Restaurant closures have continued to reshape local dining across the country as independent operators, specialty concepts and legacy chain locations all face different pressures. In Pennsylvania, that pattern came into focus this spring when Figs in Philadelphia, Wei Lai Dim Sum in Ross Township and McCormick & Schmick’s in downtown Pittsburgh all went dark within weeks of one another.
Three closings, three different kinds of local loss
Figs in Philadelphia’s Fairmount neighborhood closed in early May after 25 years in business, according to The Philadelphia Inquirer, which reported on May 2 that owner Salvatore De Cristofaro had sold the restaurant and that its last day would be that Sunday. The BYOB at 2501 Meredith Street had long been known as a small neighborhood dining room, and the sale marked the end of one of Fairmount’s more established restaurant addresses. The Inquirer reported that a new concept, Valentina Italian Ristorante, was planned for the space.
Wei Lai Dim Sum in Ross Township, north of Pittsburgh, confirmed in a farewell message on May 25, 2026, that it would be its final day after more than two years in business. The restaurant at 3200 McIntyre Square Drive had opened in early 2024 and built a following for dim sum and Taiwanese dishes in a corridor where independent Asian restaurants have become a larger part of the food scene. Its closure happened on a much shorter timeline than Figs, but it still removed a specific kind of dining option that is relatively uncommon in the Pittsburgh area.
Downtown Pittsburgh’s McCormick & Schmick’s also closed in late May. A statement attributed to Shah Ghani, chief operating officer for parent company Landry’s, said the Fifth Avenue restaurant had made the decision to close after years of serving the downtown community. The company has not released a broader Pennsylvania list because this closure involved the single remaining Pittsburgh-area location after the chain’s earlier SouthSide Works restaurant closed in 2021.
What the Pennsylvania impact looked like on the ground
The three restaurants served different parts of the state and different kinds of customers, but each had become part of a local routine in its immediate area. In Fairmount, Figs had operated long enough to span multiple eras of neighborhood dining. The Inquirer reported that De Cristofaro bought the Moroccan-inspired restaurant in 2015 and gradually broadened its Mediterranean direction while keeping the identity that regulars recognized.
In Ross Township, the local impact was narrower in scale but still clear. Pittsburgh Post-Gazette coverage from 2024 described Wei Lai as part of a growing mix of international restaurants on McKnight Road and identified its founders as restaurateurs with roots in other well-known Pittsburgh-area Chinese kitchens. That background helped explain why the restaurant drew attention quickly after opening and why its closure landed as more than just another turnover in a shopping-center storefront.
For downtown Pittsburgh, the significance was tied to location and longevity. The Fifth Avenue McCormick & Schmick’s had been open since 2008, giving it nearly two decades in the city’s business core. The company has not publicly detailed how many workers were affected by the closure, and no comprehensive Pennsylvania breakdown was released, but the closing removed another full-service restaurant from a district still adjusting to shifts in office traffic and visitor patterns.
Why these restaurants closed, and what customers can expect next
The causes were not the same, and that distinction matters. In Figs’ case, the closure followed an ownership transition rather than an abrupt shutdown. The Philadelphia Inquirer reported that De Cristofaro said he wanted to leave “on top” and had sold the business to Landi Prendi, a first-time restaurateur planning to reopen the site as an Italian BYOB. That makes Figs less a vacancy than a handoff, even if the original restaurant is gone.
Wei Lai’s closure came without a detailed public explanation beyond its goodbye message, thanking customers for support over more than two years. What is confirmed is the final date, the location and the restaurant’s relatively short run. The specific financial or operational reasons have not been publicly outlined by the owners, so any broader explanation would go beyond the record now available.
McCormick & Schmick’s fits a larger national contraction. The chain, once much larger, has spent years shrinking under Landry’s ownership, and the Pittsburgh closure followed that longer pattern. For customers, the practical outcome is immediate: Figs has already given way to a new operator, Wei Lai is closed as of May 25, and downtown Pittsburgh diners no longer have that McCormick & Schmick’s location as an option. Together, the closings show that in Pennsylvania, restaurant losses are not coming from a single cause or a single type of business.