{"id":664237,"date":"2026-10-24T18:08:09","date_gmt":"2026-10-24T18:08:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/664237\/"},"modified":"2026-10-24T18:08:09","modified_gmt":"2026-10-24T18:08:09","slug":"very-heartbreaking-the-cedar-tree-irelands-first-lebanese-restaurant-set-to-close-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/664237\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Very heartbreaking\u2019: The Cedar Tree, Ireland\u2019s first Lebanese restaurant, set to close \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

Rising rent and the cost of living<\/a> crisis have claimed another victim, with the oldest Lebanese<\/a> restaurant in Ireland set to close after the bank holiday weekend. <\/p>\n

The Cedar Tree, which opened on St Andrew\u2019s Street in Dublin<\/a> in June 1986, will take its final orders on Monday evening and has invited regulars to come for its \u201clast hurrah\u201d. <\/p>\n

In a social media post, the owners of the family-run restaurant described the decision to call time on the operation after 40 years as \u201cvery heartbreaking\u201d. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s been a pleasure bringing you a taste of Lebanon since 1986 and an honour to be Ireland\u2019s first and oldest Lebanese restaurant,\u201d they said. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe are so thankful to all our customers, community and staff who have been with us over the years. It has been wonderful to be part of one big family with you all.\u201d<\/p>\n

Restaurant manager Sereen Sarhan told The Irish Times the writing had been on the wall for some time as a result of rent increases, but the family fought to keep the doors open.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe were hoping to have one last Christmas with our regulars because we love them so much and wanted to give them something special to say goodbye but unfortunately that won\u2019t happen,\u201d she said. <\/p>\n

\u201cBetween Covid and higher rents and other things, everything just stacked up. We did our best, we really did.\u201d<\/p>\n

She said the closure was really sad for her family and the staff. \u201cI grew up here and our staff have been here for at least 10 years and some have been here for 35 years. Everyone is broken-hearted but our hand has been forced and it wasn\u2019t really our choice.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sarhan said her parents were really upset by the closure and her uncle, who established the restaurant with her father, now lives in Australia and was saddened to hear the news. <\/p>\n

\u201cWhen we told him, it broke his heart.\u201d <\/p>\n

She added: \u201cIt was fun while it lasted but every good thing must come to an end.\u201d<\/p>\n

Regular customers were shocked by the news, with many expressing sadness in response to The Cedar Tree\u2019s Instagram post announcing the upcoming closure. <\/p>\n

\u201cThis breaks my heart,\u201d one person posted. \u201cTruly my favourite place in the world. Every time we visit Dublin, we make a point of having dinner with you!\u201d<\/p>\n

\"DinersDiners in the Cedar Tree restaurant on St Andrew’s Street in Dublin. Photograph: Dave Meehan\/The Irish Times <\/p>\n

Another described The Cedar Tree as their \u201chome away from home\u201d and expressed gratitude for \u201ceverything you\u2019ve shared with us over the years\u201d. <\/p>\n

\u201cI can\u2019t believe you will be closing your doors,\u201d they said. <\/p>\n

A third person said the restaurant was staffed by the \u201cloveliest people\u201d and that they had \u201csuch warm personal memories in this place\u201d. <\/p>\n

Writing in The Irish Times in 2019<\/a>, restaurant critic Catherine Cleary described The Cedar Tree as \u201cthe kind of restaurant that\u2019s becoming as rare as hen\u2019s teeth in this food quarter of the south city centre\u201d. <\/p>\n

She suggested it was \u201cthe kind of place that can probably rise above the mania of the market thanks to its old lady status\u201d. <\/p>\n

\u201cThese walls hold a long tradition of providing reasonably priced Middle Eastern cooking without a single pomegranate being bothered in the process. It feels as old as the hills depicted in its mosaics where little has changed over the years. And these days that feels like no bad thing.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Rising rent and the cost of living crisis have claimed another victim, with the oldest Lebanese restaurant in…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":664238,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[72,943,615,61,60,14396,3665],"class_list":["post-664237","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-business","tag-business","tag-cost-of-living","tag-dublin","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-lebanon","tag-renting"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/664237","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=664237"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/664237\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/664238"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=664237"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=664237"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=664237"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}