![\"Robb](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/SAC_0492_RCB_20260408_Mother.JPG\" "\\"Robb")
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Robb Venditti, owner and chef at Mother, a vegetarian restaurant, sits on the patio outside his restaurant in Sacramento on Wednesday, April 8, 2026.<\/p>\n
REN\u00c9E C. BYER<\/p>\n
rbyer@sacbee.com<\/p>\n
Mother, the vegetarian restaurant that has been a mainstay of Sacramento\u2019s midtown dining scene, has closed. The business announced the closure on its social media<\/a> Monday.<\/p>\n \u201cThank you, Sacramento for the years. Unfortunately we\u2019ve made the tough decision to permanently close Mother restaurant in midtown. Our last day of service was Friday, June 19. 2026. Mother loves you,\u201d read the post.<\/p>\n Owner Robb Venditti had already planned to keep the restaurant closed on Saturday, as he was involved in the American Parkway Foundation\u2019s Summer Solstice Dinner and Auction that evening. He chose not to reopen the doors this week.<\/p>\n Ironically, the restaurant had its first net profit ever in March. Then, Venditti was served with an ADA complaint.<\/p>\n \u201cI got served papers for a couple minor violations, mirror height in the bathroom, paper towel height, I didn\u2019t have a sticker with a handicap symbol on one of the tables, you know, little stuff. I looked into it a little bit, and it sounds like usually these things are just settled for the minimal amount, but after attorney fees and settlement, I\u2019m looking at anything from about 13 grand up towards 40 (grand),\u201d he said.<\/p>\n Disheartened, Venditti decided it was time to let the restaurant go.<\/p>\n \u201cI was just kind of like, I\u2019m already not seeing my kids that are 13 and 11 years old, and this is like the prime time of their lives. I\u2019m already missing that and working myself crazy. It\u2019s already literally killing me,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019ve never had to close a restaurant. It\u2019s just awful, man. It\u2019s just the worst thing. All I can say is the only thing worse would be missing these next couple years of my kids\u2019 lives, not being able to go camping with them and go to the swim meets and stuff.\u201d<\/p>\n Rather than drag things on and potentially dig himself deeper into a hole, Venditti figured the timing was right to take what money was left and exit gracefully.<\/p>\n \u201cThere\u2019s no way in hell I\u2019m going to tell my employees and purveyors that, hey, sorry, I can\u2019t pay you. I\u2019m going to make sure everybody that matters gets out whole,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n This is not Mother\u2019s first closure. The current incarnation is a reboot of a previous, and also popular, restaurant of the same name that was on K Street downtown from 2014 to 2020. Venditti rebooted the restaurant in 2023 in its current location at 2319 K St.<\/p>\n Venditti opened the restaurant with funds from the sale of his catering business. He launched the business with his friend, chef Mike Thiemann at the helm in the kitchen. However, business never quite took off to the point where Venditti could support paying everyone, so he moved from more of an investor role to being hands-on in the kitchen. Thiemann moved to Hawaii not long after.<\/p>\n The menu at the midtown location paid homage to many of the customer favorites from the original Mother, such as the mushroom po\u2019 boy, nut burger and chile verde, but Venditti always puts his own spin on them.<\/p>\n Mother stood apart from other vegetarian and vegan places<\/a> in that Venditti only used whole ingredients, no alt foods.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019re not using plant based proteins, lab meats, you know, stuff like that. It\u2019s pretty much just all natural comfort food, just real ingredients, traditional cooking,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n For now, Venditti is done with restaurant life. He hopes to find something a little more regular to recenter and rebuild resources.<\/p>\n \u201cI wanted to do restaurants because that\u2019s what I love, and I love the energy and the experience, connecting with all the guests day in and day out. I\u2019m going to miss that so much, but it\u2019s just not as much as I miss a life outside of it,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n Related Stories from Sacramento Bee<\/p>\n
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