed for repairs” with the following caption:
Update:
First and foremost, we sincerely appreciate everyone’s support and patronage! We have submitted everything to insurance and are presently waiting on approvals before we can begin putting our beloved restaurant back together so that we can reopen as soon as possible. Please stay tuned for updates on this Facebook page, as we will keep everyone in the loop that way as soon as there is anything new to report. Also, there is some confusion regarding the phone system – the power is off for safety reasons, so we are unable to access the phone system to update our voicemail. Thanks for your patience and we look forward to seeing you all soon!
On Thursday, September 14, an employee posted in a Facebook group that the owners have decided to permanently close for reasons that allegedly were not made clear to staff.
From the employee’s Facebook post:
***** I am not an owner of Marco Polo. I am just a long time employee !!*****
To our beloved patrons that quickly became family,
First and foremost we want to thank each and everyone one of you that have supported us throughout our entire journey at our home , Marco Polo. You have been there for us through the loss of a few co-workers, Covid-19 and even to this day with the recent fire in the complex, you all have offered support financially and emotionally.Not only was Marco Polo our home but it was your home too. We have shared many laughs over cocktails and meals and had the pleasure of meeting your families. We have hosted many of your special occasions from baby showers ,bar mitzvahs, birthdays, anniversaries and life celebrations. We the staff as well as you all have became a family lending shoulders to cry on, an ear to listen and shared many laughs over the years and it’s truly something we will never forget. Saying goodbye to Marco Polo yesterday was unimaginably hard as we sat around and shared some of our favorite Marco stories we had many laughs and many tears and we can’t thank you all enough for those memories and stories we will cherish forever. We have heard many conflicting reasons as to why Marco has come to an end after this fire from people that work in and for the complex and from the owners and while we are unsure the REAL reason, we want to be more transparent with the community than they have been with us. We all want to point fingers and place blame for our livelihood being striped from us so tragically but we know that will not bring Marco back. So with this message and final picture of some of your adored Marco staff we want to wish you all well and this is not goodbye but more of a see you around. Thank you for supporting us in the good and bad times. May Marco live on through our stories forever. We love you guys!
We have attempted to contact the restaurant by phone, email, and Facebook. We will be in touch with more information as it becomes available.
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Photo: Marco Polo’s Facebook page