Beirut Palace leaving Royal Oak, cites lack of parking as reason for move

Susan Selasky | Detroit Free Press

Downtown Royal Oak is losing another longtime restaurant, and the lack of parking spaces is again being blamed.

Beirut Palace owner Hussein "Sam" Ahmad says he'll reopen Beirut Palace in a nearby community. The restaurant had been in downtown Royal Oak since 1997.

Ahmad said he sold his Royal Oak business at a loss, but is keeping the Beirut Palace name. He hasn't yet secured a new location, but he said it won't be far from Royal Oak.

Meanwhile, new owners are taking over the Royal Oak location.

“The new owners are from the Middle East," Ahmad said. “They are going to keep the same food and add a couple of concepts to bring more people in.”

Ahmad said he began seeing a 30 percent decline in business in May as a result of construction taking place in downtown Royal Oak and the loss of convenient parking.

“Our sales kept dropping throughout the summer up to 50 percent recently. We also noticed a huge difference in our carryout business. Whether a guest was here for dine-in or carryout, they complained that they had to circle many blocks because they couldn’t find parking,” said Ahmad.

“This decision took a great amount of time as my family has made many friends in Royal Oak who contributed to the success of the business and to the good reputation of our name.”

In addition to parking difficulties, Ahmad cited “aggressive vehicle ticketing by the city parking enforcement department and an uncommunicative and uncooperative city manager, mayor and city commission” as reasons for his move.

More on Freep.com:

Royal Oak's Cantina Diablos, Red Fox restaurants will, in fact, close

B Spot Burgers in Royal Oak appears to have closed its doors

How nightlife has changed in Oakland County’s hottest downtowns

"It’s always unfortunate to lose a business that has been operating in the city for as long as Beirut Palace has," said Todd Fenton, economic development manager for the city of Royal Oak.

"Again, it wasn't necessarily a closure, but an opportunity to sell the concept to a new owner. We wish him well on any future endeavors and are looking forward to working with the new owners.”

Fenton said developers continue to show interest in Royal Oak.

"I get calls from people looking into the Andiamo space every week," he said. "We are very excited that the Hyatt Place hotel will open in the next month."

Fenton said a new restaurant would seek approval for its plan of operations at Monday's meeting of the city commission. If commissioners approve it, "the owners will be putting a substantial amount of money into this building on Main Street that’s adjacent to the Morrie,” he said.



In the last six months, Royal Oak has seen several restaurants close, including B-Spot Burgers, Qdoba, Cantina Diablos and Red Fox English Pub.

Andiamo Trattoria, which announced its closure in July, was one of the most high-profile restaurants to close. Joe Vicari, the Andiamo Group's CEO and president, cited parking difficulties in announcing the decision. Royal Oak Mayor Michael Fournier suggested that it was the quality of the restaurant's food, not lack of parking, that brought about the closing.

Contact Susan Selasky at 313-222-6872 or sselasky@freepress.com. Follow @SusanMariecooks on Twitter.