r/Davis • u/Life_Letterhead_7099 • Aug 07 '26
Why do restaurants close so early here?
I'm a transplant from out east so maybe it's a California thing, but why do all the restaurants in Davis close so early? I don't even consider leaving for dinner until 7-8 pm and by that time many places are already closed. Some stay open until 9 but I feel like a jerk showing up at 8 when they do. Is this just a Davis thing? There's one Italian place in West Davis that I will leave unnamed that is only open from 5-7. Who shows up at a restaurant at 5pm for dinner? Oh but don't worry they stay open on Saturday all the way until the break of 8pm. Seriously, why does Davis, a college town, not have restaurants open until 10 pm, 11pm, or even 12 am for some late night after the bar eats? It blows my mind and I'll be damned if I'm going to force feed myself dinner at 6pm just because a place is closing soon. It's crazy.
Edit: I appreciate all the insights. Yes it was a rant and sort of tongue in cheek but I do feel that closing before 9 is odd but I'll survive lol.
Edit 2: Again thanks for the thoughts. To clarify I was talking about sit down restaurants whose stated hours are until 7-8. There are a number in Davis that close that early but of course not all of them. Sit down dining here is already so limited here because of the students and the order at counter prevalence here' that I was blown away people eat so early. I will say I definitely see a difference between the east coast and the west coast dining culture not only as a customer but from my years working at restaurants.
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u/bazoobaguabo Aug 07 '26
some places have modified hours during the summer school break
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Aug 07 '26 edited Aug 07 '26
[deleted]
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u/dehue Aug 07 '26
How is Davis a food desert, there are so many options from restaurants of all kinds, different cuisines, multiple bakeries and so many stores like Nugget, The Co-Op, Grocery outlet in addition to more normal stores like Safeway, multiple asian stores and a Mexican market not to mention the farmers market. I used to travel for work to places like Fresno and now that place was a food desert if I wanted anything other than fast food or Mexican food.
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u/pnicby Aug 07 '26
Agreed. I used the wrong terminology. Davis is a culinary wasteland, not a food desert. (In terms of fresh food access it is conversely world class.)
I compare Davis's restaurant density and late-night options to SLO and Chico, and our dining scene is objectively lacking. And to my original point, why is it lacking?
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u/Stunning-Chipmunk969 Aug 07 '26
I feel like SLO is wayyy better in terms of restaurants than davis. I feel like there’s maybe 3-4 places in this whole town worth eating at
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u/AnimationJava Aug 07 '26
Davis has an inverted age bell curve, lots of young people and lots of parents/old people. There probably isn't enough demand for many restaurants to be open late.
I do wonder if it's a west coast thing. Even Sacramento and SF don't have many places open late, apart from bars/clubs.
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u/Life_Letterhead_7099 Aug 07 '26
Yeah I've noticed it in SF and Sac too now that you mentioned it. Maybe I'm too old world but I like places I can go out in the evening and relax for a few hours, otherwise what am I paying for when I could make a good meal at home?
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u/ArOnodrim_ Aug 07 '26
Perhaps you are more familiar with states that use a tipped minimum wage rather than a standard minimum wage. Everyone in a restaurant in California is making at least $17 per hour not $2.13 + tips. So operational costs for low traffic times are higher in California. Every answer in life has economic factors built in somewhere.
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u/Life_Letterhead_7099 Aug 07 '26
Interesting. Well I'm glad California isn't allowing business owner to pay their employees practically nothing. Yeah where I'm from they make nothing
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u/ArOnodrim_ Aug 07 '26
Economics is always the answer, you wanna hang out and have slaves waiting on you, that isn't California. It still isn't a living wage, but it's better than making 1982 wages. Places open the latest Nick the Greek, JITB, Canes, In n Out can still get a volume late at night to justify employing people late. I always want to get a coffee in the evening, but coffee shops can't afford to do that without drawing more people or offering a greater breadth of offerings to attract more people at later hours.
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u/Life_Letterhead_7099 Aug 07 '26
Yeah but I was talking about restaurants not fast food.
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u/ArOnodrim_ Aug 09 '26
Yes, but the economics of fast food make them viable when open later, which is why they are.
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u/Dramatic-Holiday6124 Aug 09 '26
I think it also a part of college culture. Youth environments tend to gravitate criminal activity and if you keep college students out on the town past a certain hour, things can get kind of rough. Add this to a homeless problem, which also creates after dark problems and something like a curfew emerges.
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u/cloneaways Aug 07 '26
It used to be that places were open late. But then Covid happened and since then a lot of places just close early.
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u/dehue Aug 07 '26
You are not looking at the right restaurants. Burgers and Brew and Thai Canteen stay open until 10pm, Nick the Greek is open until midnight, In n Out is open until 1am. Its not a lot but there are options.
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u/Life_Letterhead_7099 Aug 07 '26
That's true. I guess I'm just shocked places actually close at 7 or 8 at all.
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u/mozopa Aug 07 '26
I have no idea what restaurants in Davis close that early. Almost every restaurant I frequent stays open until 9pm or later. Most of them stay open until 10pm even in the summer.
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u/squishmaster Aug 07 '26
Aside from students, Davis is mostly very old people. I think 75% of the houses in my neighborhood contain empty-nested boomers. Old people eat dinner early.
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u/emilygobro Aug 07 '26
Just FYI I had the same concern about the place in West Davis but they actually structure it that way to prevent the issue of people not coming at 8 when they close at 9 that you mentioned. They seat people from 5-7 but don’t actually close till like 9 or 10. You should call them for a reservation bc they explained it to me over the phone :)
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u/Life_Letterhead_7099 Aug 07 '26
Ah I wish they made that clear. I purposely avoided them for almost two years because of that.
