Boston's Bistro & Pub, Dayton, to close after 35 years

Boston’s Bistro & Pub at 7500 N. Main St. (Ohio 48) will shut down on July 10 after 35 years in business, but owner David Boston said this afternoon that there’s a “strong possibility” the pub will reopen in a new location.

“I’m a young 62, and I have many chapters ahead, both for me and for the community,” Boston said. “But the next chapter is unknown — it’s not disclosed yet.”

Boston’s restaurant and bar moved to Harrison Twp. from East Second and Jefferson streets in downtown Dayton in 2005 after Boston lost his lease.

“It is with great sadness that we inform you … (that) July 9th will be our last day in business,” The pub’s Facebook post says. “This is the end of a 35-year chapter, and we look forward to our next chapter. Please join us all week long for specials and great companionship. … From the bottom of our hearts THANK YOU!!!”

One commenter replied, “I’m just so sad. I have years of great memories there. You guys have the best food ever!”

Another wrote: “David … sorry to hear of your closing. I know we have talked a few times about your business, but had hoped it would turn around.”

Although Boston has said he did not want to leave his downtown location 11 years ago — the building he was leasing was purchased by new owners who forced him out — the Harrison Twp. pub represented a return to his roots. His father Stephen Boston built and operated the former Gypsy Gardens restaurant, specializing in Hungarian food, in the 1950s and ‘60s at the North Main Street location.

“The community up here has been great,” Boston said. “We’ve made a positive difference on the north end of town.”

David Boston grew up in the restaurant business and was washing dishes and waiting tables as a child, along with nine brothers and one sister. “At one time I lived in a bedroom up above where we are opening our new pub,” Boston said. “I shared one bedroom with 8 brothers,” he told Dayton Daily News columnist Dale Huffman in 2005.

In 2006, Boston’s Bistro & Pub won the first of multiple titles of “Most Arrogant Bar in America” — not because of the attitudes of its bartenders, but rather because it sold more Stone Brewing Co. “Arrogant Bastard Ale” than 46 other national competitors during a brewery-sponsored week-long challenge.

And in early 2015, Boston’s Bistro was featured in a Dayton Daily News series about restaurant inspections for NOT having received any health department food-handling violations during 2014.

We are working to gather more information about this story. Check back for updates.

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About the Author

Mark Fisher

Mark Fisher, a 1981 graduate of Ohio State University and a 1976 graduate of Beavercreek High School, is a third-generation Dayton-area resident who has worked for the Dayton Daily News since 1983. He covered higher education and K-12 education accountability issues for nearly 20 years before taking over the food and dining beat in 2006.