Red Fish Grill In Coral Gables Suffers Major Damage Thanks To Hurricane Irma
Follow CBSMIAMI.COM: Facebook | Twitter
CORAL GABLES (CBSMiami) – A popular restaurant known for delicious food and beautiful views will be closing its doors thanks to Hurricane Irma, but hopefully not for good.
Red Fish Grill in Coral Gables, located at 9610 Old Cutler Road, saw everything but its main building lost in the storm.
"Red Fish has been completely destroyed," managing partner Chris Klaic told the Miami Herald. "We are dealing with that now. We got like a six-foot storm surge and it destroyed everything. Only the structure is really left."
A big part of the restaurant and its charm was the large area for outdoor dining, located right on the water providing guests with a lovely view while enjoying their meals.
The storm wiped away everything on the outside, but even the main structure seems to have suffered catastrophic damage.
"Even the coral rock structure is damaged," Klaic said. "The water was trying to push it out. One northeast wall is compromised. They say it is unsafe. We thought it was just the content inside but it's worse than that."
Originally built in 1938, Red Fish opened as a restaurant in 1996. It's been featured on cooking shows and in magazines. Celebrities have frequented the eatery and critics have raved about the cuisine.
The possibility of rebuilding is still on the table, according to Klaic, but it wouldn't be an easy process.
"We've already went through this with Andrew," he said. "We just got the lease in 1992, and the hurricane hit. So the park was closed for two years. We couldn't do anything. We opened in 1996 and went through that whole process. So we need some support from the county. We are not some hole in the ground. We have been nationally recognized for so many years."
