Restaurants

Despite positive press, Nine's owners said that they were "unable to achieve the consistent guest traffic necessary to continue operating."

Nine, the upscale Beacon Hill restaurant that occupied the space where Chef Barbara Lynch’s No. 9 Park used to be, announced Monday that it is closing after less than a year in business. 

“Today, we learned that no additional funding will be available for the restaurant, leaving us with no choice but to close our doors,” the restaurant said in a statement. 

The decision to close was particularly difficult because Nine had recently built momentum through an “incredible” review from The Boston Globe and “overwhelmingly positive” feedback from guests, they said. 

But the restaurant was still in a critical stage of development, and a large number of guests were needed to keep it afloat. 

“After a challenging start, we poured everything we had into making it succeed,” restaurant management said. “Despite our best efforts, we were unable to achieve the consistent guest traffic necessary to continue operating.”

From the get-go, Nine had big shoes to fill. Its predecessor No. 9 Park opened in 1998 and quickly put Lynch on the map. The South Boston native was part of a wider movement of independent chefs operating their own restaurants that has since given way to a landscape dominated by large restaurant groups, per Globe critic Devra First. 

Lynch went on to win national recognition and build a local empire of her own. But she closed all her restaurants in 2024 after concerns about a toxic workplace culture came to light. 

Restaurateur Allan Rodriguez opened Nine in August 2025 in the space where No. 9 Park used to be, next to Boston Common and in the shadow of the State House. Many of No. 9 Park’s staff stayed on to work at the new establishment, which sought to maintain and improve the No. 9 Park experience. 

Chef Kevin Girshman took over the kitchen earlier this year, rewriting the menu to incorporate a more global perspective. In May, First praised Girshman’s vision and urged readers to give Nine a try. 

“Nine is still arriving. But the time to go is now. Because there is a new chef trying new things. (He just introduced a new tasting menu.) Because the restaurant is fighting the good fight for smaller, chef-driven businesses in a city increasingly dominated by larger groups. Because the people who work there make the experience worthwhile,” First wrote in her three-star review. 

But less than a month later, Nine will be no more. 

“We are incredibly proud of what we built together and deeply grateful for every memory created within these walls,” the restaurant said. “As Massachusetts continues to welcome larger corporate concepts, we hope people will continue to support independent restaurants and the passionate, talented people behind them.”