Regarding the 9pm closing: this is super lame, but also points to a concerning general trend. I feel like a ton of places still have not yet recovered their pre-pandemic open-until times. I have heard informally that restaurant owners still think business is risky and demand uncertain. I think this is neglecting a really important consideration, though, which is induced demand. There may not yet be evidence of demand (or recovered demand, in this case) until there are opportunities for potential customers. People want a sense that "things are open late" and plan nights out on the town. Unfortunately, yes, it does pose a chicken-and-egg problem for restauranteurs and, essentially, demands an up-front investment. But the problem is: being "open till 9pm" really makes people doubt going there at 7:30pm or 8:00pm, because people don't want to feel rushed. In other words, even some portion of the potential business in the prior-to-9pm-timeframe might still be lost by closing at 9pm. Yet, if you do things right, you'll have those 7:30pm-8pm arrivers enjoy their stay and order an extra round or dessert. In other words, your prior-to-opening foot traffic estimates for 9:30pm are a bad estimate for your potential business post-9pm. (EDIT: it is even sketchier that they are doing the overpriced "dining package" vs. separate a la carte booking based on the above sentiments; it's like they are trying to hedge against people feeling rushed by convincing them to pre-pay for dessert.)
As was pointed out in another thread, there are two new places in Kendall (yes, Kendall of all places) proposing being open to 1am and 2am, respectively. I almost wonder if they collaborated. Kendall is a desert at those times, but it seems some restaurant folks might know what they are doing in terms of realizing that it takes effort to build a scene.
The top of the Pru is a sad, sad place for this to be happening, though. The location itself should be an incredible draw for a cocktail bar or upscale restaurant. I feel like BXP is treating this purely as a tourist draw cash cow; like this is one of those lame giant ferris wheels or something. I get that they were going to do the tourist thing, but when I saw they were renovating 3-levels at megabux construction expenses, I figured they were going to cater to more than one market. There is no reason why, at all that money and all that space, they couldn't have some portion of this open for late night (especially with "The Beacon" and "Stratus" as separate areas). Maybe they are just being super conservative financially and once they see customers still hanging around at 9pm, they'll expand the hours. Otherwise, it's just truly sad.
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