Tasteful Tailgates closes after 5 months in southeast Mesa

🚫 It’s rare to see a sports bar decide to close on the eve of a huge sports event like March Madness. Especially when it’s only been open for five months.

But Tasteful Tailgates already has thrown in the towel at the Gilbert Gateway Towne Center on the southwest corner of Power and the Loop 202 in what technically is southeast Mesa.

Last October, the concept took over Louisiana-based sports bar Walk-On’s Sports Bistreaux, which itself had struggled for three years in the building that originally was a Sweet Tomatoes.

Tasteful Tailgates generated confusion from the beginning.

After a sloppily drawn-out month-long transition – and without a working website – the venue began billing itself not only as a sports bar, but also an elevated steak and seafood restaurant featuring beef from local ranchers and seafood flown in from Hawaii (where the owners were from).

The confusion continued to this week. Tasteful Tailgates hasn’t been open since the weekend, but made multiple social media posts Monday and Tuesday without mentioning it was closed.

A small sign taped to the door says the venue is closed for ‘‘repairs,’’ but suppliers have been told to retrieve their products.

The owners, who could not be reached for comment, had said they were working on a second location in Queen Creek, but those plans presumably are now dead.