CLEVELAND, Ohio -- Clifton Martini & Wine Bar permanently closed Monday, Oct. 18, after more than a decade in business. The bar and restaurant, located at 10427 Clifton Blvd. near the border between Cleveland and Lakewood, was open for nearly 12 years.
Owner Jeff Rumplik cited issues with his landlord and the building’s management company as the reason behind the closure. Cuyahoga County property records show that Wilsher Management took over the building from Jan-Ro Properties in 2017.
“I had already been there for eight years. I never had any issues with the other landlord. He and I were good friends, nice guy, no problem,” Rumplik said.
But the new management company and Rumplik clashed, to the point that Rumplik filed a lawsuit against Wilsher Management in spring 2020 due to issues related to the building’s lease and alleged lease violations. The lawsuit remains ongoing.
Cleveland.com and The Plain Dealer have reached out to Wilsher Management’s legal representatives for comment.
Things reached a breaking point this month, and Rumplik decided to close the business. He’ll keep his other business, Village Martini & Wine Bar in Chagrin Falls, open.
“I just don’t need the headache… It had nothing to do with a labor shortage or the pandemic or finance or anything like that,” Rumplik said. “We had a thriving business that we ended up having to close because it was unbearable after a while.”
Rumplik said that longtime patrons were saddened on Monday by the news.
“It’s going to be a shame,” he said. “It was a very ‘Cheers’ kind of bar. Everybody knew everybody. It was a lot of peoples’ home base.”
Clifton Martini & Wine Bar general manager Jeremy Bloom shared that sentiment.
“You’d be going in there, everybody that would go in there on a weekend, you’d be chatting with three or four people you knew by name. That’s the way the atmosphere was there. It’s what we created and why it was successful. Everybody knew one another there,” Bloom said. “It was like a family.”
Bloom said he’s not sure what he’ll do now that the business has closed, and that he’s taking some time to figure out next steps.
“It’s heartbreaking,” Bloom said. “I’m still trying to process it all. It happened so fast, and I don’t think it’s really set in yet.
Rumplik is also looking at the future, potentially seeking a new location for the concept.
“Something’s going to happen. I’m not one to sit back and miss an opportunity. I’ve had a lot of people approach me, just in the last couple of days,” Rumplik said. “I need a little time to regroup and get my bearings on which direction I want to go. I’m not ready to go to sleep yet. I definitely want to keep going.”
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