Crystal Jade, San Francisco’s $14 million restaurant, is closing

The entrance to Crystal Jade in San Francisco, Calif., is seen on Friday, January 9th, 2015. The entrance to Crystal Jade in San Francisco, Calif., is seen on Friday, January 9th, 2015. Photo: John Storey / Special To The Chronicle 2015 Photo: John Storey / Special To The Chronicle 2015 Image 1 of / 54 Caption Close Crystal Jade, San Francisco’s $14 million restaurant, is closing 1 / 54 Back to Gallery

Crystal Jade Jiang Nan, the 4-year-old Cantonese restaurant in the Embarcadero Four building, is closing to the public on June 30.

The restaurant’s opening in November 2014 made a splash in San Francisco, and not just because of the $14 million renovation of the 20,000-square-foot space. Owned by L Catterton Asia, an affiliate of the private equity branch of LVMH (Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton), the Singapore-based Crystal Jade Culinary Concepts group operates more than 130 restaurants in 13 countries. The San Francisco location was the group’s first in the United States.

Crystal Jade’s origins promised a quality of Cantonese dining rarely seen in the city, but despite its expansive views of the Ferry Building and the bay and its luxe Ken Fulk-designed dining rooms, the restaurant did not draw critical acclaim. Chronicle restaurant critic Michael Bauer called Crystal Jade “amateur” in his January 2015 review. This year, Chronicle contributor Chris Ying complained of a meal there that “felt like the wheels were threatening to come off” and described the restaurant as a “multimillion-dollar boondoggle.”

Spokesman Sam Singer said that the initial problems had subsided and called Crystal Jade’s run “successful.” Singer said that another restaurant group, which he declined to name, approached Crystal Jade to take over the lease and turn it into another restaurant.

“The sale of this asset allows us to pursue other expansion plans on the west and east coasts,” Singer says. “We’re even looking at the possibility of opening another restaurant in San Francisco as well.”

On June 14, Crystal Jade filed a 60-day Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification announcement with the state of California announcing that it would close and lay off its 77 employees.

Singer says many may be retained by the new owner.

It has stopped taking reservations on OpenTable, and will only open for private events through the month of July.

Singer says he anticipates that the new owners will want to close to make aesthetic changes before reopening under a new name and possibly a new culinary direction, but he would not specify what those changes would be.

Jonathan Kauffman is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: jkauffman@sfchronicle.com Twitter/Instagram: @jonkauffman