Opened in 2019, Athens’ only Persian restaurant, International Bar and Grill, closed unexpectedly over the past weekend. Co-owner Mohsen Mohseni said the closing was not his family’s choice, but in some ways they will be happy to get their lives back.
The restaurant was well known for hosting events, and it received an award for best live music venue presented by the Athens Hip Hop Awards last Saturday, June 17.
On Apr. 30, four people were shot outside the restaurant, one of whom, Marquise Jackson, died. Mohseni said that the restaurant had private security, but his landlords accused him of “attracting criminal activity” and gave him until the end of the month to leave. He said that he spoke to a police officer involved in the case resulting from the shooting. When Mohseni asked if he had done anything illegal, the officer said no. Mohseni added, “What people do outside the doors, I cannot control.”
The restaurant’s building at 1155 Mitchell Bridge Road sold in 2021 to 1155 Athens LLC. That LLC is owned by a company called DeliverOL, with the same mailing address as the LLC, in Peachtree Corners. DeliverOL specializes in courier services, not in real estate. Mohseni said his landlords were Ali Eshai, Usman Eshai and Safeena Virani, all of whom work or have worked for DeliverOL.
Mohseni said that after his new landlords took over, they tried to more than double his rent. As a compromise, they increased it by less (from $5,000 a month to $6,800 a month) and required him to lease month to month rather than yearly. He said equipment regularly broke, as well as the air conditioning, but the building owners would not fix any of it. He paid to fix some items himself.
In the end, although Mohseni is frustrated by the situation, he said he is also “happy for a break to spend some time at home; we’ve already missed four years being with our kids” while running the restaurant.
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