Roxanne reopens, this time with a food license and a lunch menu
After licensing woes prompted the restaurant to shutter, Roxanne is back as a BYOB.
After a 10-week shutdown and over three years of operating without a food license, Roxanne is ready to open — this time with a license to operate, a passed health inspection, and a new lunch menu.
The Department of Lisence and Inspection shut down the Queen Village restaurant in April. By May, the restaurant was quietly taking reservations for mid-June via Resy. Now, chef-owner Alexandra Holt has confirmed that Roxanne’s first seating will be tonight.
“See u tomorrow,” Holt posted Tuesday afternoon via a story on Roxanne’s Instagram account, which disappear after 24 hours. The Michelin-recommended restaurant’s biography on the platform also declares it as “open.”
Roxanne had been operating without a required food preparation and serving license since it first opened at 912 Christian St. in 2022, and again when it moved to its current location at 607 S. Second St. at the end of 2024, L&I confirmed after an Inquirer search of city records.
The restaurant had also never received a health inspection during the years it operated at either location, the Department of Public Health confirmed after a separate search of health inspection records.
“Roxanne’s was never inspected [by the health department] because it was never legally operating,” Department of Public Health Department spokesperson James Garrow previously told The Inquirer.
Garrow now confirms that Roxanne’s license plan of review, a crucial step to getting proper permitting, had been approved in May. The restaurant passed a health inspection on June 11, based on department records. That same day, Roxanne received a food preparation and serving license from L&I, according to records obtained by the Inquirer. The license expires on June 12, 2027.
The city has yet to fine Roxanne for any violations, and it is unclear if they plan to do so. Representatives L&I and the city’s law department did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
L&I’s inspections, safety, and compliance division issues businesses fines of up to $300 per day for operating without a license after receiving a citation. “Cases involving businesses that never obtained a license are handled by the court, with penalties determined during legal proceedings,” L&I spokesperson Shemeka Moore previously told The Inquirer.
Holt — Roxanne’s chef and owner — did not respond to repeated requests for comments regarding the restaurant’s opening plans or any changes it made during the licensure process.
L&I initially issued Roxanne a cease operations order on April 6. The restaurant first covered it with pink construction paper and painter’s tape, an act that is against the law in Philadelphia and carries a $2,000 fine.
“I operate with a really small team, so all mistakes are definitely my mistakes,” Holt told The Inquirer in April. “I’m not the best at this [business] stuff.”
» READ MORE: Michelin-recommended restaurant Roxanne shut down by city over licensing issues
A BYOB with lunch
The shift to operating legally has also brought a slew of other changes to Roxanne. The restaurant is now a BYOB.
Initially Roxanne carried “cocktails, beer, and PA wines,” according to a screenshot of the restaurant’s FAQ from earlier this year.
A search of Pennsylvania Liquor Control Board records did not return a liquor license for Roxanne at 607 S. Second St. While some restaurants are permitted to serve alcohol through partnerships with in-state wineries, breweries, or distilleries, “the PLCB’s review of its records did not immediately reveal an apparent connection between any licensee” and Roxanne, a spokesperson for the PLCB previously told The Inquirer.
Now, the restaurant serves a trio of non-alcoholic cocktails in flavors that include toasted cinnamon and yuzu, and lemon marmalade and hibiscus.
Also new: the restaurant now has a lunch menu with items that span $8 for curly fries to $40 an “omelet ;)” with crab and sungold tomatoes. Other new additions also include a tuna melt on challah bread, a “pretty big” sticky toffee waffle with soft serve ice cream, and spaghetti with meatballs.
It is unclear how and when Roxanne plans to serve lunch. The restaurant has long functioned with Holt working alone in the kitchen and three front-of-house employees. Roxanne also has no lunch hours posted to its website yet. Its Google Business profile lists hours operation as 6 to 10 p.m. Thursday through Saturday.
This is not the first time Roxanne has undergone a major transformation.
When Holt first opened Roxanne it 2022, its eight-course tasting menu functioned like dinner theater, with shifting offerings that allowed Holt to process emotions like grief and political disillusionment through what she once described as “blob” food.
Esquire named that version of Roxanne one of the Best New Restaurants in America in 2022. Our own food critic Craig Laban, however, found it “more interesting than delicious.”
» READ MORE: The Michelin Guide isn’t removing Roxanne — for now
Two years later, Holt relocated Roxanne to Queen Village, where it hit its stride with a parred down tasting menu of raw cheesesteaks, dessert cheeseburgers, and fancy deli meats. Suddenly, LaBan loved it. So did the storied Michelin Guide, which recommended the restaurant on its first trip to Philly.
“Restaurants could learn a thing or two from this eccentric spot in Old Town [sic],” the guide said of Roxanne. “Chef Alexandra Holt just wants to cook — and cook she can."