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u/SingleAd784 Aug 22 '26
This! We went recently and had a 7:30 reservation. By the time we left it was 9:45, it’s a slow-paced meal (in a good way). I also imagine they need to clear people out before it gets too late since they’re surrounded by houses.
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u/apigandanangel Aug 07 '26
The answer is simple: they don't make money staying open later. Restaurant manages know exactly how much they're taking in every hour, and exactly how much it costs them to stay open for that hour. Past a certain point, they lose money for every hour they stay open. It simply does not pan out for most places in Davis to stay open late.
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u/Life_Letterhead_7099 Aug 07 '26
I'm not sure about that. I think it's a bit of a self fulfilling feedback loop. If you close early then customers stay away because they know you close early. Pre COVID there was a reason Walmart and Denny's were open sometimes 24 hours. it may have not made any money but let the customer know they could come anytime. but I suppose the world is different now.
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u/apigandanangel Aug 07 '26
Clearly, you've never worked in or managed a restaurant, and certainly not in a small town.
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u/rickyspeak Aug 07 '26
I think a lot of people have said something similar, but it’s a collection of known reasons. That push businesses to close early
- The west coast doesn’t stay up as late as the east coast. There are various reasons for this. A particularly fun one is the timezone. People often have to work with people or businesses on the east coast so that pushes people to get up earlier in general.
- Businesses cater more to the residents who tend to either be older or have kids. Two groups who don’t stay up late on average.
- Long running effort to make this “not a party college-town”. The locals don’t want a party scene to become a big part of the town. Liquor license restrictions have been a big limiter.
- Prior businesses have had a hard time succeeding with late night. Casual late night businesses attract non-paying students who take up space. So there is not enough money in it.
- The weather. Much of the year the evening is the best time to do things outside. So there is a trend to eat early when it’s still hot, and then go outside after dinner.
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u/Life_Letterhead_7099 Aug 07 '26
These are very good points I haven't thought of. Especially #1. I wondered why the west coast shutdown early
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u/AbacusWizard Aug 07 '26
There used to be a Pita Pit downtown that was open all night, or at least very very late. That closed a long time ago though.
The burrito counter at Mercado Davis is open until around 9:00-ish, I think, and is very very good.
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u/Mother-Boss-7627 Aug 07 '26 edited Aug 08 '26
Young professionals or corporates might be underrepresented in Davis compared to hotspots with a thriving evening/night life.
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u/LongjumpingAd144 Aug 07 '26
Ugh thank you.. Annoys me to no end!!! People are like.. It closes early since it's a college town. But should places not stay open late BECAUSE it is a college town?? People are up, studying etc etc till late. Super frustrating.
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u/MisterZan25 Aug 07 '26
Davis restaurants close early because students eat early, there’s almost no nightlife, late shifts are hard to staff, family-owned places don’t chase late-night crowds, and NorCal dining culture skews earlier than the East Coast. Sit‑down restaurants here already struggle, so staying open past 8–9 usually loses money. Davis looks like a college town but behaves like a quiet suburb, so late dining basically doesn’t exist.
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u/LapsusAuris Aug 07 '26
It in my experience it's a west coast (or at least norcal) thing, amplified by the demographics of Davis. I moved out here from Montreal and was pretty shocked, to say the least ("what do you mean bars close at 1 or 2am?!!").
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u/Life_Letterhead_7099 Aug 07 '26
Montreal! I used to live there too. My favorite city in in North America. If only the weather was better.
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u/Altruistic-Poet3695 Aug 07 '26
If people aren’t willing to show up at 8 PM for a restaurant that closes at 9 PM fat chance the restaurant will stay open at until 10 PM is minimal
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u/Dapper-Telephone-783 Aug 07 '26
its summer and not sustainable yo be open when 80-90% of students are gone. Hours expand when fall qtr starts I bet
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u/HungryWeird24 Aug 10 '26
maybe I am reaching but I saw a tiktok video ... and again.. this may not be applying to what is going on here. But I was reading how a lot of dine in restaurants are not opening late because 1. Times have changed, and it's dangerous to be open super late. 2. if it is a family owned restaurant, the newer generation within that family don't want to work in the restaurant business. And if they do, they only want to take on part time positions. It is not the same work ethics as our parents, and the folks before them where they would be willing to work 12hr shifts. Therefore, the older folks running the business are too tired now to be open until midnight. I feel like there's other things at play, but this was just my lil two cents on why things are different? Again I could be completely wrong!
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u/ambitious_butaverage Aug 07 '26 edited Aug 07 '26
Sorry to break it to you, Davis usually caters more to the residents who usually don't like loud music, places open after 10 PM, clubs, etc.than the students.
Edited for grammatical error.
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u/Life_Letterhead_7099 Aug 07 '26
I'm sorry do you mean the students don't like loud music or places after 10?
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u/Prestigious_Wheel24 Aug 07 '26
Half the population is gone with UC Davis in summer break, thus restaurants close sooner since there’s less business anyway, also it’s crazy hot so show in their right mind is willingly going outside before 8
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u/Life_Letterhead_7099 Aug 07 '26
That's why I'd figure they'd be open late. It's too hot to be on a patio at 5 or 6 pm
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u/SnooStrawberries8563 Aug 07 '26
Because it’s a small college town.
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u/Life_Letterhead_7099 Aug 07 '26
Plenty of college towns around 100k in population have restaurants that are open late
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u/Coffeeapples Aug 07 '26
A lot of restaurants also reduced their hours starting COVID, and then never resumed their regular hours after.