Three years after opening on 4th Street N., Rumba Island Bar and Grill has closed its St. Petersburg location.
Baystar Restaurant Group owner Frank Chivas confirmed the closure to the Catalyst on Wednesday.
“Yeah,” Chivas said when asked whether the restaurant had closed. “We’re just looking at doing a rebrand, maybe.” Chivas declined to elaborate further, but indicated he would be available to discuss the plans later.
The closure is also reflected on Baystar Restaurant Group’s website, which lists the St. Petersburg restaurant as “Closed” while continuing to display operating hours for the company’s Clearwater location. Google currently lists the St. Petersburg restaurant as “Temporarily closed.” As of Wednesday morning, neither Baystar Restaurant Group nor Rumba Island Bar & Grill had publicly announced the closure on their social media accounts.
Rumba Island opened in February 2023 at 6445 4th St. N., taking over the former WingHouse Bar & Grill building after plans for the St. Petersburg location were first announced more than three years earlier.
The 5,300-square-foot restaurant brought Baystar Restaurant Group’s island-inspired concept to St. Petersburg, serving Caribbean-influenced seafood dishes, fresh local seafood and tropical cocktails.
The restaurant joined Baystar’s portfolio of Pinellas County restaurants, which includes Salt Rock Grill, Island Way Grill and several other seafood concepts. According to the company, much of the seafood served across its restaurants comes from Baystar’s own fleet of commercial fishing boats.
For some customers, news of the closure came without warning.
Lon and Cynthia Southerland, who moved to St. Petersburg just a few months ago, said Rumba Island quickly became one of their regular stops.
“That was kind of our go-to,” Lon Southerland said. “We knew we could always pop in there … We were literally there two to three times a week. We met a lot of great locals there. It was … kind of a hub for folks who wanted to get … consistently quality food.”
The couple said they first realized something was wrong when they pulled into the parking lot Tuesday expecting lunch.
“We pulled in yesterday to go and the parking lot was empty,” Southerland said. “We’re like, ‘This is really strange.’ … It looked like they closed the night before and just didn’t reopen.”
What surprised him most, he said, was the apparent lack of communication with customers.
“There were no signs on the door,” Southerland said. “It wouldn’t take much effort to put a sign on the door … ‘We’re so sorry, we’re going to miss you guys,’ or whatever.”
It remains unclear what a potential rebrand would entail, whether another Baystar concept will replace Rumba Island at the location or when any changes might occur.
The Catalyst has reached out to restaurant management for additional information, and will update this story as more details become available.