BETHLEHEM, Pa. \u2014 Retro Burger, with its eclectic selection of sandwiches and milkshakes, apparently has closed its doors after two years of service in West Bethlehem.<\/p>\n
Retro Burger operated at the former TheMINT Gastropub building, which also previously was a Bank of America, at 1223 W. Broad St.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s unclear why the restaurant shut down.<\/p>\n
Visiting the site twice this past week, LehighValleyNews.com found the doors locked and no one appearing to be inside.<\/p>\n
There was no response to phone calls to the Retro Burger location. Its web domain appears to not be connected to a working page at this time.<\/p>\n
An online search of the restaurant lists it as \u201cpermanently closed,\u201d and its Facebook page also appears to have been taken down.<\/p>\n
Family-friendly eatery<\/p>\n
The Retro Burger property is owned by Juan Carlos and Cara Paredes, who also own and operate about a half-dozen other area spots.<\/p>\n
Four of those are on Main Street, about a mile from Retro Burger, including The Flying Egg and Urbano Mexican Kitchen & Bar.<\/p>\n
In 2022, then-owner of TheMINT Domenic Lombardo, who opened the gastropub about a decade prior, sold the restaurant to the Paredeses.<\/p>\n
Opening in 2023, Retro Burger brought a spread of sandwiches and shareables \u2014 including the French onion burger, creme br\u00fbl\u00e9e donut \u00e0 la mode and the \u201cDeath by Chocolate\u201d milkshake \u2014 to part of a major Bethlehem thoroughfare.<\/p>\n
After less than a year of TheMINT under new ownership, the Paradeses closed the spot, then reopened it with a new menu, ambience and under new Retro Burger branding<\/a>.<\/p>\n Some local faithful of TheMINT weren’t too keen on its closure<\/a>.<\/p>\n Its successor brought its checkerboard floors and a spread of sandwiches and shareables \u2014 including the French onion burger, creme br\u00fbl\u00e9e donut \u00e0 la mode and the \u201cDeath by Chocolate\u201d milkshake \u2014 to part of a major Bethlehem thoroughfare.<\/p>\n The lot is part of the Limited Commercial zoning district, sitting within the Lehigh County part of the city about a half-mile from the historic Rose Garden Park.<\/p>\n A side of apartments<\/p>\n Back in July, the property owner was approved to remove the old drive-thru on the historic building\u2019s east end to make room for a two-story elevated addition with four one-bedroom and two two-bedroom apartments<\/a>.<\/p>\n There doesn’t appear to have been any construction on site since that time.<\/p>\n