Sunset Grill’s Parent Company Files for Bankruptcy Protection

The popular tap room will remain open in the meantime.

sunset grill bankrupcty

Photo by Jeremy Brooks on Flickr/Creative Commons

The parent company of Allston’s most beloved nacho joints has filed for bankruptcy protection.

Sunset Partners Inc., which owns Sunset Grill & Tap and Sunset Cantina, filed Chapter 11 papers in federal bankruptcy court in Boston this week. A lawyer for Sunset Partners says the move comes amidst concerns the Department of Revenue may seize the restaurants for failure to pay nearly $500,000 in back taxes.

Sunset Partners listed $5.76 million in debt, according to court documents, with the Allston-based Hamilton Realty—Sunset’s landlord—its biggest creditor, owed $4.2 million.

Marc Kadish opened Sunset Grill & Tap on Brighton Ave. in 1988, followed by Sunset Cantina in the western half of Boston University’s campus in 2001. Ara Balikian and Marc Berkowitz, brother of Legal Sea Foods president and CEO Roger Berkowitz, bought the restaurants in 2014, and have since remodeled Sunset Cantina. Sunset attorney David Madoff says much of its debt was incurred during this purchase.

While their parent company reorganizes, both Sunset Grill and Sunset Cantina plan to remain open, slinging sky-high plates of nachos and more than 100 craft beers on tap.