In a brutal week for Sydney’s Italian restaurants, the doors have closed on ambitious $6 million CBD fine-diner Seta and the high-profile Parramatta outpost of CicciaBella.

Seta owner Tonci Farac confirmed the landlord at his Barrack Street restaurant had stepped in and changed the locks.

“We’re in dispute with the landlord, I can’t say much as it’s in the hands of lawyers,” says Farac, who is hopeful he can negotiate repossession of the restaurant.

The closure of the three-year-old CicciaBella was less dramatic.

“We were in contractual negotiations with the landlord, but couldn’t come to an agreement. But we leave on good terms,” says CicciaBella owner Maurice Terzini.

Those negotiations included an open bar area the restaurateur says “never happened”.

Both restaurants suffered difficult births as COVID-era launches. Seta, in particular, had a run of bad luck.

Farac seemingly had all the pieces of the puzzle in place. The experienced operator (he opened one of Sydney’s first mega restaurants, Wildfire at Circular Quay) signed Mr Wong designer Michael McCann and chef Matteo Vigotti of Italy’s Novecento and Peck.

Seta had all the trappings of Sydney dining. Housed in the heritage-listed site of Sydney’s first savings bank, it featured soaring columns, chandeliers and a glistening imported European kitchen that wouldn’t have looked out of place on a Hollywood film set.

But Seta’s star signing, Vigotti, couldn’t get in the country when COVID hit in 2020. Even with his fill-in replacement in the kitchen, Good Food awarded Seta a 15/20 review.

Farac says his goal was to create something for Sydney – an Italian restaurant with the best ingredients, on and off the plate.

The timing was tough. “We opened the restaurant on a Monday, [then] on Thursday there was one case [of COVID], 70 people cancelled that night,” Farac says.

While COVID knocked many Sydney restaurants around, those born during its early peak, with costly investment and no established clientele, were among the hardest hit.