We’ll close out our most recent round of eatery obituaries with what must be one of the saddest and strangest restaurant deaths we’ve ever witnessed, either in Budapest or anywhere else. It’s sad because, at one point in its relatively long life, Papageno was fine enough to make the Chew “Top 33″. And what makes Papageno’s story not just sad but strange is the fact that it passed through at least three different owners while maintaining the same name and basic look and approach, this in a town where proprietors of upscale eateries usually go to great lengths to impose their own identity.
As for what laid Papageno low this time around, we reckon it’s the same as before. Location was certainly a huge problem. While its spot on District V’s Semmelweis utca was central, it is actually in a part of downtown that is rather light on pedestrian traffic. Worse, the space itself seemed to be fundamentally too small (less than 10 tables) to support a restaurant specializing in complex, made-to-order meals using expensive ingredients. And because of its extremely small size, the feeling inside the place was sometimes just a little too intimate.
There might have been other shortcomings, but as they say, there’s no point in beating a dead horse. And since Papageno has already “died” and come back to life at least twice in the last few years, we might get a chance again to see why it never seems to stay alive for very long.
Perhaps you should reconsider the “Top 33″ and call it the “Long Time Survivors List”. It will be a shorter list.