A longtime South Shore restaurant is shutting down, and a nearby breakfast and lunch spot that has been featured by our sister site is opening in its space.
According to a source, Hajjar's in Weymouth is closing, with the Mad Hatter Cafe moving from its current home on Main Street to the Washington Street space; a Twitter post from @scanweymouth seems to confirm this, showing a hearing agenda page that says the Mad Hatter is seeking the liquor license from Hajjar's to open in that restaurant's space. (The Town Solicitor also confirms this information on the Twitter thread, saying it is "legit.") It is not known what changes might be in store for the Mad Hatter if it does move into the new space, nor is it known when the move might happen--or if it might even be a second location rather than a move--so stay tuned for updates.
Hajjar's traces its history back to a roller-skating rink that was established in the 1950s and was converted into a fitness club with a dining area in the 1980s before becoming a full-fledged restaurant.
The Mad Hatter Cafe is known in part for its Irish-influenced breakfast and lunch items, including a traditional Irish breakfast, an Irish breakfast roll, beef stew, shepherd's pie, and chicken curry with rice. The dining spot has been mentioned on the Boston's Hidden Restaurants site as an under-the-radar spot to go to, with the review being found here:
http://www.hiddenboston.com/MadHatterCafe.html
The address for Hajjar's is 969 Washington Street while the Mad Hatter Cafe is at 119 Main Street. The website for Hajjar's is at http://hajjars.net/ while the Mad Hatter can be found at http://madhattercafe.us/
[June 15 update: A Facebook post from the place indicates that Hajjar's closes for good tonight. (Thanks to a source for bringing this to our attention.)]
[June 22 update: A message from the place indicates that the Mad Hatter Cafe is indeed moving from its current home to the Hajjar's space, and that it will include dinner service and functions once it moves in.]
[October 4 update: According to multiple Facebook posts from the place, the Mad Hatter Cafe has closed its restaurant on Main Street and is now hiring for its new location in the former Hajjar's space on Washington Street, with the plan being to open sometime this fall.]
[October 18 update: A poster on the Friends of Boston's Hidden Restaurants Facebook group page says that the Mad Hatter Cafe has a target opening date of October 22 in the old Hajjar's space.]
[October 21 update: A new Facebook post from the place mentions that the Mad Hatter Cafe will not be opening tomorrow after all, but it is very close to opening.]
[October 31 update: An events page indicates that the Mad Hatter Cafe plans to have its grand opening on November 7.]
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[Related article from our sister site (Boston's Hidden Restaurants): Slideshow--Ten More Breakfast Items from Boston-Area Spots]
