One of Houston’s popular Black-owned restaurants appears to have quietly closed. Neighboring tenants in Rice Village told Chron FRNDS, a restaurant and hookah lounge, has been locked up for several weeks.
ALife Hospitality, a business group that owns some of Houston’s hottest party destinations, opened FRNDS at 2441 University Blvd. in 2023. The Houston Chronicle covered its opening, describing the restaurant as an upscale tapas-style restaurant with craft cocktails. Executive chef Joe Holley of Davis Street at Hermann Park served as a consultant for the menu. (Longtime Rice Village goers may remember Spanish tapas restaurant Mi Luna used to occupy that address.)
News about FRNDS’ closure started making the rounds on the social media platform Threads in late March and early April. We reached out to neighboring businesses who told us that the restaurant had been closed for a couple of weeks or more. No one knew why it had suddenly shuttered.
ALife, which also owns Kamp and Prospect Park, did not respond to our requests for comment. FRNDS’ social media pages and its website have not posted any new updates since mid-March. Google and Yelp have listed the establishment as permanently closed.
It’s an unfortunate coincidence that everyone was finding out about this as Black Restaurant Weeks was running. The annual event, which just capped its 11th year, puts the spotlight on a slice of the Houston restaurant scene that all too often doesn’t get the same coverage and resources that others seem to get. BRN officially ended on April 19, but it’s never too late or off-season to show support for local businesses.