He went month-to-month while he tried to renegotiate with Simon Property Group, which owns the shopping center. Photo by Elena Kadvany.īerkowitz's lease ended in March. Owner Dennis Berkowitz put up signs announcing Max's closure on Monday, June 25. Max's will close its doors at the end of business this Saturday, June 30. 'I thought … maybe it will drop and come back,' he said in an interview Monday, sitting outside his 30-year-old restaurant. The latest influx of dining options, however, put the final nail in the coffin: a 20 percent drop the first year the remodel was done and an additional 20 percent the following year. And in the last two years alone, more than five eateries opened in a renovated wing on the El Camino Real side of the Palo Alto shopping center, with several more slated to open this year.ĭennis Berkowitz, the owner of the longtime Max’s Opera Cafe, said he lost about $300,000 in revenue a year after the first three restaurants opened but was still making a profit. It started 12 years ago, when California Pizza Kitchen opened at Stanford Shopping Center.

Sf opera cafe