Wegmans' Blue Dalia Goes Dark

Talented backing and enviable ambiance were not enough for Wegmans’ full-service restaurant and tequila bar the Blue Dalia, which closed on Dec. 7, just 18 months after opening in a mall in Natick, Mass.

“Despite the success of our Natick store, Blue Dalia did not consistently meet our projections,” a Wegmans spokesperson told the Framingham Source. “The reason, in large part, was that it competed with our own in-store restaurant food options, like the burger bar, sushi, pizza and much more.”

Led by Culinary Director Roberto Santibanez, the Mexico-born restauranteur and cookbook author known for contemporary Mexican cuisine at restaurants such as Fonda and Rosa Mexicano in New York, Blue Dalia was the first Mexican restaurant endeavor for Wegmans in a location that was also a first for the Rochester, N.Y.-based grocer. 

Taking over a space formerly occupied by a J.C. Penney department store, the 146,500-square-foot Natick store was the first two-story Wegmans, as well as its first location in a shopping mall. The Natick store is also among the chain’s largest stores in the country.

The Natick store is far more restaurant-focused than any of its previous stores, company Chairman Danny Wegman told The Boston Globe at the time of its opening in late April 2018.

However, in addition to dining competition from within the store, the 260-seat Blue Dalia Restaurant & Tequila Bar also competed with the mall’s area restaurants, including The Cheesecake Factory, Bertucci’s Italian Restaurant and Margaritas Mexican Restaurant, all within minutes of Wegmans.

“Blue Dalia has permanently closed. We look forward to serving you at our Natick Wegmans,” reads the grocer’s Blue Dalia website.

Wegmans is undoubtedly at work on a replacement concept. Its Amore By Wegmans in Rochester, N.Y., and The Pub By Wegmans, which boasts multiple locations in Pennsylvania, New York and Virginia, may be considerations. If  the grocer’s track record is any indication, Wegmans is already thinking of what eats will resonate most with Natick shoppers.