Longtime Nob Hill restaurant shuts down amid lawsuit and financial strain

Following a rocky few weeks, an upscale Nob Hill staple is closing its doors for good.

Scalo, an Italian restaurant located in the historic Nob Hill Business Center at 3500 Central SE, announced it would be closing after nearly four decades in business in a message posted on its website.

“We were trying to keep this Scalo flame alive by operating at a loss and still trying to find a new buyer to take it over,” the message reads. “Unfortunately, we had no success in that pursuit and we were forced to shut down.”

The owners, Kristie and Prashant Sawant, did not respond to a Journal request for comment.

In mid-June, the restaurant said in another website message that it had closed for “renovations and rebranding” and would “reopen under new ownership in a few weeks.”

Shortly after, the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, or EEOC, filed a lawsuit against the restaurant owners, alleging the restaurant engaged in sexual harassment and retaliation against its female employees. The suit was filed in U.S. District Court in Albuquerque on June 30. The lawsuit remains pending.

Between 2022 and 2024, female workers experienced “unwelcome verbal and physical sexual harassment and a male manager who requested sex in exchange for more hours on the schedule,” the suit alleged.

A former server brought the alleged problem to the EEOC in a complaint filed in December 2023. The EEOC investigated the charge and found a generalized pattern of sexual harassment by supervisors toward female employees, the suit alleges.

The federal agency sent Scalo a letter in December 2024, seeking mediation talks with the restaurant “to eliminate the unlawful employment practices,” but was unable to reach an agreement, according to Journal reporting.

The EEOC lawsuit alleged the owners — who took over the restaurant in 2020 — “never met or interacted with most Scalo employees.” It is unknown if the lawsuit played a role in the decision to close.

“I think the lawsuit was certainly a contributing factor,” said Jim Long, founder and CEO of Heritage Cos., which owns the Nob Hill Business Center. “They were not restaurateurs... and I think it was a business that they struggled to operate from the get-go.”

Long said he’s already started receiving phone calls from people interested in filling the space Scalo is leaving behind. The probability of another restaurant stepping in is high, Long said.

“That’s an iconic building, an iconic restaurant, so there’s a lot of interest in Nob Hill in general and specifically that location,” Long said. “I do suspect that we will find a very talented chef, owner to take over that business sometime in the near future.”