Harvest is still undergoing repairs from a fire in January

Harvest Seasonal Grill & Wine Bar, a popular restaurant among Penn students at 40th and Walnut streets, is closed for the foreseeable future.

The University City location is undergoing repairs after a fire damaged the building in January. Although the chain’s CEO said minor issues to the electrical, plumbing and computer systems have been fixed, repairs to the exhaust system and parts of the roof are still underway.

“At first it appeared minor but the combination of the fire and the efforts of the fire department to extinguish the fire caused substantial damage,” CEO of the Harvest restaurant line Dave Magrogan wrote in an email to The Daily Pennsylvanian.

For College sophomore Hannah Kanter, Harvest’s temporary close came as a frustration.

“I went with my family [to Harvest] over parents’ weekend,” Kanter said. “My mom came to visit the other day and wanted to go, but it was closed, so we couldn’t.”

College junior Dory Merritt frequents Harvest mostly during the summer, but after being abroad last semester, she admitted to missing the restaurant, particularly the size of its beverages compared to other campus restaurants.

“I was surprised it was closed,” Merritt said.

University City is not currently listed as a location on the chain’s website, but its six other locations are still included.

In March 2016 the restaurant was asked to cease operations for a short time to resolve 22 health violations, eight of which were labeled serious by the Philadelphia Health Department, including pest activity and sewage backup.

Fires have been devastating to University City area restaurants in the past. Cafe Renata, a popular spot that used to be at 43rd and Locust streets, burned down in 2015. The cafe has since seen a rebirth, in a new location on Baltimore Ave., and is now called Renata’s Kitchen.