Cantina La Martina, the immensely popular Mexican restaurant at the corner of D Street and Kensington Avenue, will be closing its doors in November, writes Jenn Ladd for The Philadelphia Inquirer.
In a recent Instagram post, chef-owner Dionicio Jiménez, his co-owner and wife Mariangeli Alicea Saez, and general manager Tina Stanczyk announced the restaurant’s pending closure and invited customers and community members to a “celebration of life” event on its last day on Sunday, November 2.
Saez noted in the video that the team has decided not to renew its lease at its current Kensington location. She also added that they are actively looking for Cantina La Martina’s new home.
Saez also explained a number of other reasons for their decision not to renew its lease.
“The space we’ve been operating out of has become financially and logistically unsustainable,” she wrote in an email. “The overall difficulty of doing business in Kensington, combined with ongoing challenges with the City, have not made things any easier. The past two years have been particularly hard.”
While the team has tried various ways to adapt, the unsafe and unstable environment has made things increasingly difficult.
Jiménez and Saez don’t know where they may relocate the restaurant, but remain thankful to the Kensington community.
Read more about what led to the pending closure of Cantina La Martina in The Philadelphia Inquirer.
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