Credit: Photo by Doug Trattner
It appears that Ciao Bistro (3800 Whitman Ave.), the Ohio City restaurant that broke the internet following the owner’s offensive social media comments, has closed. The signs are down at the attractive brick building that has been home to a string of short-lived eateries in the past six years.

After announcing last fall his plans to open the Italian restaurant, owner Shawn Taylor (or somebody with access to his personal Facebook account) penned the infamous three-word insult — “liberal white cunts” — beneath a Facebook post by Cleveland Scene announcing that very opening. While most prognosticators assumed that the business would never take flight given the gaffe, Taylor soldiered on, opening the restaurant despite near-universal repudiation.

As neighbors could attest, the restaurant was almost never patronized, a diorama of an empty dining room on a quiet residential side street. This endured for roughly six excruciating months until the signs finally came down and the doors were locked.

We’ll let you know if and when the space welcomes its next tenant.

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This article appears in May 15-21, 2019.

For 25 years, Douglas Trattner has worked as a full-time freelance writer, editor and author. His work as co-author on Michael Symon's cookbooks have earned him four New York Times Best-Selling Author honors, while his longstanding role as Scene dining editor has garnered awards of its own.

18 replies on “Ciao Bistro, the Ohio City Restaurant with Owner Who Slammed Neighborhood Before Opening Day, Has Closed”

  1. What if they opened a restaurant and nobody came?

    Hard to believe he would even bother to open at all, after the way he screwed up. He should have known within six days that nobody would show up…maybe six weeks, max. But six MONTHS? Whose money was he using to keep the charade going for so long? It takes bucks to keep a place open, and if nobody shows up, HOW in the hell do you stay open for six months? An even bigger question is…WHY? Whatta chump!

  2. they had been on most of the delivery apps (Uber Eats, Door Dash, Grubhub). At one point they were running free delivery specials.

  4. Well I guess you showed them, didnt you scene.

    This kind of article makes the Scene look even like a bigger loser.

  5. The social media mafia got them. Who says mob rule is gone. Perfect example of a lynching. The scene pushes this kind of juvenile behavior.

  6. I am a neighbor of the restaurant, and would have loved to have another good place to eat within walking distance. The owner did absolutely nothing to reach out to the community. Maybe he thought he would just wear us down by stubbornly remaining open, but attempting to build a little goodwill would not have been too hard. He never tried.

    This space is not cursed, we have just had 3 very flawed restaurateurs operate here. Give us a owner who doesn’t try to sell mac & cheese for $20 a bowl, does not have outstanding IRS withholding tax liens, or a toxic social media presence, and the room will thrive!

  7. My friends and I always felt welcomed and had Delicious meals with good intent at CiaoShawn and his Delightful mother where always polite and showed nothing but Gracious manners to us as well to others. Its a shame youre guilty with false accusations

  8. Darwin wins.
    TO blame Scene, Social Media, the neighborhood, or anyone else but the owner for this restaurant’s closing is just plain silly. (commenters “yep” and “nope”? Hmmm). And to describe this as a lynching is just plain insulting and ridiculous.

  9. They are LWCs, but it’s beyond stupid to say such a thing in public when they’re your LWCustomers

  10. Look at all the dislikes who people criticize the social media mob. Its historical. Totally organized mob hit. Hahaha. Typical of social media. No one has a brain. The boss says jump and they jump. Pretty pathetic community and no one should reach out to it.

  11. Looks like maybe the location is just far enough away from the main part of Ohio city that customers arent comfortable walking there at night or leaving their cars parked far away. One or two muggings and an area can be devastated by bad publicity. If three restaurants failed in that spot, that tells a big tale. Eventually that area might improve but reaching out to the community by opening another $3 taco stand isnt the answer. Maybe $20 Mac and cheese wasnt wise to put on the menu but $20 for an entree is pretty reasonable, especially since Ohio City is getting more gentrified every day. Ohio city didnt become what it is by repelling more affluent customers. Also, If someone criticizes Ohio city, mob action wont change the truth. Regardless of the outrage and hurt feelings, people understand reality. Those that dont are delusional.

  12. You can’t blame the media, this is the modern age at work. If you go on social media and call the public names there will be repercussions. Free speech exists, but with consequences. He never really apologized, just shifted the blame. Choices.

  13. Yep, Nope, Ha…all the same person…that’s obvious. Whoever you are, buddy, you should be counting your blessings. There are places in this country where your hero Shawn would probably no longer be among the living…or, at the very least, have a burned-out shell for a business. Bigger, tougher cities, with a lot of nutcases running around and where life is cheap.

    For the most part, Cleveland is still a pretty polite place. Hell, he didn’t even have to deal with a picket line, which is pretty surprising, given all the hoo-ha this story generated last fall. People here can get pretty damn pissed off, but it takes a lot more than stupid social media bullshit to incite them to actual violence.

    Mob mentality? Lynching? Bullshit. This pathetic asshat was found guilty by the court of public opinion, and his business was sentenced to be executed before it could rob its victims with twenty-buck bowl.s. Case closed. Tomorrow you’ll be using your multiple anonymous usernames to troll here in some other benighted conservative cause. There’s a pro-choice rally downtown. Get your typing fingers ready, Nopester. Can hardly wait to see what you spew next.

  14. Restaurants in Cleveland are a dime a dozen. It takes a very special and talented crew to make an operation work. A little common courtesy and common sense can go a long way and unfortunately some people have lost the common knowledge to know that.

  15. @yep – So let me get this straight he goes on social media, insults his potential customer base, and somehow it’s the scene’s and social media’s fault his business failed? It’s called consequences. You can say what you want but there will be repercussions for it. He out of all people should have known how important it was to protect the image of his brand.

  16. Unless the neighborhood is comprised of nothing but Liberal White Bitches, he didn’t shame the entire neighborhood. I have a feeling that there’s at least 44% Liberal White Douchebag Men, that didn’t get mentioned, living there too.

  17. 3 words, dumb conservative c*nt.

    Take your vapid, ignorant, regressive hillbilly attitude and hit the bricks, you aren’t welcome here. Hilarious that there are people here in the comments attempting to defend this turd.

    If you’re stupid enough to insult your potential customer base, overprice your shitty food and then whine like a child with a skinned knee when nobody shows up, you deserve exactly what you get.

Comments are closed.